Northern Outskirts, Forest

Henry, bored at this point - being physically intangible removed a lot of entertainment options - had taken to poking at a badger. He sighed gloomily to himself. Even the animals fell into a trance when they looked at him. The badger was having problems following him, as it had apparently messed up its leg earlier when Henry lead it to a nearby fox who hadn't run, also entranced by Henry. Then Henry had let himself move through a tree and out of their view, then spectated from a bit farther as they fought. It wasn't too exciting; they both ran away after a bit.

Then Henry glimpsed movement. His eyes shot to the movement. He paused as he took in the view - a shadowy man, with dark eyes and winds about him. In other words, distinctly.... not human.

Perfect, he thought, completely forgetting about the badger he had been poking at. I don't even have to go into town. There was still the problem of talking to him. So far, every regular person he had tried to talk to just ended up mesmerized, too confused to talk, and then mostly forgotten what he said once he'd left (he'd asked a few people questions about their one sided conversation later to test that out).

He moved to go to the man, then hesitated. Instead he moved around, watching him silently. Being a ghost dude had its perks. No, wait for a bit, see what he does. You don't know if he's nice or not. Just... wait.

Library

Leith only stared as Patrick laughed at her words, blank yet a little puzzled. Had she said something funny? Or had she used the wrong word and he was laughing at her? The latter didn't seem likely given his friendliness thus far, but...

She discarded the thought as she entered the building. Ms. Akinloye wasn't at the front desk, instead tending to the needs of a mummy in the non-fiction section. Leith pulled two books out of her bag and placed them atop the counter, quietly mulling over the question Patrick had posed her. For once, she wasn't disinterested in it.

"I don't feel much different than I did a year ago. I don't have much of a life to change." She went over to the computer bank and dragged a beanbag over to a spare computer (she'd given up on chairs a while ago). Then she turned back to the dullahan. "And you?"

Library

Patrick tensed up, and curled a fist. He placed a hand on the counter and took a deep breath. "I had it all.....good grades, good friends, the perfect lass. I was set to go on up in life. I was going to do law school. But then I changed. It was.... horrible. I actually killed someone. That extra spine I have belonged to that person. I keep it with me because..... I'm not really sure. I guess it became a part of me, really...." He slammed his fist down on the counter. "It isn't bloody fair, this happening to me. I never did anything to deserve this." He looked Leith directly in two of her eyes as he continued to speak, his voice rising. "You're bloody lucky, being a spider. You don't have to live with the knowledge that you can kill someone by saying their name. That a damned horse is trying to make you do such a thing. No, you get to walk about on eight legs, with some poor eyesight!" He suddenly jabbed two fingers at her, to poke her.

The horse was chuckling to itself.

Seawell's apartment

The faun continued to aimlessly surf the net from his home computer. He was quite bored- nothing exciting had happened today. He just absent-mindedly munched on snacks and drank soda.

Then he noticed a familiar online avatar, belonging to an acquaintance of his, an Arachne, whom he had met on a Monster Support Forum, was active. She was in the local library apparently. Small wonder, it was one of the few places she frequented.

Then he typed: "Hi! Its me, OldGoat! (an avatar of a smiling satyr face accompanied his post.) How's things?"

Cornelia's Shop

"Maybe you could get some armor," Roisin suggested. "That'd hide your face, and if anyone asks questions, you could tell them you're just very invested in protecting yourself."

She chuckled, before her expression shifted to serious.

"Does silver...hurt you? Actively cause pain, I mean? Like, iron doesn't really do that for me. All it does is block out my...my monster abilities, let's say. I used to wear an iron necklace 24/7 to keep myself from screaming whenever I sensed someone dying soon, but it gave me a wicked rash on my neck and chest. Plus it kept making me faint."

Library

Leith adjusted the computer's accessibility settings and logged in, each keystroke quietly sounded out by the machine so she could more easily detect an error. A message from an acquaintance greeted her upon sign-in, but her attention was diverted by Patrick before she could view it.

She sensed more than saw the hostility directed towards her and instinctively scuttled backwards. His words made her frown, but it appeared to be more of annoyance than of hurt. "Don't raise your voice in-"

"Don't be arguing in my library now." Erebi sounded from nearby. Her eyebrow was raised at what appeared to be her quietest patron fighting with a newcomer. "Take it outside if you gotta take it anywhere."

