Helo

Ember Grove - Reboot

Time: Afternoon
Location: Alexei’s
Interaction with: Vivian @Pink Khione, Alexander @FunnyGuy

“I’d say it was a little less Ocean’s Eleven and a bit more Die Hard, police are saying it was a terrorist attack, supposedly a bunch of people there were dosed with LSD too.” Eli was a bit surprised that Vivian didn’t seem to know anything about the attack last night, it was the biggest news story in town after all. Ember Grove wasn’t exactly a choice target for a terrorist attack but it certainly wasn’t the worst cover story he’d even heard.

Though the vampire briefly mentioned the tragedy of lives lost last night Alexander was quick to turn the conversation to himself. The vampire immediately went on about the good he was trying to do for the university and then on to how he was developing something to keep things going. Alexander Drake certainly held a high opinion of himself and Eli hoped whatever he was planning never reached fruition.

“And how fortunate we all are that you weren’t there for the attack, can’t imagine what Ember Grove would be like without your resources to help us through.” He said a slight hint of sarcasm in his tone now. He wondered what the vampire who employed last night’s attackers was developing that was supposed to help Ember Grove. No doubt that it wasn’t anything good for anyone who actually possessed a sense of humanity, but by the man’s own admission he was up to something. This seemed like the kind of tip he should pass on to Operation Humanity, the only organization he could think of that had the resources to rival a bored, rich, retiree vampire. Of course that would also require him to track down one of Operation Humanity’s elusive agents, and hopefully next time he found some it wasn't through being shocked unconscious.

“A generous offer Mr. Drake, if you change your mind I do make a mean bloody mary. He added with a grin, now amused with his own bad joke. He turned his attention to the other man at the bar, who Alexander had strangely referred to as ‘the other Alexander Drake’, and noted that his drink was almost empty. ”Let me guess, if it’s going on someone else’s tab you’d like a double? He asked and went to make the other customer another drink, leaving Vivian to her strange side job of teaching a vampire to play pool.

Ember Grove - Reboot

Thrift Shop?

Time: Morning
Location: Through the alley and into a thrift store
Interaction with: Adrian@role model

Noah stopped in the alleyways halfway between the Witch’s Brew and Alexei’s, not out of exhaustion, but disgust. He would not become the kind of vampire that drank his blood from a cup, he would not set foot in that accursed place unless it was to wreak destruction. When he ate it would be because he earned it; because he killed his prey and earned his place on top of the food chain. Noah would not allow his momentary weakness to take away what he had been taught, he would not seek aid from lesser creatures. Instead he paused to gather his strength, regain his sense of who and what he was; a killer. He rested against the side of the building, sliding down the wall and trying to remember what was nearby that could be of use to him.

Noah also checked his phone and saw a message from Adrian that reminded him to watch his back. He chuckled slightly, and the slight movement of his face caused him to wince. He took a quick selfie of his bloodied face and sent it to Adrian with a text that read, thanks for the tip, might be a bit harder now but I’ll try and keep my eye out for anything, and a winking emoji. He slid the phone back into his pocket. He would not ask Adrian for help either, this was his problem to solve, and he would not let the others of his clan see him as weak. He took off his shirt and held it against the oozing void where his eye had been until the bleeding eventually stopped, by then he had a new idea.

In order to further motivate himself he used his thumb to press around his eye socket, a raw wave of pain gave him that motivation. He snarled as he stood tossing the bloodied shirt to the ground and made his way through the alleyways and keeping himself near the back entrances of buildings. He reached a small building and lingered by the back entrance taking a deep breath to catch the scent of the place, mothballs and age. Noah had come to a small shop that was a sort of thrift store for vintage clothing and costumes, a real go to spot amongst his kind. Force was not needed to open the door, it was left unlocked, people always seemed to think they were somehow safer in the daylight.

Once inside Noah waited and listened until he could only hear one person inside the shop, one set of footsteps, one faint heartbeat that called to him as it pumped blood through his prey. Noah walked towards the front, his fangs exposed, his throat burning with expectation of its next meal. He spotted the store’s lone cleric, the scent of fear rolling off of them as he told them not to move. He locked the front door, drew shades down over the windows, and flipped the sign on the door to read ‘Closed’, His prey offered him money, begged for life, promised not to call the police; all things that were of no concern to Noah.

