November 02, 2002.11.02.02. - fast food and nightmares [decker-rune-dimitria] *njb[cont'd]
(james)
he's back to that ground covering stroll
what makes walking miles look effortless
the tattered tails snapping around his ankles with the swaying step
rebar clinking with the re-slung sling
dreads walztin in slow-half-time
leaves his hands free to untuck the edges of the long muslin strips used to wrap themfirst the left
strip end pulled out from beneath his sleeve
unwrapped
then slowly, carefully, re-wrapped for best brace
inbetween the fingers
across the palm
around the wrist
he doesn't need the brace, it just helps him blend in to the rest of the fighters working on the bagshe still can't get over how clean he got the coat
looking at the contrast of the sweaty linens compared to the scrubbed, soaked, washed four times over to get the smell out and all but bleached into oblivion sleeve(decker)
Two blocks down, a foot extends from a nearby doorframe, forcing James to hop or else fall on his face. New moon in the sky. Even Ahrouns develop something akin to wit."Ain't you all cleaned up," drawls Decker from around a joint. Scooting forward to sit on the second-to-last step from the sidewalk, he picks his backpack up from where he'd tossed it, making room for the Gnawer. The backpack is the one he took into the Umbra, and looks decidedly worse for wear. Unzipping it, the Modi digs under the sweatshirt stuffed into there and pulls out a paper bag. Reaching in, he tosses James a smashed burrito, unwraps another for himself. His turn to feed 'em.
"Don't fart."
(james)
there's a blink
what the....
it gets a stop, the tall Gnawer leaning around a bit to peeeeer at what the recognized boot had to offer
yet another wry grin twisting itself across his features"If you had to crawl through what I did last night? You'd be all sparkly clean too. Course, Rune wasn't happy I used up most of her shampoo."
and soap
and laundry detergent
and anything else that would save him the fate of burning his beloved coat
the Gnawer slides onto the step, sling dropped, blinking to catch the burrito on a length of linen stretched between one hand and one wrist, letting it slide into his lap and finishing the wrap before unwrapping yet something else and practically inhaling that burrito(decker)
Watching James inhale the beancannon, Decker grunts, "Said don't fart. Yer gonna fart if you eat that fast."He eats his own slower, the backpack rumpled at his feet. By normal standards he was still wolfing it down. By James'? He was dining. When it's done, he wipes his hands on the paper bag. Progress. Least it didn't go on his pants this time.
"How'd it go?" The sewer excursion, apparently.
(james)
a brow lifts mid-chew
pausing to swallow
then look at his packmate"Where I'm from? This is eating slow... didn't grow up scrapping for your food, did you?"
grinned in banter
fingers licked clean
even if he didn't even get anything on his hands or the wraps
it's an old habit
at least he isn't licking the wrapping clean"Sheer. Fucking. Insanity."
wait.... was that James cussing?
"Between the rusty rotting tunnel, Horatio's eight little legs clinging to my head the entire blessed journey, the pool of Gaia knows what that I took a nice, refreshing mud bath in, Graf Orlock in his bone coffin, New Jersey, the magick little tin that everyone wanted a cookie out of yet I would not let them have, and the fact there is something seriously wrong with my sinuses..... I'm not sure which is the most ridiculous part other than I went along with the entire thing."
(decker)
The Modi lifts an eyebrow at the rant, holds up a hand, and makes that rewinding gesture in the air."What?"
Crumpling up the wrapper, he stuffs it into the paper bag and then holds it out to James to put his stuff in. Zipping up his bag then, he gets to his feet and starts walking, the backpack held in one hand, swinging with his gait. If James intended to 'keep our city clean' he'd have to throw the bag away himself.
(james)
the sling finds its way to his shoulder
and the crumpled bag to the next trashbin they pass"Once Bastion, Romani and I got into the tunnel, found out it was my job to crawl through this horrifically small pipe. Whatever I was seeking as at the end of it. But I wasn't about to do it without collateral so I asked for something of theirs to take to ensure they'd wait for me to come back.... got Romani's keys and Bastion gave me his little friend.... Horatio the Child Eating Spider..... so I crawl through the pipe, Horatio on. my. head. nice and comfy in the dreads, this pipe is rank, man, even for my kind. But I get to the end, it's a nice little cavern, filled with who knows or wants to know what, grate on the wall, unlock and grate, shimmy through to find this pipe goes through a room. Once in the room, lo and behold, of all things, there's a coffin. Beautiful thing, made of bone, but a coffin. I must have swallowed some of that sewer water because I decided to open the damn thing. Inside? Graf Orlock in the rotting flesh. Huge stake sticking out of his chest, dead as a doornail, and he's holding this cookie tin. So I take the tin, plant evidence to point at Romani having it and not me, and go back the way I came. Romani and Bastion were very interested in the tin when I came out.... "
there's a pause there
glancing to the Modi to see if he needs to rewind again
he's still a little... stressed... from the past days events(decker)
Decker's brow his furrowed, and he stares at the pavement fiercely enough to drill holes, but at the pause, no demand of a retelling comes. "Cookie tin?" he prompts at last.A cold whips across the street and Decker lifts the backpack, pulling the sweatshirt out. Rezipping the former, he pauses on the sidewalk and pulls the latter on over his head. It's one of those zip-up sweatshirts, but either the zipper was broken or he couldn't be bothered to unzip it.
Picking the pack up again, he slings it over one shoulder this time and continues walking. Where they were headed is uncertain; perhaps they were simply walking.
