Realistic or Modern BEING HUMAN - CHAPTER II: SLOW DECAY

[Pilgrim59]

Scarlet Sommerfeld
Arryn's Apartment
August 6th, 2018 (Morning)

Interacted: Lil' Hogan ( MagicPenguin )
Mentioned: shadowz1995
​

Ringing Bells​

"Im Wald, im grünen Walde, Da steht ein Försterhaus... (In a verdant forest, there was a woodsman's house...)" a quiet but cheerful hum resonated within the lady's path, alongside her canine comrade.

The song that was once a war march for the gray troops of a bygone empire, had now taken the guise of an innocent ballad that accompanied Scarlet and Hogan during their morning walk. The young girl had taken the liberty to walk her roommate's pup, something that she very much enjoyed in the early morning, where the sun have yet to cast its indiscriminate rays against the vampire. She was up earlier than her roommate, as she herself have little needs for sleeps. She deemed it to suffice her body's obligation to survive, and despised prolonged hibernation. Scarlet's hand felt a light, but determined tug upon her attention. Her lax mien was far from compromising with her tight grip ever vigilant on Hogan, having taken in Arryn's words. Scarlet let the pup go about his business, as she watched her surrounding, curious of the large monitor that caught her interests. The Covent Garden incident, as they dubbed it, was all over the news for the last few days since her arrival in London. The vague and foreboding reports only furthers her cautious attention to those around her. It was phenomenal for one thing to be awed over, while an Abnormal activity when given the knowledge of the existence of those like the vampire herself. While the tales of heroes and demons have been imprinted on society since the beginning of time, it is accompanied by the undeniable fact of inevitable discontent and contempt from humanity, regardless of one's premeditation. What does it mean to be different? And what does humanity learned from it? Nothing. In the end, there are no shortage of volunteers and patriots who would see to the demise of those who poses a threat to society. But from what justification do they deem it to be absolutely righteous, when the very thing they exercise is in itself an evil? Scarlet contemplated upon these things, before breaking from her thoughts at the behest of Hogan's playful acts.

"Fufufu. You are right. Nothing is absolute in this world, but you, little Hogan." Scarlet said as she caressed the dog.

WOOF WOOF!

Hogan sounded off, as the two ran about the park. While Hogan's speedy evasion was quite impressive in his attempt to lose Scarlet and run off, the pup was quite surprised at how his caretaker was able to catch up, without breaking out in sweats. Even in her heels, Scarlet agility was in contrast of her graceful apparel. Even those in the park was quite perplexed at how the lady was able to remain composed, having finished her fifth lap around the park with Hogan. Perhaps she was used to this kind of thing, they thought, unbeknownst to what Scarlet was capable of. To the vampire, it was an indulging and entertaining venture to take her mind off of things, as well as keeping her own body in shape. But even her optimistic and active self could not restrain her thirst for some water, having braved Hogan's test of her own capabilities.

The enchanting sights of the swaying trees in the light breeze, and the dancing flowers that whispered the passerby's words prompted Scarlet and Hogan to head home. The frolicking plays that followed came to an abrupt stop, as Scarlet picked Hogan up and carried him home across the street. The two have developed a certain bond, as she saw it, albeit for different reasons. Hogan saw it as an opportunity to dash off at his leisure, knowing that Scarlet would somehow track him down, furthering his playful attitude, while being instilled a sense of restraint with the girl's watchful deeds. On the other hand, Scarlet was having a blast playing with Hogan, as it facilitated her own skills. Before, she was chasing down humans and sucking their blood, but now, the vampire found herself chasing Hogan for fun, without much repercussions. Even so, it did not shy her of her given duty to take care of the pup while Arryn was off to work. She deemed the man to be responsible for their common cause of paying the rent, and respected it with her earnest heart. As Scarlet let Hogan into the living room, a loud thud could be heard, as the pup turned around.

"I let my guard down with you, Hogan..." Scarlet mumbled with her face against the wooden floor.

The vampire was careless while she was having fun with Hogan, and disregarded the fact that she had not been feeding on anyone for a year now. While she still possess a certain set of abnormal strength and dexterity, she was still trying to cope with her human body - of which was lacking a lot of water after their little chase around the park. The girl crawled towards the kitchen like a sailor that just got shipwrecked, and quickly downed a gallon worth of water, before leaning back against the wall for a respite. Hogan eyed her with a determined look, as if omnipotent of what human's capabilities were in the end. Scarlet conceded with the pup's prideful paces, and petted him. Drawn by an uneasy breeze from across the living room, Scarlet fleeted past the corridor to investigate.

A certain dark aura caught her attention, prompting Scarlet to lift her hand in a claw-like manner, readying herself for whatever was coming her way. A few dark red sparks could be seen emanating from Scarlet's hand, as her other hand pushed Arryn's door open. Her leery eyes scanned the room, before lowering her hand, dispersing the dark shrouds of energy that was flowing throughout her body. While it was unnatural for her to begin her investigation on Arryn's room right away, she could not help herself out of curiosity at the peculiar sensation. It was almost as if someone or something was calling out to her. Before she dissuaded herself from the scene, Scarlet ran into Arryn's clothes drawer, prompting the girl to jump into an awkward battle pose. Her intuitions guided her steps, as she investigated the surrounding objects.

"A secret trapdoor... or perhaps some sort of hidden chambers?" Scarlet said to herself, expecting something extraordinary to happen when she tried to move the surrounding things within Arryn's room.

Before long, she stumbled upon the sock drawer, and found an odd object that caught her interests.

"How crude... and here I was expecting something more grand... yet..." Scarlet muttered softly under her breath, bewitched by the runed ring with a crimson stone crowned its structure.

While a common object, laden with foreign embellishments, the vampire felt otherwise, as she studied its otherworldly integrity. It was nothing like the things she had seen before, accompanied by a recoiling sensation upon the contact of her hands. She could feel a certain energy resonating from it, while puzzled by its mysterious elements. Thoughts ran her by, as she tries to decipher its relationship and origins with Arryn. First the werewolf suspicions, and now a magic ring that happens to reside within her roommate's drawer. The puzzles that she had tried to solve only left more questions than answers thus far. Scarlet's intrigues were cut short, as a light nudge upon the clock's hand signaled her morning schedules.

"Noch mal (once again)... I need answers externally... Shaking a tree twice would not bear any fruit." Scarlet said to herself, as she scatter her troubled thoughts.

She withdrew her phone and snapped a picture, before setting everything back in its place, including the ring. It was foolish to take it with her, as it would give off the notion of her theft, while only serving to spook her roommate when mentioned. If it fails, she would have little reason to get anymore out of a distrustful man. For most of the vampire's life, secrecy and circumspect discretion were second nature in a haste. Scarlet took flight from the room, shutting it behind her, as she made ready for work. The girl made haste in getting her own home-made lunch, as well as preparing Hogan's food in advance, in case Arryn didn't return by noon. Before long, she found herself taking care of Hogan naturally, as the pup had served as a buffer zone for Scarlet and Arryn. While it seemed like a burden to some, Scarlet deemed Hogan's presence to be a blessing, as she herself was not keen on letting her bloodthirsty self to hinder her approach of the mystery behind Arryn. The lady eyed her room one last time, before setting sight on her sketchbook. She took a brief glance at the pages, and smiled lightly, before grabbing her sunhat and shades. Scarlet took comfort in her illustrations, as it had reminded her of her goals to stay the course. While the sketches were all that it was on the blank pages, parts of it were reflections of her pasts, something she took an interest in over the last few decades. Much like a biographical collage in the form of a comic - both for her own sake and that of her much-needed distraction. Reading, gardening, and drawing were all a part of rehab, as much as she like to digress from it.

"Aunt Scarlet is off to work now. See ya tonight Hogan!" she waved at Hogan, and took off.

The sun emerged from its snoozing slumber beneath the clouds, and embraced the busy streets of London. Scarlet paced herself quickly from one street to another, shying away from the sun's deadly rays. She eventually took refuge in the cool shadows of her workplace after half an hour of detours around the crowded street and shadowed alleys. Everyday was a struggle to get to work, and with it comes many estranged faces from her colleagues. It was as if she ran a marathon to work to them, but the vampire would digress. The days only grew hotter, cuing Scarlet to be more cautious than ever with her choice of clothing. It wasn't like the recent modern novels that she read, where a vampire's skin would only sparkle in the sunlight - the harsh truth was far more frightening to behold. She chuckled briefly to herself, as she began her usual routine of touring the corridors of the hospital, cleaning after any dereliction that she found.

"I need a drink after this... the sun is keen on my demise. Perhaps a drop by a club or bar would do me some good. I wonder if Inferno is still around?" Scarlet said to herself, as she continued to mop the hallway's floor diligently.

Spoiler: Scarlet's Sketchbook

[Scarlet's Day-time Activity Completed]​

 

[Disco]

Avery Luciano​

Ms. Jamie Rutford’s Home

​

“What do you mean you don’t have the money!?” The angered and distorted grovel of a voice shouted from Tony’s vocal cords. Only he could produce a sound so fowl from the vile hole he calls a mouth. “Do we look like a charity to you? Huh!?” The smashing of dirty dishes paired with the desperate pleading and wailing from a miserable woman, the sight made Avery wince. What a scumbag.

At roughly eight in the morning they arrived. Capo Antonio, leader of the drug ring, his three goons, and Avery. Like a flock of vultures preying an animal on its last legs. Jamie Rutford fit the bill perfectly for a mafia target. She could provide drugs in her neighborhood, was desperate enough to try and sell them, and wouldn’t be able to call for help. She knew full well the danger she was in once the Luciano thugs showed up. Avery spent most of his time observing. A slow anger building in his heart as he watched Tony threaten, throw, and thrash the woman before him. The embers within Avery being stoked to a fire. She literally had no way to defend herself. Even if she did, what was she going to do against a Capo and his three huge thugs?

“Please! Just a few more days. I’ll have your money then!” She begged. Her voice cracking on her own tears, choking up with the anxiety of what might come next. All the while Tony’s ugly face red with his shouting, attempting to overpower and intimidate her. It was working well. Truth be told, Tony could’ve showed on his own and had the same results. Everyone else was just insurance. Avery took that mentality to heart as he zoned away from the situation at hand. His eyes glazing across the home.

It was a rundown mess. Cracks in the ceilings and walls showed the house’s age, creaky floors and unstable furnishing, dirty water dripping from the kitchen faucet. There wasn’t much more beyond the kitchen either. A single restroom and one bedroom just around the corner. A broken home showed broken dreams. The young mafioso couldn’t help but compare it to his own lifestyle. Truly, they lived in two entirely separate worlds. Although there was just one thing that caught Avery’s eye, to the point of glaring at it for at least a few seconds. A cracked picture frame featuring two children. These two were likely the Rutford children. Impacted by the storm they had no say in. Innocent bystanders to something far greater and more terrible than their imaginations could conjurer. Children fear the monsters that bump in the night, unaware of the real horrors that await in the world. They’d be at school by now. Which means they’ll come home to see their mother battered and bruised. Or maybe they’ll come home to her gone. Or worse, her lifeless body.

Avery felt it again. The rage that had burned in his heart two years ago. Every time he witnessed Tony’s work, he felt this. The desire to do something, to help, to not be an idle witness. To not be a part of the problem.

For just a moment, a small and single moment, Avery’s eyes peered down into his coat pocket. The .45 magnum revolver that lay holstered in rest. Avery never once pulled its trigger, he never wanted to before. Yet his gaze lifted from the gun to the back of Tony’s head.

He wouldn’t even see it coming.

…

And what would that solve? The trouble over a gunshot amounted to very little in the end. The soldiers under Tony could just subdue Avery and he’d face all sorts of repercussions. To take the Capo’s life would be a selfish act. A cowardly action with no foresight. Avery knew he wanted to do the right thing, to clean up the organization from the inside and make it something pure. Not just to take on violent solutions.

Now that he thought on it more deeply, the gun even crossing his mind troubled him greatly.

Another loud crash of something breaking apart was enough to snap Avery from his intrusive thoughts. Tony kept up his shouting even now. His vocal cords were impressive all things considered. The young mafioso finally stepped forward however, earning the confused gazes of the soldiers around him. “Enough, Tony.” Avery addressed him loud and clear. This moment was respite from the destruction the Capo was unleashing.

“She doesn’t have the money. It’s as simple as that.” The room became dead silent. The soldiers were stunned Avery had the gall to even interrupt Tony, let alone imply that he should lay off. Ms. Rutford met the young man with hopeful, wide eyes. The Capo’s rage had found a new target.

“Excuse me?” The gravel voice slurred out. He was daring Avery to say anything else. On the other hand, Avery met the Capo’s glare directly, countering him with his own direct darts of a look.

“The gambling ring brought in more than expected this month. Enough to cover one drug dealer for just a few days. The numbers should let her have till about… Friday, by my estimate.” Avery proclaimed his words in bold fashion. He knew interrupting a Capo was bad news. He knew it’d hurt his reputation. He knew his father would lay him out. But once he saw the hopeful face of Ms. Rutford, a woman near the brink of breaking from her shame and anxiety, he had assured himself one thing. He didn’t care about any of that now.

“We’re going to the car. Get a move on brat.” Tony stomped out in before anyone else had a time to retort. His quiet anger was far more serious than anything outwardly expressed. The three soldier thugs were quick behind their Capo, and Avery behind them. Out of curiosity he glanced backward to Ms. Rutford.

“Thank you…” she mouthed.

 

[Phayne]

=Unemployed and at Home=
​

Sunlight entered through a gap in the curtains of Ezra's room, its golden glow illuminating a portion of the dimly lit space of which Ezra presently slept in; the warm touch of the morning light had found its desired position upon the face of the sleeping man. It was the usual game they shared with one another; the sun doing its best to rouse Ezra out of his bed whilst Ezra did his best to ignore its very existence. Of course, it was a futile attempt on his part. This was a game they had played for many years now and there was seldom a day that Ezra would emerge victorious from their morning battle. The sun was simply too powerful a foe to fight against and reluctantly Ezra began to stir. It was minor at first, a slight shift so that his back was against the window only allowed for a momentary respite from the sun's glare, the temperature in the room appearing to rise steadily almost in reaction to Ezra's change in position. The result was inevitable.

This lasted for only a few more minutes before Ezra sat up right on his bed, both hands raised to full length above his head as he arched his back backwards ever so slightly and stretched; his body shivering in response to the tingly sensation that ran down his spine. Besides his left foot was the discarded 'Chicken Kebab' takeaway he had purchased, courtesy of Mrs Charity from the night before; her £20 being put towards delicious use.

Awake albeit reluctant, Ezra went through with the standard routine. A quick trip to the toilet, a bowl of cereal, a shower. The usual day to day monotonous routine that was almost automatic for him.

For the most part the morning had been rather uneventful, Ezra remaining in his room as he watched netflix on his PC, his back facing the fan in his room as he battled the rising temperatures of the day. All the windows were open, his fan pressed to the highest setting and Ezra's body was still able to produce sweat, it was that hot. Next to him on the desk was his phone, 8 new messages and 6 missed calls, all from the same person. Of course they were from the same person, the poor soul tasked with monitoring Ezra's progress whilst he remained on benefits.

It was the usual outcome after Ezra returned to unemployment; the same old lecture and bullshit that he had gotten tired of hearing. What difference would the same speech have made... if it was ineffective the first few times, then surely it was common sense that another approach was needed, though even that would have been doubtful. You can't teach an old dog new tricks and you can't force Ezra to do something he doesn't want to either.

Pausing the video, Ezra swivelled around on the chair so that the front part of his body now faced the fan; an important tactic when combating the heat was to alternate which part of the body the fan cooled down. Phone now in hand as it beeped for the ninth time, Ezra read the text.

"Ezra, I know you are there! and I know what you've done. Call me as soon as you read this. Urgent! Stop ignoring my calls!"​

Two blue ticks appeared.​

"EZRA! I KNOW YOU'VE READ THIS!, IM CALLING NOW"​

The phone rang and Ezra's eyes rolled in response his fingers pressing away at the red phone icon to ignore the call.

"EZRA! DON'T IGNORE ME"

"Sorry, Mate. Busy. Talk next time".

With that said, the phone was tossed onto the bed just as several more message alerts came through.

= Day activity done: Ezra =​

 

[MagicPenguin]

Arryn Bennett
Bennett & Sons Forge
7:00 AM

The heat, exacerbated by the roaring fires in the workshop's forges and mitigated only by a few fans blowing back and forth to circulate air, was even greater than under the beating sun outside; beads of sweat formed on Arryn's forehead not seconds after he entered. The clanging, rhythmic sound of hammer on metal echoed loudly throughout the spacious chamber, filling Arryn with a pang of nostalgia that hit him like a ton of bricks. He felt tears begin to form in the corners of his eyes and rapidly came to the conclusion that he had not realized just how much he had missed all this. It had only been a month since he'd worked a forge, but standing there now, Arryn felt as though it had been a lifetime.

He quickly found the owner of the forge, a huge barrel-chested man in his 50s keeping a careful eye on the works of his two apprentices at their anvils. At Arryn's approach, his hard eyes moved from the projects in front of him to briefly take in the newcomer.

He gave Arryn one up and down look, evaluating and apparently dismissing what he saw, before turning his attention back to what he thought was more important.

"Yes? Can I help you, half pint," he asked absently, no longer even looking at him.

"You might not remember," Arryn began, "but I came here about a month ago looking for a job at your forge. You denied me, but I've come back to try again."

"I remember you," John responded. "The pipsqueak who had the gumption to call himself a smith when he could hardly lift a hammer. As I recall, I told you not to show yourself here again before you hit puberty. So what's happened? You finally sprout a few hairs on that skinny chest of yours?"

The man was still not looking at him. Irritated by his lack of respect and lack of attention, Arryn impulsively grabbed a thick, heavy iron bar from the top of a nearby worktable. He took both ends in his hands and, with the bare minimum of effort, bent it over his knee and folded it in on itself as easily as if it were made of paper mache.

"I got stronger," he told John flatly, handing him the bent bar to examine.

That got the man's attention. "So I see," he said. He looked at Arryn up and down again, his eyes wide with confusion and disbelief. It was a very satisfying look for him, Arryn thought. "That's one hell of a workout regimen. Just how on Earth could you possibly have...? No. Y'know what? Don't care. It takes more'n raw strength to be a blacksmith. You need precision, patience, artistry; it's as much brains as brawn, and I can tell just looking at you that you ain't cut out for it." He snorted. "Head on home now, little boy. We ain't got time here for wanna bes."

Arryn clenched his teeth angrily. The nerve of this cocky jackass! Arryn suspected he knew as much or more about this craft than John Bennett and both his apprentices combined! Old Hogan the dwarf had taught him, and he was worth a hundred John Bennetts. No, a thousand!

John looked into Arryn's eyes and must've seen the anger in them. The corner of his mouth quirked upward in an amused grin. "Oh, got some fire in you after all, eh, little guy? That's cute. Maybe hit the gym, do some research, and come back in another ten years or so and then we'll talk."

Arryn balled his fist and barely resisted the urge to hit the guy. "Give me one chance," he said instead. "One chance and I'll prove to you I know more about being a blacksmith than you think I do."

"No way."

Arryn opened his mouth to argue some more but before he could, one of the apprentices spoke up. He was as stocky and muscular as John Bennett himself and, though he was clean shaven where John had a beard, and with less white in his short blonde hair, he had many of the same facial features.

"Aw, c'mon, old man. Give the poor kid a shot. I never seen someone so small go and bend a thick metal pipe like that. Let's see what else he's got up his sleeve! Ain't like we got anything to lose, eh?" He flashed a big wide grin full of pearly white teeth that seemed to consume half his face. His bright blue eyes were alight with jovial amusement. " 'sides, if he DOES screw up again, we'll at least all get a good laugh out of it! Ain't that right, Jeremy," he asked the other apprentice standing a small distance away from him at another anvil.

"I don't think so, Jacob," he replied. He looked much like the first apprentice--nearly a twin in fact--but instead of amusement, all Arryn could see in this one's eyes was derision. "We have work to do, and I think Da has the right of it about this guy." He tsked contemptuously in Arryn's direction.

