"He's not a rent a cop. He's an actually cop and you were in actual jail. You could thank me you know." Danielle said, before getting up and grabbing her first aid kit and a bottle of water. She moved over to him, handing him the bottle of water.
"Can I clean up your face? You're going to get an infection if I don't disinfect that lip." Danielle asked him, gently. She sat down next to him this time and just observed him.
"You know most people get completely pissed at three in the morning, at least you did it at a decent hour." Danielle laughed softly, shaking her head. She reached behind her, taking her hair out of it's braid so it could fall free and maybe save herself from the tension headache that she could feel coming on. Probably not but a girl can hope.

Tyler didn't respond as he took the bottle of water, Danielle was right. He needn't use words, it was written on his face, the guilt was setting in as the alcohol left his system.
Either unable to find words or just not ready to speak he instead just tilts his head back so she can easily get to his injuries.

"Thank you" he whispers after a while, sitting as still and patient as possible while she dabs a wet cloth on his wounds. As she steps back to asses her work Tyler turns his head to catch her eyes, he looks at her for a moment, his lips slowly waver but no sounds come out. He had decided against what ever he was going to say and takes a sip from his water before turning his head to the side so Danielle could continue.

*Cafe Scene*



Lee laid some things upon the counter of the cafe as he came from the back. He was confronted by Aslynne with the question of where Tyler was. "Yes Az I told him to be here you should know I don't miss anything on communication." He said. He continued to lay out some things for each Midnighter. This was meant to be an orientation. He decided this was needed because with what he was predicting with the lore...very soon a darkling would rise to take command of all other darklings and slithers. And his goal would be one of pure violence. He would not show mercy and the very Hour would be at risk.

Each Midnighter would have to rise to their roles...their fates. No matter whether they believed in the term fate or not...the things spoken to the fates of the Midnighters were coming to pass very soon. Their abilities, minds, and very souls will be tested by a darkling that knows no bounds.

He set his katana on his side. The hour drawing closer withing a few minutes. "Anyone not present needs to be found." He said to anyone in the room and Az to hear. "Darklings may be settled as of late, but it won't last." His glasses removed...he could see the focus of them, the midnighters and trails of darklings. Illuminated. The blurs around him disorienting. "They are close by, I can see them."

Danielle dabbed at his wound, not saying anything until she grabbed the rubbing alcohol, pouring a bit on the cloth.
"This is going to hurt, I'm sorry." She said quietly, before she dabbed at it twice until she was sure it was clean. She tossed the rag onto her counter, and sat next to him again, exhaling.
"You have a place you're staying at?" Danielle asked him, glancing at the clock. It was almost midnight, and she thought she could hear someone downstairs in the cafe but to Tyler, it would only be a few minutes until 12:01.
"I can drive you there in a few minutes, or you're welcome to stay here for the night and we'll figure something in the morning. Everything always looks better in the morning. Except maybe those bruises, those might look pretty nasty in the light." Danielle tried to joke, to lighten the mood but she didn't know if it came across quite right.

'You have a place you're staying at'

"Yea" Tyler lied softly in response, he heard the people downstairs and even if he was suppose to meet Lee and Aslynne here (which was a weird time and place for an interview) he was feeling much worse than he looked and was in no state of mind to be dealing with others.
Tyler chuckles as Dannielle lightens the mood, but his cheerfulness is cut short by a groan of pain as he clutches his side.
"Ahh don't make me smile or laugh" he teases, still smiling.
"Thanks but I have already imposed more than enough and the fresh air will do me some good."
....
"Well I better get going, you got a backdoor I can sneak out?" Tyler asks, standing from his chair.
What he really wanted to do was go check on his bike.

"See the thing about me Tyler, is I've dealt with so many like you. Call me a bleeding heart. I do have a spare bedroom that I'm going to insist you take. Come on, I bailed you out of jail. You owe me." She said, standing up as well, placing herself in between him and the door.
"Don't make me use drastic measures." She said, although she probably looked as imposing as a puppy. She uses this to her advantage, a lot of people don't like to cross her because she looked so innocent.

Tyler replies with a chuckle then a groan, "alright alright, just stop acting tough ok" he teases as he hobbles over to a wall to lean against.

"If you're gonna be keeping me prisoner you have to at least let me use your shower." He jokes as he looks around the apartment trying to guess which way leads to the bathroom. "And here I thought I was an individual, So just how many other guys like me have you kidnaped?" He tries to lightly pry a little.

His voice softens and goes serious, "But seriously thankyou so much for everything you have done."

@sk0m

Echo chuckled at the Seer's apprehension over Darklings. Wayfinders are the best! She thought, imagining herself running at full speed, Darklings in tow. A drop of adrenaline rushed through her at the thought. "You guys might need to be scared of a couple Darklings," Echo teased the group, "But I have nothing to worry about." The thought of ditching them to save herself scared her, she'd grown a sort of attachment to each of them in the year she was here. Echo glanced at the clock to take her mind off of things. 9 minutes to midnight, or at least on this clock. She knew that Brisbane High's clocks were 5 minutes fast and midnight would appear to arrive at 12:05 there. She hoped Danielle knew what she was doing when she sat the clock. Speaking of Danielle, Echo noticed that she was missing from the Cafe. "Did anybody catch where Danielle went?" she asked, getting up from the table she was at and going over to a booth to half-lay half-sit there.