(james)
he's also waiting to be ripped a new one
it shows
he barely even slows down as they pass the studio he was heading to
right now Decker's leading, and he's following
the rant doesn't quite have the power it used to
warm voice so much softer now"A little dented number..... I don't know what's in it, yet, though. The deal was to share what I found, so I didn't open it so I wouldn't know what was in it. I stashed it across town. Wanted to have some backup around if we opened it. Whatever's in there seems very important to Bastion and Romani. I just don't know how much that will benefit us......"
drifting off at the end, there
he knows how important this is to him
the rest of the pack probably doesn't care
and he's risking them(decker)
A block or two away, Decker stops again. Frowning down the street, then at James, "Hell happened to 'Orlock'?"(james)
muscular shoulders roll in a shrug"Somebody shoved a table leg through his heart? I wasn't about to touch it..... for all I know Mr. Nosferatu himself woulda jumped back up and bit me if I did."
he's doing a good job of not letting on just how much that spooked him
(decker)
Another long silence. Stake through heart, in a coffin. That points toward......yeah. Did they exist? Fuck him. "Gonna call Rune," mutters Decker, and heads for the nearest payphone. Feeling through his pockets, he produces a quarter and a nickel. "Got another nickel?"
While he waits for the cellphone to ring, he looks at James. "That box. Ain't nobody gonna touch it 'til we hear back from Erik."
He wasn't going to make the call on this one. Count him the fuck out.
(james)
there's a nod
rummaging through his pockets, past the bucks that were going to pay his way into the gym, pulling out the change Decker needs
and while the Modi waits
he slides down to a crouch
watching the streetnodding a bit, murmuring
"Just what I had in mind."
the Rat Finks were only rumored to interact with them
those were stories to tell cubs to keep them in line, to respect their Elders
but with what he saw last night?
that was no leftover Halloween propno. sir.
he's not just sparkling clean
he's pale
he didn't sleep much last night(rune)
The cell phone rings - always a good sign, since half the time she kept it turned off and the calls went straight into her voicemail. Loud music complete with a thudding bassline is translated through the receiver as little more than a haze of noise, and that's all there is for a few seconds until she answers, one (charming, no?) word. "...yeah?"(decker)
"Corner of," a glance up, "ninth and Jefferson. In Jersey City. Get here soon as you can."Click, he hangs up. There goes 35 cents. Moving out to the curb, Decker sits down next to the Bone Gnawer. James' pants were clean, possibly why he was crouching instead of sitting, but Decker didn't have that worry.
Moments later, "Think it was a leech?"
(spit)
::sitting in an alley. Perched on a dumpster...eyes reaching up the alley towards the opening where it spills out onto the street. Completely still almost statue like. Quiet and still.
Minutes past...heart racing in his heart....thumping and racing. Anxiety and panic filling his mind. Could they still be there...looking for him? Quiet and Still...Rustling from further up the alley as a small rat comes scurrying from a corner...on his way to find a late night snack..or whatever it was rats did at night.
In the dark he feels safe. Safe enough...for now.(james)
the street can't be that interesting
but he's studying it
scrutinizing it
as if suddenly, his thoughts needed the visual diet in order to fuel themselves into this strange concoction of.... whatever it was he happened to have let himself think aboutalmost having to snap out of it
"Huh?"
rewind, James.
"Oh...... yea, I do."
frowning a little
a lot easier when you admit it for the second time, isn't it(decker)
Well, that took care of that. Decker lapses into silence, picking bits of concrete off the sadly disrepaired sidewalk and flicking them out on the asphalt. Holding his own counsel, he runs all he'd heard about vampires through his head."Bastian 'n that Mafia ass. You think..?"
(spit)
::Ok it had to be long enough...it had to be safe now. Right? Sure...He hops down from the dumpster...hitting the pavement and crouching down low...perfectly still...for a moment before he heads up the alley and towards the opening...Peeking out around the corner...coast clear? Just his eyes peer out...sharp icy blue eyes...
Seconds pass
And he emerges...tall lanky boy, spiked black hair, with purple tips...his right eyebrow with 2 stainless steel barbells...a matching barbell in the left eyebrow. A flat disc pierced through his labret. an 8 gauge stud through his tongue. And those are the ones you can see. Tattoos fill his flesh, but his clothing cover the stories so no one can see...::
(james)
he's quiet
mulling thoughts around like a fine wine in his brain cavity"Maybe? Probably? I know they're not like us, and they definitely aren't human. Romani disappeared into the shadows.... literally.... when we were down there. And Bastion has a man-eating spider for a pet. Your guess is as good as mine."
(rune)
Ten minutes - maybe fifteen minutes later - the familiar low purr of Rune's beloved Beemer and the flare of headlights blasting bright down the unfamiliar street - high beams. It's late enough, so traffic was light and she made good time. Despite the chill in the air, the top is down: Rune doesn't believe in winter.Hair toussled from the draft, eyes shining and stinging from the cold blasting at her during the (not quite reckless) drive. The driver's side door swings opens, and heels clatter on the sidewalk as Rune approaches her packmates. She had obviously been out for the evening, and the scent of the close packed club - sweat and suggestion, whiskey and ash - clings to her skin and hair, has infused her clothes.
"You rang?" she asks, eschewing the sidewalk to lean back against her car, as the most palatable of the available options.
(dimitria)
...don't hurt me mista, I'm just a lil' girl...It was late at night and neither the time for a child to be out nor a place for a child to be alone. But one wandered, looking dazed and lost, down the sidewalk. She was dressed in pink flower adorned flannel pyjamas, was bare foot and carried a teddy bear clutched between small hands.
(decker)
Rune doesn't believe in winter because Rune is from California. The more sane people of the world believe in winter, and so Decker's in a sweatshirt, and James is in his patchwork trench. Both look up as she pulls up.Decker motions Rune closer, where they won't have to scream for her to hear. "Know anythin' 'bout leeches?"
(james)
dark eyes glance up as Rune graces them with her presence
when I have the cash, I'll replace it all, don't worry
offering a little (haunted) grinbut while they talk
he looks around
keeping watch
taking up his place at their backs until he's called inletting his eyes roam the streets like the animal that's buried somewhere within him
(spit)
::and just that quick he slinks away...another night he made it...so far::(dimitria)
... I don' mean nuffin by it, sir, honesly!...She has a small piece of what looks like rumpled paper clutched between two fingers and she periodically consults her teddy bear as she looks around her at the large large world, blue eyes large as saucers.
