Who Wants to Live Forever? -- RP

Aurora smiled thinly, her tiny hands putting the voice changer over the telephone microphone. " It has been... a long time, Johan. This is your mysterious friend, miss Dawn." She paused, as she flicked through her papers.

"I've had today some of my... badge wearing friends expressing their concern over bizarre "undead" incidents. You know what this means." She paused. "I want names. The payment will be hefty for each immortal you uncover."

Aurora leaned back on her chair, as she spun so slightly. "That is all. It should be simple enough, don't you think?" She paused. "Have a good night and play nice..."

It was a stale morning. Aurora had her breakfast greedily, unable to slow down the childish cravings of her body. At least breakfast food had improved since last centure. Cereals were a great invention, in fact.

It was then when the still-drunk Valérie stumbled in. Aurora sighed and served a cup of coffee to the girl as she tried to argue with her daughter. In the end she couldn't bring herself to blame the girl for raving all night. Life was to be spent as best as one could, and routine could kill someone. Specially if one lived for centuries instead of years.

Rubbing her head, she made a check of what Dino Connections needed of her research today.

11:11 PM

A thin smile crawled across Johan's lips. "Really? How interesting... and convenient. I was just in the middle of tracking one down myself. Rest assured, Miss Dawn," he said, lowering his phone, "You'll have your names soon enough."

The phone clicked shut. Turning his gaze to the moon so high in the sky, Johan muttered, "And I'll have a new toy."

10:39 AM

John heard the bell and the sound of a customer. As he moved quickly from the back-room of the store, he noticed the young man from before standing in the doorway, looking frightened as he had before.

John's face lit up and he adjusted his pince-nez glasses. he had noticed Arc's expression as he stared around at the antiques yesterday, and despite having to meet Jason in a few hours time he was delighted that Arc had returned "Ah, young man. Come in, make yourself at home. Now, what business brings you to Immortal Treasures so early in the morning!"

He noted to himself that despite being only twenty-five or so appearance-wise, the centuries had made him sound rather old.

Paul found himself a street lamp to lean against, grabbing his phone. He dialed the number he'd been given.

Why the hell am I doing this..?

Eating breakfast thankfully went over well for Elena. That plus the fact that her favorite ingredient was still on stock added up to improve her mood quite a bit from the gloom of the last night. So, she decided to make what remained of her morning productive by going Christmas gift shopping.

She had gotten a couple of stuff already but the big day was still approaching and her 'to buy' list remained a lot longer than her 'already bought' list. So Elena walked at an easy pace towards the nearest mall to engage in festivities induced consumerism.

edited 30th Dec '11 2:08:54 PM by kkhohoho

"Um, well..." Arc reached into his pocket for the watch, but ended up distracted by the collection of items surrounding him. The shop reminded him of where he used to live, although this place had a much friendlier atmosphere. It took him a moment to stop staring at a well polished mahogany chest. "I was, uh, wondering if you'd be interested in... this." he continued, showing the man the pocketwatch.

As Paul waited for his cell-phone to ring, something else would garner his attention; without warning, he could feel someone tapping him on the shoulder...

As Emily entered the mall, she could tell that it wouldn't be an easy venture; as could be expected of this time of year, the mall was loaded with dozens of shoppers, all wanting to meet the Christmas deadline with time to spare. Yet unknown to Emily, there was one particular individual, standing in the corner unnoticed — and she was staring directly at her...

edited 30th Dec '11 8:44:38 PM by kkhohoho

Sooner then she expected, Amelia received a message from her pager, and of course, it was from Dino Connections. It read, as follows:

Ms.Le Blanc: There will be a meeting today at 12:00 Noon to discuss current affairs, and as where to best allocate our research and investments. As one of our most valued scientists, you are expected to attend this meeting. More will be explained at the meeting in question.

—Daniel Revington

edited 30th Dec '11 9:59:40 PM by kkhohoho

Paul shut off his phone immediately and whirled to face the person trying to get his attention, reaching for his pocket knife. "What do you want?" he hissed.

"Whoa, whoa there lad!", said the man, holding both his arms straight up. He was a tall fellow, wearing a well-tailored black tuxedo, black gloves, and a black top-hat, and black sideburns could be seen on the sides of his head. A brown suitcase lay beside him, with him having dropped just previously. "No need to go reaching for that, eh?" He spoke with a British accent, and his demeanor was well-mannered and polite, yet if one could take a close look at his eyes, they might say that they would seem somewhat... unsettling.

"Look lad, I mean you no harm. You see?", he said, gesturing with his head towards his hands. "Absolutely nothing there. Now, if I may be so bold," he said with a sly smile, "could you please... move your hand away from that weapon of yours?"

edited 30th Dec '11 8:01:41 PM by kkhohoho

Very slowly, he moved his hand away. "Who are you?" he asked, suspicious.

John leaned in to inspect the watch "This is...Very old. Very old indeed.." and vaguely familiar

He adjusted his pince-nez glasses again and took another look at the watch, hmm-ing and muttering to himself.