"What? You think I can't be tough?" Danielle laughed softly, shaking her head. She opened a door near her which was a cupboard, filled with towels and things. She grabbed a towel, a washcloth, and some of those hotel shampoo and body wash things and handed them to him.

"I figure you don't want to smell like fiery passion." Danielle smirked at him, before leading him to the bathroom. It was small, but it had a decent sized tub and that's all she really cared about. When he asked her how often she did this, she shrugged.

"You're the first one I've kept prisoner at my apartment, most I keep prisoner within their own home, or down in the cafe while I try and figure out what's going on. You're just too big, and too injured, of an engima to let slip through my fingers." Danielle explained, as opened her shower curtain to explain the shower controls.

"So, pretty easy just turn the knob until it's warm enough for you and you change the pressure on the shower head, just turn the dorsel thing to the left or right." She explained before turning back to face him.

"Think you need anything else from me at the moment? I'll try to dig up some clothes that might fit you because I doubt any of my clothes will." She laughed, eyeing him up and down.

"Haha, I'm sure you're very tough, hell I wouldn't want to mess with you."
"Fiery passion, so that's what that lovely smell is?" Tyler says with a flirty laugh.
He takes the things handed to him and listens to the instructions.
Afterwards he looks down at his shirt, it had become quite the tattered mess, blood stains, beer and who knows what.
"If you had anything that would be great, thanks." He gives Danielle a final nod, "actually I could probably use some help in here." He jokes just before closing the door and the sound of water rushing through the pipes ensues.

Ved
As most of the others, he had his own rituals for preparing himself for the extra hour. He had been waiting quietly in the time being, but exactly 13 minutes before midnight he went to work, starting from the feet up. He undressed down to his underwear behind the cafe bar, then removed 13 white cloth wraps of varying thickness from his inner hacket pocket and began to work. 13 wraps on each foot, calf, thigh, around his waist/hips, up his torso/chest, hands, forearms, and neck. Stepping from behind the counter, he slipped in his pure Malachite plug gauges, which finished his ensembale. Earth stones and 13 layers of 13 wraps. He would be safer that way, and more flexable. And frankly, the protective clothing was more than a bit flattering to his naturally lean form.

@sk0m@Ryuzaki

Aslynne rolled her bright blue eyes with a snort. “Can you at least not think so loud then? You’re going to make me paranoid about Darklings. I’m already crazy enough, I don’t need to start hallucinating.” The images his mind screamed out all but smacked her in the face. Making her head pound all the harder.

‘Wayfinders are the best!’ She heard from Echo making Aslynne scoff out loud. “Yeah sure, the best until a Darkling figures out a way to match you in speed.” Aslynne could imagine some of the old ones doing that. They never had a solid form and those freaky tendril things... she shivered at the thought of being touched by one of them. Her fears couldn’t have been something normal like spiders or bugs, no she had to be afraid of fire... you know painful stuff.



“Danielle left to go pick up Tyler from jail, I can taste them, they’re at her place, but she pushing it too close.” Aslynne spoke up about Danielle. Nine more minutes until she could breathe without feeling like her head was about to explode. Aslynne got up to pace the floor of the cafe anxious like she always was about the impending blue time wanting that silence. Checking her watch literally every thirty seconds. “I’ll go up and escort her and Tyler down if they’re not here before Midnight. Best go check on them now though. Don’t wait for us.” Aslynne stood from her seat and grabbed her back full of weapons to climb the external staircase to Danielle’s home, she could feel the relief of the acrobat’s shower washing over him and she shuddered at the image it forced into her head. Rubbing her arms against the chill she took the stairs two at a time until she was before Dani’s door.

Knocking and shifting the backpack over her shoulder she said loudly. “Hey! Dani, you’re pushing it close let me in!”

@Kaalee

"In your dreams!" Danielle called to Tyler before she went to go find him clothes. She managed to find a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants from a previous boyfriend that looked like they would fit Tyler. She set him in front of her bathroom door, just as she heard Azzy knock on her door.
"It's fine Az, I still got a couple minutes." Dani opened the door regardless, letting her friend into the apartment.
"You know me, I'm the pinicle of caution. I just have Tyler in my shower and it would be weird if I opened the door and left as he's in the shower. I figure the closer I get to midnight, the safer I am there. Besides, it's not like I'm miles away from my safe place." Danielle said, as she checked her clock. All of her clocks were exact, as she didn't want to be caught unawares of the time. She still had seven minutes left, and there was no need to be hasty.
"Is everyone else down there?" Dani asked, peaking outside to where her parking lot was.

