Fantasy Magical Crimes Unit [Closed Group]

[folclor]

"True, I suppose you wouldn't judge me on that." She sat back, staring at her bottle. "Some people killed violently, tragically, don't come back." It was an obvious statement, but it held weight for her somehow. "Why is that?"

 

[Macabrecabra]

Qiūhé was silent for a long while, his gaze trailing over the pictures as he silently mused on her question. Eventually he gave a small shrug, "No one really knows...the location? The belief? Some say those with magical potential have a higher risk of coming back... or perhaps just the irony of it all." He turned his head to regard her, a tug of a sad smile on his lips, "The people we want to rise up seem to be the fucks that just stay in the ground no matter how much you want them back..."

 

[folclor]

"Hm." She sighed and looked down at her hands. "Well, my only friend is dead so I might as well hang out with undead men." This statement was followed by a long drink. "He'd want me to move on, I think. Not like I will but... yeah."

 

[Macabrecabra]

"Never say never....it gets easier to move on when time starts to creep forward. Work is always there. And you have your booze and a place to crash for the night. One step at a time, as they say." The jiangshi rose to his feet again, stretching and trying to work the stiffness out of his body, wincing as he cracked his back quiet audibly, "It only hurts because they meant so much and that takes a lot of time to numb."

He moved to take a step, ending up hopping a few times and grumbling under his breath, glowering at his own legs as if they were some filthy betrayers before he started to do his peculiar limp walk over to a stereo. "Any particular music you like to wallow to while drinking? I don't want to assume anything. I just feel a little music fills the silence a bit more at times."

 

[folclor]

"Anything but country. Country is horrible." Was this really so bad? "And, hey, what's up with your leg? I thought undead couldn't feel pain that well." Did he need to eat? If she offered, would he eat her? The thought was tempting...

 

[Macabrecabra]

"Hm? Oh..." He trailed off, looking somewhat sheepish as he finished picking the station, settling on some classic rock. "Well...it isn't pain or an injury. More of what I am...jiangshi. Our bodies are very stiff upon rising to the point the only way to move is by hopping. Takes a long, long time to "unstiff" the limbs. Not the fastest of undead,"

He gave a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his head, "Honestly it is sort of embarrassing when I jump rather than walk. It takes a rather conscious effort to put one foot in front of the other but it gets easier as the centuries pass. Being undead is sometimes like being an infant having to learn to walk and talk all over again..."

 

[folclor]

"Oh." That would be a problem, wouldn't it? "I don't care if you hop. But that does sound frustrating. Having to make your body listen to you like that." Maybe she didn't want to die just yet.

"What kind of music do you actually like? I don't... talk to people that often." She averted her eyes, a blush staining her cheeks. Her fiance liked jazz, she didn't have a favorite, just didn't like country.

 

[Macabrecabra]

He chuckled some, giving a small shrug, "I got to experience a lot of ages of music, but I suppose I have a weakness for the rock of the 80s and a bit into grunge." Qiūhé let his gaze move over the pictures, lingering on one or two taken back in the 80s and could almost cringe at the style of clothing he had went with.

"And honestly, you are rather nice to talk to. I at least find it easy to carry a conversation with you."

 

[folclor]

"Oh. Thanks." She cleared her throat. "Sorry for calling you undead office dad." In all honesty, she didn't know if he'd heard it at all, but it always paid to be polite.

"Are there a lot of your kind around? Maybe there should be some kind of... hm... undead dating service?"

 

[Macabrecabra]

"Oh, that isn't the worse nickname I've been called in the office. Nor the worse thing I've been called." He lounged back, one foot tapping lightly to the sound of the music. "I forgive you though."

Her comment about a dating service had him arching an eyebrow and looking amused, "Eh, there are that sort of thing around, but really I'm not looking all that hard. Besides, among undead my kind are particular rare in this part of the world, given jiangshi are more native to China and few live long enough to mature to sentience."

There was a slight pause before he glanced at Ciel, "So why the interest? Trying to set me up are we?"

 

[folclor]

"Well, you just looked like a dad to me. Until we started talking. Now it just feels like you're a guy who looks like a dad but isn't nearly so judgmental." She nodded.

"I should learn Chinese. Or... some other language... You'd think I'd be bilingual with a last name like Ibarra, huh?" She chuckled and took a long swig. "No, I was just thinking. Like... I dunno. You seem like a good guy. And you probably enjoy some happiness."

 

[Macabrecabra]

"Eh, last names aren't one to judge here on this side of the world. You never know what people speak but...if you want to learn Chinese, I wouldn't say no to tutoring you." He grinned wryly, "In fact, could say that is your new hobby, learning and writing Chinese. I can show you how to do calligraphy even."

