For a moment, the power of the Crowd Effect hit the book as Renee's eyes looked at something that is impossible on this world... as her notions of what is normal, by some hidden power pressed onto the magical, impossible nature of the book. However, between the power of the book and the power of the young woman's disbelief, the latter ended up being the one being broken. The book lost a bit of its vigor for a moment, but to Renee, what she saw ought to give her a slight headache... her eyes itching as her sense of normalcy was being broken in pieces.
Still, she managed to rise over those emotions and hit the thing with a step stool... though she'd soon hear the sound of plastic being crunched by the mighty teeth of the aberrant creature... The thing trashed on the floor... and then, small black tentacles started to sprout from within its open maw... grabbing at the blocking object and trying to free it from its teeth.
Battling Books at Your Local Library
Renee breathed a sigh of relief as the librarian literally stepped in to keep the killer book contained. She rubbed her head, ringing slightly from an abrupt ache, as she stepped back and watched the presumed expert do his work.
Unfortunately, he wasn't managing things quick enough it seemed, as the book began chomping through and tentacling all around the stool. Her eye quickly glanced at the cart the librarian was trying to haul it off with and while Kurt held it down, she wheeled it over and said a quick and almost inaudible "M-Move your foot" before tilting the cart down onto the hungry book.
The Magic Beans Coffee Shop
"Thanks, Bergman!"
Just outside the window to the café, a grey pick-up trick had pulled up against the sidewalk, precariously tucked between two compact cars. The owner - a stout, red-bearded, scalp-bare man - stood at the back of the truck as his companion hopped out. There was a youthful air to the woman, she seemed like she couldn't be anything past her early 20s if even that, and standing beside one another they were quite the odd couple. But those with even the faintest hint of that other world, the two of them felt more similar than first glance would say.
The girl's fingers fiddled inside her denim jacket, lightly frayed from travel though not unfashionably so, and picked out a wad of cash, counting them up before handing a decent chunk to her driver. "That should cover the rest of the trip back... tell the rest of the Bergmans Nima said hi, okay?"
With a smile she waved off her friend before turning her foot, twirling to face the block. With a blink, a stretch and a yawn, Nima's body reminded her it was still morning. Seeing the café in front of her, she beamed at the name of the establishment like sunshine on a sprout. "Maybe just a bit to wake me up~"
With half a step and half a skip, the fairy woman stepped lively into the coffee shop, as if she didn't need any at all.
C.E. shook his head and sighed. "No thanks, Sister. I don't mind if someone prays for me, but I like to keep my prayers to myself these days. Nothing personal, you got a good thing going here." He rubbed his chin and clicked his tongue again, mostly to bring back is focus. "But tell ya what, I'll leave my phone number with you in case anything comes up, and if you have Kowalski's number that'd be good too, if that's alright with you."
Finishing her latte, Maria put down her book, debating internally whether she was going to get another drink. On the one hand, she probably had had more than her share of caffeine. On the other, the coffee shop had the best atmosphere of anywhere she had been in Volwick, and she wasn't quite ready to go back to her dorm.
One more drink wouldn't be too bad...
As she went to wait in line, she found herself behind a rather perky blonde woman. Normally, people with such boundless energy annoyed Maria, but this time she found herself feeling happy. She got the feeling that the strange woman was genuinely happy with herself and her life, rather than putting on an act to get attention. It's nice to see someone who hasn't yet been pressured into being a conforma-bot, she thought, as she smiled at the newcomer.
edited 13th Feb '15 7:24:35 AM by BokhuraBurnes
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.Kurt moved just as the girl tilted the book cart onto the hungry book, sending a few books cascading off the cart, and letting it start to gnaw on the cart. Which would never drive straight again after this, wonderful. The Crowd Effect had momentarily slowed the book down, it looked like, but it was back to full speed again.
Fortunately, he'd finished etching the piece of wood, putting a long, straight line from top to bottom across it, then a smaller line bisecting the first from the upper right to the lower left. Popping the wood into his mouth and holding it with his teeth, he swapped the knife to his left hand, and pressed the pad of his right index finger against the blade, biting through the skin and causing it to start bleeding a little. Closing up the knife, he grabbed the wood pad out of his mouth, and traced the rune with the bleeding finger, drawing it again in blood. He fell into his usual state, focusing on the rune and empowering it.