"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport, Jeremy." the jovial twin retorted. He bounded over and wrapped his arm around Arryn's shoulders. The fellow was at least a head taller than Arryn was, and about twice as wide. "I got a good feeling about this one, Pop. C'mon, let him use your forge to cook something up. You weren't usin' it anyway, just watchin' us like a hawk. What could it hurt, huh?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes and just went back to working the metal at his own forge. It looked like it'd be a helmet of some kind when it was finished. John rubbed his hand over his short hair with an exasperated look on his face.

"Ugh. Spoiled brat. Fine, whatever. One more chance. We'll see if this newfound strength of yours is worth anything." Arryn let out a breath of relief and anticipation both. He mouthed a silent thank you to Jacob, who gave him that big grin of his again and a hearty thumbs up in return before heading back to his own forge to hammer out the ridges on what appeared to be a breastplate.

For his part, John walked off and came back with a square block of pure steel, maybe about the size of Arryn's forearm.

"Take this to the unlit forge over there," he told Arryn. "You have till the end of the day to turn this into something I'll like. If you can do that, then we'll talk about a real apprenticeship with pay and benefits and all that malarkey. You get yourself hurt, it's not my responsibility. You break anything, you pay for it. And these toys ain't cheap, boyo. We clear?"

If the man was trying to scare him off, he was about to be sorely disappointed. "Clear," Arryn responded firmly.

"Good." John walked back over to his sons' workstations, Arryn already out of his mind by the looks of it. It seemed clear enough to him that the man was only humoring his son; he had no real expectation that the newcomer would be able to actually produce anything. Well, Arryn would make him swallow that disrespectful tongue of his by the time this day was through, right along with that arrogant attitude. That much he promised himself he would accomplish.

He wasted no time. He first went into the corner and donned a heavy lead apron, gloves and goggles. He picked out a set of tongs and a sturdy looking metal hammer with a flat head. He placed his sledgehammer down--on Aether he might have been able to use it in a forge, but in its current state, Mah'alleinir was no good for this--and filled a bucket of water. He took the water and moved over to the stove John had indicated.

The unlit furnace was nothing like Arryn was used to on Aether. The ones he used there were simple caverns of stone you lit a fire inside, but the contraption he was looking at had more knobs and buttons than he knew what to do with. Earth technology was something he still was not used to, but he refused give up. He played with them all one at a time, some in combination with one another, until he realized that it was not all that different from his stove at home. With a smirk and a grunt of satisfaction, Arryn managed to get a good fire going.

"And so he passes the first test," Arryn heard Jeremy say mockingly. "Lighting the furnace." Arryn looked over his shoulder to see all three of the Bennetts watching him.

"Woo! You got this, new guy! You show that overgrown oven who's boss!" Grinning, Jacob gave him another thumbs up.

"Alright, back to work you lazy sots," John roared. To Arryn he said only, "You better not fucking break anything or I'll break you." He seemed more concerned now. Perhaps he had not actually expected Arryn to get even this far before he ran off again.

Arryn used the tongs to place the hunk of steel into the furnace. He waited until it was a glowing reddish gold color before he took it out and placed it on the anvil in front of him. Unlike last time, he had no trouble holding or lifting the hammer; his newly regained strength saw to that. With a resounding clang, the first blow of his hammer on metal rang through then forge and for the next several hours, Arryn Blacksmith finally felt whole again.

Arryn's Daytime Activity: Complete

 

[shadowz1995]

Ginny breathed heavily. This time, the girl told herself, I’m really in over my head. And it appeared that she actually was, she had not the slightest energy left to even lift her arms, let alone continuing to put up a fight anymore. As she lay on the cold hard ground, accepting her fate, the thought of those grave mistakes she had made tormented her fainting spirit. She had been overconfident, overestimating herself, and worst of all had left her pride cloud her judgment. Failure was not an option, yet she had failed. Ah, if only… Someone kicked her legs cruelly, to check if she was still alive, perhaps. Too tired to make out their words, Ginny could only assume they were mocking her foolhardiness. Oh well, that was well deserved, she thought, at least give me some peace, damn it! The girl cracked open her eyes to check the source of the annoying voice. “…no manner whatsoever. Get out of the way already, you brat!”. Said a pompous lady in a pompous voice. Behind the woman, the pedestrians made their way around a girl lying on the street and a woman who had gone out of her way to reprimand a mannerless brat. It was a busy Monday, people moved along hurriedly, most annoyed, but couldn’t be bothered to do something about the unsightly scene of a young girl on the ground beside two giant plastic bags. Ah the groceries. Ginny jolted up to check if they were still there, they were. Lying there stubbornly, two large size grocery bags filled to the brim with trinkets, cat foods, soaps... Not only did the little girl thought one trip was enough to carry them all back, but she also spent to her last penny to buy the whole week’s stuff, without a single penny left to take a cab back. She had run out of options. Honor be damned. The lady had already left, and it seemed there was no one else willing to give her their time. But among them, someone fitted the role appeared. A tall man with muscle to spare and coldness in his eyes, definitely not someone you ask for help carrying your groceries home. But the logic was sound, heavy stuffs needed strong people to carry, like a wise man once said: ‘with great power come great responsibilities.’ And so she leapt out in front of the passing intimidating person with a broad, awkward and somewhat weary smile. “Mister! Help out a fellow in need please!”

Needless to say, the girl startled the man, earning herself a hard glare. He very nearly opened his mouth to berate the young lady but the words finally registered in his head. She needed help with something. His gaze flicked up to see the abandoned bags then back to her obviously fatigued appearance. At the very least, it didn't feel like she was lying. Then again, Seb getting duped by a pretty face was getting to be one of the oldest tricks in the book. Still, it's not like he could help it. "Listen little lady..." he started, his tone low and dangerous... as it usually was, "asking strangers that look like me to help you is a very quick way to end up missing." His eyes flicked up to the groceries and the ice his expression held practically melted instantly with a long sigh that followed. He stepped past the young woman and gripped the plastic bags, one in each hand, and lifted them off the ground effortlessly, "Where to, young miss?" He asked lightly.

“Oh…” Quite perplexed, she exclaimed. Not once had the thought of failing to get his help crossed her mind, Ginny considered herself a persuasive person after all, persistent even in a shameful act like asking favors from a total stranger. But it should have required some reasoning, bargaining and whining. In reality, not even another word was needed to gain his sympathy. Looks really can deceive.

Even so, she grinned in relief. “I know a good man when I see one, am I? Thanks a bunch, Mister…?”

"Then your blind." He retorted swiftly before adding his name, "Williams."

"I'm Ginny, thanks again, this way..." Replied Ginny, completely unfazed after William's somewhat nasty remark. Instead, his attitude reminded her of the old friends in the past. "You really helped me out of tight spot you know, though it wouldn't happen if..." And so she went on to describe in great detail how this ordeal of hers came to be on the way back to her place, all the while walking at the average speed of her short legs, forcing her companions to match her speed.

Before long, to the merry girl at least, they reached their destination. A small coffee shop, small enough that it could be run by an old lady and a teenager effortlessly. Overdecorated in frills and cat hairs, here and there some middle-aged women were resting in their natural habitat. Greeting them as they entered were the wide open eyes of the other customers and Mrs Henderson, a particularly tiny lady by the counter, it was an understatement to say that Ginny had led home an unusual visitor.

Amidst the whispers and whistles at the eye-pleasing spectacle of a man, Ginny pointed at a spot beside the counter. “There, you can just leave it there, I will deal with them later, for now…” said the girl as she went to behind the counter. “I will pay you back with a drink. We have tea as well as coffee and some, err, other stuff… you can take a seat anywhere you like.”

He placed the bags down wordlessly and took a look around. It was rare when Sebastion was taken aback by something but this was one of those moments. His brow was furrowed as he took the place in with suspicion at first, followed by incredulity. He took a seat at an empty table away from the unceasing stares and spoke, a little softer than normal considering the company, "I'll take tea please. Grey if you have it. Black if you dont. Without sugar, please." Seb the way he ordered was somewhat on autopilot. Polite and to the point. He was more distracted by.... well everything this little shop presented. It was all so..... girly. Efiiminate. The old soldier felt like a fish out of water that was told to swim in magma now.

Behind the counter, Ginny studied the man with a grin. So that was the face she had when she was here the first time. Although she would like to continue her observing some more, the cup of tea was ready to serve. Since the man was hasty in his order, Ginny had not the chance to ask what his order was supposed to taste like.

Since there was nothing called “grey tea” in their stock the best she could do was to grab the bag with the words “black tea” clearly written on its label, and did the best she could to make the leaves inside into an edible drink: steep them in hot water for about four minutes. The little girl suspected there were some underlying fancier and highly complicated methods to brew his desired cup of tea, but she doubted doing some experimenting with his drink would be appropriate when they just met the first time. Who said Ginny Grey couldn’t be a delicate and considerate girl? “I hope it’s to your liking.” Said the girl as she put a steamy cup before Sebastian, with a mechanical smile, born and molded by the service industry. Then she shooed a cat out of the way to sit across from the big man. “To be somewhat honest, I didn’t expect someone would heed my ask for help back there. Whatever you say, you are a good man, buddy.” Then she paused for a few seconds, considered hanging out some more pleasantry, but from the way he looked, he could get up and leave anytime for some made-up urgent business. “I had only been in London for a few weeks, what happened today is the biggest evidence that I could use some help every so often. After all, I lack strength.” She couldn’t help but let out a sigh at this point.

Then suddenly didn’t know how to continue, the man before her she had barely known for more than an hour, but her instinct told her this man could be trusted. From her experience, her reasoning wasn’t as good as her instinct. “Then, I could use your help sometimes. What do you say? Lend me your muscle when I need. Though I don’t earn a lot of money from my job, I will only call you when I really, really need someone strong, I mean, I will try to buy less stuff in one trip next time so I won’t summon you for something like that…”

The man drank his tea silently and said nothing as the girl spoke. Merely focusing on the ... roughly brewed but tasty beverage.

There was a long silence before Sebastion finally decided to speak, "I'm going to tell you four things. One of them is true. The other three are false."

With his free hand, he put up one finger and closed his eyes.

"I'm a serial rapist who targeted you and only helped you so you can drop your guard."

A second finger joined the first.

"I'm a killer whose taken more lives than he has hairs on his head."

A third

"I'm a schizophrenic who is just in between episodes."

And the final one

"Or a convicted pedophile and your age just isnt in my range."

He put his hand down and finished the tea without missing a beat. His eyes slowly opened and the ice had returned to his expression. "I'm sparing you any additional problems in your life little lady. Trust me."

With that, Sebastion stood from his seat and adjusted his jacket. He thanked the young lady for the tea and turned to leave. However, just before he stepped outside, he turned to her and spoke in a low voice, "If no one has ever told you before... dont talk to strangers. Especially asking them for help and guiding them to your place of work. You just met me, Kid. I could've been anyone.... but I AM one of those four I mentioned earlier. That wasn't a lie."

"Be careful who you talk to." And with that, he walked out.

Ginny sat speechless as the man finished his piece and promptly left the shop. What could she even say? She had misjudged him, her senses were deceived. Those eyes she thought could understand, that she had seen them before – the eyes of a fighter for hire, those who kill for a living. People like that would never turn down an offer to trade their strength for money. His refusal was understandable, and although disappointed, she had no right to be angry, since Ginny herself also didn't tell him the whole truth.

Well, at least she was right that he was a good man at heart. “That’s why,” She mumbled to herself “You would be the most acceptable one out of the four… wait, what’s a ‘shi-zo-phe-nic’ again?”

Ginny & Sebastion day activity done
Location: Cozy Cat's Cave

 

[doneanddusted]

Summer couldn’t remember her dream. She found that a tad disappointing; dreams were always an opportunity for her to look into her unconscious side. The young woman got out of bed and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked great. Summer dressed up in a her hoodie- her trench coat was still in the washer. There was an itch under her cast. She bit her lip.

She left her flat alongside Richard. It felt rather warm for the early morning, and there was quite a bit of traffic.

“The Underground’s been flooding,” Richard said.

“I see,” Summer mumbled.

“You know, there’s going to be a news conference tonight. About the thing.”

“Really!?” Summer seemed to brighten up.

“Yeah,” Richard replied, incredibly used to her strange reactions.

Summer grinned and slapped a hand on to her cheek. A conference about the Covent Garden bombing? Blimey, she had to take a look at this! What lies would the police try to feed the public? How hard would they to calm everyone down? How much would their body language betray them?

“Oh, I’m so excited!” The young woman exclaimed. “We have to watch it, Richard!”

“Of course,” Richard sighed. “For fuck’s sake Summer, why are you like this?”

“You know how much I love watching political authorities!”

“Bloody hell…”

Summer laughed. She thought of what else could happen today- besides the press conference. She had a hankering for excitement, a desire to experience the same adrenaline-filled rush that she’d felt from almost getting destroyed by a car. With the whole wrist situation, Summer had the time to do anything.

Maybe I should go to an amusement park… she thought.

Diana was right, she hadn’t really gone anywhere in a while.

Despite that, Summer went with her friend to the Reader’s Retreat. Not that she felt an attachment to that place- rather, she wanted to try out a new recipe for mini chocolate cakes that she got inspiration (stole) from that girl at the bar the night before. The secret ingredients? Well, only Summer could know that; otherwise, she’d have to kill you.

Admittedly, Summer had to tell Richard the ingredients, because he was the one doing most of the actual cooking for her. Whatever, she already threatened him sufficiently.

After decorating, Richard threw all the little cakes on to few plates. Summer looked around for guinea pigs to test her new recipe on. She then spotted a familiar head of blonde hair dusting a bookshelf in the actual reading portion of the building.

"Rose!!" Summer exclaimed.

Elena jumped, nearly dropping the the dusting tool she held in her hands. She turned her head quickly, eyes wide as if she'd just been caught in headlights. When she realized who it was that called her name, the female let out a relieved sigh. "Summer!"

Summer skipped over to her "friend" like some happy child.

"Try one!" She one-handedly shoved a plate of cakes towards the victim.

"Oh!" Elena replied, eyeing the plate carefully. She wasn't wearing glasses that day, so her doe eyes looked larger and more youthful as they sparkled with admiration. Holy fuck, those eyes were gorgeous.

"These are so cute." Elena said in awe as she reached for one of the cakes. Unconsciously, she brought it to her nose to sniff it before placing the whole thing in her mouth. She chewed for a few seconds, regretting the decision of eating it whole, before she began to show her appreciation. Summer watched in mild amusement.

Offering a thumbs up, Elena tried to speak with her full mouth but almost choked, forcing her to finish chewing first. "Sorry," she laughed, pouring herself a glass of water. "That was delicious. Did you make these yourself?"

"Yup!" Summer exclaimed. "Stole it from a bar. People talk so much at bars!"

She giggled.

Nodding, Elena's mouth mimicked a small o. She took a sip of water before setting the cup back down, turning to give Summer her full attention since there weren't any customers yet. "Are you planning on selling them at the cafe? Maybe I can talk to Richard and we can offer a cupcake if customers spend so much on books. It'd help get them out there."

"Of course," Summer grinned. "We can do that."

She turned to leave, but then paused and turned back.

"Just to make sure the taste is... consistent, how about you take another one?" Summer handed Elena another cake.

"Oh, okay," Elena responded, eyes innocent and her smile still on her face. "I'll save it for later. Thanks."

So that was that. Summer frowned, a bit disappointed that she didn't get to see the full results of her hard work. She returned to her end of the building to chill with Richard.

Around noontime, Summer decided that she had no purpose at the Reader's Retreat, and that she ought to actually go somewhere. And what better thing to do with her time than to run over to the library to read some books? Yes, she'd indulge in reading, then entertain herself with the news conference. Today would be a wonderful day.

With: koala
Summer's Daytime Activity complete!

 

[peachuu]

Quinn Aiko Rundquist
mentions: Larry | location: dorm to school | purpose: class time!​

With the commencing of a stupid alarm ringing throughout the room—this time both earlier and a different tune altogether, Quinn eased herself up and out of her bed, without the bloody assistance of her deranged pets. She yawned, stretched—then yawned again, her eyes staying open ever so slightly. And so began the real daily routine of her life since two years ago; Quinn walks over to her closet and proceeds to take out one of the already prepared outfits she had folded (yes she was that particular about her things), then laid the clothing articles out on her small bed. She then feeds her cat some kibble, before hopping into the shower quietly and slipping back out before the cold gets to her. Her bag had already been mostly packed since last night she didn’t touch it much. Quinn slipped on a skirt, white nike shirt and bomber jacket despite what the weather was today. Knowing her and her bloody bad dieting, her anaemia would act u anytime soon in class, and she was NOT in the mood to be freezing.

Once Curiosity had finished eating, she used her slender legs to hop back onto her original spot on the bed. As for the other “pet”, the doll remained near the bag and box as if saying she should check it instead. The box obviously was empty, and Aiko took the opertuniy to put the doll back in, however, she had a bit of food left over from last night and definitely did not remember to finish it off. Thankfully it wasn’t an easily perishable thing (as it was just a bag of open chips) but however that had her thinking of last night. She shook it off a bit and decided to head out before she became much later than needed. The yellow backpack and box strap were lugged over her shoulder, and she was out and about again.

It didn’t taker her long to find her class and frankly she was a bit early than expected. She saw Ludwig with his early bird self sitting within the middle section, and she sort of steered away from him but at the same time did stay a ways near considering the middle section is truly one of the best spots. Quinn puller out her laptop and quickly checked syllabus as they were supposedly starting a new topic again, and of course it was supposedly the Battle of Manzikert in 107, following the Byzantine Empire after losing territory to Seljuk Turks. As much as she adored Europe, she was awe fully bored of hearing regurgitated answers, because let’s face it—what hasn’t she heard by now?

DAYTIME ACTIVITY COMPLETE

 

[IG42]

Tannur

Waking from a fitful doze in the morning Tannur realised he had fallen asleep on the sofa while listening out for Silver's possible return though that had obviously not happened. Getting himself ready for work he resolved to go by the tattoo parlour and see if she had showed up there, if she wasn't there or at his workplace he didn't know where to begin looking for her if he was being honest with himself.

Arriving at the tattoo parlour shortly after it opened he glanced inside and stared in shock for a moment at the sight of Silver sitting quite happily behind the counter as if it was any other day aside from the ill-fitting shirt she was wearing. Storming in he loomed over his charge as best he could. "So..." He began in a brittle tone. "How was your evening? Because I spent it wondering if you were getting yourself in a mess yet again."

She gave him a bright smile, seemingly oblivious to his mood. "Oh, it was actually really nice! The stupid hero can actually cook - better than you - and my brother's so cool! He doesn't talk much though."

Not even taking a moment to explain that she knew she had a brother now.
"Oh, speaking of, can Marcus come and live with us? Stupid Hero's so mean in the morning. He said he was going to break my neck. And pull my hair. He's the worst."

Leaning on the counter Tannur double facepalmed for moment. "You wandered off with him of all people?" Now he knew that seer girl was just a vague as any other, The Hero definitely wasn't his friend. "You have a brother? Who the hell is Marcus? Did you at least hurt The Hero a little?"

"Marcus is my brother, were you even paying attention? I woke the Hero up an hour early. And called him stupid."

"Since when did you have a brother?" As far as he knew she had just wandered in alone one day and never left, while he wasn't one to pry into someone's past he'd heard that anyone who asked her about got even less useful answers than usual or simply got bitten.

"Um..." That seemed to confuse her. Silver tried to think, then ended up just shrugging. "Since always."

"So what? You just remembered him now or did some random guy say he was your brother and you believed him and if he really is your brother what's he doing with him?" He jabbed a thumb in Roland's direction.

"I don't remember him but... I feel weird, but in a nice way? He doesn't talk much about the past, but he told me a little about our family and it all sounds right." Frowning at him, she utilised the chairs capacity to spin so she could spin around and not look at him.
"Go away."

"Silver don't you go blanking me! I-" His rant was cut off early by another voice.

"Oi, fruitcake!" That was Silver's boss, briefly pausing his drawing on the customer's leg to bellow at Tannur. "You gonna order a tat or you just gonna distract my useless employee all day long?"