“I’m looking for an eyepatch.” He said, his voice hazy. A shaky hand pointed him towards a display of expensive pirate costumes. Noah grinned and tilted his head. “Were any of them worn by a real pirate?” He asked, but his question was met with stunned silence and the intoxicating aroma of fear. Since the shopkeeper was no longer helpful they became his meal. Noah launched himself across the counter and tore into the neck of his prey, their blood replacing what he had lost. Then he felt much better, he wandered around the store and made his way to the employee bathroom where he cleaned the dried blood from himself. He stared for a moment at the red hole that held no eye, and thought about how cool he would look with an eyepatch, like a proper villain.

He found himself another shirt, black and with some logo far too faded to really read. Though not exactly clean, as it smelled old and human just as the rest of the shop did, but it was not covered in blood and that was good enough. Near the display set up of various pirate themed costumes he found himself a black coat with big shiny silver buttons and a black leather eyepatch. He flipped the sign back on the front door to again read ‘Open’ and headed out the front door unconcerned with the body left behind the counter. He fiddled with the eyepatch as he walked until he was satisfied with how it sat, and wondered what he should do next. Where exactly did witches hang around? Noah had no idea but he knew he couldn’t expect every place with witches to have it labeled on the sign.

Ember Grove - Reboot

Time: Afternoon
Location: Alexei’s
Interaction with: Vivian @Pink Khione, Alexander @FunnyGuy

“Yeah, the best.” Eli muttered under his breath as she walked away. If he was the best he’d have found a better way to warn her about his gut feeling towards Drake that was a little more convincing than ‘he seems shady.’ Of course saying he was pretty sure the guy was a dangerous vampire would only make him look like the crazy one and he didn’t actually have any concrete proof that Drake had anything to do with last night. There was only the fact that the art Drake had chosen to place at the forefront of his exhibit was all of beautiful people with perfectly encapsulated expressions of pain and despair. It was an all too familiar expression, one worn in the eyes of every witch he had killed. The paintings from last night were not celebrations of beauty and life like the works of art he’d seen decorating churches or museums, but one’s that celebrated another's pain. Upon approaching the bar, shortly after Vivian, his gut feeling about the man was only confirmed by seeing him up close, there was certainly something predatory in Drake’s eyes.

“Mr. Drake glad to see you looking well after last night. I still can’t believe someone dosed the wine and attacked your big exhibit, pretty crazy huh? I hope they didn’t destroy too many priceless works of art. Anyways, can I get you anything to drink?” Eli said, and while his tone and the words themselves could come off as friendly his expression was cold and he did not offer up his usual friendly smile. He studied the man’s reaction upon bringing last night’s catastrophe, deciding to keep a close eye on the probable vampire, wanting to know the man’s true intentions for being at Alexei’s. He wasn’t sure if Vivian had heard about last night but perhaps hearing about it would plant some seeds of doubt about the man.

Avalia

Time: Evening
Location: Roshmi City
Interactions: Sakura @baraquiel and Ayita @13org

Cade grinned at Sakura as she mentioned steak, sure he’d eaten some food both before and during the dances but there was always room for steak. “I am having a great time here, and I believe I also met one of your kin, a very kind demon, who shares our similar appreciation for a good meal. Her words were very inspiring and certainly did a great deal to calm my nerves here though it was truly a great honor to be in the presence of royalty.” He said sharing his experience at the dance with Sakura, as the demoness waved Ayita towards them. As Ayita joined them he noticed that she did not appear to share his joy. He put an arm around her as well and lowered his voice to share what he had heard from the royal fairy herself. He hoped the promise of finding allies for her would lighten her mood.