(rune)
The faintest of shrugs - the rustle of her bare shoulders rising and falling beneath her black suede coat, the dull glimmer of a blood-red camisole beneath - plays through her body as she approaches, and settles into a crouch alongside Decker.What's mine is yours. - the echo back, offhand, before settling to the task at hand - don't mention it.
One sculpted brow rises in a slow arch above her dark painted eyes. There's a moment of silence as she settles back on her haunches and considers Decker's question.
"Some," she says at last, mouth quirked in a lowering frown. "We had our share of 'em. Fucked up bastards. Why?"
(dim)
...always look both ways before you cross the street...She lifts a hand and rubs her nose on the sleeve of her pyjamas, eyes still amazingly large and bright - a dominant feature of her diminuative face.
From across the street, seperated by the vast lanes of the road, she pauses in her aimless wandering and stares at the gathered trio, at the shining gleam of Beemer under the illumination of the street lights.
(decker)
And there they were, the three Ahroun of the pack. Sleek-stylish-savage Rune. Mellow, easygoing James. Brooding Decker.Flicking a last pebble out to the street, the Modi speaks. "Seems James mighta dug a coupla the corpses up. Bastian, 'member him? He and his Mafia buddy took James to the sewers, had him crawl down a tunnel. Found some half-rotted thing in a bone coffin clutching a box.
"Box's 'cross the city. I said ain't nobody gonna touch it 'til we hear from Erik. But dead thing's still in the coffin. Dunno where Bastian and the Mafia fuck is."
Decker never speaks loudly, and when he makes an effort to keep his voice down, he's barely audible. When he's finished, he leans forward to scrub a scuff on his shoe with his thumb.
(james)
another of the faintest smiles, echoing that, well, echo
at least he smells really pretty
dreads all nice and shiny and full of volume
skin that wasn't scrubbed off deeply moisturized and exfoliatedrejuvenated, even
though something seems to grab his attention
weight shifting to begin rising from that crouch but he barely catches it
trying to pay attention to the conversation at hand
and. that. kid.(dim)
...never cross the street without a responsible adult to hold your hand...Apparently, though, this was never a warning that this child had been told, or chose not to heed. After all, what could possibly happen on a street so quiet as this one was becoming?
The little girl, no older than five or six, starts towards the gutter as if she was going to cross the road all by herself and Mr. Bear.
No, she doesn't pause to look both ways. She looks rather dazed, actually.
(rune)
Rune's head drops briefly, sleek black hair spilling with the gesture to curtain her pale face. Some terrible, muttered curse spills from her lips and her red nails dig into flesh of her supple suede-clad thighs until one would swear she was going to draw blood."Shit. Jesus - " the curses continue even when she looks up, even though she actually attempts to stop them, biting her tongue and holding back briefly before another savage wave of - what - frustration, utter frustration, no more - twists her features. "Burn 'em. Grenades, napalm, big fat-ass bonfire. Ripping 'em to shreds works to, I guess, but I think they're kinda like earthworms. Cut off some bit and they grow back. Back shit is, it's hard to know how many there are, what they want, what they can do to you. Manipulative, fucked up bastards, is all I've ever heard of 'em. Whadda they want with us?"
(decker)
"Woulda," replies Decker, "'cept one, dunno where they are now. And two, Bastian was makin' some threatenin' noises like no-violence-or-else-my-elder's-gonna-kick-yer-ass."The Modi shrugs, reaching up to scratch one shoulder. "Can't believe 'em, 'course. But can't not believe 'em either."
Then, "Fuck if I know what they want."
(james)
"They'll be easy to find, they're come back to find me when I'm ready to......"it drifts off
kid? cross? woah....shit
the next surge of energy through his frame isn't stopped
the Gnawer is up
dodging the two cars on the street to book it across
snatching the little girl before she goes off the curb(dim)
... always chew your food...She stares at James with huge, round blue eyes the color of a pale blue sky. If she wasn't shaking before, she was now, being collected by the dreadlocked youth before her little bare toes could even touch the gutter. Her teddy bear tumbles to the ground in the process and she makes small whimpering noises in her throat.
"Mr. Bear! Mr. Bear!"
(decker)
Decker breaks off and James does the hundred-meter dash across the street. "The fuck--" looking across, just in time to see James whisk the little girl off the street.He watches another minute, grey eyes dark, and then returns his attention to Rune.
(james)
pale blue sky
deep, dark earth
rich brown in his eyes looks to hers
Bea.... oh
swooping down to pick up the teddy bear, and holding it to the little girl now resting on a hip"Where'd you come from?"
visual check over
two.... ten.... eleven
eyes.... fingers.... toes
(dim)
...never pull a face, the wind might change and you'll be stuck like that...She has a hospital bracelet snuggly fitted to bird-boned wrist, visible when she grabs for the teddy that James' offers back and cuddles it close to her chest. She stares athim with a dazed, shocked expression and then manages to speak.
"My mommy and daddy found me in the cabage patch where the stalk left me. They said so."
(rune)
"I dunno," Rune remarks, full red mouth thinning with distaste. She fights off a shudder, but it ripples through her lean form nonetheless. Her distaste is physical, lodged low in her gut, visceral and primal. "they're like... they're like... fuckin' leeches and - "Rune, too breaks off, dark gaze rising to follow James' path as he dashes across the street. Her gaze lingers there, even as she resumes speaking - low and quiet - "don't like it. I mean, think of like, the meanest, most manipulative Shadow Lord you ever knew. Now add on three centuries to perfect his fuckin' technique. They get their claws in you, they'll drain you dry. Least if the elder or whatever comes after us, we can fight back rather than scuttling around doin' their dirty work, yeah?"