The hero, who was standing next to the boss while he worked, only just now seemed to realize Tannur was there and his eyes narrowed ominously. He left the work station and began marching over to the front desk where he and Silver were speaking.

Tannur barely spared the man a glance after deciding that carving his own artwork into his face wouldn't fit with keeping a low profile and kept his attention on Silver. "I'll still be at work when you're done here so come and me alright?" Finally giving Jim a little attention he raised his voice a little. "And you can kiss my arse!" With his last shot delivered he turned to leave.

The Hero caught Tannur by the arm before he could make it out the parlour's front door. "Jim! I'm going on my lunch break," he shouted to the man still working on the person in the chair's leg.

"It's only 8:30 in the morning and I was sort of in the middle of teaching you about how to do your fucking job, but whatever. I'm not paying you for the time you're out, though, and I'm not letting you take another break at noon," the boss replied dismissively.

The red-headed man did not appear bothered by this as he dragged Tannur out the front door. When they were out of earshot of anyone inside the building, he spoke.

"Your name was Tannur, right? I need your help," he began. "With Silver."

"You want my help?" Tannur asked incredulously then quickly shifted to a mocking tone. "Aww is dealing with Silver already getting to you?"

"Well, yes, she is getting to me," he replied irritably. "The girl could try the patience of a stone. But that isn't what I need help with. No, I want you to help me teach her the basic life and social skills she so sorely lacks. She needs to learn how to get along without someone always there to look over her shoulder. She can't always count on you or me or the Mad Quee--" He coughed. "--I mean, Lucrezia to be there when a pigeon chases her away from home or she can't find something to eat.

"We can start with how to read, write, and do simple sums. It's a travesty that she's nigh on 20 years old and no one has taken the time to teach her already. I have a plan about how to do it; I intend to put it into action with your help or without. She trusts you, though, and you're with her more than I am. It would be a lot easier to get her to go along with it if I had you on my side, Tannur."

Tannur gave him a long look, while he had started trying to come up with a way to make Silver that little bit more independent though he had been held up by helping her get over her injuries from the incident as well as exposure to the elements of the unnatural storm. "Why do you care? You just want her to be less of a bother to you?"

"Yes," he responded simply. "Partially, at least. Teaching her to be useful would make her a hell of a lot easier to deal with at work." With a knowing smirk, he added, "And at home too, I'd wager. More than that, though, I owe her brother a debt. And even if I didn't, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel bad for her. To reach her years and not have matured at all past the mental age of a toddler? To be able to kill a man and laugh about it, but not write her own name? What kind of cruel life must she have led to come to this? No one should have to endure that. I want to help her."

"Pity then? You want to raise up the little disadvantaged girl?" Tannur scoffed. "You don't know anything of cruelty, I wasn't much younger than she was when I learned my letters."

He shrugged. "Then all the more reason to help the girl learn hers. You seem to know a little of what it is to be in her position. You and I have our differences, but in this, our interests are aligned. Will you let your enmity against me stop you from helping your friend?"

Sucking in a breath through his teeth Tannur stared him down. "Fine...what did you have in mind? I don't expect you brought any of your personal tutors with you to do all the work for you."

"Excellent, " Roland exclaimed, plainly satisfied. "No personal tutors, unless you count YouTube videos aimed at preschoolers. Just you, me, a load of workbooks from the library, and a boat load of chocolate to keep her motivated. The boss has already agreed to pay for all the sweets we might require for as long as it takes. He has as much interest in making something useful of Silver as anyone. Maybe more."

The hero spit on his hand and held it out, a custom among the smallfolk of Aether to seal an agreement. "Shake on it?"

Raising his eyebrows he returned the gesture after a moment. "Alright fine but know this Hero if you lay a hand on her again you'll wake up one morning with your balls sitting on your pillow next to you."

Roland blinked. Then he let out a laugh. "That's the spirit, Tannur. I only hope you'll be that intimidating when Silver comes crying for her sweets without finishing her homework. I was a little worried, what with your ladylike figure and the way she always talks about ordering you around, that she might already have your balls tucked under her pillow."

He gave Tannur a friendly pat on the shoulder and opened the door to go back inside the parlour. "Later," he called as it shut behind him.

"Ladylike?!" Tannur barked furiously at The Hero's back and resolved to make sure something expensive of his mysteriously disappeared. Leaving the tattoo parlour behind he wandered off to find something to do while he waited for his shift to start.

While he walked he wondered why so many people kept calling his appearance feminine or strangers outright thought he was a lady, yeah he had taken a liking to wearing his hair long and he wasn't exactly bulky but that didn't mean he looked that much like a woman. Right?

MagicPenguin WillfulWren (Tannur day complete)

 

[MagicPenguin]

Roland Fairchild
Public Library
5:32 PM

Walking among the bookshelves, Roland scanned the workbooks and manuals lined up in the early childhood section of the library's ground floor. He'd gotten both Jim and Tannur on board with his plan to teach Silver. He'd been a bit worried about Tannur, the contemptuous way the fellow stared at him during their conversation earlier. Luckily, his concern for Silver seemed to win out over his contempt for Roland and he agreed to help. Now all that was left was to gather the books he'd need for her to learn and the chocolate with which to motivate her. After some needling and guilting from Roland, Jim had agreed to pay for the chocolate and even pointed him in the direction of a specialty store that made its own--"the best shit in all of Britain," he'd claimed. It was a little out of the way, but close enough that Roland could pick up a supply of treats sometime before work tomorrow. That just left the books. Roland had been coming to the library almost daily after work since Covent Garden to find traces of Odania anyway, so it wasn't too much of a hassle to look into books for Silver at the same time. The prince had no experience teaching whatsoever, unfortunately, so he was basically winging it. He picked a few of the books on letters and numbers that looked simplest and had lots of pictures. He didn't want to tax Silver's short attention span too heavily right away, after all. Frowning uncertainly, he made his way back out to the main desk to borrow his selections. After that was taken care of, he'd head to the historical archives to resume his searching for ancient lost cities that looked like what Lucrezia had shown him in her...vision, mind-space, whatever place with all the birds and trees.

Standing in line, Roland looked about the library idly as he waited for his turn with the librarian. It was by pure chance that, among all the people milling about the area, he just happened to notice a familiar figure with a cast on her wrist sitting at a table in the far corner with her nose in a book. Summer Jones, the woman whose life had almost ended yesterday but for some odd vision of the future he'd randomly received, semed to be reading a book on psychology. She looked straight at him and froze for a fleeting second before smiling warmly and waving.

Roland waved back with a smile. He was pleasantly surprised to see her here. He'd been curious since yesterday how she'd gotten along after her near-death experience. His books for preschoolers in hand, he slipped out of line and walked over to her table to say hello.

"Summer? Summer Jones? That IS you, isn't it? Do you remember me from yesterday? I'm Roland. Or Ron, if you prefer."

"Yes, I'm Summer," the woman laughed. "I do remember you, ya Be- ya big ol' hero. You know, most parents bring their kids with them to the library."

Roland casually took the seat across from her. "Ha," he replied cheerfully, gesturing with the stack of children's books she seemed to be referencing. "Well, the child these are for is...let's just say, a little bit too wild to bring into a quiet library. It's something I'm hoping to change in the next few months, even if only just a little." He then asked, "How have you been since your ordeal yesterday? I see you got your wrist sorted out. Does it hurt terribly?"

"My wrist is fine," Summer said, a gentle smile still on her face. She leaned forward to rest her chin on her hands. "Would you say that you have a good memory?"

He shrugged. "Good enough, I suppose. Why do you ask?"

Summer raised an eyebrow, almost as if she wasn't convinced.

"No reason in particular," she said.

She set her book down.

"Are you just here to get a book for your kid?"

"No, not just that," he replied. Roland scratched his head in mild bafflement, but had an amused smile on his face. "You know," he said teasingly, "the way you suddenly jump from topic to topic like that, talking to you is like trying to tame a wild horse blindfolded. Lots of jumps and sharp turns and I never know quite where I'm going to end up."

"I suppose I make a lot of jumps in my head," Summer shrugged. "Should I stop talking like... a wild horse?"

"No, not at all. You ought to talk however you like. I think it's charming. So, what brings you here today? Are you researching something as well?"

"Ah no, just finishing up some light reading," Summer said, motioning to the pile of books behind her. It was a pretty big stack of some thick and dry reading for just "light reading," Roland thought."You know, with this broken wrist and all, I've got so much time. Do you know any interesting places in London I could go to?"

"Hm. Interesting places? Sure, there seems to be something interesting around every corner in this city. I go to the park sometimes to relax and get some drawing done, for one. I've heard there's this cafe where everything is pink and frilly and there are all kinds of cats running around. I've also heard rumors of this underground bar where they only let in the most rich and famous and well-connected as well, but who knows if that's true?"

"A cat cafe?" Summer clapped her hands together. "Do you know where?"

"Not far from your Author's Attic, I think, but I don't know the exact location. Unfortunately, much as I'd love to explore London more and go find these places myself, I've got my hands full with my co-worker and trying to solve this mystery about an ancient city that I can't seem to find any information about." Roland hesitated for a moment, scratching his chin. "Speaking of, you wouldn't happen to know any myths or legends about a city that just randomly appeared somewhere in the distant past, would you?"

Summer tilted her head.

"Cool research you're doing," she muttered (probably more to herself than to Roland).

She paused for a moment.

"I don't know much about fables," Summer finally said. "But if you can't find anything here, then I'm sure the nearby university has more tailored content."

"Oh? University?" Roland's interest was piqued. If there was a university, there were scholars, and if there were scholars, they might know how to find what he was looking for better than he did himself. "What kinds of things do they study there? History? Are there a lot of researchers?"

"You-" Summer stopped herself. "Universities are like... schools, but for adults, to horribly simplify." She giggled a bit. "They've got heaps of stuff in addition to libraries like um... research papers."

"I do know what a university is," he said wryly.

Why are you studing randomly appearing cities?

He shrugged. "Everyone needs a hobby," he replied. "Why are you studying psychology?"

"The same as you, I guess," Summer laughed.

"I should probably remind you," Summer's voice lost its light tone, and her long-mantained smile dropped completely. "That I told you yesterday that we should avoid each other."

"You did," he said, a little taken aback by the sudden change in demeanor. "Why is that, exactly? Did I do something to offend you?"

"I dislike you," Summer sighed. "Of course, I'm infinitely greatful to you. But the few moments I've had to meet you seem to reflect deeply on the whole of you, and I find that whole of you to be incredibly unpleasant. You're disgusting, and it seems that you serve no use in my life. Now leave me be, you manky fuckwad."

She stood up abruptly and left without taking any books with her.

"Hey," he called out, "you forgot your--!" But she was already near the exit. Thoroughly confused, Roland just sat back in his chair and watched her storm out, head spinning like a top. Waving him over with a smile one minute and cursing at him like Jim the next. Like two completely different people. "What under the Light is up with that girl...?"

She'd given him a good tip, though. He'd been looking here for over a week and hadn't found a thing on Odania. Maybe he would pay this university of hers a visit, just as soon as he looked up its location on one of the library's computers.

Written with: doneanddusted Mentioned: WillfulWren IG42

 

[RI.a]

VICTORIA CAIN
written with: doneanddusted | location: neal's coffee​

Spoiler: INTRO

”…We’ve recently learned that the Chief of Police is hosting a conference tonight for the public to address concerns regarding Covent Garden. Viewers of Channel 3 can be assured that a team would be there to get you the latest news tonight at 9…”

The small television in the corner of their kitchen blared the news. The same montage of shots of the injured being rushed to the hospital from last week and now recuperating on their beds. Firefighters and police working through debris and securing the extent of the incident. It was starting to turn into an opening scene to a drama series.

A middle-aged lady wiped her damp hands on a kitchen towel before straightening her knee length skirt. Her dark brown hair was littered with strands of grey. A little more than usual nowadays. She was slowly sipping on her cup of black coffee. A set of jam sandwiches, juice and even aspirin next to a glass of water sat on the counter that she leaned on as she continued listening to the newscaster.

“Oh my god I’m going to be late… Eugh!” A throaty groan sounded from the corridor before the still groggy and clearly hangover Victoria stumbled into the kitchen. Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw the steely gaze of her mother’s. The younger brunette gulped visibly and flashed Mrs. Cain a smile. At least she managed to brush her teeth last night and this morning.

The older woman sighed, tired of nagging. She already voiced her concern very clearly last night. ”I’ve made breakfast. Eat up before you go.”

It wasn’t surprising that Victoria just noticed the spread all laid out in front of her. But before she would do as her mother says, she gave her sweet mom a big hug and a kiss on her cheek.

Ding!

The small bell on Neal’s Coffee door chimed. Luckily, there were no customers yet and the familiar red-head was working on the display for today’s baked goods. Catching her breath, Victoria sighed in relief and walked up towards the kitchen, apologising for being 5 minutes late.

Her heart was still pumping against her chest as she set her bag down. She should really work go jogging more often. Slipping the plain dark blue apron on, she slid back out to the front to wash her hands before helping Fred.

If one could physically feel emotional intensity, it would be now. The dread and high tension emotion pouring into the small coffee shop was something else entirely. Five tall standing figures directed those high-strung emotions into the coffee shop. The one leading the back being the middle-aged, greasy, and foul looking leader. Trailing closely were three goons who seemed to be the muscle of the leader. Finally, there was the younger man in the back. His expression was firm yet remained silent. There was no outward emotions despite the intensity.

The five men all sat around one booth table, shuffling themselves to a seat without acknolwedgement to any employees. It was clear the leader of the pack was running the show. First to sit was said leader, along with the younger man. They'd position themselves to the very end of the booth while the three goons sat outside. It seemed like an eternity as the middle-aged leader glared down the younger man who gave sharp darts in his eyes backward.

Both of the staff members stiffened, their hands frozen with a freshly wrapped panini and their wide eyes followed the men in black. Their quiet morning turned upside down in a matter of seconds. It was clear they were both afraid, but they had to their jobs. Before Victoria had a chance, the ginger excused himself to the back, giving the brunette a shaky pat on her shoulder. The teen’s heart raced, her eyes darted back down to the wooden floors. It was him! The man who tore her family apart. The one who got her father arrested. She was sure it was him!

And what does waitress do when faced with a drug dealer in public? What can she do? She’s got no evidence that he is a dangerous man. Heck— everyone in the booth are clearly dangerous! What can she do besides her job? There was a moment where she wanted to run out the back, but what if this was her only chance to find out more about the criminal? She needs a lead… a name!

“Good- Good morning, gentlemen!” Victoria’s voice shook, a forced smile on her face. Her body felt heavy, her arm stiffly handed out the menus, reciting their specials for the day. She left the table to get small glasses and a jug of water. Pouring the cool liquid slowly, sweat started forming on the corners of her brow as she forced conversation.

“I’ve not seen you folks around before. Is there a new business opening up? Anything special going on you’re heading to?” Oh no, was that too many questions?

The sour looking leader retorted with a simple 'pfft'. As if even being asked simple questions was too much of a bother. He reared his ugly mug towards the server, making very direct orders. "Four cups of coffee, sweetheart." His rumbling tone dripping with condescending malice. "Make it quick." One thing was clear out of this. He wasn't in the mood to make small talk with a waitress.

Avery's eyes finally lifted from glaring at his captain toward Victoria. Tony had already managed to anger him once more with treating a stranger like this. There was a brief moment in his expression that read sympathy toward the girl. As if he wanted to apologize for his superior's behavior. Although Avery remained shut slient.

Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. This was one of those moments Victoria had in school where she would moan about how hard life is. Except this was a hundred times worse. But school taught her better. And she definitely knew how to count. Sharing was out of the question. The men could each have a pot of caffeine each and it would merely wake them up. She bit the inside of her cheek, forcing her mouth open even though she really wanted to do her job quietly. Her hazel eyes met the younger man’s brown ones.

“And what can I get you…. Handsome?” Victoria regretted the word as soon as it came out. She needed the earth to swallow her whole now. But now that she’s started down this route, there’s no way she’d back out of it. Though it’s because she has no idea how. Her hands started to fidget, but she kept her gaze on him and even attempted to give a wink. It probably looked like something flew into her eye.

That exchange certainly earned a brief quiet amoung the group. The still moment frozen in time. As tough and stoic the gangsters were, there's no way they would pass up on an opportunity like that. One of the three thugs let out a stiffled laugh, throwing his head up with hand over forehead. The other two shot Avery smug grins. Even the gruff captain of the group gave an amused snort. The thug next to Avery smacked his shoulder. "Yeah pretty boy, what are ya' having?" he harrassed. The juxtoposition between their intensity and the sudden ability to tease the youngest guy of the group stood on its own.

Avery tried not to mind. Although even he found it a bit amusing. "Just a glass of water. Thank you." His smooth voice rang even when the other guys were trying to shake something more emotive out of him. Avery wasn't sure what the server was doing. She seemed horrible at the flirty waitress troupe. Maybe it was her way of returning sympathy. Or maybe the redhead from earlier dared her to say that.

The outburst of laughter made Victoria jump slightly, and her cheeks grew red as the group teased the man that she’s now ‘interested in’. She joined the customers with a nervous laugh. At least they bought it, right? If she got out of this mess alive, she may consider acting as a career. “Are you sure.. Sweetie?” Victoria continued vomitting out loving nicknames, “I can get you something special, and if you don’t like it, it’s on the house.” She even twirled a stray lock of hair with a finger. But before the man could reply, she answered for him and made a beeline to the kitchen, all the while freaking the hell out.

"You-" Avery started in protest. But before he could get any response, she had already left. The captain was still in a fouler mood, even with the amusement. Although his thugs were fully buying up the teasing. "Must be nice to be young, eh Jr.?" Avery gave a soft sigh. He wasn't even sure what was happening any more.

Soon, she came back out with their orders. The waitress placed the cups of coffee down first, then made the effort to slide the special drink all the way to where Avery sat. It was a cappuccino, with a fancy big foam heart floating on top. Below the cup was a small piece of paper with her number on it. “Are you lads going to tell me where you are headed in your fancy suits?” Victoria took the chance to ask again, since the atmosphere was a lot lighter now compared to before.

The men took their coffee happily. Victoria's attempt to make the mood lighter certainly worked out, and by now they were distracted by her questions. Avery on the other hand took note of the paper before the cup. With a brow raised, he slid it from the drink into his coat sleeve. One smooth notion, sly as a fox.

"We're just businessmen. Insurance. You know the deal." When it came to their work and any questions asked, it seemed the captain was first to respond. Always direct and curt. Never dwelling on answers for too long. The Capo had at least 40 years of experience under his belt with this sort of thing. The men were quick to sip down their coffee. Avery included, since the guys hadn't noticed the foam heart just yet. As quickly as they drank, the captain already set down money in exact change to pay for just about everyone. Avery paid on his own.

“Ah—right. Of course. I’ll let you enjoy the drinks.” The girl had no choice but to stand down from the man’s answer. Insurance. What a load of— Victoria’s got brought out of her mental cursing with the chime of the door. As she went about serving them, she couldn’t stop wanting to dig deeper. To see justice be brought upon the man. She watched the group of thugs get up to leave, but she couldn’t just watch. The reckless teen put her apron down and suddenly announced that she was feeling ill, claiming to go home for the day. Leaving through the front door with her purse, she trailed behind the group of thugs.
Victoria & Avery Daytime Activity Complete

 

[Avari]

WEATHER: CLEAR NIGHT | WARM
UPCOMING EVENTS: N/A
NEXT FULL MOON: 28TH AUGUST

NOTABLE LOCATIONS
INFERNO: OPEN FOR MEMBERS| JAZZ NIGHT

NOTES:
NIGHTTIME ENDS 21ST JAN​

 

[Avari]

​

The Newscaster finishes off reading the evening segment, speaking quickly to ensure that he finishes in time for the switch over to the Press Conference. He smiles at the camera with white teeth as the clock on the bottom right of the screen strikes the hour, and the screen promptly clicks to a far busier scene. A vacant pedestal above a small crowd of impatient journalists. You can see the backs of the heads of the front row. They’re all carrying note pads or tablets, while others are holding cameras.