“I have wonderful news for you both, a two day journey along the northern shore will lead us to a port town, there I am told, we will find allies.” He added, deciding not to brag about meeting a princess to Ayita, before releasing his friends and clapping his hands together. “Now we should eat and maybe you both can share how your dances went. Ayita has someone here offended you?” He asked, disappointed that someone here might have spoiled Ayita’s first party in Avalia, it was certainly not the side of his world he wished her to experience. Under normal circumstances Cade went for more direct means to settle conflicts, but this was clearly not the place for a fight. ”If so, I could alway accidentally spill a full glass of ale all over a noble’s fine and overpriced clothing, just say the word.” He added with a mischievous smile, though it was not a warriors way, it was the sort of childish thing his younger self would have greatly enjoyed.

Ember Grove - Reboot

Time: Afternoon
Location: Alexei’s
Interaction with: Vivian @Pink Khione

Eli nodded towards Vivian as she came in, several hours too early for her shift, which seemed strange. He was going to guess that she’d read the schedule wrong and was showing up late to open but then she mentioned giving pool lessons to some rich guy from New Paeonia. That made more sense, she’d been on about New Paeonia a lot recently and he didn’t really get it, some gated community full of reclusive rich weirdos was definitely not his scene. She then nudged him in the shoulder and he tried to hide the wince as he remembered being tackled by a hungry vampire last night.

“Sure thing, and of course there’s the table rental fee, you know, if he’s gonna be hogging a pool table for a few hours, we’d have to charge for that.” He added as she mentioned adding a few extra shots to his tab. He heard the doors open and close as more patreons walked into the bar. Eli popped his head out of the breakroom to see who it was, spotting the two men who entered; an old regular and a familiar face from the night before.

“You didn’t mention your rich guy was acclaimed artist Alexander Drake.” He said as he easily picked out who in the bar most looked like a rich weirdo. Drake certainly gave him “bad vibes” after his convenient exit from the art showing just before everything went to shit. “Hey, be careful around that guy, he seems...shady.” He added leaving out the ‘and is probably a vampire’ part. Telling people about the supernatural rarely went well. It seemed better to let the majority of people go on believing the world wasn’t quite as dark as it really was, and knowing about the supernatural never really made anyone’s life better.

Ember Grove - Reboot

Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

Time: Afternoon
Location: Alexei’s
Interaction with: none

After his breakfast Eli headed to Alexei's, getting there just early enough to linger around the back and smoke a cigarette before his shift started. As far as jobs went, Alexei’s wasn’t too bad; it was pretty easy going and offered a good chance to meet supernatural entities in a friendlier environment than hunting them did. The biggest plus was obviously getting a paycheck in return, something vampire hunting did not offer. No one here ever seemed to mind if he showed up hungover or even a bit intoxicated, as long as he showed up and work got done. After his cigarette he got to work getting things up for when the bar opened; unloading new stock, setting up kegs, basic prep work. The closing shift from the previous night had also clearly half assed the cleaning but he chalked that up to everyone having an intense Friday night. So he also made sure the bar maintained its careful line of maintaining it’s run down dive bar look while being clean enough that it could still pass a health inspection.

He briefly paused to check the schedule posted up in the backroom to see who else was working today. He was relieved to see Vivian’s name listed, someone who could handle the obscure cocktail requests they occasionally got from the younger crowd. He could handle grabbing beers and making the basics but didn’t not have the time or care to learn every obscure drink with a fancy name on the off chance that some kid saw it on a buzzfeed list and requested it. He’d much rather deal with a rowdy crowd of werewolves and leave complicated orders to her. Sometimes, for fun, he’d just make up a bizarre drink name to order and he’d be damned if she didn’t come up with something without batting an eye. A long day of work was certainly easier when you had fun co-workers.

Avalia

Time: Evening
Location: Roshmi City
Interactions: Sakura @baraquiel

As the paired dances ended, the music changed from slow and formal to a more festive tempo that Cade was much more comfortable with. As he looked for both Ayita and Sakura he danced with many strangers along the way. Roshmi was a much more diverse place than his home, and how strange that they even had orcs dancing here. The orcs here however smelled much better and were far better mannered than those he had encountered in the wild. Cade had never thought them capable of being so civilized but he did still suspect them all of being in league with the lich and not to be trusted. He tried not to dance with them while also not being obviously rude about it. Eventually he spotted Sakura and headed in her direction.