Her second statement though brought a bit of a pause, but he gave another shrug as he sat up some, "I've had some really good times, really happy times in life. There are low points as well but it means a lot to hear someone thinks I'm decent. I think the same of you, no matter what you might say about yourself."

 

[folclor]

"It'd be kind of a ...hm... Yeah, no, not right now." She sighed. "Yeah, but you don't know me. And you probably won't like me if you get to." With a stretch, she reached down and grabbed her snacks. "Talk to anyone at work who used to be my 'friend.' You'll get warned away."

 

[Macabrecabra]

"Probably the same people who avoid me like the plague because of the rumors I eat people?" He asked, arching an eyebrow, "We are both avoided so with that logic? Might as well form our own duo of pariahs, outcasted from the rest of the office, talked about behind our backs, but we are too far gone into our own gloomy mood to give a shit."

He grinned a bit,"Yǒuyuán qiānlǐ lái xiānghuì. Fate brings people together from far apart...or at least what my lǎo lao used to tell me."

 

[folclor]

She blinked at him. "I... what's a lao lao?" She failed at pronunciation, but she'd never spoken another language before. "I'm still not sure I believe in fate. There's not really any 'gods', I think. So why would there be fates?"

Still, she couldn't deny he was right about the people. "Too bad we aren't edgy teenagers. Can you imagine how popular you'd be then? With rumors of you eating people?"

 

[Macabrecabra]

The jiangshi chuckled, " lǎo lao." He repeated slowly, "My grandmother on my mother's side. The woman who cooked the most delicious meals I can remember and what I wouldn't give to taste that cooking again."

At her talk of gods and fate, he shook his head, "Mmm... fate isn't a god, more a force to some. In Taoism it is more a ...flow you study to try and predict the future although that is a rather old way of thinking about it."

Her last statement though did a small laugh out of him as he looked away, a bit sheepish again, "Well, the only rumor part is having eaten anyone in recent times. Haven't tasted human since the 30s, I swear on my honor."

 

[folclor]

"And if someone offered to let you?" She leveled her gaze on him, taking a small drink. "If someone came to you and said, 'Please, Qiūhé, I don't want to live anymore and if you don't do this I'll hang myself. Please, eat me.' Would you?"

 

[Macabrecabra]

Qiūhé looked at her for a long moment, his expression growing just a smidge uncomfortable before he shook his head, "No. No I wouldn't. I'm not a convenient pain free suicide enable machine...For one thing it is illegal and no one can prove or disprove it was a suicide request, even if there is a note so they would just lock me away for an eternity.....two, feeder undead like me ...don't want to kill when we feed."

He let out a sigh, running a hand through his head, "Why do you think most vampires prefer having people to sip on? You don't bled the whole source dry. Same principle. Better to ...do small bites. And even then its...it is a rather intimate relationship when it comes to sipping off someone given the....euphoric effect and the effect unlike vampires who can just nip anywhere for blood I have to feed through the mouth..."

 

[folclor]

She nodded. "Interesting. I suppose that would be an issue. So why are you treated so badly by your culture? If you don't kill people and it is an intimate feeling... I don't get it."

 

[Macabrecabra]

"...in my case....young newly risen jiangshi are mindless and will eat anything...that we get sentient as we get older true, but that is from eating souls. Taking animal life, weakening humans with our feeding. Creatures that feed off another living thing are often seen as parasite." He explained with a shrug, slumping back some, "And being dead to boot. Other inhumans can overcome their problems, some of us still need a fresh soul or body or blood..."

 

[folclor]

"But there are a lot of fresh bodies these days, aren't there?" She finished off her whiskey. Now she had another bottle of whiskey, two bottles of vodka, and some hard cider. Would she make it through the weekend on this? She doubted it.

 

[Macabrecabra]

"Sure... but honestly? Less are rising due to paladin practices, more mages about to handle putting the dead down before they rise. I mean, they just passed laws limiting the amount of ghouls any one vampire can have which has raised a uproar." He closed his eyes, leaning back into the couch with a sigh. "Politics of the different tribes of humans and inhumans trying to make it all work I suppose. I follow the law though and eat animals. I don't take up partners for sipping."

 

[folclor]

She looked down at her snacks. "Bureaucracy is frustrating, isn't it?" Some of her classmates from the institution were likely involved in those practices. "Do you think people care about undead at all?" Likely not. In fact, until Qiūhé, she'd never met someone undead in a workplace environment. He at once fascinated her and made her wish she wanted to keep living.

 

[Macabrecabra]

"As someone who, when alive, more or less put down undead and made sure none would rise?" He let out a humorless chuckle, "Seriously doubt it, but there are enough ancient undead in places of high power and influence to at least pull things a bit in our favor. But there are a few. I've had good friends that were living throughout the ages."

 

[folclor]

"Mmm." She picked at her snack. "And none of them decided to join you in undeath? Doesn't the law allow consensual undeath?"