(james)
a brow lifts
damn articulate for a young'un
he reaches to gently twist the bracelet on her wrist to read it"Cabbage patch, huh? Did they tell you which one?"
(decker)
Decker shrugs with a grunt. "See what Erik says 'bout the box first. Then we'll figger what to do with the leeches. 'N if James wants to muck 'round with them anymore, he's gonna hafta go through Erik. I ain't gonna play Beta to somethin' this big no more."A pause. "Wonder what's in the box. James says the other two wanted it real bad."
(dim)
...never play with your food...The bracelet is from one of the medicial institutions in Jersey City.
"Where the monster in the closet lives."
She nods her head almost solemnly with that childlike belief that monsters do indeed reside within children's closest on a regular basis. She is still staring at him with wide blue eyes, pupils quite dilated. She still clutches a rumpled piece of paper in her hand. That wasn't dropped when James grabbed her.
(james)
"Really? What monster? And can I see this?"he reaches for the paper
comitting the name of the MI to memory
and after the night he had last night?
he'll agree right on with her those monsters exist(dim)
...never run with scissors...She pulls the rumbled paper close to her and looks at him suspiciously before taking a little peek at it, chewing her bottom lip and holding it out (almost poking his eye out in the process).
"I think that you're the one Mr. Kitty wanted to have this."
(rune)
"Probably some weird, fucked up shit we don't even know anything about," Rune snorts, hair flaring inkily as she shakes her head and mutters another half-breathed curse. "Eye of newt or bats' nuts or something freaky."There's another pause as Rune digs into her pockets for her cigarettes. Lighting up calms some of her agitation, and she continues in the same low voice, offering Decker the pack in an offhanded gesture. "They tell James anything about the... rats, or whatever?"
(dim)
...always brush your teeth after every meal...She snuggles into Mr. Bear, peeking coyly at James over one of the teddy's ears and then wriggles a little in his grip to then snuggle closer to him, burying her face against his shoulder and mumbling through his tattered trench-coat.
"You're nice and toasty."
(james)
his head snaps back to save his eye
I need that, thank you
carefully reaching up to take the paper out of direct line for his ocular socket and holding it at a safe distance to read"Mr. Kitty? Who's that...."
(decker)
Decker waves a lazy hand in the direction of the cigarettes, turning them down. "Think the leech in the coffin was scarin' 'em off or somethin'. Ask 'im."Of course, James was across the street playing Good Samaritan...Decker watches him with a detached curiosity, a half-smirk curling the edge of his mouth as James snaps his head back from the paper.
(dim)
...always sit up straight..."Mr. Kitty is soft. You smell better though. He smells like dookie."
She wraps a small hand around one of James' dreads and then moves it do that it is on top of Teddy's head. She giggles inanely, because now Mr. Bear has dreadlocks too.
(james)
he may be warm to her
but inside he goes cold
staring at the paper for moment before folding it between his fingers and putting it into his pocket
he does pretty damn well at finding that easy going good samaritan smile againshould've smelled me last night
"Can you tell me more about Mr. Kitty?"
we're good at pretending we're amused at the now stylish bear
(rune)
Rune tucks her cigarettes away, and inhales - low and slow and deep - as if she were smoking a joint, not a cigarette. The colorful paper flares, smolders, and dies to ash with each drag. They come quickly now, hard and quick after the first long savoring breath, and the smoke - exhaled just as quickly - hardly had time to reach her lungs."The hell is a kid doin' wandering the streets in the middle of the night?" she offers by way of conversation, since it seemed like the other portion of their conversation was over, or at least paused until James returned. Silence sits ill on her shoulders; after their discussion she would prefer to fill the night with noise.
(dim)
...naughty children are locked in the basement...She takes a moment to stop paying attention to the bear, still giggling a little as she looks back at James with those wide, blue eyes.
"Mr. Kitty is nice sometimes. Sometimes he is mean. Sometimes he bites. But he's a kitty. Kittys always bite."
She pulls back one pyjama sleeve and exposes a tiny arm with two neat puncture marks in her forearm. Her lower lip creeps out a little and starts to quiver slowly, her eyes looking glassy as if she was going to cry. She buries her head in his shoulder again and whispers.
"Sometimes it really hurts."
(decker)
"Scarin' the shit out of James," mutters Decker in reply. They were packmates. He could read James' body the way a scholar read a book. Hunkered down on the curbside, the Modi's eyes are narrowed (the better to see you with...).It's dark, and the distance is too great to see the puncture wounds. When the child buries her head in his packmate's shoulder, he makes a wordless noise: a sort of truncated grunt, if such sounds existed.
(imogen)
Several hours after leaving James on the sidewalk, she drives down similar streets, heading in the opposite direction, trying to make it vaguely toward home. Imagine the blink of her eyes as the headlights catch James holding the child as she rounds the corner.Odd enough that he's still wandering around. Odder still that he appears to have picked up offspring in the last few hours.
(james)
.............something inside him breaks.........
the bird-bone arm is nothing more than a stick across boxer-wrapped palm
fingers slowly closing around the wound
(as if you could make all past sins fade away)
very..... very..... softly"What does...... Mr. Kitty look like?"
maybe it's instinct
maybe it's the lack of bloodflow
but his arm sags a little
her buried head settled against his shoulder.....
(not near his throat, he's had enough strange crawly things snuggling next to his throat lately)
those dark eyes lifting to find his packmates across the streetSomething.... isn't right.....
(decker)
As James' dark glance slides across the street - simultaneously, in the exact moment - Decker slides to his feet. Easy, silent, collected, self-contained. Muscles rearrange from sitting to standing in perfect synchrony; he doesn't cross the street, but nor does he sit again.Hell's the matter? - words carried on the Eagle's back.
(rune)Rune responds with a vague grunt of her own - too much time around too many Get, perhaps - and rises from her less than comfortable crouch. She takes a moment to find her center of balance again - the heels are high, sharply pointed, forming a thin, uncertain base for the rest of her frame - and is in the middle of a luxuriant stretch when she hears him hears him.