“Sakura! I have excellent news.” Cade said ratherly loudly as he strode towards her. He wrapped an arm around his friends shoulders and grinned. “I danced with a princess of the old lineage and did not make a fool of myself, at least, I don’t believe I did. I used my very best manners.” He added in a quieter tone as he beamed with pride. Though his dance steps had not been perfect he was pretty sure he had shown proper etiquette. “Have you seen Ayita? I know where we are needed next, and I believe we should celebrate with food and ale.”

Avalia

Time: Evening
Location: Roshmi Hall
Interactions: @TaeTorvi, @PotterBelle

Bowyn was in a better mood than when he’d entered the ball, neither dance had been awful, like he had expected, but instead kind of nice. Almost as nice as free drinks but nothing really bested that perk of being at the ball. He hung around the table serving himself a few more drinks before looking for his friends. The ball had, as it seemed, proved to be not quite as dangerous as he expected either. He’d met another human who had provided a possible location in which to go next and talking to someone from Avalia about wings and flight was pleasantly normal. He was, to his own shock, beginning to enjoy the experience, and he wanted to keep up the good mood for as long as he could. The only way he knew how to keep his spirits up was to continue to take advantage of the free drinks. The only real downside was he was going to have to admit that Torvi and Belle had been right about coming here and it was not a waste of time. He wore an easy smile, with a drink in his hand, as he found both Belle and Torvi back at the table they had originally been seated at and sat down with them.

“Well I’m only going to say this once, and don’t let it go to your heads, but you guys were right and this wasn’t an entirely awful or useless experience. Actually I believe I ran into a cousin of yours, she mentioned meeting up later in a port town a couple days north from here, some sort of family gathering. We could go unless there’s something else coming up you wanted to do.” Bowyn said casually, sharing his information in a way that anyone listening wouldn’t find it suspicious. He leaned back in the chair, feeling relaxed; both from the several glasses of mead and from being back with his friends. From knowing that he did have friends, that he had managed to go out to an overly fancy ball in a strange city and wasn’t miserable. “Also I am in an unusually good mood, so if either of you wants to dance or go get more drinks, I guess we are already here, and we might as well enjoy it.” He added as he finished off the glass.

““You have had enough mead.” Boreas said as he flew from Bowyns shoulder to perch on the now emptied cup.

“What a ridiculous thing to say.” Bowyn said, smirking at the bird. It was strange that Boreas didn’t feel as at ease as he was beginning to feel, normally the bird relaxed when he did. He took a minute to fix the bowtie on Boreas and hoped he would relax some, it was too bad that birds couldn’t enjoy a drink.

Ember Grove - Reboot

Time: Morning
Location: Rooftop near The Witches Brew
Interaction with: @Tae Maeve

Noah could detect no hint of fear in the witch, what he could sense was power and age, just as he could with older vampires. How old could a witch really be? They were, at least to his knowledge, mortal just like the rest of his prey. The witches he had killed the other night, they had smelled like fear, they weren’t interesting, not like this one. She was smirking, she found him amusing, just as he found his own prey to be amusing when they tried to fight. She didn’t like his threat against her human, but he wasn’t sure if it was because she cared about humans or if it was more like when the vampire from The Pit had claimed another human as hers. Either way he would have to remember that, in case he needed leverage, he might be able to use her employee in the future. One of the many Maeve’s that surrounded him approached, it touched him first, then it kissed him. Disgusting. Noah tried to bite the witch who was now close enough to his teeth that the chains didn’t matter, but the image of the witch only shimmered and vanished. Was this her big magic trick, it was hardly impressive.

Suddenly everything around him started melting and shifting, reality twisting and turning itself about in a confusing mess. All the duplicates of Maeve changed before him, becoming horrible hissing geese, wings flapping and beady eyes shining with rage. Confused, Noah looked around, only to find himself no longer on a rooftop, but near a pond and the witch was gone. One of the geese let out a loud honk and he jumped as another swooped at him. He realized what this was; a memory. Noah remembered the very first time he felt true fear, his oldest memory of it, when a flock of geese had attached him as a toddler. He stared at the serrated edges of their beaks as they hissed at him, mocking him. He knew it was stupid, he was a vampire, there was reason to fear these creatures and so he hissed back, showing his fangs.