A man walks onto stage, accompanied by a volley of blinding camera flashes. He’s an older man, but clearly in good shape. He’s wearing a police uniform, and his expression is somewhat strained. A banner flashes up at the bottom of the screen, naming him as “Chief-Inspector Morgan” and he steps up to the pedestal, surveys the crowd before beginning to speak in a clipped and precise manner.

He doesn’t say anything that everyone doesn’t already know, but everyone listens nonetheless. He talks about the bizarre nature of the case. How meteorologists are still baffled by the sudden appearance and disappearance of what is now being classed as an incredibly small category four hurricane - even worse than the great storm of 1987. He explains how the destruction caused to Covent Garden can not be all be explained by the storm - roads were torn up, buildings completely destroyed; and not a single witness able to explain what happened.

The Chief-Inspector visibly grips the pedestal now, as if holding onto it for support as a sudden wave of questions are shouted out from the audience. Surely there must be some explanation? How could the police be so incompetent? How long until the area was reopened to the public? Morgan rises his hands up to quieten down the crowd, and then through what seemed to be gritted teeth he explains:

The police are no longer in charge of the investigation. A special government agency has taken over full command, and a representative was here to speak to everyone now.

The Chief-Inspector steps away from the pedestal and walks away without looking back.

​

Another man walks up to the stage. He’s far, far younger than the graying Chief-Inspector. Handsome as well. Piercing blue eyes below a mess of white hair. He’s immaculately dressed - looking more like he’s going out for an evening meal in one of the poshest restaurants in London, rather than a news conference. He steps up to the pedestal, seemingly unperturbed by the blinding camera flashes.

He smiles, and bows to the audience before introducing himself.

He says his name is Jack Kaysen. A detective who specializes in crimes that others cannot explain. You may recognize him - he’s been quite the minor celebrity in some parts recently. He was responsible for catching several prominent criminals over the last year and had been invited onto numerous TV shows as a special guest. The fact that he was incredibly good looking and charming had definitely never hurt either.

More camera flashes.

Kaysen goes on to explain his findings so far. He doesn’t believe the damage to Covent Garden was caused by an act of terror, or even intended to begin with. With a smile, several large blown-up pictures of the damage to various roads and buildings are shown to the audience - along with a few gasps. After all, this is the first time anyone has been allowed to see them. He describes in detail, using various markers how the damage is clearly of a collateral nature; and how he currently believes there were two separate parties at play that night.

Kaysen takes a brief moment to adjust his collar with a gloved hand before continuing.

He goes on to explain that they have in fact, found a single body within Covent Garden. Which was cleanly decapitated.

A few louder gasps from the crowd. This was new information.

Kaysen apologizes that he won’t be showing pictures of the body, and he hopes everyone understands why. He goes on to explain that while the police have already interviewed the vast majority of witnesses who were within the area at the time, they were all going to be re interviewed over the coming weeks, as he believes some vital clues have been missed. He politely declines to answer when one of the journalists asks what he was looking to find.

The man looks towards the camera now. The boyish smile fades from his lips, and his bright blue eyes are hard and cold. The camera flashes continue.

“Seeing justice done is my primary concern. If the perpetrators of this disaster continue to hide, I will find them. I promise you all, I will determine the truth.”

Journalists raise their hands into the air, in hope of him answering their questions. Kaysen seems to consider for a moment, before smiling and pointing at one of the women in the front row.

She stands to her feed and introduces herself as a writer for the Daily Mirror. She asks if has any suspects in the case already.

Kaysen flashed a smile before bowing again.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be patient with me,” He said apologetically.

“I only took over the case this afternoon.”

The conference ends.

KAYSEN'S INVESTIGATION HAS BEGUN

​

 

[Larry]

Ludwig von Löwenburg
Location: University of Westminster, Monday, 6th August.
Time of day: Evening time.
Mood: Energised.
Mentions: peachuu .​

Byzantine history was not a part of history that Ludwig could claim too much knowledge over; he was well acquainted with the fact that the Romans set their sights upon the mountainous peninsula in conflicts that came to be designated as the Macedonian Wars, along with the fact that they were still dealing with long-time rivals Carthage, in the Western Mediterranean. The eventual victory of the Romans in both conflicts led to their domination of the Mediterranean which came to be known to them as "Mare Nostrum": "our sea" in Latin. From that point onward the Greek world would became an intrinsic part to Roman society in terms of philosophy, architecture; Greek became the language of the wealthy and prosperous during those times, in a phenomenon that was most succinctly expressed by the poet Horace, as "Captive Greece captured her rude conqueror". From there it would become incorporated into the Roman Empire in the following centuries would be the centre of attention for notable emperors like Hadrian, who would spend vast amounts of time wandering the streets of Athens and engaging with philosophers.

As regards to the content of the lecture itself, the main points of notice were the inadequacy of subsequent emperors following the reign of Basil II of the Makedon dynasty, who expanded the borders of the empire to their furthest extent since the days of Justinian and his attempted re-conquest of the Western stretches of the empire. Despite his voracious appetite for further clarification as to why the disaster at Manzikert would have such far-reaching consequences, his interest was not shared by his colleagues in the slightest it seemed. Some found themselves proliferating their uninteresting opinions across the ever-expanding boundaries of social media, others were a decibel short of engaging in full-blown conversation whilst some like Quinn openly let out their feelings about the topic in terms of infectious yawns that spread across the room. Despite his wish to stay concentrated on the material being extrapolated upon by Mr. Davidson, the young lad's gaze fell upon a familiar figure: Thomas Shearer. Tom was one of the first people that Ludwig had the pleasure of meeting within the first few days of college. Naturally talkative, inviting with a jokey, immature bordering on childish humour that could make a cat laugh and an energetic interest in history that Ludwig could only find admirable.

As the weeks went on, the two lads gradually spoke less and less due in large part to Ludwig's rather static response to any offer of social interaction outside of the college. Despite this hiccup, whenever the spectre of a group assignment would rear it's ominous head, one young man would immediately enlist the help of the other and more often that not, the help was forthcoming. Ludwig and Tom eventually developed a reputation for being something of a dynamic duo when it came to group projects, with the research-driven nature of Ludwig coupled with the inherent rhetorical ability of Tom becoming a means for their colleagues to do well or ride the back on the good work of. As to be expected, Ludwig hated the idea of credit being shared with someone who didn't pull their weight but the ever-diplomatic Shearer was able to smooth over any rising tensions between Ludwig and whoever was on his radar for criticism. Though their interactions were brief and confined to small pockets of time between periods of examinations and assignments, Ludwig appreciated the chatterbox that Tom was and the two often engaged in meaningful discussion about a variety of topics unrelated to the mission at hand, which surprised the former numerous times over.

You're nice and better than most, Ludwig thought to himself whilst looking down upon his collaborator, but you don't interact nor sound yourself with people that appreciate you. Given that the young man refrains from talking, it allowed him to pick on various cues that Tom wasn't exactly the best of talkers in a large group of people. Amongst a company of three or four, Tom could cause tears of joy to burst forth one moment and incite a great deal of interest in what he was saying the next, regardless of your prior knowledge or indeed engrossment with the topic of discussion. The young man didn't seem to be too cognisant of this aspect of his personality and it was this ignorance that led to situations similar to what was unfolding before Ludwig's eyes. Before the class began the row of ten people that Tom was marginally attached to were muttering and gossiping about who knows what with the latter barely able to get in a word edgewise, the most recognition he'd receive was the nod of a head.

Ludwig couldn't stand to look at it.

Moreso he couldn't understand the rationale behind Tom wanting to bond with such people; Ludwig contemplated the idea so intensely that he didn't notice Mr. Davidson conclude the lecture, only catching the rear-end of his announcement with the lecturer mentioning something about a reading being needed for the lecture next week. For the first time in a while, the young man's attention wasn't on the books but a person for a change. Packing up his pencil case, refill pad and bottle of water in a few successive motions, Ludwig dashed down the steps to where Tom was sitting with his "friends", gesturing for his companion to come with him. Tom turned to his friends to relay his intentions but they were already packed up and gone out the door. A temporary look of disappointment made its way onto the young man's face before being usurped by a forced smile, in Ludwig's opinion.

"They're good people," Tom smirked as he turned to face Ludwig, hoisting his wedged backpack onto his , "But I'm slightly more perturbed by what you needed me for Ludwig. You're not exactly the most...'social' of characters you know? I think you'd nearly affirm that yourself before I'd even say it."

"You're not exactly wrong," Ludwig replied, walking down the steps with his colleague in tow, "The one thing you are wrong about is those people Tom, they're not as nice or friendly as you assume them to be. I'd say you receive a lot more nods and hums than actually replies, eh Tom?"

"What's brought this on?"

"Annoyance at someone trying to conform to a version of themselves that they aren't comfortable at being."

Tom paused at the moment he was about to open the door, turning to look backwards towards Ludwig with a look of surprise and thinly-veiled annoyance at Ludwig's incisive statement. "You've noticed huh?" The young man opened with the door with a bit of vehemence behind the motion, holding it open for Ludwig to proceed through. As the two stepped into the dimly-lit hallway, sparse with people, Tom's demeanour shifted slightly as he looked to start up the discussion again. "They may not be the most sprightly of people when it comes to conversation, only when its each other, but its better than your only companions being the dust on the ground and the wind licking against your face. That describes your situation perfectly Ludwig, despite your steely expression."

Ludwig scowled; the young man forgot that those with a rhetorical flourish have not only the capacity to inspire awe in a person or crowd, but the capacity to deliver the most invective of retorts. "Better to be alone than to be alongside people like that. Why do you bother with them?"

"We all need people to call friends Lou, regardless as to the quality of those friends. If you're so worried about me mixing in with the wrong people, why don't you come and have a few drinks with me and a few of the lads from class?"

"...I don't have the capac-!"

"The capacity for it anymore, you've been saying that ever since we did that group assignment in first year. When will you ever let it go, you had no idea that she was-!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ludwig barked as the two exited the building, drawing the attention of a few passerby's, some rattled by the sheer vigour of the young man's response. Tom didn't have the same look upon his face, rather the expression of one who's well accustomed to this type of outburst. "Whether I should have known or not is irrelevant, the fact that I allowed myself to be fooled into thinking that some people had genuine intentions was my first mistake. But I can tell you this, it won't happen again." Having concluded his statement, Ludwig turned in one direction whereas Tom, a sombre look upon his oft cheery face, manoeuvred in the opposite direction. The former castigated himself for letting those contained emotions boil over and pledged to that he would never allow such an incident as just occured to happen again. Despite his mixed emotions, Ludwig smirked at the sorry state that he probably looked for those that witnessed his paroxysm of frustration.

I went to console and look now as though I am the one that needs to be consoled, the young man inwardly commented, a solemn expression descending onto his face once again, what a sorry excuse for a human being I am.

[Ludwig's Night Activity: Complete.]​

 

[doneanddusted]

mentions Kaysen Avari and Beastie Boy MagicPenguin

Summer felt no regret about what she’d done earlier today. Or rather- her only regret was that when Roland asked why, she had answered rather poorly. In the end, though, she did what she had to do to get him to leave her alone. The young woman spent the rest of her day running around, amusing herself with spontaneous spending, watching esports, and the occasional messing around with people.

She came back home to find Richard already there, with the tv on.

“They just started,” Richard turned to face Summer. “Supper’s in the kitchen.”

Summer took a look. On the counter sat a bowl of pasta.

“Lit,” Summer went to serve some pasta for herself before joining Richard on the couch.

“Don’t fuck up my couch,” Richard warned her. “Or you’re dead.”

“Dead’s better than getting kicked out,” Summer stuffed her mouth with spaghetti.

Richard and Summer watched as the press conference began. Nothing really got her attention until Summer heard the words following Chief-Inspector Morgan’s shift in body language. A special government agency wasn’t the interesting part- rather it was how Morgan seemed to be feeling as he spoke these words. Of course, Summer couldn’t 100% be sure that his behaviour came as a result of the special government agency as opposed to coming from the onslaught of questions hurled at him. But Summer still found it notable.

“Thoughts?” Richard turned to Summer as Morgan left the pedestal.

“I’ll have to look at the representative,” Summer said.

The representative stepped on to the pedestal, a white haired man with icy blue eyes and a rather boyish face.

Kaysen.

“Yo, I’d smash that,” Richard laughed.

“You’re not even ga-”

“Hasn’t he been around before?” Richard continued. “He caught some criminals or something.”

“I think so, yeah,” Summer replied.

She wasn’t really surprised that this man was taking over the investigation.

The representative introduced himself to the audience as Jack Kaysen. He dressed incredibly formal, which Summer supposed was normal given that he was representing a group. Kaysen was what Summer would call a calculating man. He took note of everything around him and acted accordingly and with purpose; suppressing just about any emotion his body could give off.

In that sense, Summer thought, he was rather similar to herself.

Kaysen showed images of the destruction caused by the whole Covent Garden ordeal: buildings with dents in them, roads and sidewalks all cracked up, a Covent Garden rendered unrecognizable.

“Do you think this whole thing was like a… gang war?” Richard asked.

“Probably not,” Summer mumbled back.

The press conference became a bit of a blur for Summer. Kaysen talked, Richard gasped, nothing else interesting happened.

“So?” Richard turned to Summer when the press conference ended.

Summer wasn’t incredibly intrigued by what she saw, but she knew how the procedure usually went.

“Let’s Goggle him,” Summer said, pulling out a laptop from who knows where.

The first search result, of course, came up as a wiki page. There was nothing Summer found particularly interesting- though Richard freaked out with each and every line he read.

“He’s won gold in shooting and fencing!” Richard shrieked. “And he’s a worldwide chess champion!”

“Twice,” Summer added.

“Bloody hell man, it’s like he’s bred for this shit!”

“He’s gotten proposed to at least 36 times.”

“Holy shit, there’s an entire section about him getting proposed to! How often does he get laid!?”

Summer doubted Kaysen would actually fuck around, but she did find it all quite amusing. She sighed and leaned back.

“I don’t have much to say about the press conference,” she said. “It’s not like anything sus happened. And Kaysen’s a smart guy, he’ll probably find out who the criminals are in less than a month.”

That red-haired Beastie Boy arose in her mind; and a part of Summer wondered how he would fare.


summer is done

 

[shadowz1995]

"Look Mr. Woods, I'm happy that you want to come back to work already but that's not how this works. I understand you were employed with a Private Militarized Company in the middle east and that there are....certain conditions that you need to fulfill in that line of work. Believe me, I get it. But I can't have you coming in and returning to security detail in this club when you were stabbed clean through your hand less than 48 hours ago."

"As it is, I practically had to convince you not to come in the next night after the stabbing." The bald man passed a hand over his head as if he was running his fingers through his imaginary hair. A habit of the old days, Sebastion assumed. "I respect your work ethic. Mr. Woods. Truly I do. You're as tough as nails. More so than some of my other employees who are just good at acting tough. You're the real deal and I can see that. But I can't have you coming back in after an incident like that until after you've fully healed."

Well, there goes that idea. Sebastion had tried coming back to work after a day had passed but every now and then, it slips his mind that not everyone had the luxury of fast healing like he did. He wrapped up his hand to keep up images but he forgot that a person that was just stabbed would probably not come in to work for at least a week....give or take. He also couldn't go around asking questions like he had last night. It would raise suspicion and people would start to recognize him.

He couldn't, or rather, wouldn't stay the night at the godforsaken room he rented because if he heard any more moans and yells of ecstasy through the paper thin walls, he would end up breaking down their door and tossing the promiscuous pair off the roof. When they weren't having sex, they were arguing and yelling at each other. "I understand, Sir."

Sebastian raised his hand but paused for a moment before extending it to shake his employer's hand. He had almost saluted out of sheer habit when speaking to a superior. The employer in question seemed almost apologetic to Williams as he walked away. 'Well, I can't work to listen to rumors and I can't go searching again. I'd also rather not go to prison for a double homicide either. So, that just leaves one option....'

"Drink the night away." He said aloud as he walked out of the booming club house.

He didn't really like clubs so he wasn't going to drink there. Well... actually there was a "club" in particular that he rather enjoyed. He adjusted his leather jacket and pulled out his phone to use a miracle of modern technology. The Global Positioning System. Sometimes modern tech would still blow him away. He looked up the general area in question and started his late night stroll.

......

"Top her off, please."

The Blonde girl at the bar raised an eyebrow at him before glancing at the nearly empty bottle of expensive single malt scotch she had been steadily pouring for him since he arrived. And judging by the expression on her face, she was finally becoming bored with it. "Would it not be easier for both of us if I simply gave you the bottle and a straw?"

Sebastion looked up from the now empty glass of scotch with what looked like anger in his eyes but it quickly disappeared. He shook his head to and fro, "Unless you have a sippy cup to go with it, no."

The man now locked eyes with the young lady, tilting his head to one side as he studied her, "New here? You never give a customer whose been drinking as heavily as I have a bottle. You would be begging for him to smash it over someone's head."

"Maybe that's what I want." the girl shrugged. "Maybe I'm bored."

Sebastion reached back for his wallet and pulled out another twenty, laying it flat and sliding it forward to the blonde, "Besides. I'm paying as I go. I don't leave tabs." She swiped it up and held it to the light, before pushing the whisky bottle towards him with a bored expression. "We're dangerously close to small talk. Perhaps you'd consider drinking yourself into a stupor instead. I believe we'd both be happier with that arrangement." The old immortal chuckled and cracked a small, somewhat sad smirk, "Yes.... yes, we would."

That is to say that Sebastion had no real limit. If he were to slam the drinks down rapid fire, he might start to feel a buzz but if he nursed each drink slowly, as he usually does, his enhanced biologics did the rest and prevented him from getting drunk. It just took the edge off for the most part. Let him relax and unwind. A destressant without the shitty choices, foolish behavior, and pounding headache in the morning.

Seb grabbed the bottle by the neck and lifted it up to her in a mock toast, "Thanks Kid." He took a big swig of the expensive liquor before placing it back down with a satisfied sigh. Even if it was for a moment, alcohol at least dulled his senses enough to pretend that danger didn't lurk around every corner. Sometimes knowing too much was as much a blessing as it was a curse. The girl simply rolled her eyes and returned to cleaning glasses.

An abrupt scent of sweet lavender and hyacinth filled Sebastian's nostrils, as he turned to a feminine figure, whose foreign, yet familiar visage had taken him aback, or perhaps it was her elegant gestures. As the brunette settled down besides him, her mellow, yet firm voice called out to the tetchy bartender with a confident order. "Maker's Mark, old fashioned. And... shaken. If you could, please." she said with a nonchalant smile. Hey emerald eyes slipped a casual invitation between her and Sebastian, while the lady's hands tucked her O-ring locks of hair behind her ears.

As seen in her choice of summer attires, her parallel orders became a compliment of her fashions. It was only natural for one to order an iced cocktail on a warm summer night, but even more peculiar to the man, regarding the elegant creature that sat beside him.

'Great. Another one.'

Though this time, the woman was unbearably familiar. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but Sebastion recognized her from somewhere. Yet, it bothered him that he didn't know where. A dame THAT beautiful is hard to forget... so why couldn't he remember?

Still, there was an iron rule when it came to being approached by gorgeous women. If she suddenly approached and started talking, she wants something. So, while Sebastion didn't let the suspicion cross his eyes, he certainly didn't let down his guard. "This isn't exactly the place for a dame of your caliber to be nor is someone like me the kind of company she should keep."

"Perhaps. But won't you indulge me, in my tastes for dangers?" she toyed with Sebastian, as her placid, yet eerily scrutinizing eyes tugged at the man's amnesiac trance. His dark chocolate eyes met hers and something pulled at his mind again. Those eyes stirred a memory... and it wasn't a pleasant one. "So, exactly what does a woman like you want with a stray dog like me? I don't got any money, clearly."

That was a godforsaken lie, underlined somewhat when the bargirl who had been taking his money for most of the night loudly snorted. Sebastion had more money than he knew what to do with. That being said, his appearance was convincing. Old blue jeans, faded black tee, with a leather jacket that looked it had been through (ironically and literally) a literal war. His hair was roughly shoulder length these days and somewhat disheveled due to the summer winds. Complete with 8'o clock shadow and eyes that suggest weeks of lack of sleep and you got a train wreck of a man. Which is exactly the look he was going for. It helped keep up appearances.