Dark hair flies and settles around her pale features as she turns sharply. Casting the butt of her cigarette to the ground, crushing the embers beneath her feet, she waits for James' reply.
(dim)
...stop playing with that, it's not a toy..."He looks like Azlan. Azlan was in my story book. Mommy used to read it to me. But Mommy went away."
Her little voice is muffled against his shoulder as she sniffles a little and wipes her nose on his trenchcoat.
"Mr. Kitty said Mommy went to push up the daisies. Where are the daisies, mista?"
(decker)
The two Ahroun across the street are matched and beautiful in their own way: both so confident of themselves, their bodies, lean and powerful and sure. The one is loose-jointed, easeful; the other half-slouches, contemptuous, tight-coiled beneath the facade of laziness.The latter's attention leaves James for a moment, skimming over the silver SUV coming down the street. Hm.
(james)
"Aslan? The Lion? Whatever happened to the Witch and the Wardrobe?"that's who you were down in the sewers with last night, Jamey-boy
even across the street, they can hear the intake of breath is shakey
I'm being watched, she's been bitten....
but he's calm and warm with the little girl
even if she wipes her sniffly nose on his newly! washed! trenhccoat!
sighing"I'm not sure where the dasies are though, kiddo... you gotta name?"
(dim)
...don't pick at it, you'll make it bleed..."Dimmy."
She looks back up at him with one eye, head still buried against his shoulder, a tentative little smile on her cupid-bow lips.
"Who are you mista? Do you know Mr. Kitty? Does he bite you when you're naughty, too?"
(imogen)
The SUV changes it's pace not to run over the two Ahrouns as the cross the street, pulling to park some distance away from Rune's BMW. She can't really think of anything to help, but it doesn't sit well just to.... keep going and go home.Something's up. Even without the knowledge of packmates, she can tell that. The headlights die with the engine, and the SUV is quiet.
(rune)
I told you so would be ungenerous, but it flashes through her mind now even as her body stiffens. And: we weren't made for this.Rune flashes a brief glance at Decker, then continues across the street, heels clattering noisily on the worn asphalt. Dark eyes swim in a mute, careful survey of their surroundings, and the familiar streets seem changed and somehow more dangerous than ever they were before.
Through the looking glass, into the fire.
(dim)
...children are best when they come with a garnish...She plants her teddy bear against his cheek, her bare feet swinging back and forth in the chilly night air. She shivers, being dressed only in flannel pyjamas this cold night, and snuggles in closer.
"This is Mr. Bear."
Her voice trails off into a almost inaudible whisper when she sees Rune and Decker crossing the street and she hides her face in James' dreadlocks, large blue eyes wide and staring.
(james)
"Dimmy, huh? Well... our names rhyme then..... I was called Jimmy when I was your age."her smile is tentative
his is warm
(no matter how much this is killing him inside)"No, I don't think I know Mr. Kitty as you do..... can you tell me where he is so I can meet him? He shouldn't be biting you when you're naughty.... especially if it hurts...."
that Rage is controlled
very
tightly
his grip on it choking
he's getting a good idea of this Mr. Kittyfeathers whisper - Her parents are dead, I've got to take her somehwere.
(decker)
Watched? How? Who? How d'you know? Incredulous. Decker stops halfway off the curb and...sits again.First rule of any combat: watch your back. If all three of them cross the street, who was going to watch the rooftops above them?
Decker's storm-grey eyes flicker across that roofline now, though he isn't so obvious as to start looking behind him, craning his head, all that. He trusted his packmates across his street to see to his six.
Then - Not home. Take her to a fuckin' hospital.
That won't sit well with James, but Decker remembers what happened the last time they took a 'helpless' person home all too well.
(demi)
...if you keep that up, you're going into the closet!..."I'm cold."
She whimpers it against James' hair as she continues to stare at Rune crossing the street. She trembles, although maybe she was just shivering. It's a hard toss up, but either or both could be right with a child this small.
(rune)
Rune remains several feet from James and the girl; she has little experience with children and doesn't want to spook her.New York. Upstate, if you want. That should be far enough away. she adds, on Eagle's wings. Decker's right. Not home.
(imo)
She steps out of the SUV, pressing the door shut with a soft click, her shoulders resting against the curve of the SUVs frame.Outside of the mental conversation, she watches from her own distance, dark eyes flickering toward Decker and Rune, by the curb, and then toward the Gnawer with the child.
(dimy)
...put that down or I'll chop your fingers off...She parts two dreads with little fingers and stares disconcertingly at Rune, lower lip trembling as she looks at the well-dressed woman standing several feet away.
(james)
so does he
something of a glare shoots back across at the seated Modi
I'm not that stupid. Bracelet says Bridgefield Med. I should take her back there but I know he'll just track her again..... but I'm not about to come up for kidnapping charges for turning her in elsewhere. I don't have a choice. I don't have the time it will take to get to upstate. He'll follow me there anyway, so might as well get her someplace safe and warm quickly.
but at her whimper, he sighs
kneeling down
setting her on the ground and shrugging off his trench to wrap her in
he's cold, but he'll live
picking the child bundle back upglancing to Rune
"Common Dimmy.... I'll take you someplace warm."
(decker)
Decker takes an angry step forward from across the street; his voice cracks like a whip, like a thunderbolt in their minds: WHO? Who the fuck is this 'he' who's followin' you? How do you know?Even to the outside observer, his tension and anger are apparent. Dimitria and Imogen don't need a mindlink to pick up on the caged beast aura that hangs over him.
(rune)
Rune flashes the girl a quick smile in an attempt at reassurance, though the expression could well be anything but. It crawls false across her painted lips, and never quiet reaches her dark eyes. Her eyes lid briefly and then rise to James as her hand slips through her hair."Wanna ride in my car, Dimmy?" - what kind of a name is that, anyway? - Rune blinks, head snapping back at the whip-crack thunder of Decker's mindvoice.