Then there was disorienting darkness, the feeling of being trapped, of hunger and fear. He blinked a couple times, each time things brightened, until he could see where he was, a small space dimly lit and it smelled of rot. He was back in a cage, staring through bars at his father’s bloated and decaying body. He watched as his father’s head slowly turned towards him and began to laugh before the corpse collapsed into dust. He was human cattle again, filled with fear and huddled with his mother and sisters. Helpless, as his mother wept only to turn to him and speak, only her words weren’t those of his memory, they were, instead of what he feared to be true.

“You let us down, Noah, you let us die.” As the image of his mother spoke it changed and withered until it became the frail and emaciated version of her that he remembered when she had died. He watched as she continued to whither until she too collapsed into dust.

Noah lost his sense of reality; the memories were his, the changes to them were all things he knew to be true, and fear made it impossible for him to remember that this wasn’t real. He could feel again what it was like to have a heartbeat, for it pond against his chest, thumping in his ears. The sensation of inhaling stale air in short ragged breaths, and instead of the burning thirst for blood, there was the horrible nausea of a twisted stomach; weak both with hunger and the constant intake of the scent of decay. He felt weak, tired, and afraid.

“You were a terrible big brother.” His younger sister, Hope spoke, shaking her head as she became just as withered as his mother and crumbled into dust.

“Worthless.” Another voice spoke, the sound of his youngest sister, Angel, agreeing. He didn’t want to look at her, but it had been so long since he’d seen her face. The one ghost who never visited him but as he stared into tiny blue eyes filled with disappointment, she did not become dust as the others did. He didn’t know how she died, what it had looked like, because he hadn’t been there. Instead he watched her die dozens of different ways by unseen hands, each more vicious than the next. Noah couldn’t move, he was frozen and powerless to stop it, and the death kept replaying until finally he closed his eyes, tried to block out the screams, until eventually they stopped. Even without the imagines and in the quiet, he still felt the icy grip of fear. He felt cold in a way that a vampire never could.

“I had such hopes for you, what an utter failure.” The voice of his master, of Drake, spoke. Noah opened his eyes again to face the look of disappointment from his clan’s leader. Noah knew this was it for him, he had failed to find Shay, his failure would be punished. He looked away from the piercing eyes of the powerful vampire and waited for his death. But Drake turned his back and walked away, Noah was not worth his time, he was not important.

“I gave you such a gift, and you wasted it.” The voice of his sire spoke, her voice like venom, as her elegant hand gripped his jaw and forced him to look at her.

“I’m sorry, I can do better.” He whispered back, but somehow he knew he couldn’t. He failed his family, as painful as that had been, that he could deal with, they had been weak, but to fail his clan and even worse his sire, that meant he too was weak.

“No. You can’t. Worthless as a human, even more so as a vampire. You were a mistake.” The words felt like his heart was being ripped out but, instead of his heart though she went for his fangs. His mouth was pried open and his fangs were ripped from his mouth as he shrieked. He could taste his own blood, it tasted like failure. Celeste gripped his fangs in the palm of her hand and they too crumbled into dust and her dark eyes looked at him like he was nothing.

Something hit him hard in the back of the head knocking him to the ground and as he turned to look he saw the perfect version of himself. A vampire with fangs that gleamed and eyes that held nothing but bloodlust and it looked at him and it grinned with hunger.

“Prey.” The other, better, Noah spoke and as he looked down he saw the floor was made of mirrors. His reflection in the mirror was human, no fangs, no bloodlust, just a scared human boy covered in bite marks. Human cattle. The mirror floor shattered and broke sending him falling into darkness.

Noah closed his eyes and opened them again as the sensation of falling stopped. There was still nothing except the darkness. He screamed but he couldn’t hear the sound. He tried to reach out to feel something and his hands hit against something hard and cold, covered in jagged scratches directly in front of him. He knew where he was now, this was the coffin. Panic set in as he frantically scratched at it, he could feel his fingernails snapping as he clawed, trying to escape. Trapped, in the dark and alone, back in the coffin, where there was no escape. He knew no one wasn’t going to let him out this time. He kept trying to scream but there was only nothing. This was worse than death, trapped alone forever with only the thirst.