Scarlet chuckled lightly at the man's earnest, yet defensive choice of words, while his apparels only reinforces his verbal claims. Despite the lady's charming youth, her reserved facade and choice of vocabulary only served to widen the gap between her displayed thoughts and concealed intentions. It was almost as if she was older than her physical appearances - by a milestone. A sophisticated creature amidst the crowd of the modern, casual world. "A drink to end the long day, wouldn't you agree? Besides, I share little sentiments with men of war, mister. And you look like you just came back from several." Scarlet giggled, slipping the man a playful, but reminiscing regard. While Sebastian have yet to decode her mysterious gestures and words, it did sweep the man's thoughts off its course. The lady was clearly not interested in his wealth or any sort of wine-and-dine incitations.

Like him, she had a curious gaze upon his soul, as if searching for an old acquaintance. The bartender's careful shipment of the woman's cocktail prompted her to turn away and tend to her drink. Sebastian watched as she gulped it down, gracefully, yet expeditious in her course - neverminding its seemingly frigid taste. It was almost as if she was immune to the cold.

She slipped her change across the counter, cuing the bartender to accept it, although initially perplexed at the large bill. "...Oh. Thank you."

"A courtesy, among... familiar strangers. See ya around, lil' soldier." she smiled and departed, having paid for Sebastian's drink, of which was complemented with the bartender's subtle dividend.

Little soldier....

He watched, perplexed as she left and it was in watching her gait along with that phrase that the memory finally clicked into it's infuriating place.

The vampire. The first one he ever met. The first time he met another supernatural person other than himself. First time one tried to kill him as well.

His eyes shot wide open and the man dashed after her, leaving behind a 50 without thinking. Just as soon as he twisted around to chase after her, did the name leave his lips, "Scarlet?!" He called. "That's your name right?"

The girl turned around to the sight of the hasty, but earnest Sebastian. His words tugged at her heart, as her honest emerald eyes widened. Her cherry cheeks blushed a little, as the vampire stretched a smile across her face. "Oh my... So you really are..."

Scarlet chuckled a little, as she tucked her arms behind her. "... And here I anticipated your prolonged abstractions! You haven't change one bit since we last met, sergeant Williams! ... Well, aside from your untended beard... Fufufu. It really is a small world after all, isn't it?"

"Yes.... yes I suppose I haven't. But you... you look completely....." Scarlet eyed the man with much gladness in her, as opposed to their last encounter seventy-four years ago. Her distinct politeness and lack of aggressions had caught Sebastian off-guard. It was a little disturbing to see an abrupt change in her modest personality and refined nature.

Time had become a dead clock for both of them, albeit in huge contrast - like day and night. Sebastian could see it in her eyes and gestures, that she was no longer the bloodthirsty vampire that he had stumbled upon in the Meuse-Argonne and the later snowy forests of the Ardennes.

Despite their younger appearances, it was ironically fair to bestow upon the two the title of 'old-timers', given their ages. Before long, Scarlet raised her voice, breaking Sebastian out of his trance. "...Different? Fufufu... Say, how have you been after all these times? Did you find the sadistic imposition of modern London to your liking?" Scarlet asked the man with a merry tone, curious as to how and why he ended up in London.

There was an expected but healthy amount of suspicion as Sebastion closed the distance between the two of then so that they were now standing face to face. His gaze went for the tip of her hair to the tip of her toes in search of something. Some kind of sign that this woman had not changed so radically since their parting.

Alas, his search came up empty and he only ended up locking eyes with an honest and beautiful woman.

Would you look at that? People really can change. He was lying if that didn't restore his faith in people a touch. Ironically, by something inhuman.

"I've been..." he finally responded, a short pause before finishing the answer, "...better. I recently came from working as a mercenary in the middle-east."

As for the second part of her question, Seb turned around for a quick scan of the area. There were several individuals hanging about the night club staring at them, or more specifically, her. While the old sergeant couldn't tell if it was instinct or suspicion that motivated their gaze, it didn't really matter. He couldn't speak freely here. "Let's grab a private booth for now. I don't like all of these eyes on us."

"How bold! Fufufu. But I concur with your thoughts..." Scarlet followed suit at the man's urgent and cautious behest. The two hurriedly dragged themselves across the colorful lobby, of which was laden with a myriad of furniture and enchanting personnels. Eventually settling within one of the smaller enclosures that separated them from the outside world. The music and loud chatters faded into indistinct muffled noises as the duo shied away from the crowd.

It was unnatural for Scarlet to partake in their covert acts, but she abided by Sebastian's lead, curious of what he had on his minds. After the man paid a handsome amount of cash for a "private suite", Seb resumed his talk , "There was talk of a gathering of power here. Rumors and whispers. I had dedicated my life to wandering the world and finding people like.... us." He gestured to the space between them with his hand. "Rumor said there was a lot in London. I had almost arrived when the storm ravaged the country followed by the explosion in the gardens."

"So I've heard. Nothing's changed but the faces, I suppose." Scarlet conceded to his ominous words, with a stern look upon her face. Seb ran a hand through his hair and let a deep sigh leave his lips. While the years had not been kind to either of them, you could at least somewhat see it in Seb. He turned to the vampire and looked her up and down once more, "I still cant believe you've changed as much as you have. I can't feel any malice coming from you like I did.... 70 odd years ago."

That was when Seb's eyes narrowed, "Which is why I would warn you to leave this country. As quickly as you can." He looked around them one more time to be sure before pulling her in very close, close enough so his lips hovered just over her ear, "Something big is going to happen here. Big and bad. We've had our differences in the past but I'd rather not have to bury you. Especially not when you've turned over a new leaf."

Call him a chauvinistic pig, but Sebastion was old fashioned. Very old fashioned. He had a soft spot for a pretty face and that softness demanded he try and keep em safe.

The vampire blushed a bit upon their restricted space. Although Sebastian's masculine gestures were quite crude in its course, Scarlet was quite tolerant towards him, given his sincere words and intentions. Scarlet had taken in the knowledge of the Covent Garden incident from the newspaper that she had read a few days before. It wasn't the first time she had heard of the affair, as the whispers of passerbys and medias was relatively hard to dismiss.

Although the vampire was perplexed by Sebastian's good will towards her, Scarlet was touched by his empathetic intentions. Although she had relinquished her life as a vampire, it did little to dissuade her of her course. "It warms my heart to be given your concerns for my well being. Perhaps you are right..." Scarlet briefly paused and looked over her shoulders, eyeing the room for a bit. Her soft hair swayed back and forth, as her determined green eyes declared a prideful look upon her companion. While she had acknowledged his concerns, as well as her circumspect way of life, Scarlet's resolute choice was absolute in her words. "...but, I've been a wanderer all my life. I am weary of running, Williams. It's time for this old granny to settle down. Boundaries shift, and new players are always eager to join the fray. You will have plenty of others to bury, instead of me. That is to say that you can even do so! Fufufu!"

Scarlet smiled slightly, as she patted the man's head, feeling his rough, but soft hair gently like a caring mother. "Fufufu. Your affectionate words betrayed you of your cold face, lil' sergeant..."

Seb scoffed at this but didn't deny it. He was many things, but a liar he was not.

"...You should consider your own well-being as well, Williams. If anything, it saddens me to see an old acquaintance in ruins. Oh! Speaking of which! I've been honing my baking and brewing skills. Perhaps you would like to drop by whenever you are free? Although I would prefer it if you did at night..." Scarlet's habitual seduction in her voice, accompanied by her sudden change of subjects, made it hard to distinguish her intentions at times - even to herself.

The vampire quickly realized her faulty and insinuating words, as she waves her hand fro and forth in order to avoid Sebastian from misunderstanding. It was almost as if she was still a shy young girl, of whom still had troubles delivering her words towards the opposite sex. "... i-it's nothing like that!! I just... dislike sunny days... ja."

Scarlet continued, before mumbling to herself in German. Her flushed cheeks and averted eyes only made her seemed like an erratic personnel of interest. Scarlet was an embodiment of an emotional rollercoaster, of whom had harbored a multitude of facades. At times, she would be easily read like a book, while for most, it was like deciphering an Enigma machine.

Sebastion raised an eyebrow and genuinely wondered if she was touched in the head for a moment before dismissing the thought. Chances were she wasn't one hundred percent used to the whole "sweetheart" persona she was trying to implement. Still, if he was anyone else, that would have sounded like an invitation. Had they not already had history, he might have taken it.

And probably paid in blood.

"I'm well aware of your relationship to the sun..." he said cooly, as he put some more comfortable distance between them, his eyes now looking up towards the roof. As if the answers to all of his woes were somewhere up there.

The old sergeant sat there for several breaths, just staring calmly at the roof's paint before finally replying, "I've also learned how to bake myself. I'm no expert but there is no such thing as a useless skill."

It was... a rather roundabout way of saying, "Yes, I'd like that." But it was the best he could do.

While Scarlet took notice of his vague concession, the two acknowledged each other's thoughts, even without a word to spare. "It's been many years. I'm sure there are many stories we can share...."

"For example," he then looked down and locked eyes with her again, "Did you know I was a vampire hunter for several years, hoping to get a rematch with a certain green eyed vampiress?" It was rare in recent years for Sebastion Williams to crack a joke, or even smile but this was one of those times he did both.

"How quaint. I'm just glad to have evaded your crosshairs. Fufufu. Perhaps one day we would test our resolves. But for tonight, you are only looking at a frail and broke girl, sergeant Williams." That got a chuckle out of him. Deep and gravelly.

"Broke, maybe. But frail? I'd be twice the fool for thinking that." With that, Seb stood and put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze before nodding and moving past her, "Stay safe, Scarlet. Give me a call if you need anything." His free hand offered her a slip of paper with his contact information. A business card he had created for his time here in case he came across other supernatural people.

"Take care of yourself... lil' Sergeant." Scarlet smiled, tucking the card within her hands.

Despite their rigid pasts and somewhat crude reunion, Scarlet dwelled within the moment. It was one of the few times someone had taken the liberty to look out for her - as a person, and not a weapon. She felt his warm hand upon her shoulder, like a close friend's embrace. Although it was not very gentleman-like for a man of his nature to do so, Scarlet's heart skipped a little, glad to be given her acquaintance's honest words.

The two parted ways with a few waves and the night carried them home with a warm sensation that resided within both hearts.

Lisa watched the two leave as she idly cleaned a glass with a damp cloth. "You have... Interesting customers." she noted.

"Darling you don't know the half of it." Mark purred dreamily as he slinked by, a flamboyantly bright cocktail in each hand.

Sebastian's night action- Completed

 

[Shotgunpenguin]

Juniper Arc
streets of London- Juniper's apartment

"Thank you, have a nice night." The droopy eyed worker said as Juniper took her bag and her change. After she had finished her route she had dreaded returning back to Lucas. She had managed to just barely deliver her last parcel on time, and while a short break could easily be explained, the lunch with her queen could not. Fortunately for her, Lucas was taking a call when she got back, allowing her to clock out and quietly slip out before he noticed her. Free from having to explain herself for the time being, Juniper's hand fell to her back pocket where the note that she was given by the strange girl's father was. At first she was unsure of what to do with it, she really did not like the idea of accepting charity from someone that she had just met. However, after thinking about it more, it wasn't like she could return it to the man so why not make use of it.

Juniper hung her plastic bag full of instant ramen on the handlebar of her bike as she walked beside it. Having been exposed to the cheap (and rather tasty) food by Lucrezia she had bought enough of the pots to last her an entire week. The pots hadn't even cost her the entirety of the note that she was given, with the remaining pounds she could even afford to feed herself for almost an entire month. With the problem of her food supply taken care of she couldn't help but let a smile form on her face as she made her way back to her apartment. Sure, she would probably have to explain to Lucas why she took so long on her route, but for the moment she couldn't care less about that. She felt her pocket vibrate as she reached in and took out her phone, answering it without checking the number. "Hello?"

"Juniper," A wave of panic washed over her as she recognized the voice on the other end of the phone "It's Lucas. Sorry I missed you earlier, had to take a call and you already clocked out when I got done." She leaned her bike against a building and brushed the back of her head with her free hand.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Look I can explain why I was late on my route..." She paused, trying to think of what she should tell Lucas, but he responded before she could. "Don't worry about it, you're sister already explained everything. I'm terribly sorry to hear about your mother, I hope she gets well soon." Her mother? Her sister? What the hell was Lucas talking about? "My sister?"

Mistaking Juniper's confusion, Lucas answered "You're sister called me while you were on your shift. She said that your mother was in a car accident and had to be taken to the hospital, and that you rode over to check on her. Don't worry about the deliveries, I would have done the same if I was in your place." She paused for a moment, before deciding to play along. She wasn't going to complain about it, but it did raise the question of who had called him in the first place. Maybe she should bring this up with one of the others, if someone was impersonating being her sister they might know of her true origin.

"Oh, right. She's doing fine, she was mostly uninjured and should be recovered by tomorrow morning." Juniper had no idea how deadly one of these crashes usually were, but judging from how fast they seem to be able to move she had to assume that it was a terrifying experience. "Thank you for your concern. I shall see you tomorrow." The call ended with a click as she stuffed the phone back into her pocket. First the food, and now she avoided any punishment for skipping work and having lunch with her queen. Today was shaping up to be an extremely great day for her.

The next twenty minutes were uneventful, other than some passing people watching something on their phones. As she neared the apartment building a small scuffle down an alleyway caught her attention. It sounded like something was being chased and a sharp cry confirmed her suspicions. Deciding to check it out, she wheeled her bike down the alley and came to a small clearing where a small dark figure clawed at the dumpster. Getting closer, the figure turned revealing a ringed tail and darkened fur around the eyes as it hissed at the new creature. "Just a damn racoon. Go on, get! Get out of here!" The racoon hissed again before turning and running between her legs onto the main street and out of sight. Sighing, she turned to leave only to stop as the sound of a cat meowing became apparent. Looking at the dumpster, a small black figure emerged with sharp yellow eyes. It looked like the little cat was being chased by the racoon and hid under the dumpster. Oh well, it didn't matter that much to Juniper, she only inadvertently helped it by scaring away the coon.

Turning around, she made her way back towards her apartment. However, once again she was stopped as the cat let out another mewl as it approached her. "Go on, get!" she waved her hands at the thing, but instead of scurrying off it came closer and rubbed itself against her leg. Kneeling down, she picked up by under it's arms and held it, staring into it's eyes. It held her gaze before letting out another mewl and kicking it's feet. Juniper continued to stare at the cat, more of a kitten now that she was holding it, before looking around to see if anyone was watching. As nonchalantly as possible, she cradled it in one her arms and walked her bike with the other. Now she just needed to figure out how to get it into her apartment without anyone noticing.

Juniper's Night Activity: Complete

 

[MagicPenguin]

Arryn Blacksmith
Bennett & Sons Forge
7:06 PM

Nearly twelve hours had gone by since Arryn had started his work, but the man hardly noticed. The steel on the anvil in front of him, the clang of his hammer, the heat of the fire, the hiss of the hot metal when he dunked it in the bucket of water; these were the only things that registered with him while he worked. To him, nothing else existed. Time didn't exist. The rest of the forge didn't exist. Aether didn't exist. His problems and worries didn't exist. The Bennetts, who'd worked their own projects and watched him for a time, had all three long since cleaned up their stations and gone inside the office, but to Arryn, they never existed either. Carefully, slowly, deliberately, paying no heed to anything around him but the job in front of him, he shaped the block of steel he'd been given into something else. When he started, he didn't really know what he was going to make out of his block of steel, so he just let his hands move on their own. It was only when he was halfway done that he recognized what it was turning into: a simple belt knife used for everyday tasks, an ordinary tool that anyone might have and carry around with them back home on Aether. It had no embellishments or fancy furnishings and he'd carved the handle out of simple wood before affixing it to the blade. For a thing like this, it was more important that it be sturdy and usable than for it to look fancy. It was a serviceable piece, one that would've sold well in Alcamoth and given its owner years of service, he thought.

After cleaning and replacing all the tools he'd used, Arryn retrieved his sledge-hammer and took his completed project into the mini-office, where the Bennetts were all staring at pictures of Covent Garden on their television. Arryn consciously avoided that, as well as the young man speaking about his eerily accurate conclusions of what had happened; that was a problem for another day. "It's done," he said, grabbing the three stocky blacksmiths' attentions. John took the knife from his hand with a look of interest, examining the piece from every angle, the television forgotten. Jacob had a triumphant grin on his face. Jeremy was looking at Arryn with wonder, as if at a dog that had gotten on its back two legs and started walking around like a person.

"This ain't half bad, kid," John said finally. "But this took you all day to do. It should've taken half a day, if that. I noticed you didn't use the drill press or the soldering iron either. Did everything by hand, or not at all. Why is that?"

"I don't know how to use those," he admitted. "I've never seen them before."

Jeremy gave a derisive snort at that. John closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"What's your name, boy," he asked finally.

"Arryn Bennett."

"Ha!" This from Jacob. "How's about that, then? Another Bennett! Must be destiny. I told ya I had a good feelin' about this one, Pops! When's he start!?"

"He doesn't," John said. Arryn's heart sank into the pit of his stomach and Jacob's sure grin melted into a look of incredulity. "Not permanently, anyway," he went on, and hope swiftly rekindled itself in Arryn's chest. "Not yet. I can take you on a part-time basis, kid, and I'll have to pay you considerably less than I normally would. But I'm not ready to make you an actual apprentice. I can give you a little space to work on the weekends when it's just me and the boys, but we got actual smiths in here most days during the week. I'll admit you did better than I thought you would, but we got no resources to spare on someone who takes all day to make a little knife and doesn't know half of what he should about any of the equipment that runs on electricity. You get better, you prove to me you got what it takes to improve, and maybe your part-time weekend work turns into something more. Maybe. But for now that's all I can offer you. Call it an 'internship' if you want. Can you get on board with that, Arryn Bennett?"

Arryn bristled a bit. He was one of the best on Aether, a master at his craft. To be told by this man he didn't know what he was doing, even after he'd made a perfectly good piece of merchandise...it rankled. But he had what he'd come for, at least. A foot in the door. It was all he needed, for now. "I'll take it," he said.

"Good," John said, yawning. "I'll see you Saturday, then. We were supposed to be out of here hours ago, but we had to sit around waiting for your sorry backside. Get outta here, would ya?"

Jacob gave him a pat on the back and another thumbs up when he bid farewell. "Later, Arryn! I'll show you the ropes on Saturday, eh? Maybe we'll get a drink too when we're done. You look like you're good with the ladies. Maybe make a good wing-man, eh Jeremy? The chicks dig little fellas with baby faces." Arryn raised an eyebrow at that. Baby face? For his part, the other twin looked at Arryn as though he were an insect and said not a word. "Oh, don't mind him," said Jacob. "He's always been grumpy." Not even Jeremy's sour mood could get Arryn down now, though. He was a blacksmith again. Just on weekends. But he had to start somewhere and he was still happy his gamble today had paid off, if not exactly the way he would have liked.

The bus on the way back was not nearly as crowded as it had been that morning. He let out a loud, relieved breath and relaxed in his seat toward the back. His relaxation lasted only as long as it took him to fish out his phone and look at the time on its screen. 7:23 PM. Rose! He was supposed to meet her at seven to rehearse for their performance at the end of the week! He'd completely lost track of time in there. Hastily, he brought up her contact info and gave her a call.

"Hey, Rose," he said when she picked up. "Sorry, I know I'm late. I got side-tracked. I'll be there in about 20 minutes, though, okay? Something really great happened today." He smiled warmly. "I can't wait to tell you all about it."

Mentioned: koala Avari

Arryn's Night Activity Complete

 

[RI.a]

VICTORIA CAIN
written with: doneanddusted | location: university​

The street seemed to part for the group of thugs. It wasn’t as crowded as it could be, but the odd parent would tighten their hold on their children and couples would avoid eye contact. They had an ominous presence about them for sure. And yet, Victoria still followed. They soon got into a black car, filing in swiftly. The naive teen couldn’t help but feel a little excited, she felt like she was in a spy action movie. She sped further down the street, hailing a cab and crawled in telling the driver to follow the black car.