(dim)
...come sit on daddy's lap, princess...She wriggles inside the cocoon of the make-shift blanket created by James' trenchcost and her eyes start to droop sleepily as she steadily gets warmer, now that her feet aren't like little icicles. She keeps a firm hold on the teddy bear and lifts the other hand to her mouth, sucking on her thumb. She appears to trust James not to let the monsters get her as she starts to doze. Her pale brows knit toegther and she whimpers, half-asleep, as she picks up Decker's rage radiating into the night air.
(james)
Bastion.
passing Rune, his hand slips into the pocket
pulling out the folded paper
pressing it into her handsbut he just keeps on walking across the street to her car
hell if he knows how far Bridgefield is....(ST)
The piece of paper pressed into Rune's hand is more than a little rumpled, but the image on one side is hard to mistake. It was James in the midst of activity sometime (today?) and it was taken from a distance with a telescopic lens. The words written under the printed photo read "I can see you"(rune)
The paper crackles in Rune's hand as she unfolds and studies it for a moment. Her mouth falls into a distinct, dark frown as a brief view of the image flashes across their mental link to Decker.They should've killed it. They should've killed it when they had the chance.
Heels clatter on the pavement as Rune rouses herself, and trails in James' wake, more alert, if anything, than she was mere moments ago.
(ST)
Maybe it didn't occurr to James when he first looked at the phonto being that he was somewhat distracted by the small child he now cradles, but there are faint lines - one horizontal, one verticle - across the photo, blurred by the printing and rumpling of the paper.Ya know those lines look like thy could have come from... from... hell, a gun scope, maybe?
(decker)
Decker doesn't even have to look at it. Rune sees it, and then the image streaks across his mind. The Modi scowls, watching as they bundled the child into the car.Pack was pack. You can't ditch your pack. But James would be a fool not to sense that Decker's fury over the situation. You and yer damn rats, fumes the Modi into his mind, and then the mindlink snaps off there cleanly for ten, twenty seconds, while Decker scrubs his hands over his head: a tense gesture.
Take her to the hospital. That's it. Decker was damn well ready to give them the box and be done with it. Next time they meet, blood will spill like it should. Shoulda killed it at the start, he thinks to himself, unconsciously echoing Rune. Shoulda spilled its guts across the concrete.
(dimmy)
...didn't you know that monsters are under the bed?...Mommy always said that there were no monsters under the bed. But there are. They mostly come out a night. Mostly.
She wriggles in the cocoon of the bundled trenchcoat and whimpers more, sucking on her thumb with a small frown puckering her forehead with wrinkles. She can feel the rage of the Modi as it oozes off him in deep, dark waves. No child likes it when something is angry around them. Especially that angry.
"No, Mr. Kitty, don't bite me. I'll be good." whimpered softly in her sleep around her thumb. The words were heartbreaking to hear from such a small child.
"I promise."
(james)
he doesn't watch much more than the asphalt beneath his feet
visably wincing at the reprimand
silent as it's broken
and when it opens again
his..... voice... is very soft
I'm a Bone Gnawer. Before I met you, I followed Rat. What. Else. Did you expect me to do.but he knows he blew it
sometimes, Jamey-boy, you just gotta give up what you believe in for the benefit of the bigger picture
sometimes...... Cliath.... you gotta back down.
either way, he's dead silent in the car(decker)
The Z3's a damn two-seater. Just perfect. Not like Decker wanted to ride with something that cringed every time he scowled, anyway. The two citygarou get into the car and he stays where he is, watching them. Part of him wants to thrash the Bone Gnawer for getting them into this. The other part?How could he have known?
Good fuckin' point.Even so, Decker seethes, hands balled at his sides while he watches the Beemer pull away. Then, crossing the street to the silver SUV, he does the expected. He gets a ride from Imogen.
(dimmy)
...children should be seen and not heard...The whimpering turns to keening almost, a gut-wrenching sound for anyone with even a small inkling of empathy to listen to.
"It's hurts, it hurts!" she crumples into a ball in James' arms in the car and shakes like a frightened animal, trying to hide from the big bad word. All this, and she was still sleeping.
(ST)
A rat squeezes itself from a drain along the curb and chitters, looking side to side and then its whiskers whirr maniacally befor eit darts across the asphalt to Decker's boot. Which is fair enough, save that it appeared to have a large, colored sticker plastered to its back.(rune)
Rune settles into the driver's side as James slips into the passenger's seat with the child. Fine - now the child's words slash her conscience like a whip, much as Decker's rage - James' response - the entire situation.She's silent as she settles into the car, and silent as she turns the key in the ignition, silent as the Beemer purrs to sleek life and still damned silent as she puts the car in gear and pulls away. Turning the possibilities over and over in her head like a stone worn smooth by moving water - do they even know she is what she seems to be? The whole world seems flipped over, reversed, turned inside the fuck out as the hunters become the hunted.
(james)
maybe.... just maybe.... he should just give the Gnawer some credit
he wouldn't have gotten into it if it wasn't really important to him
but it doesn' matter nowarms tightening around the keening girl
Shhhhhh"Please drive faster."
still so damned soft
this is killing him(dim)
...you want me to give you something to really cry about?...Her little arms come out from the wrapped up trenchcoat, sleeves pulled back from all the wriggling and tugging, exposing the small puncture marks in her arms again. One has started to seep blood again, staining her skin red and pink in splotches.
"I don' wanna!"
(decker)
And Decker?Crushes the rat underfoot. Stomps on it as hard as he can and snaps its back like a twig, mashes its little internal organs. Good thing James didn't see that.
Fuckin' vermin. He was ready to move back to the fuckin' Pine Barrens for a vacation.