Then there was Maeve again, grinning in front of him, she spoke but Noah couldn’t focus. The spell was gone but the fear and panic remained, he struggled against the magic chains that held him. Whatever she had done to him, the spell that made him see and hear things, filled him with rage. As he writhed against the chains the light grew hotter, seared against him, he felt like an ant beneath a magnifying glass. His skin sizzled and burned and he grinned, the pain was a good thing, it was something, it was better than trapped alone in a dark coffin.

He felt her hand grip his face and he snarled, his fury trapped just as he was by her magic. The feeling of her thumb digging around beneath his eye socket was nothing compared to the feeling of being irrelevant and helpless, the way he felt before being a vampire when trapped as a blood slave, and the way he felt when kept inside a coffin as he was being reformed into a killer. He hated it; helplessness and weakness, he was supposed to be above that now but it seemed he had so much more to learn. Noah realized that he had grossly underestimated the kind of power this witch held. She was different, not like Shay or the two he had killed, this one was special. As his right eye was ripped from him he let out an explosive scream of pain and rage that devolved into laughter. With the eye that remained he saw the witches face and expression, one filled with brutality and fury. He understood what she was, she too was a monster, and that he could respect.

The sublime and piercing agony he felt where his right eye had once been was nothing compared to truly feeling fear in a way he had not for a long time. Not since his sire left had anyone been able to match such exquisite torment. She identified herself as ‘The Warrior Queen’ before sending him off the rooftop and into an alleyway below, which made him wonder if she was something more than just a witch. As he staggered back to his feet he could feel blood dripping from his face, and as he gently touched at his skin he winced. He stared at The Witch’s Brew, wanting more to do something more but now was not the right time.

In the distance he could hear sirens just barely able to make them out over the ringing in his ears. He remembered his hunt, not for this witch but for Shay. This witch would have to wait for later but he could feel a new obsession taking root, hatred and fascination whirling around in his mind. He licked the blood from his fingers, it did not taste like failure the way it had in the fear vision, that was all mind tricks. The culmination of the mind tricks, the loss of an eye, and the still persistent ringing in his ears made his head ache in a way that demanded immediate attention. He needed to feed, not just to soothe the pain and confusion, but to wash away the still lingering memory of the fear vision, to remind himself of who he was. Except it was morning and he was covered in his own blood and barely able to walk around, he could not hunt like this. There was really only one place he could think of to get blood but the thought of going there for help made him sick. He kept himself in the alleyways, slinking towards Alexis’s, a bar he knew served vampires too incompetent to hunt down their own meals, and a place he knew he could, at least, get blood.

Avalia

Time: Evening
Location: Roshmi City
Interactions: Risa @princess

Hearing an actual princess refer to him as a hero left him shocked, causing him to stumble during the dance over his own feet. Luckily for Cade cats were unable to blush the way more humanoid creatures did and he did his best to cover up his clumsiness. Her words were far too kind, he was not royalty and would never have such potential as one who was, nor would he wish for the burden of leadership that came with titles like that, but he did not dare to argue with a princess. He was far too excited to have a location of where to head to next, and the offer to help bring change to Avalia was enough to drive him to brave any danger.

“Your majesty I would never shy away from danger, and my companions only rival my bravery.” Cade said with a smile as he thought of his companions. Ayita was a true warrior both in skill and spirit, Sakura had fended off a dragolich and saved their lives, and noble Ilan had the purest heart of anyone he had met, he held no doubts about their bravery nor their devotion to doing what is right. “Safe journey, your highness, until we meet again.” Cade added, bowing respectfully as the dance ended. He was happy that neither dance had resulted in him making too much of a fool of himself, and that both had been with very interesting creatures. He couldn’t wait to tell his friends that he had actually gotten to dance with a princess and to see if Sakura knew the demon Artemis he had met earlier. This was already one of the best gatherings he had ever attended and it even made having to wear the fancy clothes worth it.