WEEK 03

[modmachine]

Preparation for the holidays continues at a steady - if slow - pace. Almost all traces of Halloween are gone by now, except for a few rotting pumpkins shoved into compost heaps, but with over a month until Christmas and the Day of Lights, nobody is yet in a hurry. Still, a few early holiday shoppers are out and about, usually in pairs if they aren't families with children, happily chattering about gift plans.

Weather forecast: The rain has passed, and days grow clear again for this week. Hex’s weather has been getting colder, and people are bundling up a bit more - even those who don’t need to, just in an effort to fit in. Hats and gloves are being prominently displayed in stores, even if they’re not strictly needed yet.

Moon phase: The moon is full on Monday the fourteenth, reaching peak fullness over the city at about 2AM. Afterwards, it begins to wane.

More employment: More decorations for the Day of Lights are going up, with some stronger-backed labor being recruited for the stockrooms in preparation for the incoming holiday rush. No one seems concerned about work history, a boon for people without a human paper trail. The park lights aren't finished yet, either, though things are on schedule to open next week.

Hitting the books: To prepare for the holidays, and raise funds for their community party, the library near the university is selling some of its used books. Most of them are fine, if an odd selection - you might find a cookbook, or you might find a book of poetry. There’s something weird about the books, though - a few of them smell faintly of mint. Watching over all of this is a sharp-eyed librarian. Don’t take a book without paying, or she’ll get up from her desk and try to block the door. She keeps having to chase away teenagers with dirty hands, too.

Bake sale: Some of the local schools are starting to take up donations for their holiday parties. One in particular in the residential district is holding a bake sale in front of the elementary school for an hour each day after classes let out. If you can fight through the sea of small children hoping someone will buy them something, you’ll find a variety of brownies, cookies, and tiny cakes. Many of them are lopsided, but a few look put together by expert hands. They cost more, of course, but it’s all for a good cause. A grouchy mother can be found near the cash box at all times, making sure no one steals the money.

Whoo are you?: Malin will notice that owls seem to be happening at her; they're hard to see, just shapes against the lesser-dark of the night sky, but they definitely seem to be watching her. They particularly seem to gather when she feeds. If she doesn't confront them, this will increase slowly but measurably throughout the week.

Time waits for no one: An old clock tower in the part of downtown leading into the Sixth has been restored to functionality... Mostly. The belltower stands empty, though there's a visible place where a bell should be hung, several stories above the floor. Ryoji might find the scene familiar. On Wednesday evening, there is some kind of reopening gathering at the church below it; the brief service and meet-and-greet is not particularly unusual, save that the young Acolyte handing out papers in the entry won't step into the congregation hall itself.

Like a dog with a bad...: In the Sixth, the construction is ongoing, still with the same handful of men, who rotate through almost like randomly generated NPCs. Lurking around outside is a thickly built man, who watches the whole goings-on with suspicion; strangely, he seems to be watching it mostly through the camera on his phone. On Friday morning, though it shouldn't be cold enough for frost, three of the strangely similar men slip on patches of ice and fall behind a half-finished wall... Where they vanish completely. They reappear after lunch, if it's even the same men, with no signs of injury. That afternoon, the man with his phone looks smug.

A touch of the season: And speaking of ice, passage into many of the city's Avernian Gates is blocked this week by a thick frost that seals the entries shut. An Unsettling Youth and his girlfriend can occasionally be seen investigating them; though they're constantly together, they don't seem much inclined to talk to each other. Occasionally, she'll drape her arm over his shoulders and giggle, while he looks confused; other times, she seems almost to shy away from him.

Comments

[notachickenhawk]

He eyes the owl, and slowly reaches for his lighter, though he doesn't pull it out again. The taste of blood in his mouth... yes. That would explain it.

"Don't attack me. I'm not going to have very good blood anyway, I think." He laughs a little bit, glancing up at the shapes. "They're after you."

[movingon]

She isn't entirely sure if she trusts his word - how does he even know what she is? 12 out of 13 clans turn into nothing but bats and wolves if they do at all, and even among Gangrel that is common enough. And she should be way too far away to figure out that something is off about her.

But apparently she's not, or there is something else.

With one thing he is wrong, though. She wasn't going to attack him (and if he's not human he's probably wrong about the worth of his blood, too).

But if he is being honest, and if he is right... She glances up at the shadowy owl like creatures above. They have followed her for a while without ever doing anything. In what way would they be after her, then?

She tilts her head at him. Elaborate?

[notachickenhawk]

"... They stalk vampires. They're waiting for you to weaken and then they'll take you over. Run around with you crammed into a corner of your own mind."

His voice is calm, almost conversational, even as much as he hates the things. He's been doing this for years, after all.

[movingon]

...Sometimes she really wishes that Lars had told her more about the world outside of Copenhagen. Because that's what she assumes that this is, if it is true: Just another piece of information that neither her sire nor anyone else ever told her about.

She needs to know more about these things, and for that she needs to be able to ask questions. The problem is that they are half a street into downtown, and she sure as hell isn't turning into anything but an owl or fox here, unless it is in a super dark corner where nobody can see her.

The problem is that she can't tell what will happen if she flies off to somewhere where she could turn. In the end, she picks a less than ideal option: Fly down and land on his shoulder. Luckily owls can manoeuvre quite well. Hopefully he will get the hint, and hopefully that will be the safest spot until she knows more.

[notachickenhawk]

He raises an eyebrow, and lets go of his lighter inside of his pocket. Okay then. He tilts his head away from her a bit, trying to think. "Need a ride?" It's partially a joke, but also not. He can't really be seen with an owl on his shoulder... maybe she needs to hide?

