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

[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."

[movingon]

"Because it only works while they have a body?"

That description is ...A vampire out in the sun? She's definitely not heard about that before, not even in the context of some horror story, and it sounds like something neonates would swap around to try and one-up one another. She sure has participated in games like that before, the who gathered the scariest bit of lore one. But maybe they are limited to this city?

[notachickenhawk]

"And if you leave even a tiny opening while you're burning them, they'll escape." He glances back up at the things above them, looking concerned.

[movingon]

"...So you need to put them into a hermetically sealed container and then manage to have a fire burn within that container for long enough to burn them to ashes?"

She didn't go to school for very long, but the little physics and chemistry that she learned tell her that that doesn't sound very likely. Unless you're using some magical fire, maybe?

[notachickenhawk]

"I've used boxes, sealed containers, garbage cans sealed shut... it's possible. It's hard. But it's worth it to get rid of those... things." Those things are not family, as far as he can tell and as far as he's concerned.

[movingon]

"I... Doesn't fire go out in airtight sealed containers?"

She is sure that there was something along those lines.

"How do you even put them into something like that if they can turn into smoke?"

[notachickenhawk]

"... Usually we can't get to them until it's too late." He doesn't want to admit it, but... "It feeds on life energy. So any humans with one of them in them are already dead."

[movingon]

She should probably have guessed.

"Better than them finding another victim next. ...Is there a way to protect oneself against them?" Except for keeping one's will strong, which... she has no idea how one would do that. No alcohol, probably, but that's what she has been doing her best to avoid since last week, anway.

[notachickenhawk]

"... Sunlight and fire. That's about it." He finally just sits down, rather than crouches, and tugs his legs into his chest. His whole posture just screams tired, as he rests his head on his knees. "... I've been fighting them for three years and I still haven't found out much more."

[movingon]

"Ever since you got your soul devoured?" It's just a guess, but she feels like it is a fairly informed one. Most people's life seem to change when they come into contact with the supernatural, in one way or the other. Her tone has softened. She doesn't know how to deal with this sudden turn of events, doesn't know what to say or do, but back when she lived on the streets, she would sometimes comfort others. So she must have been able to do it somehow, once.