The capo’s car didn’t go very far, but the drive felt a lot longer than it should have thanks to London’s traffic. They came to a stop in front of a university, a law school to be precise. Her mind ran with various dramatic scenarios; thinking that their drug reign actually spread to students or teachers. Only one of them came out, the car speeding away right after the door closed. It was the youngest one in the group. Maybe they only sent him so he could blend in. The cab driver started to move, but Victoria quickly stopped him and paid for the ride.

Nearly falling out of the vehicle, Victoria tried calming herself, wiping her clammy hands on her jeans. It was her first time visiting a campus. The courtyard was full of people and she had to force herself to pay attention.

Within a moment of leaving the car, Avery had blended within the college campus crowd. His more intimidating mafioso demeanor seemed to fade into that of a normal student. The transition near instant. He walked down the campus toward the main building, greeting other students he seemed acquainted with along the way. It wasn't a break from the social graces, but Avery much preferred this relaxed mentality toward his mafia work. The stress of student life was as if a walk on the beach in comparison.

Once at the top steps of the main building Avery retrieved his phone and the bit of paper handed to him this morning. It was at least a phone number. Although he wasn't sure what the girl was getting at by giving it to him.

"What's your deal?" Avery texted. Texts never convey tone well, but the wording was certainly direct enough.

The sudden chime of her phone made her squeak in surprise, jumping behind a potted plant in an attempt to hide. Covering her mouth, she felt blood rush to her cheeks when a few passersby gave her a curious glance. She was about 10 meters behind Avery and she hoped she didn’t give herself away. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, her screen notifying her of the message from an unknown number. Was it from him? She didn’t expect him to contact her so soon. What do girls say when strangers text them? She opened the message and came up blank, giving her phone a puzzled look as if it just bleat like a goat.

“Heyyyyyyyy” She typed, was that too many ‘y’s? Flirting was too complicated. “You must be that cute guy that came in earlier. Hope you liked your drink! My name is Victoria. What’s yours?” She hit send before she could dwell on her reply any further. She peeked her head out of her hiding spot, hoping Avery was still where she last saw him.

Avery rolled his eyes. The response he got wasn't anything related to his question. By now he decided to make himself comfortable and rest his back on the wall. The response was quick enough, so she at least didn't give him a fake number. He didn't have class till at least a little later in the evening. Might as well try to disect mystery girl in the meantime.

"You didn't answer my question." Another direct statement. Avery wasn't going to have her derail things. She had help doing that with the thugs around, not so much on a text conversation.

Her phone buzzed in her hands moments later, standing back upright behind the plant. Her bottom lip pouted, trying to decipher his message. Her thumbs flew across her phone, “??? Well, I like you silly. I’m interested in seeing you again.” Her cheeks grew redder by the second, was that too direct? He was asking for her intentions, what was she supposed to do? Tell him his boss screwed her dad over?

She stuffed her phone back into her jeans and casually walked out, pretending she was touring around and headed towards Avery. Climbing up the steps, Victoria forced herself to smile and wave. “Hey, I recognise you. What a coincidence! Are you a student here?”

Avery took a depth breath. After she sent that second stream of texts he slid the phone away, ready to never respond to them again. He figured he was getting nowhere with this and stopped being interested quickly. The young man figured she was just pulling some charade or prank. But once she physically appeared right in front of him, well, that changed a lot. For a moment, Avery's calm demeanour broke with astonishment.

"Did you just-" Avery spurted out. He collected himself quickly shortly after. Calm down Avery. After a deep breath, Avery directed his gaze down onto the girl, perhaps using his height to some advantage. His eyes sharpened daggers. "Coffee girl and a law student, hm?"

"Right back at you. Selling insurance and a law student?" She swallowed a nervous gulp. If eyes could kill… Victoria kept up her innocent flirty act and giggled, “I’m thinking of applying. I’ve got to pay the tuition fees somehow, right?” Her hands started to fidget again.

“I could really get some advice from someone studying here. I’ve got your number, so… Can I get your name?” God, she could cringe at her own words. She looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “Please?”

"Father's business. I just get dragged along for the ride." Avery commented. For that moment, his words had a bit of malice behind them. Something that he hadn't truly expressed to Victoria so far.

For the moment, the young mafioso considered his options. He figured this girl wanted something. Anything really. Just what was the real question, and she had done a decent job not letting that go just yet. Although her insistence to keep asking for his name was telling. After some thought Avery would finally respond proper.

"Avery." His clear voice making the name known. "If you wanted to ask questions you could've said so." Avery gave a quick gaze around them to scan the nearby area. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention. He had offered his words to sound kind at first before moving on. "You can drop the flirty act. I'm not interested."

The brunette’s face lit up the moment she learned his name. Mission success! She cheered in her head. The corners of lips fell as Avery continued to speak. She wanted to express that the feeling was mutual, but a ‘girl in love’ can’t give up easily! “I don’t know what you are talking about. You can’t stop me from liking you.” She’s never been so bold in all her life. Where was this side of her when she was crushing on the football team captain back in middle school?

“Are you free to give me a tour of the campus?” Victoria couldn’t believe she was coming up with these things on the fly. She doesn’t know a thing about law so the next best thing she could think of was to ask about the school.

A coy smirk grew on Avery's face as he turned his body to the side, ready to move along.

"Absolutely not." He immeditately strut away, leaving Victoria stunned.
Victoria Night Activity Complete

 

[Disco]

Avery Luciano






INFERNO​

(INFERNO switches to a relaxed jazzy atmosphere three time a week. There's around three dozen individuals in the club at the moment, all enjoying the quieter and more relaxed vibes. Several rather rich looking couples are slow dancing on the floor, while others have picked secluded compartments and corners around the edge of the club to engage in conversation. Laughter and the clinking of drinks fills the air. Several middle aged business types are at the bar, shirts unbuttoned and suit jackets resting on stalls. They're all vying to get the bargirl's attention and hooting as she grabs another expensive bottle for them - her expression blank despite how irritating they are.



An easy evening is just what the young mafioso needed after all this time. Of course he'd easily slip into the exclusive club, to the dismay of others who've been waiting on reservation for some time. One inside, his eyes ease over across the room, observing every detail. It was quiet enough tonight. The only exception being the middle aged men hogging for the bargirl... Who seemed to be new. At the least, Avery hadn't seen her around before. Avery strolled toward the bar, taking the time to flash some window shopping young women a sly smile. At the bar, he was delliberate to take a seat just a few spaces away from the hollering business men. He didn't want to be associated with their type. Then Avery stripped away his suit jacket and rolled sleeves toward his elbows. With a quick stretch over his head he waited.



One of the business types - striped shirt, designer glasses, obviously drunk slams his hand down on the bar. "Another round here for me and my friends!"



The girl's lip curls in distaste. "This isn't a tavern you know."



The man stares for a moment, before his expression twists into a snarl.



"Careful how you speak to me. I could make your life hell."



"Already is," she sighed. "I'm dealing with you."



His friends begin hooting and slapping him on the back, but he's visibly livid now. A vein in his temple looks like it might burst.



"Listen here you bitch--"



And there he goes. Avery sharply exhaled an annoyed sigh. Not only was the man acting like Tony would, he was also holding up Avery's drink. Following a deep breath to ready himself, Avery made way toward the businessman blowing a fuse. "Richie? Is that you?" Avery forced himself to exclaim.



The business man and his buddies stopped for a moment. Most didn't seem to know what was going on.



"Who the hell are-" He started, but Avery cut him off quick, wrapping his arm around the business man's shoulder. The alcohol breath smelt like tar.



Once Avery pulled him in, he made quiet whispers to the fuming patron. "See those guys in the booth?" Avery directing toward some larger men in the corner. "They're not patrons. If you want to talk about making lives hell, see what Mark will have these boys to do you. He's not fond of people yelling at his girls."



The businessman's anger replaced with anxiety. He wanted to call bullshit, but Avery's cold gaze said otherwise. Once the mafioso let him go he sat. His business buddies trying to figure out what just happened.



Avery went back to his old seat as quickly as he came.



"I had that handled." The bargirl sniffed dismissively. "Your intervention was unnecessary."



"Don't feel so special. I did that for myself."



The girl shrugged before eying the collection of bottles the business types had left behind. She grabbed the most ornate, expansive looking one and gave it an experimental shake.

"Chateau La Fleur Chambeau 1995." She announced as she grabbed a glass and placed it in front of him and poured him a glass.



"Very expensive. A wine from Lussac Saint-Emilion. Already paid for. It should not be wasted."



A smirk grew on Avery's face with a low chuckle to follow. He appreciated the notion. "Surprised guys like that were even let in here. Mark's letting this place go to the dogs." There was some sarcasm dripping form the words. Avery knew scumbags could be found anywhere. "Or maybe the new hire dragged some baggage in." His eyes directing toward her as he sipped from the glass.



"Perhaps you should inform him," She replied dryly, before pouring a large glass full of wine herself - finishing off the bottle - and then promptly glugged it down in one.



"Gesù Cristo." Avery mouthed with her quick slam of the wine.



"Just Lisa actually."



"Avery." He introduced. "I would say it's a pleasure, but I'm afraid you're going to get me in trouble at this rate." It'd be quite easy to spin this as Avery instigating Lisa.



"Already are." She said, waving her a hand at something behind him before ducking behind the bar.



"Avery DARLING!"



The mafioso would know that tone anywhere. He gave a casual half turn to meet Mark, at the least forcing some pleased expression in greeting. "Must be desperate Mark. Trying to turn this place to a back-alley pub?"



Mark was standing there - giant of the man that he was - in a obnoxiously bright pink shirt and skin tight jeans. There was an equally bright cocktail in his hand, that seemed to be more umbrella than actual drink. He was also wearing a pair of sunglasses. It was a miracle he could even see where he was going.



"Sweetie you WOUND me. Branding my lovely bar such crass terminology."



"You know I only kid, Mark." Avery let another low chuckle escape him. This sort of conversation was so detached from his line of work. It always acted as a refresher.



"Your new hire is very affectionate. So at least you have a good eye there." Avery was sure to spill his verbage just loud enough for Lisa to hear below the bar. Might as well get a tease in somehow. Lisa promptly reappeared with a fresh towel on her shoulder, her yellow eyes filled with venom as she looked between them. Mark however, wrapped an arm around Avery and pushed the cocktail he had been holding in front of him. The umbrella almost took his eye out.



"So happy to hear you're already making friends darling! and you MUST try this drink sweetie. I made it myself. It's simply Wonderful." He purred, before spinning around and waltzing off with a wave.



"Okay tata!"



Lisa watched him walk away with a blank expression.



"I need more wine."



Avery slid his wine glass over to Lisa. "Consider it my treat. Mark's trying to drown me in liquor anyways."



"Not the only thing Mark wants to drown you in, I suspect."



Avery promptly choked on his drink.

Written with Avari

Avery Night Action Complete​

 

[Pilgrim59]

Scarlet Sommerfeld
Inferno / Arryn's Apartment
August 6th, 2018 (Evening - Night)

Interacted: N/A
Mentioned:
Sebastian ( shadowz1995 ), Arryn & Hogan ( MagicPenguin ), Kaysen ( Avari )
​

Re:Union​

♪♪ The years have changed you, somehow
I see you now...
...Smoking, drinking, never thinking of tomorrow, nonchalant
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant ♪♪​

The melancholic, yet heartfelt melodies of Fitzgerald's Sophisticated Lady accompanied Scarlet home, even long after her leave from Inferno. With every step she took, the warm embrace of the tranquil breeze carried her thoughts. Her timely arrival at Inferno, upon chance of a jazz night, prompted Scarlet to recollect her joyful memories in the past. She had frequent the place long before settling in London. The bittersweet taste of Inferno's dated wine and assortments yet lingered upon her lips, even though it has been some decades ago. The nostalgic sensation filled her thoughts to the brim, never-minding her recent visit of the club. The frigidly warm taste of the bartender's conjuration of a Maker's Mark cocktail was somewhat pleasant to Scarlet. Having washed down tons of alcohol before, the peculiar taste of her recent drink was quite refreshing, especially on a warm summer night. It was only fair to tip her bartender's effort for making such a delightful drink. Even in the little things, Scarlet appreciated most things with joy, in huge contrast of her past self as a paranoid and dreadful vampire. Even so, the real culprit behind her unusual display of affections was, in fact, in the form of an unexpected but welcoming reunion.

Spoiler: Inferno Flashbacks

"...you are only looking at a frail and broke girl, sergeant Williams..."

"...Broke, maybe. But frail? I'd be twice the fool for thinking that... Stay safe, Scarlet. Give me a call if you need anything..."

"...Take care of yourself... lil' Sergeant..."

Scarlet found a certain sense of fulfillment when she happened to stumble upon Sebastian. What was once a fateful encounter had wove a delicate, yet durable string of understanding between the German vampire and the American soldier. Although they had little to share but their rugged past, the girl cherished what little time was spared for the two in Inferno. The sight of what was once a bright young man, was now but a decaying, mature individual - teeming with untold stories and self-indulgent melancholy. Such was the fate of soldiers, whose personal glory and honor went unsung throughout the decades. But the decadence of modern society had discerned itself from the sacrifices of their own mortals, as in the end, abnormal beings and their deeds are but a speck of dust in a world of troubles. Despite these thoughts, Scarlet's casual, yet heartfelt reunion with Sebastian only furthered her purpose to loiter around London. A friendly face, among a multitude of discriminating humans, as she deemed it, was more than enough to get her by for the time being. After all, there were truths in her exchange of words with the American - she was indeed tired of travelling. As fate would have it, she would either pass in peace, or be taken down by her own hubris.

Before long, the vampire found herself in the darkness of an apartment's unlit garden. She rolled up her sleeves and brokered a little conversation between her and the inanimate floras that assembled before her. Snipping away the parched leaves, and caressing the flowers in her hands, Scarlet dwell in her own work, as her head replayed Inferno's selections for their jazz night. She hummed along, as her emerald eyes scanned the small garden nonchalantly. As midnight approaches, Scarlet rounded up her work and turned off the sprinkling valve. Her earnest work would surely bloom when the day breaks, and with it, a sense of accomplishment to follow her routine stroll of the garden before work. For some, it was community service, but to Scarlet, it was a simple escape while she ponder upon her thoughts.

"I'm home." Scarlet announced softly.

It was late at night, and the girl did not feel the need to keep her roommate awake. Scarlet fleeted past the corridor without raising a sound, as she cast a brief gaze upon the golden figure, all curled up in his bed. She stretched a fair smile across her face, before diverting her attention towards Hogan's bowl. It would seem that she was not the only one who came home late. Scarlet tended to Hogan's food and filled the bowl with fresh water, before creeping her way towards her room. She threw a brief glance at Arryn's door before shutting herself inside her own realm.

Her bag, laden with her work clothes, quickly found itself stripped empty, as she cast her fatigues into the laundry basket, before tending to her own apparels. The wooden wardrobe creaked lightly as it unfurls her set of clothing, at the behest of her attentive hands. Her summer dress found itself unveiling her delicate, pale skin, before fading into the background, as she dons her nightgown. Scarlet let out a sigh, as she threw herself into bed. Her interactive device illuminated upon her face, amidst the jet-black cell of a room.

The cyan lantern was scrutinized closely by the vampire, as her fingers pinched the screen back and forth, zooming in and out to study the interests of her recent finding. The magical ring that she stumbled upon in Arryn's room kept her awake for the next hour, as she frequents the internet to discover its true origin, albeit in vain. Scarlet unveiled Sebastian's contact card and mulled over her concerns. Perhaps she would have a word with Sebastian about it, after all he was the only one she knew, or so the vampire contemplated. Her thoughts were restrained briefly, as she took her time to watch the recent report on the Covent Garden Incident. The white-haired figure caught her attention, as she re-winded the news over and over again. Kaysen, as they called him, was far from an ordinary personnel of interests, as his astute and logical conclusions about the incident was far more intimidating that what he had harbored behind his calm, visage.

Kaysen and Scarlet shared the incentives regarding the incident, neither by chance nor by coincidence, but out of the man's consideration of abnormal activities - even when he did not disclosed his thoughts. The vampire could see it in his eyes, that he was quite aware of the existence of Abnormals living among the population.

"Seeing justice done is my primary concern... Seeing justice done is my primary concern... Seeing justice done is my primary concern..."​

"Time will tell... Kaysen. There is no rest for the wicked, it seems. Tsk!" the vampire mumbled under her breath.

Her weary eyes prompted Scarlet to cast aside her phone, as her arm befell upon her face. Her glowing green eyes glowed in the dark, as the girl gave a slight exhale.

"Time has always been my friend, and it will always be. But first, the rent..." she sighed heavier this time.

Scarlet reassured herself almost comically and ironically at her own woes to tend to her own well-being. There was little time to spare for the troubles of the world, when she herself has yet to secure a steady foundation of her own settlement here in London. The vampire eventually faded out to the darkness beneath the comforts of her blankets.

[Scarlet's Night-Time Activity Completed]​

 

[MagicPenguin]

Roland Fairchild
University Library
7:00 PM

The oppressive heat of the day was beginning to wane as the sun drifted beneath the University campus's horizon, but sweat still trickled down the red dragons covering Roland's arms in a torrent. After a quick bus ride and a short walk, the red-headed, green-eyed hero bounded up the steps of the school's modest library. It wasn't as large as the public one in the city, he noted, but if what Summer told him was true, scholars of every stripe and color would be inside this place. The Hero of Light was no stranger to doing research now and then, but he was not a bookish man by nature and he would be the first to admit to anyone that looking for something as obscure as an "ancient lost city" across all of Earth's human history was outside the scope of his expertise. He had tried anyway, of course--what other choice was there?--but after a week of no luck whatsoever, he could admit to himself that it was time to ask an expert for assistance. If he were on Aether, he would have gone to the clerics who tended to the Church of Light's Grand Archives, men and women who dedicated their lives to the pursuit and documentation of knowledge and whose expertise was coveted the continent over. He hoped these men and women he saw walking up and down the library's front stairway with books and bags in hand would be just as reliable, though they seemed a bit young to him and, if he was being honest with himself, he was not expecting much from them.

Once he was inside, he immediately made his way to the front desk to speak with the librarian. Either she would know who would be the most knowledgeable person to speak with about ancient history, or she would be able to tell him where to look to find this building's oldest tomes and records so he could look through them himself. She was a short, bespectacled woman in her middle years. The tag displayed on her breast named her "Mary."

"Excuse me," he said quietly. "I'm here to do a bit of research on ancient history, but I'm not sure where to start. I was hoping I could find someone to help me. Could you point me in the direction of someone particularly knowledgeable about the past?"

"That depends," she replied. "What area of history are you interested in?"

"Well, that's the rub. I'm not actually too sure." He knew that, if what Lucrezia said was true (a big "if"), that Odania had disappeared from Aether about three thousand years ago. But did time flow at the same rate on Earth as it did back home? For all he knew, Odania might have appeared among the dinosaurs, or it might have appeared someplace random just yesterday.

The woman rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Well, your best bet is probably one of the professors. They're all gone for the day, but they have office hours throughout the afternoon tomorrow if you'd like to come back? You can check in the Taylor Building on the first--"

"Thank you, but do you think there's anything I could do now? I'm a little busy tomorrow and I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it back. Is there anyone else...?" Partially true, but in reality he was mostly just impatient and hoping to find someone as soon as possible. If Odania was not found ASAP, the universe would be destroyed. And he couldn't go back home to Aether until it was. The sooner he got things moving, the better, as far as he was concerned.

"I swear, kids these days," she grumbled at him, fists on her hips. "Don't any of you know how to be patient?" She sighed. "If you're really in a rush, all you're going to find today is maybe a grad student fumbling to get his thesis finished on time. That, or maybe..." She looked off to her side, at a table in the library's corner with only one occupant, a rather tall blonde haired man so engrossed in the book he was reading, Roland thought a bomb might have gone off behind him and he wouldn't have noticed. "That boy over there is named Ludwig. He's still only a student, but if you're not going to wait for the professors, he's the best chance you've got by far. Why don't you try asking him about whatever you're looking into?"