"Nau-"Constraint, binding, deprivation"-thiz"
He felt the rune respond, power flowing into it. Taking the wood piece, he knelt down and after a moment steeling himself up pressed the rune against the book, pushing its power out onto the raging book.
edited 13th Feb '15 2:28:28 PM by Krika
"Very well. Ah, I do still have detective Kowalski's number. If you will excuse me, it will be just a second." The nun stood up, gave the man a nod and a smile, then headed off to another room in the building. She had never dialed the number before, but she wanted it somewhere available incase she needed it. After searching though a stack of papers, she realized somewhere available meant somewhere other then where she was looking. As she hurriedly made her way across the church to another place to look, she made a quick stop to apologize to C.E. "I'm sorry Mr. Lash, it will be just one more second", then continued on her way. After a few minutes of searching she as able to find the paper with the number, and after a few more she was able to finally find to paper and pencil in which to copy it with. She returned in a near jog and handed the copied number to the man. "I'm so sorry for the delay Mr. Lash. Here is detective Koalski's number. I hope he will be able to assist you in finding out more about that light. Ofcourse, if I find out anymore information as well, I will be sure to let you know."
How do you kill that which has no life?The Very Short, Uneventful Library Visit
Much to Connie's relief, Frank only picked out a science fiction book and then left. Fantasy didn't have the same flair to Frank ever since he knew magic was real, Science Fiction felt more like actual Fantasy to him.
Getting back in the car, Connie asked "So, are we going to go shopping next?"
"Eh, I'll probably leave that for last" Frank responded, "Think I'll start reading this book at a place to get a nice drink."
Connie let out a sigh and said "Why can't I help the feeling you're making up your trip as you go along?"
Starbeans Café, I mean, The Magic Beans Coffee Shop
Frank parked the car, took his book and then the two took steps towards the café. A girl who was basically Little Miss Sunshine was entering before the rat duo. She seemed to project quite the positive aura, heck the glum Hispanic in the line seemed to smile at the sight of her.
"'Hey Frank, bet she's supernatural'" Connie telepathically sent
"'Maybe she was so positive she became unknowingly supernatural'" Frank sent back.
Frank got in line after Maria. Connie was glad the line was short.
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.C.E. laughed again at the woman's running around. Definitely out there, but well meaning. He smiled as he took the number. "Thank you Sister, and here's mine." As he put the number in his pocket, he pulled out a small business card with his name and number on it. "Like I said, call me if anything comes up. Or if you need someone to fix the pipes or the floor in here. I can do that too." He stood up and walked to the exit. "See ya 'round Sister Mary."
Back in his car, C.E. gathered his thoughts. He still had practically nothing, but now he had a direction at least. Deciding to grab something to eat first, C.E. started the car and began to leave the lot.
The Café
Nimue felt a pair of eyes behind her but paid it no mind, even after it was joined by another, and another. Her eyes wandered through the price list as she stepped up to the register, hand in pocket flicking through the right amount of cash to pay. "Hi, I'd like a medium caramel frappe, please. Extra whipped cream."
Her fingers thumbed through her money and set it down more than twice what she owed. It's not like I really need the money anyway.
The barista asked for her name before accepting the cash... and gaining a look of confusion on her face. The fae chuckled a little, and answered. "Nima. Can you put the rest on the next person's order?"
The register girl thought to herself for a bit before nodding, and Nimue spun back on her heel to smile at the girl behind her. Small acts of kindness made the world that much better, after all. Then, at the corner of her eye, Nimue spotted a small mouse on a man's shoulder. Given the lack of response at the two of them, she guessed at the rodent's nature.
Ah, a local already! Nimue gave Connie and Frank the slightest of nods before stepping lightly towards a windowside stool.
For a moment, what Kurt did didn't seem to have an effect... the book still struggled and grunted in defiance and rage. However, after a second or two, the runes flared brightly... drawing magic from the caster in order to redo a seal... and with a few whimpers the tentacles retracted into the book... and the jaws were pried close as with a loud thud, the book was forced shut.
...
And after that a big silence filled this section of the library... as finally, the struggle was put to an end.