"How much do you want for it?" He would normally have given an initial price to be negotiated, but from the look on Arc's face, he clearly didn't know the real, extremely high value of the watch and John wanted to get a feel for how much Arc valued it himself.

Besides, John found himself growing fond of the fidgety young fellow, and he acted as though he was in trouble of some sort.

"Ahhh... should have expected this..." Elena whispered to herself as she saw the sheer size of the crowds of people stalking the mall in these last days of shopping.

This is one fearsome battlefield... I just hope I don't have to wrestle someone for a hair straightener Elena thought to herself as steeled her resolve and decided to engage in this battle, not entirely sure if she would make it out of this one alive.

"I assure you," responded the gentleman to Paul, still polite as ever, "I am of no importance to you at this moment of time, and hopefully for you, never will be. Now, as to why I tried to gain your assistance... you see, I am new to this fair city, and yet, here I am."

He finished his sentence with a smile, in addition to outstretching his arms. Upon taking a closer look, as much as the suit tried to hide it, the man looked almost quite athletic and lean. "My name is Percy, and I am something of a... businessman. As such, I am trying to find the home of one Dino Connections, as they appear to have offered a quite substantial offer for me. Could you be so kind as to point me in the right direction, so to speak?"

edited 30th Dec '11 8:56:54 PM by kkhohoho

"Hey,", said a voice to Elena from behind.

edited 30th Dec '11 9:00:05 PM by kkhohoho

"Hmm?" Elena turned around to see who was calling for her.

The one who called out to Emily was a girl appearing to be around Emily's age; she wore blue jeans, a red jacket over a white t-shirt. Her hair was was wavy, unkempt, and was so long that it went down across her back, and it was red as the color of blood. Her eyes provided a jarring contrast, being as blue as the deep ocean.

"Hey there," she said; her her hands were in her pockets, her eyes were half closed, and her face was as mellow as a mid-summer's day. "Tough day, isn't it? People goin' around and buying who-knows-what far as I can see." She spoke with a Southern accent, and looked around the mall as she says this. Doesn't seem like it's gonna' be easy to get whatever is you wanna get, isn't it?"

As she said that last sentence, her gaze turned right onto Emily. Her speech should have been innocuous, and perhaps even mere heedless drivel, but something about the way she spoke; about her body language, how she had no reasons to speak to her and yet was, and everything about her, only served to form into one mysterious — and possibly somewhat unsettling — whole.

Elena was slightly unsettled by the girl... her whole presence irradiated some sort trouble after all. However, her conscious mind did her best to shake off those ill feelings as the girl had done nothing to Elena after all "Yeah, there is that feeling in the air. However it is still several days until Christmas so I think there's still chance to find something good.

With that Elena turned back to check merchandise on the store she was in as she said "Looking for something for your family?"

At that, the girl's head lowered; her eyes closed, and she gave off a slight chuckle. "Sorry," she said, "but I don't got much of a family anyway."

"Dino Connections?" Paul thought for a moment, puzzled. "Have I ever heard of them? I dunno, I don't really run in the circles of big corporations. I don't think I can help you." He shrugged. "Sorry. I can help you look though, this city's pretty dangerous."

"Ah..."

Elena looked at the girl and then down awkwardly for a moment before looking forward to the wares once again "I'm sorry about that"

"You're got someone to spend the holidays with though?"

The shopping mall. Large, crowded, filled with distractions. Every creeper, stalker, and killer's wet dream. Urban camouflage doesn't get any easier. Find a crowd and jump in and suddenly you're a ghost. Johan should know, he'd been doing it for years.

Target appears to be doing Christmas shopping, despite making no plans to leave for home. Interesting. And who exactly is she talking to? Something... not quite right about that one. Better keep her catalogued.

With a dulled click, the smartphone peeking out of Johan's breast pocket caught a glimpse of the girls, preserving the image of the curious redhead. She was definitely worth further investigation (that hair color couldn't be natural), but for now, it would probably be best for Johan if she left.

Second time in a row you manage to shield yourself with company. Almost like she knows. Johan chuckled a little at that thought. If no one could catch him when he was being hunted by the cops, it was certain no one could catch him when he was working with them. For now, all he needed to do was keep tailing her and wait for an opportunity.

edited 31st Dec '11 1:26:57 AM by KSPAM

The girl lifted up her head and opened her eyes, though they were still only half open. She again gave a slight chuckle. "You could say that. Plan to be stayin' with them until the 21st. Then..." she continued, turning her head to the side, "We'll be off for better places." She turned back to Emily again. "The folks I'm stayin' with have family someplace else, and the'll visit ''em for a while; they asked me to come along, seein' as I got no place else..."

"Name's Rosanne.", she said. "I do... I guess you could call 'em 'odd jobs' for a living. What 'bout you?"

edited 31st Dec '11 11:00:09 AM by kkhohoho