... Well, the things are probably going to keep following her, but abandoning her to them seems cruel. He sighs and starts heading back towards the park. That's where an owl will be most likely to be seen, right? And there shouldn't be people around...

[movingon]

After they've entered the park and walked some distance down a path, she'll (gently, doing her best to not draw blood) peck at his ear and push at his head with her beak, trying to direct him off the path and to a fairly hidden bench amidst some trees and bushes. Sometimes there are couples there, but when she flew over it earlier there was none, and it seems like the wrong time of the night for a new one to arrive.

[notachickenhawk]

He nods, and follows her directions. The fact that it's dark and hidden doesn't bother him. He's not scared of much... other than the Strix. Maybe he'll send the others a message to let them know there's still some around this area. But later.

[movingon]

She hops down from his shoulder onto the bench once they are close enough, half fall, half batting of wings, and then changes.

It takes about ten seconds, a contorting and stretching that looks so uncomfortable that looking away might not be the worst option, and then a tall, unshapely person in a green army coat sits on the bench, big dark boots poking out from under it.

...Now for words. Those are harder.

"Why are they following me and not someone else?" There are a number of vampires in this city, she knows that for a fact, and if someone wanted to snatch a body... really, they could get something more useful. Not that she's ready to give it up, but if she was a bodysnatcher and had the ability to choose...

[notachickenhawk]

He doesn't look away - he wants to see it, wants to understand. But still... it's kind of gross.

As for her questions... "You? I don't know. I've been fighting these things for years. There's got to be something special about you." Maybe it's the shapeshifting. Maybe it's something else. He has no idea.

[movingon]

Something special, huh?

"Well, why are they stealing Kindred bodies?" Because she can't see how any of the things that are special about her would make her more attractive than someone else with a presentable body, a clean aura, and a higher or lower generation, depending on what they're going for. "And why are you fighting them? You are no vampire." And not a ghoul either, she thinks, though she isn't as sure about that one.

[notachickenhawk]

"... I'm not totally sure. They're jealous, I think. Of having physical bodies. I know there's some relationship between them and vampires, but I don't really know." He'd only been able to find out so much.

And as for why he's fighting them... "They're dangerous to everyone. But you're right. I'm not a vampire."

[movingon]

"I can't help you on that, I'd never heard of them before. I just don't understand why they don't go for a more useful body.

...What are you then?" She is careful to remain sitting, the ends of her long sleeves resting in her lap. Trying to project that she has no intention to attack.

[notachickenhawk]

He shrugs, and crouches, looking up at her. He's not going to attack, either. "I'm a Beast. A Child of the Dark Mother. My soul got Devoured by a Horror."

Tobias suspects most of this is nonsense to her.

[movingon]

It is.

It also fits into none of the very few categories of supernaturals that she knows. Though 'beast' sure is a strange name to pick. She doesn't get the feeling that he even has one. Or maybe he does, and...

She shifts, a bit uncomfortably. "You don't mean Lilith, do you?" She can't really remember what that Dark Mother stuff was about, but it was one of the barrage of buzzwords that Lars told her to stay away from.

[notachickenhawk]

"... I've heard her called that before, yes." So yes. Yes he does. "I've only seen her once, though."

He has to believe that's what he saw. What else would that monstrous face have been?

[movingon]

"...You've seen her."

She's not going to get up or get defensive as long as he stays were he is, but she's even more cautious now.

"Why?"

[notachickenhawk]

"Because that's what happens during the Devouring. Your soul gets swallowed up, and before you wake up you see Her."

In every instance he's seen, at least. He doesn't know for sure if that's what always happens.

[movingon]

That's creepy.

...Says the person who was made by being drunk empty and then given someone else's blood. Okay, maybe she shouldn't talk, but she still doesn't sound very convinced when she speaks up again.

"And she gives you directives, or something?"

[notachickenhawk]

"Somewhat. Our Horrors tend to know what to do. Whether she's communicating directly to them, I don't know." Maybe he shouldn't be giving away this much information... oh well.

[movingon]

"And you just do what your horror says."

...Can she risk pulling the scarf down? She hates having to have it in front of her face, her tongue keeps hitting the fabric and getting slathered in fluff.

"How do you fight those ...creatures?" She'd really like to not become a prisoner in her own mind.

[notachickenhawk]

"Fire and sunlight drive them back, but they don't destroy them unless you trap them somewhere they can't get away. If they're really strong then they have some additional weaknesses, but it's different for each one."

He glances up at the owl-shape circling ahead, and shakes his head. "So it's a lot of trial and error."

[movingon]

...Sunlight and Fire.

Great.

"You said they're waiting for me to be weak. Is there a specific kind of weakness that they are waiting for?"

[notachickenhawk]

"I figured that wouldn't be helpful for you. But... yeah. Weak in willpower." Physically weak wouldn't hurt, but based on what he's seen...

[movingon]

How do you even influence something like that?

...She'll give up and pull her scarf down. Her head is still fully in the shadow of her hood, but Tobias might notice a snake tongue poking out and moving left to right every once in a while.

Her voice sounds almost younger now that it isn't muffled by the scarf.

"And then? How do they attack?"

Maybe she should give Corwin's offer another thought.

[notachickenhawk]

"... They turn into smoke and go in through your mouth or nose." He sighs, shaking his head. "If you see a vampire out in the sun, it's a Strix, hiding in the vampire body. Fire kills it permanently, but like I said, it's... tricky."