Edge Town-City of Light

"Even if he had, I wouldn't. I don't have the training or the talent. And I've seen what neuromancers can do first hand. That is not a path I will ever even come close to."

Leon stared at the now slowly coming around Tim, he sighs a bit in relief. Even if Tim still seemed pretty out of sorts.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. You didn't fry your brain too badly did you?"

Thank fuck, getting involved apparently wasn't going to cause an international incident or anything. Thus reassured, Terry swept over to mom and kid while Alex was busy with the whampy chick. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

He paused in realization. "Crap, do you even speak English, or am I just some weirdo babbling nonsense in what I hope is a reassuring tone of voice?"

I can't breathe, I can't breathe—

Annette took an unstable step back as the woman released her, immediately being helped—distracted?—by one of the family of blonds from before. But Annette could barely register that. Her head was spinning and her breathing was shallow, almost forced, and it felt like her heartbeat was trying to deafen her from the inside. I can't breathe. David's hand was still in hers, right? He felt clammy. Or was that her skin? Everything felt cold.

Her eyes managed to focus on the face of the man coming talking to her. He looked human. What if he wasn't? She'd already used her acid. I can't breathe. Her stomach tightened.

"No, n-no no no no no—"

David managed to free his hand from her tight, almost painful hold and gave her arm a couple shakes. "Mom? Mami? Bist du in Ordnung?"

Annette looked frantically between the man, the vampire woman, and her son before she fainted.

"Mom!"

Welp. That went well. Terry got to the mom quickly enough to catch her before she hit the floor, which was no mean feat considering how close she was to it already. He gently lowered her to the ground before giving an awkward wave and smile to the apparently German kid. "I know three different people, all came to this country, who speak German. Not one of them is here right now. That's just unfair."

David knelt down next to his mother with wide eyes, still visibly shaken, but rather than growing panicked and hyperventilating as his mother had he went still, his muscles locking up and his expression going blank. Annette's breathing slowly started to even out while unconscious.

"I..." David spoke very, very quietly, "...I speak English, too." Carefully he glanced up at Terry before averting his gaze to his hands, balled up at his knees. "Is mom...going to wake up?"

edited 19th Feb '17 1:00:25 PM by KeiranGold

Eesh, poor kid. Terry just wanted to wrap him in a blanket and hug him forever, but there was no blanket available and it wouldn't be appropriate anyway. He settled for pouring all the comfort and reassurance he could into his voice. (It helped to think about corgis, he'd found. A very comforting animal, the corgi.) "She's breathing better now and I don't see any injuries-" and she didn't look like the horror stories he'd heard about people who'd been drained to the dregs by White Court, thank fuck "-so she's probably going to be fine. And soon we're gonna have some medical guys to take a closer look at her, so she's in good hands.

"Hey, it might help if you can tell me a little about what happened here. All I caught was the pale lady freaking out."

Tim gave a hacking cough, followed by a wheezing fit of trying to get breath into his rebelling lungs and for a moment he was in two places at the same before he lunged at one of them, forcing himself into it as if saving himself on a piece of dry land in a river.

"Mir gehts gut..." he croaked forth, not even realizing he had slipped to his native tongue.

Two Freaks and a Vampire

The Duchesse's daughter (the family resemblance was certainly there) was still screaming in pain when Alex pulled his heroic stunt maneuver. So far, it seemed as if his sledgehammer-esque Hunger had mellowed her out somewhat. At least, she seemed receptive to Alex trying to remove whatever it was that caused her so much pain, though she was still expressing her dissatisfaction with the situation through loud screaming.

Meanwhile, the server had obeyed Alex' command without hesitation, and the Duchesse came back down the stairs, storm clouds in her eyes, her own Hunger evident in her chilling tone of voice, even if her eyes had not yet started to fleck silver.

"Who did this to my daughter?!"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jarl

"Welcome back to the land of the living, buddy." He offered Tim a hand to help him stand back up. "Maybe trying to eat the evil necromancer's book wasn't the best decision you've ever made in your life."