Roland smiled. "Excellent. My thanks, miss."

He approached the table the young man, Ludwig, was seated at and cleared his throat loudly to get his attention. "Excuse me," he began, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but could I have a moment of your time?"

The young history student jumped slightly from the sudden sound, being so engrossed in his new book on the Treaty of Verdun that he failed to notice the man walk up behind him. Glancing backward out of the corner of his eye, the young man was surprised to see a person akin to a Michael Fassbender clone gazing back at him, with miraculous green eyes tipped with an inquisitive nature. Miraculous? the young man thought to himself, visibly confused by his inward contemplation, probably not the strangest thing I've thought of today. Rousing himself from the comfortable position he had nestled into, Ludwig looked across at the stranger who so oddly wished for a portion of his time. "It depends mein Herr, what is it that you need me for?

Roland took a seat at the man's table. "I have an interest in certain topics of history," he said, not wanting to tip his hand quite yet. "I've been doing some research in the public library in the city, but haven't had any luck finding what I'm looking for. I came here in hopes of finding a scholar to assist me. The librarian over there said you were the best. Is that true?"

Sitting back down, Ludwig did his best to contain a smirk but given that the compliment was given by Mary, who was a close friend, it held the same weight as a family member giving such praises. "A scholar-in-training is probably the more appropriate term," the young man responded, quietly wondering to himself what this man was inquiring about , "But to be honest with you stranger, my sphere and interest of study tends to be very Eurocentric by nature, not that I have disinterest in other aspects of history like the Middle East, I just to find those areas somewhat interesting due to their interaction with European sphere during the Crusades, World Wars and whatnot. So it depends, what is it you're looking for?"

"My name is Roland," he responded. "You might say I'm interested in solving a mystery of sorts." He reached into his backpack and pulled out his sketchbook. He flipped to the pages that showed the sketches of Odania as he remembered them from Lucrezia's story. He handed them to the man to inspect. Prominent among the drawings was a giant white spire and a large dome containing two bright lights, one golden and one purple, like depictions of angels or other holy figures in reneaissance paintings.

"I'm looking for a city, somewhere in history, that had architecture that looks something like this," he said. "I don't have much to go on but these drawings. It might have appeared very suddenly, as if from no where. Some people called the city Odania, but it may be known by another name, if anyone has ever found it at all. If you can help me find some trace of a city with buildings like this, or any trace at all of an ancient abandoned city lost to myth and legend, I'm willing to pay you for your trouble. Ancient records, or fables, or...anything...that might relate somehow to a great, lost legendary city."

Ludwig examined the the etchings that Roland had handed to him. For Ludwig at least, he's never heard of any city in Europe, at any point in time be called Odania or had a something of a similar likeness. Despite the rather alien nature of the this "city" that Roland was scavenging for, some of the designs within the sketchbook itself did tend to have a similar feeling to Renaissance architecture, especially the visage of what appeared to something similar to angels or thereabouts. "Though the name of the city seems to be a fabrication or a cruel trick you're playing on yourself," the young man commented, handing the well-worn sketchbook back to Roland, "The buildings do seem to have a latent similarity to Renaissance architecture, so if you're looking for this mythical city of yours, a good guess maybe to go search in Italy, in cities like Florence, Venice or Rome. Those are probably your best bets."

Ludwig thought about the idea of compensation and for the life of him, despite the monetary compensation being a great boon for textbooks or even other leisurely items, the young man couldn't commit to accepting it. "Knowledge is its own reward," Ludwig commented with a faint smile restint upon his face, "So you don't need to pay me any kind of remuneration, just let me know what you find there. The historian within me is bursting at the seems to know what you're looking for."

"Interesting," Roland responded. "Florence or Venice, eh? I've also heard stories about places called 'Atlantis' and 'El Dorado' that might fit the bill." He pondered for a bit. "Listen, I know you're likely busy with studies of your own, but it's a dream of mine to find this place so that I can go there myself one day, crazy as that may sound. See the history of it with my own two eyes. Would you be willing to do a little more digging, see if you can't find anything else that points to a more definitive location?"

Ludwig thought about the man's offer; Roland seemed oddly certain about the presence or actuality of this city, just not its location, which by itself warranted enough questions but the young man kept himself pre-occupied with just the one for the moment. Well, now that I think about it, the young man remembered, smirking at his overlooking of the contents of the course, I don't think this year or the last count towards the degree. Being a diligent enough student allowed the young man a certain amount of time off due to the speed at which he would complete assignments, so giving it a final thought, Ludwig made up his mind.

"Very well," he concurred, "I'll do it, it'll be a first for myself and you it seems. How do you want to keep in contact? Do you have an email or a phone number I can message you through?"

"Wonderful," Roland replied. "If anyone can do it, I'm sure you can; the librarian did say you were the best young historian of your generation, after all." She didn't say that exactly, but it couldn't hurt to stroke the man's ego a bit. "As for how to contact me--"

A high, feminine voice cut him off. “Excuse me, but since when were you the best young historian of our generation?”

"Huh?" Roland turned around to see a woman standing behind him. She was relatively short with short dark hair in a bob and fire in her almond-shaped eyes. Oddly, she was carrying a box in her hands, like a suitcase a businessman might have. "Uh, excuse me, miss, but who are you?"

“The name’s Quinn, however, you can call me the Joan Arc of history.” Quinn sauntered by the other, eyeing up both individuals with a small gleam of mischief. Her eyes lingered on Roland for some time, a rattling breaking out from the box she held. “You call that dork the best of the best? Puh-lease!” She glanced at the lad sitting across from where she stood, still slightly disgusted with Ludwig. “Anything he can do, I do best.”

Roland didn't know who Joan Arc was, but this girl certainly had spunk, he had to give her that. "Is that so," he said with a chuckle. "Do you know this woman, Ludwig?"

Ludwig let out a very audible and vexatious sigh the moment Quinn finished speaking. The one dinner, that was to be the last of their interactions with each other and yet, she seems to possess a spectre-like presence that seems to follow him everywhere. "We're in the same course," Ludwig relayed to Roland with a conspicuous roll of the eyes, "But that's about the gist of our 'relationship', if you could call it that."

Quinn looked disgusted at the word relationship. “A relationship with you? HA! You must be thick if you’d think I’d want a bloody friendship with you.” She gave a very angry pout towards the chap, and folded her arms towards the man.

Roland rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he studied the pair. There was a mischievous glint in his narrowed blue-green eyes. He saw the antagonism between them and sensed an opportunity in it. "I...see. And you think you can find clues about Odania faster than Ludwig here, Miss Quinn? The librarian over there DID say he was the best."

A puzzled look appeared upon the face of the young Englishman for two reasons; the childish response of Quinn to his declaratory bringing-up of their, "relationship", and that he had a hunch as to where Roland's very leading question was going to end up. "You better not be doing what I think you're going to do..." Ludwig muttered in a lamentable way as to the foreseeable sharpening of each other's iron that was to occur.

Roland merely flashed him an innocent 'whatever-could-you-mean' look.

“Look, let’s propose a little idea to our... newfound customer shall we dork?” Quinn gestured a hand towards Roland accompanied with a pearly white grin smothering her face, her heels spinning her spirit into his direction. Charm was complete evident among this woman, and the amount of mischievous intent rose by the second. She was rather off, and the rattling of the box slight continued more constantly than before. “You can have both of us, however I’m not working with that idiot. Think of it like this; create a challenge to see who provides the most information possible to helping you find this city. It will also prove who really is the greatest young historian Britain has ever seen.” The woman seemed very lax about this suggestion, and eerily enough the rattling commenced to a complete halt after she completely dished her suggestion.

Oh, this was just too perfect, Roland thought. "Well, the gauntlet is thrown, Ludwig. What do you say to our new friend's proposal?"

A merged look of annoyance and reluctance surfaced upon the pale face of the young Englishman. Though he disliked the idea of being rushed when it came to historical inquiries or the scholarly nature of completing an assignment, the sheer thought of reducing Quinn's pride to the size Roman army after the Battle of Cannae was appealing enough for the Ludwig to take up the offer of his colleague. "Very well," Ludwig affirmed, a lot of startling intensity setting upon the young man's face, "Let the best historian win."

"Wonderful," Roland said. He opened his notebook back to the pictures of the white spire and the dome and handed it to Quinn. "As I've told our mutual friend here, I don't have many clues to go on. I know some people called it 'Odania,' though it may have been known as something else as well. I know it had buildings that looked something like this. I know it probably appeared very suddenly somewhere in the distant past. Past that, it's up to you two, I'm afraid."

“These remind me of old Greek architecture, however i want to believe it’s Renaissance though the scaffolding looks like an imitation rather than actual pieces..” Quinn stared at the pieces for a very long time—centuries as it felt like, and the city made her feel dizzy with every glance. She was heavily intrigued as it appeared and rested the notebook down on the table nearby, immediately taking photos with her phone of certain aspects of the building. Call her sporadic but this was how she was programmed. Once she was satisfied, she handed the note book back to Roland, content with his findings.

Roland couldn't help but look at the phone in Quinn's hand with a quickly suppressed stab of envy; he still couldn't afford one of his own. Putting that out of his mind, he took the notebook back and carefully tore the pages with the sketches of Odania out, about ten pages. He handed five to Quinn and five to Ludwig for each to keep for reference. "I should warn you," he said, "that these pictures may not be exact representations of what this place actually looked like. Think of them as...my own interpretations of what it might have been." Or more precisely, Lucrezia's. "Unfortunately, it's the best I've got."

“OH!“ Quinn fiddly clapped her hands together in excitement. “Makes everything evermore interesting!“ A faint rattle came from the box, as if it were knocking in agreement. Quinn slightly nudged the thing as if it a dog barking too loud for its own good. “Regardless i’m Very excited to be working with you!”

Roland had been trying to ignore that box, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity anymore. "Do you have a small animal hiding in there, Quinn?"

Her lopsided grin started to become a tad bit forced when the question was asked. “Ah its nothing out of the ordinary!" Alright then. Roland just shrugged and took her word for it, not wanting to pry. He couldn't help thinking that that shaking was definitely out of the ordinary, though, whatever she said. "Anyways," she went on, "I should be going...” She stuck out a hand towards Roland, the glint in her eyes becoming a bit more obvious to the naked eye. “What’s your name per chance? I didn’t quite catch it”

"Roland. Or Ron for short," he said, shaking her hand. "What's say we three meet again here at the same time in two days to swap information? Does that work for everyone?"

“Fine by me.” She slipped her phone back into her pocket, and adjusted the strap of the box lugged on her shoulder.

"By all means," Ludwig agreed, crossing his arms in a confident manner.

Roland stood. "Excellent. Best of luck, you two. I'm counting on you. And, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you both for your help."

“Thank you for trusting me. I’m sure I’ll have results soon..” She quickly squinted angrily at Ludwig, before carrying her feisty little legs away from the scene.

"You know, Ludwig," Roland said as he watched her go, "I don't think she likes you very much."

"I'm not exactly in the region of feeling anything for her myself now Roland," Ludwig shurgged, beginning to pack up his notes, books and other stationary in a measured fashion, "But given her arrogance, it'll be humorous to take her down a few notches."

"Ha. If you say so, friend." He patted Ludwig on the shoulder. "I'll see you Wednesday night, then. Later!"

"Mind yourself," the young man replied, a tad bit apprehensive as to the possibility of Roland pulling the rug over his eyes with those particular commission but Ludwig then reasoned it couldn't hurt to indulge in a bit of myth-chasing, as opposed as such things are to the enlightenment historical facts engender.

Roland couldn't help but smile as he made his way down the steps, all but skipping. That had gone better than he could have possibly hoped. He had not one skilled historian helping him now, but two! Odania was as good as found, if they were all they chalked themselves up to be. Then again, they WERE still quite young, so they might just be all hot air. Well, the die were thrown now either way, so all he could do was wait and see what they came up with on Wednesday. Until then, he had an overgrown child to educate. The thought of trying to teach wild Silver anything was enough to sober him, but he had promised both himself and Tannur that he'd help the girl, and Roland always accomplished what he set out to do, no matter how impossible the task.

Written with: Larry and peachuu
Mentioned: Avari WillfulWren

Roland's night activity complete.

 

[peachuu]

Quinn Aiko Rundquist
mentions: Disco | location: library to dorm | purpose: she messed up.​

Soft ticking from a distance is sure to give a sense of solitude to anyone. Dim light emitting a somber warmth, the top floor of the university library was awfully alone. Avery appreciated this quiet. The pleasures that comes from no disturbances or conversational troubles. No need to worry of social graces or keeping some false composure, or to feel obligated to always have the perfect words for those around. It's relaxing.

A young man, named Avery softly sifted into the spines of various lengthy books. Each old, muddled, and dusty. It's unlikely most students ever really investigate these. Why would they? Most information was online. Avery just wanted the specifics is all. The details articles online might forgo. Details are a neccesity when studying past legal cases.

Truth be told, Avery had already found what he was looking for. The book he needed was right in his face. The young man had been starring it down in a dazed state, as if playing a game to see who would blink first. Of course the book would win. Avery just wanted to kill time. He seriously craved the ability to just... be there. No disturbances, no annoying influences. Truly being alone. The more time he spent at the library, the more time he could avoid forcing conversation.

Quinn's eyes rapidy skimmed over the work she had just been assigned, a project she so desperately wanted to have a lead on. She huffed and twirled a. Lock of her hair as she pondered a bit on the task. Cool breeze flooded the open windows, stars desperately tried to shine in the dimming sky; it was rather late now, but she was too excited to not do any work. The task pretty much varied between a small portfolio of photos; a forgotten city rather, with only but a name and a memory to someone. She kept glancing between each of the photos and her phone’s close glances of them. It was evident that the designs were not at all Renaissance or Greek, but rather a new kind of design. The subtle features gave it away, and it bugged her to no end.

While her mind grew rapidly entangled with this dilemma, her doll was up to its own tricks. She had let the box open in case she required for it to help her point out a book in which case the doll took this as a day for an adventure. It lurked out of the box, sensing some form of potentially adequate information, and immediately darted towards the many sections of the library. The doll carried its tiny porcelain feet on the carpeted floor, till a certain fellow appeared in her view.

The doll was intrigued by this individual, and looked very closely at the the supposed aura of this man. The doll moved closer but almost got trampled by a nearby rolling cart full of books, causing her to hit one of the shelves. The man was now looking in it’s general direction, as it stared back intensely into his eyes.

Avery was taken out of his trance by the sudden 'thud' sound. It was light certaintly, but the perceptive man had caught onto to something being nearby. He gazed around. Observing the books all around him. His first thought trailed to the rolling cart, but then it caught his eyes.

When the hell did that get there? There it was. Just a tiny doll glaring at him. He'd be lying if he said the sudden appearance didn't put him on edge. The first instinct was to take a deeper look around him. Was someone around? Who did this belong to? Did the doll belong to anyone? It didn't seem like anyone was around... Not yet. Avery carefully walked over to the doll, gently reachinng down to pick it up. He gave it a good stare back. A new opponent for the contest. He was caught up once more in his thoughts.

"Avery? Is that you?" A familiar, jovial voice called out. As instinct, Avery shoved the doll into his coat. He wasn't sure what it was but he had a feeling it shouldn't be paraded around. Turning back, he saw the familiar face of a close friend of his. The beaming smile, the infectious charisma, olive skin and dark hair, it was the very proud Satya. Avery had know this guy for a long while now. He's a talanted computer scientist to top it all off. Despite all his positives, he's a loud mouth. The worst person to find the doll.

"My eyes don't deceive me! What are you doing here buddy?" Satya met Avery with two powerful pats to the shoulder.

The doll wasn't very happy of this situation, and started to fuss within the confinements of the coat pocket. God sometimes it wished it could talk, but regardless the thing tipped the inner side of the pocket and hit his stomach enough for him to feel something.

Avery was in the midst of attempting conversation. Attempting. It was mostly trying to pass his friend along. "Yeah... You know we should meet this weeke-" then the punch to the stomach. Avery winced immediately, that had to be the doll.

"You okay?" Satya couldn't help but ponder.

Might as well pull an act. Avery began to cough. A few times, holding his chest. A few more violent coughs followed by pounding at his chest. Right on the damn doll. Cough cough. "Just a little under the weather is all."

The doll realised it did a bit too much for comfort, so instead it gently tap the boy in the same spot, as it’s agitation still was apparent.

"Well if that's the case, I'll leave you alone then. Don't want to get sick." Satya grinned with a healthy chuckle. "Take care buddy." And he was gone as quickly as he came.

Once Avery had a moment to solidarity he took the doll out once more. His eyes lazering in right toward it. "You're on thin ice." Although the mafioso realized that the doll likely couldn't defend itself anyways. He took a few steps back, peaking around the bookshelves to find any potential owners.

The doll twitched in his hand and tried pointing in a general despite how stiff the arm movement was. Meanwhile, Quinn Was about ready to pack up and continue at home, when she realised she left Curiosity at home without food. “Oh bollucks not again!” She immediately packed her things and left, the box in itself remaining empty as she sped out of the facility, rushing home to her poor cat. She felt terrible for leaving Curiosity at home like this.

Avery took note of the doll's pointing, but before he could act the girl was sprinting out. Just great. As if he needed another problem to deal with.

Quinn ran into the nearby convenience store looking for both for and her darling little cat, who probably is only surviving on water at this point. She felt absolutely terrible, yet someday she wanted to be a mother. “Christ..” She patiently tapped her finger as the cashier rung up her goods, and she continued on foot running at a good amount of speed. Thank God the one thing she managed to pick up in school was track and martial arts for agility, or she’d probably be dying halfway right now. She arrived back to her dorm room in the nick of time, pelting the door open and grateful that her cat was resting on her bed. She stooped down nest to it, picking up her bowl in the process and dumping a good amount of cat food into it, placing it before the cat. Curiosity happily welcomed the food into her mouth, lapping it greedily as hunger took over, and Quinn scratched behind her ears as the feline did so. She sighed heavily, a faint smile appearing on her lips with relief.

She slid off the bed, allowing herself to eat something she picked up; a bag of potato chips will suffice for now and she waked over to her little box friend. “Adira?” She called out to the doll before opening the box, here no signs of movement of potential activity. “Adira..? Don’t play games with me while I’m hangery..” She set down the potato chips in a flurry and opened the box, staring blankly at the empty cavity it held.

”FUC—“

NIGHT TIME ACTIVITY COMPLETE

 

[koala]

Elena "Rose" Benoit
Date: Monday, August 9th
Location: Home
Interactions: Arryn MagicPenguin

Work had gone by fairly quickly, which was the usual case. There were moments of sluggishness as waves of exhaustion would pay a visit every now and then, but lively customers would wake her up just as quickly as she was swept under the water. Those moments aside, there was something about being in Author’s Attic that made time pass like a speeding car. Being a bookworm was likely the root cause of the passing time, but perhaps there was another other underlying reason that she was too embarrassed to admit to.

“See you tomorrow, Rose!” A coworker said, waving at the blonde as she made for the door. Elena turned halfway and offered a small smile and wave, saying something about closing up the place properly, before the sound of a bell ringing throughout the store followed not long afterwards.

As the woman walked, she went through her mental checklist. First, she’d go grocery shopping for dinner. Second, she’d meet up with her best friends, Sophia and Felix, since she hadn’t seen them in a while and she sincerely missed them. Third, she’d head home and wait for Arryn to arrive so they could begin their practice session in preparation for their performance that upcoming weekend.

Elena smiled to herself at that last thought, sucking in a deep breath as she stepped a cafe. Her brown eyes scanned the interior before they landed on two familiar heads of dark hair. “Fia! Felix!”

“El!” Called Sophia, her blue eyes brightening almost immediately. She stood up, beating Elena by a couple inches in height, and brought the blonde into a weak bear hug.

“Hey, there Rose.” Said Felix warmly, following suit after his sister but hugging more gently. “I see you’re as ugly as ever.”

