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[OPEN TO ALL]
To say that Jean-Claude is troubled with the current state of the city is to put it mildly. The vampires have been free-reign of slaughter within the city, and for those foolish enough to take their leader up on that offer, they are making a bad name for the rest of them. Raymond himself is in hot water with the Night Council for his lawmaking decisions, and after the slaughter of one of their Guardians at the hands of a vampire, Islington is looking to lose its seat on the council. Which doesn't bode well for the future of vampirekind.

Jean-Claude is doing his best to hold the floodwaters at bay as far as his corner of the underground is concerned. But he can feel the tide coming, and he doesn't like it. Not one little bit.

Even Guilty Pleasures is suffering from the atmosphere of the city somewhat. There haven't been any theme nights for the last while beyond Ladies Nights, and while Jean-Claude is the usual gracious host he always is, the dancers themselves can feel it. The tension in the air. They know that Jean-Claude is not going to just sit this one out this time. As Marquess of Islington, he has bigger ideas than that.

And unlike a certain other vampire leader, Jean-Claude makes certain to make himself available. Approachable. He makes certain to make his opinions known. That he is a gentleman, that he does not condone useless violence. That he is proud to be a vampire in London, but not like this. And, a little less widely broadcast, that he is willing to do something about it. With the right support...

[CLOSED TO RAYMOND]
Jean-Claude can see where this is all headed. He's been through it before, albeit in a time when such things were generally more acceptable. Here in the 21st century however, he can see the trouble starting to arise. He can see, what with Sylvia's latest announcement, how their leader is setting the city against them. And the vampires can barely hold themselves together, never mind find allies on the outside. Whatever they might have gained for themselves, and however they might have gained it, if something isn't done, and quickly, then there is a chance that not only will they be cast out of society but hunted down like dogs. And that the government will turn a blind eye on it as well.

And so he has come now, to plead with their leader, on behalf of their people, to stop this. Before it's too late. Even though he knows that time has passed. And he knows that his words won't do any of them a damned bit of good. But at least he will have made the attempt.

[CLOSED TO SYLVIA]
When all else fails, Jean-Claude can see no way around it except going straight to the source. The head of the governing body that polices the underground supernatural world, Sylvia Redbright herself. In truth, he has no idea how she will receive him. Whether she will receive him, a vampire only recently climbed up the ranks whose only claim to fame within the city happens to be what some might call a night club while others would just come right out and call a strip joint.

But he has to try. Because he has not survived through six hundred years of what he has endured, only for an upstart like Raymond to pull the carpet out from underneath his feet. So he does his best to arrange for a meeting with the woman in charge. In the intention of having a little conversation about the current state of affairs.

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Jean-Claude considers his response for a long moment, before he decides to just hit straight and to the point. She will probably appreciate that more than flirting about the subject after all.

"I am here to speak politics with you, madame," Jean-Claude replies. "Strictly speaking, I would like you to know that the acts of our dear Duke are not shared equally amongst his people. I have no doubt that he will continue to act out against your council, but I would urge you to consider when he does that he is not speaking for us all when he is doing so." Jean-Claude himself would very much not like to pit themselves against the entire city, if he could help it.

"Isn't he?"

Well, now, that is interesting. She never imagined that Harris had universal support (he is a deeply, deeply unpleasant man) but all the evidence Sylvia has seen points to a large group of vampires who have suddenly become like children left without adult supervision, running riot simply because they can. Except they're not pulling each other's hair or throwing paint around a classroom, they're killing people. Vampires have always been a violent, bloodthirsty lot by their very nature, but Millicent at least reined in the worst of them.

God, she never thought she'd see the day where she missed Millicent.

"Well, that is the first bit of good news I've heard about Islington in a while," she goes on, leaving out 'if true' though the caveat is there in her tone. "How many vampires are we talking about here?"

Jean-Claude is pleased to have her attention, although he doesn't preen as he might do in another situation. This is business, and he leaves the flirting and teasing out of it, until they have spoken properly at least.

"A fair amount," he replies, understanding that the answer is vague. "You will forgive me for not being allowed a headcount. You understand that, given the nature of this conversation, discretion is a necessity, of course. But I would estimate roughly half." He shifts in his chair, and though this too is something of a pose it is mostly to lean forward so that he may speak more frankly with her.