Tim needed a moment to switch back to english, amid a truly massive headache pounding around in his had.

"I posit that I have probably made worse mistakes." He got barely out as he took Jarls hand and attempted to get upright again. Even if the use of plural may be generous right now.

Alexander

When the Duchesse emerged from the stairs, Alexander mentally cursed. He'd hoped he'd have a little more time to take control of the situation. The child was—unsurprisingly—extremely upset, while the woman who had thrown the glass of...something had decided to leave the scene. And consciousness.

Helpful, that.

He eased off his Hunger, keeping it a dull trickle, and making his hand brushed across the *still screaming* Malvora's face while he dabbed her dry. Calm and control. Calm and control.

Alexander raised his voice, trying to let the Duchesse hear him over her infernal spawn.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened. It looks like no one's seriously hurt."

Yet.

Trying to sound calm, level-headed, and reasonable, even as the tension in the room crept up a few notches, he lifted the Duchesse's daughter, carrying her to her mother.

"Since there appears to be no lasting damage, perhaps your daughter should simply be brought to her room? Enough meals have been disturbed already—screaming women are rarely mentioned favorably in reviews. I can take care of the unconscious woman and her son. My brother is already consulting the proper authorities."

There. Now it sounds like I'm going to eat her. Isn't that suitable, your grace?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Wizards Three

Michele let out a sigh of relief—and amusement, tossing Tim a napkin. "You have tomato sauce all over your face.''

Bruno pushed through his shock, as Tim showed signs of life, still seated, looking at the wizards, dumbfounded.

"Does he—is he—-does he does this a lot?"

Meanwhile, Rollo snorted, standing back up with a grunt of effort.

"If I knew you were Libromancer, I might have thought twice about handing it at you. New rule—no magic at the dinner table. I'll grab you some ibuprofen and pepto-bismo. I bet you feel like shit. Any lasting damage?"

There didn't feel like there was any lasting damage. Tim, however, had the mother of all shredding headaches, a slick, oily sensation still lingering in his tongue, movements clumsy and shaky. It would probably fade after a night's rest—but he was unlikely to get too much work done while it lasted.

Rollo glanced back at Tim when he reached the door, giving him an amused half-smile.

"Did you see anything fun?"

edited 23rd Feb '17 2:15:13 PM by DrTentacles

Tim grabbed the napkin and began to clean himself as he took mental stock. "Only to my dignity, I think." He sighed, wishing right now nothing more than a few shot glasses full of Korn and a bed.

David's posture didn't relax in even the slightest bit, but he did release a little breath of relief. His mother was okay. She hadn't hit her head, right? She was breathing calmer so things we okay. Right now. His expression was still disconcertingly blank. "She grabbed mom's face and said something...weird. I didn't hear her clearly. Then mom—"

There was suddenly a flicker of life in David's eyes, and he looked around the floor for something, finally stopping at the sight of the empty vial on the opposite side of his mother. He started to reach for it only to apparently remember Terry was sitting right there, watching him. He withdrew his hand to his lap again, eyes going between Terry's nose and the vial.

"Ah—um—would you please give me that, it's—it's important..."

The Duchess made her appearance loud enough that David shut right up, his face paling and terror filling his features again. He ducked his head and buried into himself. A few tiny droplets fell from his eyes to the back of his hand.

edited 23rd Feb '17 6:46:01 PM by KeiranGold

Fuck. Crying child. Crying child with an unconscious mom in a room full of strangers, with - given all the vampires around - probably some pretty solid reasons to be scared. Terry was not prepared for this. At least when horrible gribbly monsters tried to eat him he knew how to respond.

Well, it didn't look like there was a line of child experts forming, so Terry guessed the kid - huh, should maybe have gotten his name at some point - was stuck with him. He silently passed over the vial, tapping the kid's hand with it to let him know he'd done so. Then he took a position between the little family and the enraged Duchesse, back straight and gaze steady. There was nothing particularly aggressive or confrontational about it, he just gave the impression that he had no intention of moving from that spot any time soon.