Elena rolled her eyes and shook her head. “If I’m ugly, I don’t even want to know what you are.”

“Blindingly handsome and unavoidably charming in the eyes of the masses?” Felix shot back, quirking up an eyebrow as they all sat down. He emphasized his words by placing both hands along his cheeks, blinking rapidly as if he were vying for attention.

Laughing, Elena let out a loud sigh and stretched her arms across the table to bring her two friends close. “Oh, I’ve missed you guys so much. I feel like it’s been ages.” It’d really been a while since she last saw them, a month to be exact. They’d been so busy with travelling and school that meeting up was difficult. Usually, they all met up for Elena’s performances but since those hadn’t been scheduled in a while, of course that meant she wasn’t able to see her friends.

“Well, we’re here now.” Sophia squealed, kissing the blonde’s cheek while shoving Felix aside. Felix scowled, but he didn’t say anything since he was used to the abusive sibling behavior. “We have so much to catch up on!”

An hour or so later, the three of them caught up with what was missed. With the giddy, happy topic checked off, Sophia bit her lip and turned to her brother as if to ask permission. When Felix didn’t say anything back, Elena became curious. “What is it?” She asked.

“Has um… Cameron tried to contact you?”

Elena scrunched her eyebrows, her stomach forming a knot at the mere mention of the man. Her plump lips dropped slightly and she tilted her head, wondering where the conversation was even headed. “No. I haven’t even thought of him since you last brought him up. Why?”

“Well… he messaged me a while back and I guess I was a little tipsy so I kept talking to him.” Sophia began, biting her lower lip as her knee began bouncing up and down. “He was explaining his behavior before he left and I think you should talk to him.”

“What? No!” Elena nearly shouted, her seat screeching as she pushed herself back.

“See. I told you you should have just kept it to yourself.” Felix sighed, shaking his head and rubbing his temples.

“El, listen!” Sophia continued. “I’m not saying you should get back together with him or believe him or anything. I think you should talk to him so you can move on. I know how lost you felt when he left. You at least deserve some closure.”

“God, Sophia. I can’t believe I’m hearing this right now.” Elena said exasperatingly, standing up so she could leave. “I’ve moved on. I’m fine… I just… I need to go make dinner. I’ll talk to you two later.”

As Elena began to leave, she could see Sophia get up from the corner of her eye to go after her but Felix stopped her. A deep sigh left Elena’s lift as she clutched her grocery bag, knuckles turning a ghostly white. She really felt like she’d moved on from that time, but the way her heart suddenly ache made her doub herself.

Once she made it home, the blonde began making dinner in preparation for Arryn and Ana. Ana would probably be home soon since she also worked at the bookstore, but she wasn’t so sure about Arryn. Whatever the case, she had no problem waiting and opted to flip on the news channel.

There was nothing particularly interesting until something about Covent Garden came on. The camera focused on an investigator named Kaysen and Elena felt her heart beat rapidly as she listened. He spoke with eloquence and frightening accuracy, making the woman question a lot of things. Before she gave herself more anxiety, however, she felt her phone vibrate and swiftly flipped the television off.

“Hi, Arryn.” Elena said, coughing to clear her throat. “Excuse me. Oh, don’t worry about it!” She replied, waving her hands side to side as if they were face to face. “If something that great really happened, then I don’t mind waiting at all.”
Elena's Night Activity: COMPLETE

 

[Avari]

​

It was nearly 3am when Lisa finally managed to leave Inferno, hood over head and bag over shoulder. Bullet wished her a nice evening as she stalked past.

“What’s left of it,” She had replied coolly, not stopping to look back at him but earning a hearty chuckle regardless.

It was a fair walk back to the apartment, but she had studied the route before leaving for her night shift and had drawn out an optimal route through several alleyways and underground passageways, which also had the additional bonus of letting her avoid the drunken louts that littered the streets at this time in the morning.

She walked through one of these underground tunnels now. A tunnel lined with damp red brick liberally scattered with circular blemishes of yellow fungus. Lights had been attached to the ceiling at some point, which cast a strong white light in a perfect circle underneath them, casting long shadows from the small blemishes in the brickwork, and leaving pools of darkness halfway between each pair of lights. For Lisa, walking along the tunnel was like walking through an eternal sequence of rapid sunrises and sunsets, days and nights in rapid succession, leading her either forwards in time or backwards as she moved: she wasn’t sure which.

It was a peculiar fantasy, and Lisa was not prone to fantasies. Which was ironic considering her admittedly...scatterbrained behavior and flights of fancy over the last week. She caught the sight of herself in the reflection of a puddle as she walked - seeing a still unfamiliar face glaring back up at her. Her scowl was justified - Lisa had wasted too much time over the last few days, wasting them with childish self-pity and immature attempts to detach herself from Lucrezia’s machinations.

But she had knew the truth of what she was, now that her mind had finally fully formed. She was nothing but a hollow shell, a temporary creation created from a portion of Lucrezia’s soul to oversee her oh-so-grand plan.

She stamped hard on the puddle as she walked past, causing her reflection to shatter and vanish. She knew the truth.

But she didn’t have to accept it.

This world was all there was, as far as Lisa was concerned: everything, in the end, came down to the movements of molecules, of atoms, of elementary particles, and ultimately quantum energy twisted into multi-dimensional loops and strings. Life was a pointless mundane speck on the infinite tapestry of reality. Her existence was just as meaningless.

There was no point to faith, or hope - so she possessed neither.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t create meaning.

She contemplated this new found...constructive nihilism and what it meant as she walked out of the underground tunnel and into an alleyway littered with cardboard boxes and various other pieces of detritus.

She would make some time to speak with Morgana soon. A plan for the coming days would be vital for them to survive - not to mention she had a meeting with that...Roland boy on Friday. Her thoughts clouded over at the thought of him. It was quite strange to Lisa that Lucrezia would simply let the boy wonder around and do whatever he wanted after putting such painstaking plans into place to bring him on side in the first place. Lucrezia simply seemed to be interested in the power inside him and nothing else - treating him as a glorified mobile meat-cage and nothing more.

A bit like a free range animal, really.

Mind you, that was how Lucrezia saw most people.

Lisa just wondered when Lucrezia would choose to begin the slaughter.

But then she remembered the way Roland had looked at her when they had been unceremoniously dumped back into Covent Garden after their little rendezvous with her elder-sister.

The hate in his eyes.

It had been rather electrifying really. She had found herself being less and less interested in silly emotional responses over the last few days...but hate.

Hate she could understand. She wanted to see that look again.

Lisa’s thoughts were suddenly torn back to reality, when she heard a terrible, blood curdling scream come from down the alleyway.

And she could never explain why - even after it happened, why she had chosen to run towards it.

LISA'S NIGHT ACTIVITY: IN PROGRESS

​

 

[MagicPenguin]

Samantha Fletcher
Deli -> McDonald's
6:45 PM

The bell above the deli's entrance rang merrily to announce the silver-haired teenager's presence as Samantha opened the door to walk inside. The little store was much as she remembered it from yesterday. A surprisingly long line of customers stood before the counter for such a small place. Many of them stood with purchases in hand, but quite a few merely watched Pretty Boy behind the counter flipping his knife to and fro as he fulfilled sandwich orders. His co-worker stood at the register beside him, ringing customers up. All the people on their phones taking pictures and videos made Sam wonder how this man hadn't gone viral on the internet yet.

The sea of viewings was still flying around his head. She wasn't startled by it like yesterday; she'd seen it so many times in such a short period of time, it hardly surprised Sam at all any more. Now it just made her curious. Prominent among the viewings was still the sight of his beaten up face having a sack hoisted over it by a pair of hands. Sam had hoped something she said to him yesterday might make that one go away, but evidently it had not. She still hoped to change that, but that was only one of the reasons she'd come back to talk to him today. There was one viewing that was no longer there, though, the picture of a silver mountain lion sleeping in a cave with a black wolf that had different colored eyes. In its place was a viewing of a big jar of candy. He must've found his missing pet lion, she guessed. She wondered if it was common on Aether to keep such ferocious pets as lions and wolves or if Pretty Boy was just crazy.

She approached him at the counter. "Hey, again, Pretty Boy," she said, smiling, "you found your lion, huh?"

Slowing the deft motion of his hands slightly Tannur looked up from his work with a scowl marring his 'pretty' features. "No thanks whatsoever to you, you here to warn me that I'll stub my toe on something again?"

She frowned. "More like have your face beaten in for you. Probably get dragged off somewhere, too. It's still going to happen, yes. I don't know when. Soon. You need to be careful." Sam didn't know what he could do to stop it besides stay inside and never go out. There had to be a way, though. The Dragon-Man had convinced her of that.

Right now, though, she couldn't do anything else about that and there was something else she was interested in, anyway. She looked around to make sure no one was in earshot. "Say, those are some pretty fancy moves you have with that knife there," she said with innocent wonder while watching him carefully for a reaction. "Did you learn how to do that on Aether?"

Tannur's hands stopped for a second before resuming while inwardly cursed at the involuntary reaction, furrowing his brow in pretend confusion he looked back down at his work while he spoke. "What's that supposed to be some kind of culinary school with a silly name?"

He could play dumb all he wanted, but Sam saw that involuntary flinch. "So you ARE from Aether! I knew it! Tell me more about it! Please? I've been looking on the internet all day, but there's no mention of it anywhere. Where is it? How did you get here from there? Are there a lot of people from there with you? I've met three of you already and all of you have so many viewings, it's like nothing I've ever--" Samantha stopped suddenly and looked around warily. She'd gotten a little careless there and almost talked too openly about her ability. Her Papa's stern face flashed through her mind. She hoped nobody in the crowded store heard her. "C'mon, please? I think I can help you if you tell me about Aether," she said more softly.

Finally setting the knife aside for a moment he leaned closer. "Listen here girl, where I come from is not something to speak of with all these people around."

Sam winced. She really did have to be more careful. Papa would be so disappointed if he knew. "Sorry," she said. "But I mean it. I really want to learn more about it. Please?"

Tannur stared down at her for a moment thinking, obviously she already had some suspicions about where they were from and either she had encountered an unknown Aetherian or one of there group had been a massive blabbermouth. "Fine, I'll be done here soon. Go wait at that fast food joint round the corner." At the very least he'd find out who had managed to tell a random girl so much and explain just what laying low meant to them, not that he was doing that much better with all these people watching him.

"Okay!" she exclaimed. With a wide grin on her face and one last look at all the people gathered in the small establishment, Sam practically skipped out the door in excitement.

Once in the McDonald's that Pretty Boy mentioned, Samantha decided to buy the man something to eat. It was the least she could do, since he was about to help her figure out who all these people with lots of viewings were. Besides, she wanted him in a good mood. Nice and talkative. She ordered two meals of burgers and fries and then sat at an empty table in the most isolated corner of the store that she could see so there would be nobody to overhear their conversation.

As it happened, from where she chose to sit, Samantha had a perfect view of a television set high on the wall, which displayed the news and a notification that, any minute, the police would be holding a press conference to talk about what had happened at Covent Garden. She picked at her french fries and found herself idly wondering if the people from Aether might have been involved in that. First that whole incident happens, then a week later they all seem to show up in front of her one after another, each with a million different viewings and one of them able to change destiny? It seemed too convenient just to be a coincidence, but...well, none of the people from Aether she'd met so far seemed bad. Dragon-Man saved a woman's life; a bad guy wouldn't have done that. The delivery girl made that crack about her size, but she was the one to tell Sam about Aether and she had seemed nice enough otherwise. Pretty Boy was grumpy and stubborn and he wouldn't listen to her about his future, but she had no reason so far to think he was evil. Sam couldn't bring herself to believe that any of them would have done something like what had happened at Covent Garden. Then again, she didn't really know any of them. She had to figure out what was up with them, which meant she had to interact with them, but she also had to remember to be careful, lay low as much as possible, and protect her own secret, like Papa told her earlier. She sighed aloud. Learning more about them without putting too much of herself out there...it wouldn't be easy threading that needle. What a conundrum...

Before she could mull it over any more, Pretty Boy walked in the door. She stood up and waved so he would see her table, gesturing to the meal she'd bought for him.

Having clocked out without seeming too rushed Tannur had slipped out the back of the deli and made his way over to their meeting place. Sitting down across from the girl he grabbed the burger. "Thanks." He murmured and took a bite, he wasn't going to pass up free food after growing up with hardly any. "So...you heard about this 'Aether' place from someone?"

"I learned about it," she replied carefully. "And it made a lot of sense. I've been seeing...weird people...all over the place, ever since yesterday. Three people with strange futures--including you. I think it would make a lot of sense if it had to do with this 'Aether' place. So, where is it? Another country? Are there a lot more of you from that place here in London?"

"Are you calling me weird?" He said hoping to knock her off balance. "You think I'm one of these people because you think I'll get myself beaten up someday?"

"You're weird compared to everyone else, and that's just a fact," she replied straightforwardly. She considered how to answer his question without giving too much away about her own ability, but it didn't seem like there was a way to do it that he would swallow. She'd have to give him a little bit, at least, if she wanted him to be honest with her in return. She really hoped this wasn't a mistake.

"My...gift...can show me different aspects of a person's future. They're like little pictures floating around someone's head. For most people, I don't see anything. For some, I see one or two things about their future. For you, though, and for those other people from Aether, I see...at least 20--no, more like 30--different prophecies about you guys. And they're always changing. Some disappearing, others appearing to take their place. Nobody else is like that. It really freaked me out the first time I saw it. Yeah, you're definitely weird." She frowned at him and crossed her arms in a slightly irritated manner. "And you WILL get yourself beaten up. Not 'someday.' Very soon. Like, in the next few days. Maybe even tonight."

Still picking at the food he listened silently as she tried to explain herself. "These other people you saw are they both due a beating or did you see something else that made you go up to them? What did they have to say about Aether?" The only thing he really wanted to get out of the conversation was who else she had encountered and whether she thought someone he knew had some trouble lined up.

Sam tapped her chin with her finger thoughtfully."I didn't see anything that suggested they'd be harmed badly anytime soon like you will, no." The delivery girl did have a lot of blood in her future, but Sam didn't think it was her blood. "I don't always know what my viewings mean, so they still might, though. I didn't talk much with any of them and I didn't get a chance to ask them anything about Aether, which is why I came to you."

"There's another weird thing about you Aether people," she went on. "Usually, when I see something is going to happen in a viewing, it will always happens. It can't be changed, no matter what you do. If I try, I might make it happen faster, or postpone it, or make it worse or maybe a little better, but I've never been able to just make a viewing not come true at all. I thought it was impossible until yesterday morning. There was a woman with only one viewing: a skull. That means imminent death. I knew the woman was going to die within seconds, and she should have. She got pushed out into the busy street and a car came barrelling right toward her. But then, another Aether person--the first one I saw--came out of no where and grabbed her just in time. The picture of the skull shattered like glass into a million pieces and it was replaced by more viewings, something I've never seen happen before."

"You have to understand, this man changed destiny! That should be impossible. Then on top of that, when I see the man himself, he's got so many viewings that I can hardly see his face through all of them unless I concentrate. I was so startled by it all, it was all I could do to run away from him as fast as I could. I've had time to think about it, though, and now I know there are more people with lots of viewings. And, I know those people with lots of viewings are all from this mysterious place called Aether. So, if all of you are from the same place, does that mean all of you can change destiny like he did? If that's the case, maybe you don't have to get beaten up after all, Pretty Boy! I just have to figure out more about this Aether place. There's got to be some clue about how to change the future. So, please, tell me more! I might be able to help you avoid getting hurt if I can figure it out in time!"

Sam took a deep breath. She didn't think she'd ever been so open with anybody except her father before. It actually felt kind of good to get it all off her chest, though she was still anxious she was making a mistake by doing it.

"Destiny can eat shit and die for all I care," Tannur growled. People had tried telling him he was destined to spend his life in the gutter a lot, the lucky ones only lost teeth. Thinking about the guy she had mentioned he put some pieces together. "I don't suppose this guy happened to be a redhead with a gaudy tattoo and a self-righteous attitude?"

"Yes! That's him! I mean, I didn't talk to him, so I don't know about his attitude, but...you know him?"

"Unfortunately yes. Not to say he's likely to try and harm you just that he's...irritating." He settled on the simplified description to keep her from thinking she might need to tell someone about Roland without giving anything away about the Hero. "The other one you saw, what were they like?"

"A delivery girl with red hair," she replied a little impatiently. "So I've answered your questions now. Can you answer mine? Tell me more about Aether. Please."

Before he could answer, the volume on the television behind him went up, the newscaster announcing a special report on the events of Covent Garden. Workers and customers alike gathered around to see it. There was suddenly a crowd in their once isolated corner of the restaurant. Samantha pouted; they were interrupting her chance to interrogate Pretty Boy quietly.

Deciding that the other was most likely Juniper though he didn't know what job she was doing, Tannur turned to look at the television thankful for momentary reprieve from the girl's questioning and very much invested in seeing what the locals thought of their activities.

Sam's irritation was quickly forgotten as the conference went on. The pictures of the destruction were horrible. Entire buildings turned to burnt out husks, street pavement cracked and overturned in places, telephone poles downed, power cables cut and swinging dangerously...it was devastation on a level Sam had never seen. What could even have caused so much damage? A bomb? And how had only one person died in all that carnage?

Sam gulped, "You..." she said quietly to Pretty Boy, "you weren't involved in that, were you? You or the other Aether people?"

Turning back to face her he stared her down calmly and decided that if he didn't give her anything she might end up mentioning him or the others to someone who might actually act on their suspicions. "If you're asking if we were there...yes, if you're asking if we're responsible for what happened no."

Sam looked at him intensely for a moment, trying to determine if he was lying to her. Then she relaxed visibly with a sigh, having come to a decision. "I believe you," she said softly. She smiled; that was the first time he'd actually admitted he was from Aether since she started talking to him. She might finally be getting somewhere with this one.

Just then, a silver-haired youth appeared on the television screen and began discussing possible culprits and causes for the destruction of Covent Garden. Sam only half listened to him; she couldn't stop looking at his face in wonder. Not because of a viewing; she couldn't see viewings of images on TV or computer screens. No, it was just something about that man tickled something deep in the recesses of Sam's memory, but she couldn't put her finger on what. She couldn't help but think he was...fox-like somehow. The sight of him sent chills down her spine, for whatever reason.

"I don't like him," she said partly to herself and partly to her companion. "He's dangerous."

Looking at the man on the screen Tannur took in the face of the latest lawman declaring his intention to catch him. "Seems pretty confident he'll get somewhere." He wished he could be a little more assured that that confidence was just bluster but as he had learned it was possible for the walls to almost literally have ears on Earth, caught up in a momentary fit of paranoia he glared at a security camera.

"I hope he doesn't," Sam said. She had a bad feeling about him. She wanted the culprits behind Covent Garden found, but she just couldn't shake the foreboding feeling she got looking at him. Why did he seem so familiar to her?

Shaking her head, Sam decided not to pay any more attention to Foxface. He was distracting her from what she came here to do in any case. "Never mind him," she said to Pretty Boy, trying to redirect his attention to what was really important. "Are you going to tell me about Aether or--hey, what are you doing?!"

Taking another look at the time shown on the news broadcast Tannur stood abruptly. "Sorry girl that's all you're getting. I have to go attend to my lion, she gets bitey when I'm away too long." Scooping up his remaining fries he sauntered off. "Thanks for the food though."

"Wha-...bu-..." Sam sputtered as he strolled casually out the door before she could think to follow. "HEY!" She got up to chase him, nearly knocking over one of the workers still watching the news conference. When she got outside, though, he was no where to be seen. She looked left and right, but he was just gone. Like he'd just...melted into the crowds. Dang it! She hadn't even gotten his name!

He couldn't have gotten far. She took a deep breath and yelled, "I'm not done with you, Pretty Boy! You hear me?! I know where you work!" Several passersby looked at her like she was crazy. Her cheeks reddened.

With a frustrated growl, she stormed off toward home, gritting her teeth the whole way.

She'd changed her mind, she decided. Pretty Boy was evil.

Written with IG42

Mentioned: Shotgunpenguin WillfulWren Avari

Samantha's Night Activity Complete