"...As she said." If Leith was affected by his words- by his life, his dismissal of hers, or his confession of murder- then she deigned not to show it. "And don't presume to so easily know the life of a stranger."

San Lorenzo, Cornelia's Shop

Cornelia looked at the two. "I'm sorry for arriving so late, I had some... other matters to attend to before." She gave a faint smile "And yes all are real, I have various materials and types, full plate, chain mail or just leather, I can say that only the ornate armors contain silver, the others are made of iron or steel, although I do have some mroe antique ones made of bronze and copper too. They are made for full contact sparring so they are ready for combat."

Sorry for the delay but I for the love of Arceus didn't find who else was there... maybe I shouldn't have looked at the location headers... XD

Library

"Ah, go piss yourself," he told both the spider and librarian. "Just get me onto a computer, and let me find a place to stay." He also glared at both of the women. Remembering how he had become a monster always brought out his bitter side.

Library

Leith, now slightly perturbed, took Ms. Akinloye's interruption as an excuse to eject herself from the conversation, settling down properly at the monitor instead. The message was from OldGoat, a satyr she'd met a while ago and one of the few people that she was somewhat okay conversing with. Having a common point of interest helped, as did his relaxed disposition.

She typed out the reply slowly, hunched over to see the keyboard letters as clearly as possible. As such it took a short while to reply, but Goat would likely be accustomed to that.

Erebi directed her bandaged patron to another bookshelf before turning back to Patrick, expression sympathetic but stern. "If it's a computer you need, or a place to bunk for the night, then I can hook you up."

"That said, this is a library, and more importantly it's a place for everyone to feel welcome and safe. A lot of monsters show up here with some awful skeletons in their closets, but that don't give them the right to lash out at other victims who just wanna forget about the grey clouds for a while. Are we clear?"

An Old Goat online:

"Computer broke down" Araneus wrote.

"That sucks, hope it gets fixed soon" he typed back.

"Was followed home by a horse."

He snorted. "Normal or monster?"

"Do you know of the protest at City Hall earlier?"

"I walked past it, but it seemed to be dying down by then. Do you know anything about it?"

Library

Patrick grumbled and growled, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away, but grudgingly nodded. "Alright, fine. Where can I find a place to stay? Anywhere you know?"

Forest

Marcus paused and glanced around, glowing eyes squinting to see through the dense treeline. For some reason, he had the oddest feeling of being watched, despite seeing nobody around him.

Cornelia's Shop

Jack laughed. "I think I'm unnerving enough without going around dressed for war." When she brought up silver harming him, his voice shifted from amused to somewhat serious as well. "Yeah. Silver burns like... well, it burns worse than fire, honestly. It's on the of the few things that can reliably hurt me; fire still hurts, but it just feels like fire did back when I was human," he explained.

As the Centaur explained that only the fancier armors had silver, he sighed in relief. "Oh, thanks. I was worried for a minute there," he thanked her. Jack touched an iron buckler, and it was indeed iron.

Cornelia's Shop

Roisin wondered how Jack knew fire still burned him like it did a human. There could be an innocent explanation, but given everything that was going on, she doubted it.

After Cornelia explained the armor was for sparring, her eyes widened. "Wow. And here I thought it was for the inevitable race wars." Her chuckle trailed off into awkward silence. "Sorry. That wasn't funny."

She changed the subject. "My friend here is looking for someplace to get clothes that are less inconspicuous. Any recommendations?"

San Lorenzo, Cornelia's Shop

Cornelia looked as the what she assmed vampire touched the buckler, looking mildly proud, although her face became serious as Roisin mentioned race wars "Most stuff here is for full contact sparring... its hard, but dull... if I'd hit you with one it will certainly hurt.... but not more than a hit from any other heavy object. As far as weapons go a kitchen knife will probably do a better job... but I do have sharp ones if those are your fancy."

She pointed at a showcase that was locked with a quite heavy looking padlock. "But you can rest assured I will not sell these to anyone likely to cause troule with them, and I err on the side of caution in this matter." She didn't know if her strong sense of honor in this matter was because of her being a centaur or if the transformation only heightened her already existing one, but in the end this was of no concern to her. "If you like I can show one though."

Northern Outskirts, Forest

Henry drew back in surprise. Sure, the guy hadn't seen him, but he did seem to think someone was there. Then again, he could just be being careful.