Two Nerds and a Vampire

The Duchesse stormed down the stairs and practically wrenched her daughter out of Alex' arms. For someone who took great care to look like a harmless matron, she seemed anything but. Django hurried her daughter (nobody'd caught her name yet, how weird) upstairs while she glared daggers at Alex and his family. Her tone had gone from angry to ice cold.

"Get her out. Now. Make sure I never see her in my establishment again. If I do, I'll hold you personally responsible."

She rushed further down the stairs to reassure the patron in her French, tinged as it was with an Italian flourish to help put them at ease. Saved for now.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jarl

"Eh, that's taken a few knocks already just from the company you keep." He gently elbowed Tim in the shoulder. "You'll probably survive this hit too."

Alexander

Alexander felt cold sweat on his body, stomach churning as the Duchesse took her daughter from him. The sudden thought occurred to him that he'd been playing this under the assumption that he could at least match her if it came to a Hunger duel.

He was suddenly very, very glad that he'd run into Terry at the airport.

Lips numb, he turned, his reply was pure reflex.

"Thank you, Duchesse."

It was time to go.

He walked to Terrence's side, about to reach down to pick up the woman, then stopped, suddenly face-to-face with the brown-haired child.

This is going to be a hard sell.

He shot a pleading look at Terrence.

"My hotel is safe. We need to go."

_____________________________________________________________________________

Wizard's Three:

Dinner over, the wizards were free to disperse, sleep off the Way-Lag (Much like Jet-Lag, but even worse), tinker with side projects, or practice in the club-room in the basement. Rollo's house wasn't exactly a mansion, but it was cosy enough, and a full meal and actual hospitality meant that Paris was already a far friendlier city than Las Vegas.

Morning brought a fresh dusting of snow, a four-way competition to use the shower and bathroom, cereal, and for the college students, classes. Wizard de Normandie hadn't emerged from his study, but a look through the Necromancer's Journal indicated a trip to the census bureau was called for. There were many, many names of suspected Poisoners, and no clue if any of them were still living in the city. In addition, it might be wise to visit local museums—or, if they were feeling especially daring, brave the catacombs.

Of the options, visiting the Paris Census bureau to try to trace the names in Necromancer's journal seemed like the easiest and safest choice.

edited 27th Feb '17 12:06:39 PM by DrTentacles

Terry gave a reassuring nod back to Alex before turning to the kid. "Okay kiddo, we gotta go. Once your mom wakes up, we can take you guys to your home or wherever else she wants you to go, but for right now we just gotta get you out of here. We'll keep you safe at Alex's place. I promise."

And let no god dare help anyone who tried to make that promise false.

Alexander reached forward, glancing behind nervously to see if the Duchesse was about to change her mind. For all she knew, he was going to eat the woman, but still—maybe she wanted her vengeance personal.

He stopped as Bethany, somehow having slipped free of Lilaine's grip pressed beside him. She was looking at the boy and her mother with mingled curiosity and nervousness, upset by being left out of the commotion. Surprisingly, she spoke, voice full of brash nervousness.

"You can trust Terrence. Is your mother alright? What's going on?"

edited 27th Feb '17 9:31:40 PM by DrTentacles

David rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand before he looked up again, finding himself looking at another new face. He gave a fearful glance at the first man, then the new man, then back at his unconscious mother. There was clearly doubt and concern in his eyes, his fists balling up in his lap. He didn't want to go with these strangers. He didn't trust them. He didn't know them.

But then something...changed. Maybe it was Terrance's promise to keep him safe, or maybe it was something to do with the way his eyes went unfocused for a split second, and suddenly his demeanor softened slightly.

I can trust them.

He looked up at Terrance and nodded. "Okay. I—huh?" David gave a side-glance at Bethany and, in an instant, went very very still. Not out of terror, but out what appeared to be a sudden rush of shyness. He hadn't even noticed the little girl about his age. And still being in a crowd of fear vampires didn't help his social anxiety any. ".......yes? I don't know? Um. C-Can we gonowMr.Terrance?"

edited 14th Aug '17 10:22:40 AM by KeiranGold

The early morning found Leon bumping into Michelle when he went to get his early morning exercise in the training room in the basement. After a brief warm-up the two engaged in a sword spar. Leon lost. Still he grinned as he got back to his feet. He might not be a fan of losing but it wasn't like it was a life or death situation.