Kurt stared at the book for a long minute, watching it to check for movement. Seeing none, he carefully picked it up, and slipped it back onto the card, making a mental note to hide it in his backpack before he left work today, and to tape it shut (carefully, and not in a way that could damage the book).
With that problem solved at least for the moment, he turned to the next problem at hand. Well, the next problem that wasn't the partially mangled seat and book cart.
"So...I'm guessing you don't exactly know what happened, right?"
It took the barista a few moments to explain the situation, but Maria smiled when she found out that the person in front of her had paid for her drink. So she really was a nice person, after all, she thought to herself.
Once more, Maria felt the loneliness of her lack of connections in the city. She really needed a friend.
Suddenly deciding something, she thought to herself, Well, what do I have to lose? Buying a raspberry tart from the counter, she sat down on a stool next to the upbeat woman. "Um, thanks for picking up my check," she said, giving her the tart. "I thought I could get you something in return."
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.As CE started to leave the lot, he would see something quite curious moving into the parking of the nice nun's so far empty church... A nice SUV with tinted windows, parking at the lot and from it about four men disembarked. Three of them looked like frankly, like thugs, all bad stares one big and fat and the other simply big and muscled and one short and thin but with dangerous eyes. The last one, however, who seemed to be the boss was dressed quite nicely... with an expensive if someone gaudy looking jacket, designer pants, jewelry and sunglasses. He bore a big, ear to ear grin... however, whatever he considered funny, CE got the impression he wouldn't like one bit. Despite seeming physically harmless, that guy in particular gave CE the creeps. He would also notice that all of them seemed to be latinos, probably from the south of city.
Big and fat guy opened the back of the SUV and then hefted over one shoulder a big sack as the four men now approached the church where the nice nun dwelt now all alone...
Somewhere in the sewers of the city lies Skromp. Skromp is a sort of fairy... or fairy family-ish. Though instead of the bright, comely fae of the light, he was of the corrupted, monstrous branch of the family tree. A sort of froggy, ugly thing with sharp teeth, dim wits and a propensity for filth and mud that made a life in the sewers chasing rats seem like Heaven. Skromps days consist of little more than that and avoiding anything bigger and meaner that could end him... like a troll, a kobold band, a flushed pet alligator swimming in the sewers... basically anything that isn't a rat.
However, today Skromp digging in the muck for something edible in a moment of laziness, he stumbles upon something... shiny. A bright, rainbow colored something that captivates him... something most definitely precious. With glee Skromp lifts it in the air in joy... and then proceeds to trip and fall on a rat that dies by his weight. This is Skromp's lucky day!
Normally at these hours of the morning, Elizabeth Maybrooks would be asleep. After all, she is the single most powerful vampire residing within the usually sleepy and unimportant city of Volwick... it is natural for her kind to sleep in the day to prowl at night. However, today a letter had arrived for her, bearing news most urgent.
Elizabeth looked at the envelope, sealed close with wax from a signet ring and rolled her eyes. Miss Maybrooks wasn't that old a vampire... to be honest, she was merely 78 years old and kept herself younger, in her eyes, by keeping up with the mortal world and what it had to offer. To all outward appearances, she was a college aged young lady of a wealthy family... a socialite of a very exclusive inner circle who enjoyed raves, fine shopping and kept active on social networks. Thus, she couldn't but feel disdain for the older vampires who clung to their outdated traditions... unable to evolve and always keeping themselves clinging to a truly obsolete past. Unfortunately for her, her Mistress was one such vampire...
Dorothy, the little brat, wasn't actually the one that turned her... However, the small vampire Mistress was the one that had crushed her actual sire when he had dared make a move against her unprepared. Then with him death, like cattle, all the people he had turned now belonged by Dorothy as she rounded them all up and bound them by blood and enchantment to her. Precious few vampires are truly free... though Elizabeth thought herself quite lucky. Dorothy had seen something she liked in her and had mostly left her alone... she pronounced her leader of her sire's pack and pointed her to Volwick to make a life. Aside from some correspondence and the odd favor and meeting every five years or so, Elizabeth was her own woman.
Wondering if Dorothy requested her to do a trip to Europe to sight-see like fifteen years ago or, worse still, required her to wage war on another clan Elizabeth unceremoniously opened the envelope and started to read upon its contents.