Wiping his foot off on the curb, he scowls at the little sticker-picture on its back. A flicker of the image flashes into his packmates' minds. And that's it. Now he's fucking pissed.
He doesn't go to the SUV after all. He backs into the alley, pulls his switchblade out, snicks the blade open, looks at his reflection. Concentrates.
Think yer the only one that can disappear? Watch this.
Five seconds. He vanishes.
(rune)
Rune drives faster, and though the windshield sends most of the chilly draft over and above them, little sideblasts dances around side, making the cold night that much colder.It's an afterthought, but after a few blocks of this Rune hits a button while they idle a red light in a deserted, and the top whirrs softly as it settles over them. She reaches up to secure, then guns the engine as the light turns green.
So it goes - past the dark empty streets, in the dark, silent car, splashed by the reflected glow of the streetlamps and eerie green of the dashboard. She doesn't dare five miles an hour over the speedlimit, but she pushes that the whole way to the hospital.
(dimmy)
...never play with your food...She wriggles and writhes in James' arms, her little face puckered in response to her sleeping dreams of big, mean nasty monsters chomping on her as an evening snack. Her eyes shoot open, a glassy sky blue staring at James as she wails (no doubt, much to the detriment of their hearing).
"Daddy make him stop!"
(imogen)
The Garou take their directions, and Decker heads toward her, only to be halted by a rat. Watching the vermin be reduced to little more than a pile of bones and flesh, and then the Fenrir walks into an alley way, and does not leave.This. does. not. bode. well.
A moment or two more of staring at the alley way, eyes lifting to encompass the surrounding buildings. A click of locks, and she turns, starting to get into the SUV.
(james)
"Dimmy wake up!"
"Daddy make him stop!"shaking her just enough to pull her out of dreamstate
using the trench sleeve to press over the open wound
stem the bleeding
(keep it off Rune's car)
his ears ringing with the wordsno James, don't go there, just don't think about it
"Dimmy, it's allright, he's stopped, okay?"
he knows he's damning her by bringing her here
but he knows they'll never be able to run far enough or long enough
So why don't you just end her pain now, Jamey-boy, before it starts? Just like you did for another little girl a long time ago.....
once they're at the hospital he almost doesn't wait for the car to completely stop
he's out
he's carrying the little girl into the ER
it's amazing the frenzy of activity when you report you've found a child that was missing
and somewhere in that activity, the namless, faceless, raggedy homeless man slips back out(ST)
A nurse from the ER comes out, looking for James, with a wad of papers in her hands and a confused look on her tired, drawn features. She'd been on a long shift and this was just the icing on the cake."Excuse me, sir? I... uh... need to speak with you a moment."
(james)
he turns a bit
looking back
the nurse's eyes are black and hollow because she's exhausted
his eyes are black and hollow because he's haunted"yea?"
(imogen)
The door shuts behind her, the keys slide into the ingnition. Engine starts as she puts the SUV in gear. Nobody'd spoken out loud, so guessing where they were going (or even if she'd be of any use) was out of the question. Fingers tap lightly for a moment on the steering wheel, before her foot leaves the brake and the SUV starts to roll down the road.(ST)
"Your daughter just needs a few stitches, sir. She'll be fine to take home right after."She offers him the papers in her hand and scratches the side of her neck idly.
"Here are her release forms from earlier this evening."
"I noticed you forgot them when you picked her up."
(rune)
In the ER parking lot, Rune waits. Silently drumming her fingers on the leather steering wheel, she studies the hospital cast in stark relief by the security floodlights.The heat is blasting at her feet, and her warm moist breath fills the car, fogging the windshield. After a moment, she switches the heat to defrost, and watches at the film of condensation is evaporates in several widening concentric circles.
(decker)
On the other side, amongst the strands of a steel-spun web, the Fenrir takes his direwolf form: faster, stronger. Panting, he clambers up the shining steel strands to the rooftops. On this side, only a few of the buildings exist as more than shadows of themselves, but the webs spun from them give him a way to cross from one to the other...if he's careful.He remembers, also, his last encounter with a patternspider. As such, he dodges out of their way, avoiding disrupting the web as much as possible.
At the top of the building, his eyes glaze over and he looks across. In one direction, Imogen. In the other, a shadow...moving away.
Decisions, decisions.
Eagle's voice in the minds of his packmates: Followin' somethin' I saw. Imogen's headin' west on Jefferson.
It's unspoken: keep an eye on her, if you can. Then the direwolf's eyes focus again and, carefully but swiftly, he follows the shadow from across the Gauntlet, periodically stopping to peek.
(james)
he just....looks.... at the woman
it's one of those moments in time when everything freezes
but he can still feel his heart thumping against the cage of ribs that dare keep it within his body
he can still feel the blood rushing through his veins
he can still feel the slow, steady breaths that fill his lungs
his expression........ indescribable"Lady? My daughter died two years ago.... before she was even born. That's some kid my friend and I found on the street. I've never seen her before in my life. I'm sorry, there's been a mistake."
shoulders shift, uncomfortably
before he just turns away
this isn't happening(ST)
The nurse looks completely confused now and taps him on the shoulder."Look, we can't just keep her here now that she's been discharged. I know it'll probably be hard, having to look after the kid again, but you can't just leave her here."
Indeed, all the paper work was in order and if James had bothered to look closely he'd see what looked like a photocopy of a driver's liscense with his photo on it, even if the name was J. Box. According to the computers, this was his mess to deal with.
(imo)
Imogen's heading west on Jefferson. There isn't anywhere to go except back toward the condo. Or to the morgue. Two in the morning. She picks the condo.