This is still a good chance to practice before going into town, he thought to himself. He took a deep breathe (not that he actually breathed) and floated through the tree he had been hiding behind, into the man's eyesight.

"Can you hear me?" He started out with, waving his hand vaguely. He didn't get close yet; just looking at Henry generally drew people under his influence, so getting up close with him might not be completely safe yet.

Cornelia's Shop

Roisin forced herself to smile politely. "Don't antagonize people with swords" was an important rule to live by.

"Thanks for the generous offer. But I'm only here to see what's where. Not to mention that I have no idea how to use it."

Library

Leith paused. From what Patrick had said the horse was the one pushing him into his dullahan duties. If it was a monster, then how would it be classified?

Erebi relaxed as Patrick became... well, a little more complacent at least. "I have contacts in a lotta places. I'll ask around, there should be a few willing to let you bunk for a couple days. Worst comes to worst, you can at least stay at mine for the night. Not much room, but better than nothin'."

Seawell's apartment

AraneusDownfall: "The horse was a monster, likely. Belonged to Dullahan. ''

That comment caused Seawell to blink. Aren't Dullahans like death reapers or something? Now, he knew monsters were really transformed people and he shouldn't let gossip affect his judgement, but he couldn't help worry. Before he could ask, she continued:

AraneusDownfall: "According to dontGarlicmeBro: Other monsters nearly got arrested at protest, but for some reason were let go."

OldGoat: "Glad to hear. Must not have been anything too serious." Then he added, "So, do you know why the horse followed you? Are you... OK?"

edited 28th Nov '16 2:44:57 PM by Sijo

Library

Patrick relaxed some more after that. He was happy and surprised she would offer him a place to stay, and help him find one as well. He held out a hand to her. "Appreciate the help, Miss...?"

Forest

Marcus flinched in surprise, his head snapping towards the source of the noise. "Y-yes, I can hear you and see you." He replied, inspecting the ghostly figure. "You startled me, didn't expect to see a ghost here."

Lark, Library

Lark walked into the library carrying a surprising amount of groceries, considering that she was rather petite. Walking over to Erebi, she waved a little to both of them, before putting down the groceries at her feet and pulling out a large pad from seemingly nowhere.

-Erebi, I was wondering if I could experiment with a new menu for the cafe. Maybe something with more fruit, a bit more summery?-

Then, she turned to Patrick and (without seemingly noticing anything) flipped a page.

-Hi! I'm Lark. Cook at the Cafe upstairs.-

Then she paused. She had walked in on a conversation about someone needing a place to stay.

-Do you need a place to stay? You can always stay at mine if you like.-

If Erebi cleared her request, she'd probably be spending a fair amount of time at the Cafe late anyway, so it wouldn't affect her much. With the new menu she was considering some sorbet type things, maybe a chocolate cake with coulis instead of the norm. For savouries...well she wasn't sure yet, so she needed to experiment. In the end though, it was up to Erebi.

Northern Outskirts, Forest

Henry's eyes widened, his jaw dropping slightly. "You can? I... I have so many questions." He drew closer, hands outstretched slightly.

"Like..." Oh, where to start? "Is Metallica's new album out?" Perfect. "And also how is it going for, uh, monsters in the city? Because I sorta want to go in but I can't really do anything and I have to wait 'til night and I haven't really been talking to anyone, it's actually been really, really boring out here, no one ever talks to me, so... uh. You know," he trailed off. He was aware that he had been babbling slightly. Six months of mostly isolation were not healthy for him.

Cornelia's Shop

Jack shook his head. "No thanks- I don't need to scare anyone more than usual. Thanks for the offer, though." Still, he'd look cool with a sword. He could totally cosplay as a Nazgul with one. He had the robes and hood down, and he was pretty Ring-Wraithey.

San Lorenzo, Cornelia's Shop

Cornelia gave a satisfied nod "Good." She looked at the two "Is there then anything else I can help you with or in which you are interested in?" She pointed to the rest of the store, other than various kinds of armors the two would be able to see things like medieval cutlery, flasks and other such utensils. Apart from that there were also various medieval garbs both ones for humans and monsters. On the counter was a small showcase with some jewelry, again in medieval looks.

edited 29th Nov '16 6:57:01 AM by Sergey_Smirnov