What she found within, made the vampire lady break out into a cold sweat... a measure of outrage and fear churning in her belly "W-What the hell does that brat..."
The message started with some flowery, somewhat condescending pleasantries before getting to business with references by name of some powerful names in the undead community... followed by quite a clear message.
"... my dear, Elizabeth, if you value a little bit that behind of yours that has sat easy for so many decades now, growing plump and complacent in the safety of Volwick, then I bid you leave your nest and come further North to me. Their eyes lie upon your house and within it, I cannot protect you. Come back under your Mistress' skirts, for you have played the Lady for long enough. If you don't then I assure you, you'll end up begging for an end as merciful as the one I gave your late sire"
Gritting her fangs, Elizabeth in a fit of fury tore the letter to shreds "Nicolai! Marcelo! Come here right now you useless idiots! Call my people! We need to prepare!"
Down in the worst neighborhood of the latino inhabited South of Volwick, a man in an old warehouse cowers behind a closed door... the snarls of angry beasts sounding close. A couple minutes before, that was accompanied by wet sounds of blood flowing and the panicked screams of dying men. They were the most unlucky of the city... homeless men and women who lived in that abandoned warehouse... begging and sometimes robbing to get something to eat. That is until today... when the dogs came. Big mean looking dogs... they were used to strays so nobody minded them one bit. That is... until they straight up ran and ripped a man's throat out. The whole little community of unfortunates had then risen to deal with the threat... the mad dogs, perhaps rabid. However, there was no fighting them... hitting them with sticks, with chairs, kicking at them, knifes... even a man opened fire with a gun. And yet the big, brown dogs... the possessed things didn't seem to care.
Now there was only one man alive... one who locked himself in a broom closet. He trembled in fear... as he heard the dogs... and then, curiously... some calm voices coming from downstairs... the sound of cars being parked outside. For a moment, he dares hope that the police or anyone has come to save him... however, suck hope is cut short when he sees the shadow of one of the dogs behind his door... as he hears a snarl.
The door, it turns out, couldn't keep out this beast... and the men gathering downstairs were, in truth, the ones who set their pets on cleanup.
At Lucerna's place, she would soon hear a small knock on the door... and should one of the due go and see, they would be met with the impish face and red haired mop of hair that signaled nothing other than the arrival of Jared Greyfield, a young man of 16 years of age and the heir of a family of pyromancer mages Lucerna has dealt with a few times before.
At the local graveyard, a voice would suddenly be raised in the direction of a certain detective and newly risen zombie "Well, well, well, well... if this isn't a nice morning for raising what shouldn't rise. Isn't this going to be good for my quota, two for one"
Revealed by the light of the morning, nearby, there would be a tall nordic woman with a short, blond pixie cut. She was wearing a pair of loose pants, heavy, combat boots, a sleeveless shirt, solid iron bracelets and other pieces of jewelry and leather half gloves. Though she bore quite a bad expression on her face, with an unpleasant smirk on her lips, she was nevertheless, stunningly beautiful as she regarded the gathered undead "Yo, could I please ask you nicely to vacate this world? Your time has expired"
edited 15th Feb '15 7:51:39 PM by daltar
"Aewyn, it's Jared," Lucerna called over her shoulder and up the stairs. The apartment she shared with Aewyn was just above the small storefront they rented, where Aewyn sold trinkets and crystals and so on to the sort of people who believed in that sort of thing. It was a little silly hearing about how common quartz contained the power of the moon goddess from wide-eyed college students, but most of the people who came to the shop had the luxury of being completely, blissfully wrong about their beliefs. The Greyfields were different - no more powerful than many more conjurers living around lots of mundane people, but good honest folk. Jared in particular was a bright young kid, if a bit of a handful.
Lucerna waited a little bit, but Aewyn made no appearance at the top of the stairs. "She might be asleep," she told Jared. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
It's been fun.Connecting at the Café
"Ah, thanks!" Nimue smiled as she accepted the tart. "It's no big deal; just doing what I can to make someone's day a little better. Though I guess what goes around comes around, right?"
Quickly getting up, Nimue grabbed a plastic fork before settling back down, carefully cutting it in two before sliding over half to the girl. "And goes around again. I'm Nimue, by the way. Nima for short. Just arrived into town. What's your name?"