"Thanks for the fight."

He held his left arm favoring it a bit after a particularly nasty whack, but didn't seem too concerned about it. He headed back upstairs for breakfast and the morning planning about what to their plan was. He'd shower afterwards.

"So, Tim, your head doing better? Or should we avoid having you try to absorb census info for name searching?"

"Yes, now is the absolute best time to get the hell out of here," Terry said, starting to hustle everyone out. He kept an eye out for any last-minute trouble popping up, because wouldn't that be the fucking capstone on this meal. "Heck out of here. Alex, you got mom, right?"

Alexander gave a grateful nod at Terrence, leaning down to scoop up the boy's mother. As he lifted her, he had to suppress a laugh, inappropriate as the situation was. He'd slightly misjudged her size on first glance. She really was tiny. Between the hair, and the fainting, he was immediately reminded of some sort of field mouse.

He glanced at her son, noting the resemblance in both hair, and height. A family of mice. They were 'perfect' bait for fear feeders.

I can't decide if the two of you have the best, or worst luck.

"Time to go."

Carrying the woman in his arms, he exited the restaurant. Bethany stared at David as they walked out, her expression full of a mix of curiosity and hurt feelings at being ignored.

As they left the restaurant, Aiden pushed off from where he was leaning on the wall, holding up his phone.

"Got us a cab brother. The restaurant's not on fire, so I guess you don't need these?"

Reaching into the skintight pocket of his jeans, he pulled out what looked like a full set of table spoons and forks, marked with the stamp of the Fleur Blanche.

Alexander blinked, not sure if he should be angry, or confused. He then remembered the steak knife, still wrapped in a napkin, stuffed in his pocket.

A smile tugged at the edge of his lips, though he tried to look annoyed.

"Aiden. Really?"

His brother just laughed, heading for the car.

____________________________________________________________________________

The hotel room, like everywhere else Alexander traveled, was the lap of luxury. The couches were white leather, there was a bar in the living room, and they had access to a rooftop pool. It was almost silly. Then again, if he was traveling half-way across the world, he might as well do it in comfort.

When he entered, he lay the woman down on a couch, under care of her son, and popped out his phone to check if Jesse had set up an arms drop yet. He felt naked without a pistol. Aiden went over to investigate the bar, while Bethany and Lilaine sat across from the unconscious woman, Bethany still shooting curious glances at the boy. Lilaine smiled, stroking her younger sister's hair.

"Well, that was a dull evening. I can barely keep my tongue shut when you're being chided like that brother. Unless you planned to get...friendly with the Duchesse's daughter later, there were faster ways to keep her quiet."

Alexander gave his sister a dry look.

"You're right, Lilaine. I should have stabbed the screaming woman with a knife while I choked her. That would have made the best impression. Perhaps with 'my' way, she'll remember her dashing savior more intensely than." He glanced at David. "Whatever that was."

Alexander frowned, looking over at his brother while Aiden took a bottle off the rack, uncorked it, then sniffed it.

"Aiden."

Wide grey eyes, the picture of innocence, and vastly in contest to Aiden's world-weary, punky appearance stared back at him.

"This is legal in France, brother. Remember? We're in civilization again?"

Alexander sighed.

"...I break th-" He looked over at David and the woman again. "I don't pay close attention to laws. You're just stupid when you drink. But if you're going to—share."

I need one after all this.

Bethany suddenly spoke up, voice a soft, hushed urgency.

"I think his mom is waking up."

Annette's body felt...pickled. Was pickled the right phrase? She didn't feel entirely conscious yet, but she could hear voices. Unfamiliar voices and—wait, conscious? Had she passed out? The last thing she clearly remembered was...

There was a vampire, and a man asking me if I was...okay.

Then what?