@Kaalee

“Yeah, we’re all downstairs. Ved is even all dressed and ready to go. For what I’m not sure exactly... Darklings and Slithers are at an all time low.” Aslynne’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline as if she had just remembered something. “I brought something for you.” Her bag hit the floor with a light thump and Aslynne quickly pulled out the black steel Maglight. “I know you don’t like going outside during the blue hour, but this should help in case you have no other choice.” Aslynne held it out to Danielle, the weight of the cold steel was heavy. It would make a good weapon just to hit something with, but in the hands of the Fire Bringer it was life saving.


“In case I’m not around to beat those damn Slithers into submission.” Aslynne’s lips curled up into a silent snarl that could rival a Darkling Panther’s at the thought of zapping those damn blood thirsty creatures with the sparkly blue fire metals seemed to give off. “Anyway, I don’t think we’re going to be going outside for a while tonight. We have a new member to ‘initiate’.” Aslynne did a pretty good imitation of Lee when she wanted to. It was almost scary.

@Ayla
"I'll try to think of things less...darkling?" He said unsure how to calm the focus he had now for her. She would just have to deal with it for now.

Lee was glad to hear that the two missing were on their way now. And he trusted Aslynne to go get them with little trouble. The hour grew closer and Lee could feel his eyes twitching a bit. The hour made his vision more sharp against the darklings. Everything appearing more clear as well as the Midnighters. There were a few here he hadn't met yet so he offered his introduction while he waited.

@hagroden @Prints Avoid
He noticed Abel and Ved aside the counter. He walked over to greet them. "Hey there fellas. It's nice to know we have a polymath and metallurge among us." He said. "My name is Lee. Seer. I see and read things clearly that you cannot." He told them.

Danielle smiled at Azzy as she took the maglite and put it on top of her tv stand.
"I'm surprised everyone is already here." Danielle said before she processed that there was a new midnighter in town. The only new person she knew of in town was currently in her shower.
"Well...he's currently in my shower. How do you propose I tell him he needs to get out so and that we need to meet in my cafe?" Danielle asked, with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at the clock.

@Kaalee@Dark Light

“Let me handle this.” Aslynne said, briskly walking over to the bathroom door. Knocking loudly, and all but yelling, “Hey! Badass McGee. Time’s up.” Tyler’s flash of fear tasted bitter on her tongue like vinegar before it ebbed to the sweet cane sugar taste of relief. “The shower is the worst place to be caught in at midnight around here.”

Turning back to Danielle she said, “I’m a little surprised too, I don’t think we’ve all be in the same place at the same time since we were kids. I don’t even think Lee has met Ved and Abel and he’s been here for four years!” Aslynne’s strawberry blonde hair was braided down her back to be kept out of the way. A habit after a Darkling had almost killed her with it’s grip on her hair when she’d been a child.

Blue eyes brightening at the thought that Midnight was almost here. “Three more minutes.” She said to Danielle stepping over to the window that faced the street below. “I was hoping you wouldn’t have to make a mad dash down the stairs.”

There was a crashing and a bang followed by a groan as the sound of water rushing through the pipes came to a squeaking halt. Ty could be heard grumbling within the room then suddenly the door creeked open just wide enough for his injury stricken face to pop through along with a billowing cloud of steam.

"Sorry, what's the rush?" He asks as he suspiciously eyes the clothes laid out for him before snatching them up and disappearing back into a cloud of steam closing the door behind him.

"Uh... yeah I think we met briefly way back during that first summer I was here." Abel responded to Lee, reaching out from his spot on the counter for a handshake. He remembered that night pretty well, despite having had a little to drink. Still, it had been enough to hamper his judgment. Luckily, it had been a relatively safe night and the other Midnighters had found him pretty quickly. Hopefully this Ty guy could handle himself. Lee's doom and gloom attitude was already getting to him. What was the guy so worried about? It was a relatively safe day. Nothing special in the numbers.

Abel sighed impatiently. "We gonna be waiting on this guy all night? He gonna be sticking around? I don't want to make a habit of this. We only have, what, three minutes to midnight?" He eyed the pipe sitting on the counter top next to him. He'd bought it off a confused plumbing crew on his way to work that morning. The proportions had caught his attention and were too beautiful to pass up. He rarely even had to deal with Darklings, but it was always good to have something on hand. Tonight, Hallucination was his something.

@Dark Light@Kaalee

Aslynne was clearly not tempted by the small amount of flesh she saw from the crack in Danielle’s bathroom door Tyler was peeking out of. “Midnight.” She said simply. “Midnight is a bad place for you to be in the bathroom you’ll get water everywhere and that’s rude to your most gracious hostess.” She raised her voice a bit as he shut the door on her.

She shuddered and her eyes closed her head tilting back as she sniffed at the air. “Two more minutes, Tyler. You best hurry it up.” Aslynne threatened as she sensed the oncoming midnight. Turning towards Danielle Aslynne gave a smirk. “So, what’s the deal, you like him or something?” Aslynne poked her friend playfully in the ribs doing a peppy little dance. “You gotta crush?”