A Victory Against Vicious Literature
Renee fell back with a breath of relief as the book settled down, flinching slightly as the librarian picked it up, worried it might just be playing dead. With it gone and out of sight, the college girl relaxed and hearing Kurt's question, she shook her head - words were hard for her normally, much less in a strange new situation such as this.
"Good morning Lady Lucerna~! Quite a lovely and bright day that we find ourselves in, don't you think? To be honest I kinda wanted to sleep a little more since I got the chance to skip out on school, but duty calls! Though at the very least if it calls, I'm glad that it brought me to your door!" says Jared in a flurry of many quick words accompanied with a little bow and then a blush of his cheeks and an awkward smile as he rubs the back of his head... if you didn't know any better, you'd think that instead of having fire in his blood there would be electricity from the sheer energy he had.
"Ehehe... oh well, right, the business... It actually is something my dad would ask for Miss Aewyn" says Jared, taking a little paper out from his pocket "Turns out that he needs a big glass vase... capable of containing magic fire of a heat strong enough to melt gold with letting anything out... Ehehe he has a new experiment he wants to try out, you see. We could commission that to the Westchester Clan, you see, but they are quite... uuuh... expensive for no reason. Miss Aewyn's work is always of great quality and doesn't have to pass through so many hands making it all the more expensive..." says the young man a little awkwardly. The Westchester Clan was a big magic user institution that operated on the West of the country, with one big base of operations hidden somewhere in Nevada and then a loose affiliation of many magic practicers scattered all along into one loose organization. In lonely Volwick, the Greyfields were one of the few who actually belonged to the group even if their contact was rather distant.
"Oh right right! At the same time, if you wish to order anything from the Westchesters, please feel free to tell me and I'll pass it along to them!"
"We might have something for you right now, actually," Lucerna said, stroking her chin as she thought. "Give me a moment to check upstairs." She stepped back to let the boy into the little section of hallway between the door and the stairs. "As far as ordering materials go, I wouldn't know. If Aewyn's awake, I'll ask her; if not, we can get in touch some other time. What size vessel are you looking for?"
It's been fun.Mary thanked C.E. as he gave her his number and smiled and waved as he headed out. The door closed shut and the church was silent once again. Sounds of the city did bleed through the walls, but they were muffled and sounded impossibly distant. "What a nice man..." Mary said aloud to no one in particular before turning to head back into her church.
Her first order of business was finding somewhere available to put Mr. Lash's number. She looked at the card as she walked down the aisle. The building wasn't in the best of shape and having a handy man would be, for lack of a better word, handy. But Mr. Lash seemed to be in the middle of something and she did not want to call on his services without a way to reimburse him for his work. Besides, the building seems to be holding as is. As Mary's mind wandered, she remembered C.E. said he didn't mind if someone prayed for him. She would have to set some time aside to pray for success in his endeavors.
Before she reached the end of the aisle, Mary was stopped by the sound of an SUV. This one sounded much closer then the rest of the sounds of the city. "Oh, more visitors." The nun hurried back toward the entrance and waited to greet the new people with a smile.
How do you kill that which has no life?C.E. thought quick. Realistically, he didn't know what was going on, and a group like that walking into anywhere as a unit means trouble. Every mental sign was shouting to just take off and alert the cops. But a group like that and a bag like that heading into a place like this told him that this was not just some regular gang stuff. Especially the boss, the man left a bad feeling in his gut, and these days that was not a good thing.
Pulling his car off to the side, C.E. left it running as he crawled to the back and picked up a backpack that held three bats, two wooden and one aluminum. He had a feeling they would be needed. Adjusting the contents so the grips stook out of the top, he grabbed the pack by it's top handle and walked back towards the church and the trouble. As he walked on to the lot he called out to the group, mostly to see the reaction, and particularly to get them started with him to soften them up to give Sister Mary a better chance since God knows that he wasn't in a position to win here if they weren't just normal men.
"Yo my man!," C.E. called. "Comin' to the good Sister for some help too?"
Paying for the customer in front, yes the blonde girl really does seem like Little Miss Sunshine. That wasn't the only thing the rat duo noticed, with the look this girl gave made it clear she can see Connie and didn't react strangely, implying she did know about the supernatural. Either that, or there's nothing weird about a rat on a person's shoulder to her.