"Half of the vampires of the city who do not approve of the violence he is inviting, madame," he points out. "We need to feed to survive, but we are not animals." Leave that title to the werewolves.

"Half the nest," she muses. "Which means half of London's vampires are standing idly by while the other half run riot around the city. What's stopping you from stopping them?"

She doesn't lean forward or join in with his conspiratorial tone. They are not friends. The vampires need to get their own house in order and until they do that, people will die.

Jean-Claude offers her a level look. She might outrank him, but as far as he is concerned she is but a child. He has centuries on her and he will not be intimidated just by her position, no matter how much it may work on others.

"What is stopping us?" he repeats, musing right back at her. "Forgive me, madame, but you have no insight into the world of Vampires. We must be careful in how we handle such dissent. It is as I have said, half of the nest agrees with him, and that half would take pleasure in cutting the rest of us down to make an example of themselves in front of their good leader." He tilts his head at her. "There is a way in which these things must be handled. A way they were clearly not handled before." Otherwise they would not be in this predicament, of course.

Whatever else may be said about Sylvia, and there are many things, she does listen. Her brow furrows as she considers his words.

"Does that way require assistance?"

Generally, Sylvia is wary of getting involved in vampire affairs. But now that the vampires have been expelled from the Night Council, will it really do any harm to intervene if necessary? Surely it can't get any worse.

Jean-Claude considers this. "It does, and it does not," he replies. "Raymond is our problem to take care of. Millicent was 'assisted' away from us by outside forces, and you see what has become of that situation for yourself." She may have been a real piece of work, but she was not giving her vampires the free reign of slaughter as Raymond himself has done.

He does not explicitly state that he has plans to replace their current leader with himself. Although such can be implied, given the fact that he is the one there negotiating with her, after all. Instead he continues to say, "Despite the fact that I do not agree with their opinions, I cannot in good faith support the slaughter of any of my people. But I understand that the city must defend itself. And thus my request -- if such a thing is possible -- is that the Council and through you, the rest of the city, not condemn us all to death on the actions of our leader. We will hardly be successful against him if we are being picked off by the other factions who have determined we are no better ourselves."

Is he asking them not to defend themselves? How can that work? Sylvia purses her lips.

"As you say, the city must defend itself. As things stand, we have no way of telling the good vampires from the bad."

It's why she expelled all vampires from the Night Council. Perhaps some of them were loyal and would not have supported Raymond, but how can they know who to trust? Better to get rid of all of them and risk a few more turning against them than to jeopardise the safety of the entire Council. These are not easy decisions to make but she stands by her choices.

"You want to deal with this yourself, I understand that," she continues. "But for as long as this situation goes on, we will continue to defend ourselves. There will be no holding back. If you want to save your people, get rid of Raymond. The sooner you do that, the more lives will be saved, on both sides."

So the ball is in his court. If he's serious that there are vampire lives worth sparing, he needs to do something about it. Until then, Sylvia isn't about to reinstate the clause protecting Islington vampires from hunters. They brought this on themselves.

Jean-Claude inclines his head at her. "No, you do not have a way of telling us apart, it is true," Jean-Claude confirms. "Nor am I asking you to stop defending yourselves. But I am asking you to please, consider your actions before you decide to mount an all-out attack. There is a difference between defending your own and giving further orders against us."

He glances up directly at her, his deep blue eyes as piercing as they ever are. "I have hope, when this is all behind us, that the city will not continue to judge us all on the poor decisions of the few. There is much cleanup to be done, and there are many bridges to be rebuilt. And if nothing else, I would ask that, when at last we are able to give the order to call back the slaughtering of your people, so too will you call back your slaughtering of ours as well."

Something about the way he stares at her reminds Sylvia that vampires can control minds and she glances away from his gaze, looking down at the silver witch amulet around her neck. It's not the only thing protecting her, but it is her main defence against manipulation.

"Trust must be earned," she says finally. "You have done a lot of damage in a short space of time and that takes time to repair. I am not planning any attack. But I can only hold back for so long. You need to prove your good faith before you can expect the same in return."

Until then, she's promising nothing.