With her eyes still closed, Annette grumbled and stirred just a little, enough that David—who was sitting at her feet, staring at Alexander during his entire spiel about stabbing the woman from before—jumped and looked towards her instead. He carefully put his hand on the crook of her arm and gave it a little nudge.

"Mom? You awake? You okay?"

Moving felt like she was walking up from a week's worth of sleep, but she managed to nod. "Y...yeah...I...I'm fine," she cracked an eye open, and the bright, white light blinded her for a bit. Everything was blurry. Were her glasses even on her face? She could see David, sort of, but everything else was just shapes. "Wh-when did I fall asleep, honey...?"

David sighed softly. "You fainted. But we got help. Mr. Terrance and...um..." he glanced up at Alexander, then Aiden, Lilaine, and barely managed a glance at Bethany before his eyes darted away, "Other people helped."

Annette tilted her head to look across the room at the blurry, nondescript figures. Why was everything in this room so white? And painful to look at?

"Your, um, glasses are around your neck," David chimed helpfully.

Of course.

"Thanks, dear," Annette mumbled and raised an aching hand to put her little gold-rimmed glasses on her nose, blinking rapidly as the room came into focus. At first she thought they were still in the restaurant—oh, wouldn't that have been great, given the last thing she remembered clearly—but it was too quiet for that. Just a similar white theme. Her eyes focused finally on the two people closest to her: a little girl and a very, very attractive woman.

Holy shit.

Annette felt color returning to her face rather quickly. "Um. Hi. There. A-are you...why is there...excessively h-hot people?"

Her brain was definitely not at 100% yet.

Alexander let out a surprised laugh, moving over to examine the woman more closely, trying to get a read on her mood.

Lilaine smiled slightly at the woman, leaning forward and flashing her a red-lipped smile.

"Bold. You look like you're doing surprisingly well."

She reached out, her hand creeping to rest on the woman's own.

"How are you feeling, dear?"

Alexander rolled his eyes at his sister's blatant flirtation. Aiden met his gaze, looking equally nonplussed, and handing him a glass of whiskey. As his brother moved to slouch next to Lilaine on the couch, he saw Aiden 'accidentally' the bottle of wine in his hand, spilling a couple drops in Lilaine's hair.

Lilaine's flirtatious smile cracked, and he looked back, shooting Aiden a murderous look.

Alexander coughed.

edited 1st Mar '17 7:59:07 PM by DrTentacles

"I'm sorry, the hot people are my fault," Terry deadpanned. "They just can't keep away from me, I've tried everything." Probably safe to rule out her being in the know, then. She didn't seem worried about the excessively hot people being White Court, or Winter Court, or fucking Tennis Court. In the supernatural world as in Arcanos games, the ancient warning held true: Shows boobs, eats rubes. (The ancient warning could stand to be updated to something less gender specific, though. Nice ass, run fast?)

"My fawning entourage aside, you need us to get anything? Call anyone?"

This was not helping her brain.

Annette swallowed and pulled her hand away very, very quickly from the gorgeous woman, her cheeks flushing bright pink. Being hit on immediately after waking up from passing out was not entirely unwelcome, but it was not normal. She was still trying to piece together precisely what had happened. Vampire. There had definitely been a vampire. Maybe she'd been killed. Hah. That would explain the impossibly hot person. Unless...she was a vampire.

But then why was she still alive?

Maybe they like to play with their food.

"I f-feel like my limbs are filled with needles, but aside f-from that...I'm fine, thank you." She gave the implied Mr. Terrance a confused, blank look. He looked like a person and not like Photoshop come to life. That was a bit more comforting. "An explanation would be nice. Wh-Where am I? What...happened? Before I p-passed out, I guess."

David's back straightened a little, and he looked at Terry as well. "The vial! Do you still have it?"

Annette blinked. Vial? Oh, Lord, she'd used a potion. Which one. Had she lit the vampire on fire? Burned the restaurant down? Filled it with bubbles? She averted her eyes to her hands.

Maybe they'll just think it was chemicals. Yep. And nothing especially weird.