"Sorry sir, would you like your order" interrupted the barista. Getting out of his dwelling mind, Frank said "Oh sorry, zoned out. I would like a large black coffee."
While Frank looked at his coffee being made, Connie focused on Nimue and Maria. She was suspicious of Maria's nice nature, thinking that she might be a parasite or trickster of some kind. When Frank got his Black Coffee, Connie sent "Hey Frank, can we sit near Little Miss Sunshine, I want to see what she'll do."
Suspicious of Connie, Frank sent back "Are you going to act the same way as you did to the bank clerk?"
"No, I promise! I just want to watch how she's going to cat in the café!" Frank knew Connie well enough that it sounded sincere and Frank sat nearby Nimue, sitting a few stools away from the fairy. Frank just focused on his borrowed book and coffee while Connie got on the table and put her attention on what the blonde girl would do next.
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.Well, she'd need someone to introduce her to the world, and he wasn't necessarily the right person to do it, especially given that he was in the middle of his work shift, and he couldn't exactly skive off with no reason....at least not for very long, anyway.
Kneeling down and starting to pick up the books that had fallen off of the cart in the struggle, he did his best to offer a reassuring grin to the probably scared-out-of-her-wits girl. "How much free time do you have? I'd like to get all this explained to you as quickly as possible, but I'd prefer not to impose on you."
"Ah right! Uhhh about somewhat... here it says spherical, 80 cm or so in diameter.... Uh wait, dad, you want me to carry that through the whole city on my lonesome? That's way mean! It's because I ate the last pudding right...?" says Jared to himself as he looks at the instructions on the paper.
Then he seemed to remember being on someone else's house and blushed again in embarrassment, smiling as he says "Ah yeah, please do, Lady Lucerna!"
At CE's calls, the three thugs immediately turned around... and if glares could kill then CE would now be lying on the floor. However, the apparent boss of them let out a sort of nasal chortle, laughing a little as he says "Why, why, good evening there young man... My, you must be one of the Sister's little sheep here no? Hehehe... so nice of you to greet us" says the unsettling man, smile wide, showing all of his teeth as he noticed the bag with the bats "Ohhh...? Going to play some beisbol? My boys here really love beisbol... About as much as futbol. Rico, Manu, why don't you stay here and talk beisbol with the good gentleman? I got some things to discuss with the good sister..." says the bossman, indicating to tall and fat to follow him as he walks towards the door of the church.
There boss man kicks the doors open, stepping inside shivering a little and then extending his arms up "Uh wow~~~! It sends a shiver down my spine every time I do it... but knowing I'm somewhere I'm not welcome and still being able to be there is way worth it" he says, then shifting his gaze towards Mary "My, my, here you are... nice to meet you... Sister Mary, ain't it?"
Rico, the small guy and then Manu, the tall buff one then started to walk towards CE... nice slow and careful "Heh, so you like baseball... we do quite a lot. Why don't you borrow us some of your bats and we can show you our swings"
Graveyard Jams
Dawn stared at Christoph, glaring at him behind her tears. They felt ice cold going down her cheeks, but she didn't really feel it herself. Like there was no warmth to her body. She stood up, balling her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms. "Th-This is SO not okay! I had a life! I had family and friends! I was freaking popular and I had a totally hot boyfriend! My life was perfect and now I don't have any life at all! You have to take me back to my friends and family!"
Just then, the tall, nordic woman showed up and Dawn rolled her eyes, grumbling. "I really don't give two shits what your deal is, lady."

Library
Andy woke up with a start. He would always come to the library in the morning to study, as there was barely anyone around at this time, and his school's library only had one study room that was constantly occupied by six assholes. It seems that he had fallen asleep this morning, and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he put on his glasses and looked around for what woke him up.
What he saw was a girl with a step stool, a guy carving a piece of wood, and a hopping book with teeth.
He took off his glasses, blew on them, wiped them off with a piece of cloth, and put them back on again. After confirming that that was indeed what he saw, he decided to... do nothing. Just sit back and watch.
"Why does everything have to loop back to YGO?" -Guy who ruined YGO