(james)
the Ahroun whirls low growl thickening in his throat
he's losing control, and he's losing it fast
get into a staff member's face, it's a Code Gray, security is required by law to remove you from campus, notifying authorities only if you return"Look. Lady. She may have been discharged earlier, but she hasn't been for the stitches, so I can leave her here. Now go check your CPS handbooks on Abandonment. I'm sure there's a foster home that would be more than willing to take her. Get out of my face and go do your job."
he's walking away
and this time he's not stopping(ST)
From inside the ER there is a high pitch wail... "Don't leave me!"(decker)
...and the shadow is headed toward North Jersey. Fine. Casting about for an idea, Decker remembers what Nova had said: spirits like candy. (Candy?) Yeah. Spirit-energy. Gnosis. Whatever.Whodathunk? The little brat was useful. As they leave downtown Jersey City behind, northbound, the occasional Wyldling spirit can be seen foraging for precious Gnosis.
This's gonna be fun. Spinning a bit of his own spirit energy into the Umbral sky, Decker pantomimes, the best he can, the following of the shadowy figure.
Gafflings aren't known for their intelligence, however. Its attention wanders first, and then so does it. Losing sight of it and a little poorer for it, Decker picks up his pace and continues to track himself for another mile, five, ten.
(st)
There is nothing more the nurse can do, it seems. Not without something detrimental happening. She shakes her head and watches James walk away, thinking this was just another case of abadonment. The security starts to arrive.
(james)
he glances to Rune in the car, and stalks right on past
not connecting them
he glances to the security pulling up in their cars
if he is removing himself, they cannot touch him
only watchbless the Frankenweilers for making him read the most menial crap
he's wary
he's ready to explode
but he's leavinghere's hoping Rune will pick him up and not make him walk all the way back to the condo
(dimmy)
(ahem *blush*)...put that down, you never know where it's been...
Small children are notoriously hard to catch when they don't want to be. Being the stature that they are, they can go places and through things that are otherwise obstacles for full adults. There is commotion inside the ER and shortly there after Dimmy is seen burling out of the doors and inbetween both parked and moving ambulances with a horde of people trying to get hold of her.
Slippery little devil, ain't she?
She skitters to a halt in front of Rune's parked car, staring into the glaring lights. She then continues to run, her face looking petrified when her pursuers gain ground on her...
(dimmy)
...honor thy mother and thy father...She trips. She falls. She wails as her hands hit the asphalt hard. She scrambles like a cornered animal as the orderlies catch up and she heads in between parked cars towards the exit, it would seem. Anywhere, but here...
(james)
he looks back, at the commotion
he half expected this
shit
already booking it around a corner
out of her sight
ducking between two bungalowshe was told to take her to the hospital
no matter how much it's breaking his heart
he's leaving her therehe's at full tilt jumping into the car
(decker)
The guy walks for miles. Walks. On foot. It's fuckin' ridiculous. From Jersey City all the way north until the lights of the cities at the north end of the state start lighting up the sky.Decker follows him all the way. A few miles out of the city Decker returns to his Homid shape. The speed wasn't necessary, and with the Weaver's power ebbing, nor was the strength. Still, it didn't make him feel safe, that he was walking in the direction his pack lived. And Imogen.
But as it turns out, the man - and it was Sebastian, after all - ends up at a Bohemian cafe. Sits down and plays chess. Go figure. From across the Gauntlet Decker watched until he finishes the first game. A skillful player, Sebastian, though Decker couldn't rightfully tell except by the look on the face of Sebastian's opponent. Decker spends most the game studying Bastian, not the board, and wonders. A leech? Or no? If so, where were the Wyrmlings that the elders said followed leeches in droves? If no - then what?
Time creeps by. Finally, Decker is ready to leave. Seems like they knew Bastian well enough here, though, which meant he could find him here if he needed to. Decker makes a note of the sign outside the door - and then walks away.
A few miles away, he crosses over again and starts down the side of the highway. When cars pass he puts out his thumb, but let's be realistic here: no one's going to pick up someone like him in the middle of the night.
(dimmy)
...suffer the little children...Not only is she a slippery little devil, she also appears to be a nasty little scrapper too. When one of the orderlies corners her, she goes straight for that place that makes any man cringe when they think about getting a whack on the family jewels. He has the most bizarre expression on his face - comical even - as he falls into a ball and she keeps running like hell hounds were on her heels.
"You'll never take me alive!"
(rune)
"Its. Not. Our. Problem."That's what she says, that's all she says, as she shifts the Beemer smoothly into and pulls out onto the street. It's -
" - Jesus. Joseph, and mother Mary burning at the fuckin' stake - " Not their problem at all, but as the child takes off like a bat out of hell and sprints in front of her rolling car, Rune slams on the breaks sharply and flicks a stinging - hot - glance at James. "Grab her. I know someone who can take her. And if she's not what she seems to be, they can deal with that too."
- still not their fucking problem, but Rune just made it so.
(dimmy)
...pay attention, brat...She pelts for the exit, indeed, and straight into the traffic. She really seemed to need to learn about the whole traffic thing. She hits the ground, covering her head with her arms, just as Rune slams on the breaks to avoid hitting her. When James' exits the car - if he does, that is - all he can see is her bare feet disappearing under the Beemer as she wiggles her way under on her stomach.
(decker)
Still, given what his packmates are going through (what was that kid, a fuckin' imp?), Decker can't complain overmuch. After five or ten miles, he gives up, goes off the road. In the darkness past the reach of the few and far-between highway streetlights, the Modi shifts. The rest of the way back, until the lights of the city made it impossible for him to hide what he is, he runs as a wolf.Follow the highway to the exit, the exit to the main road, the main road to the side. From there, it's a short enough walk home. He's glad enough to see the SUV parked where it should be, the lights on in Imogen's place, but a little puzzled that his packmates were still out when he lets himself into Rune's condo.
He's tired.
(He thinks he's tired.)He's tired and he pours himself a tall glass of OJ, drinking it down in the darkness of the living room. He leaves it parked on the coffee table next to one of the PS2 controllers. He kicks his shoes off and then throws his clothes off as well, making his way to the downstairs shower, flicking on lights as he goes. Afterwards, clean and dressed again, short hair still dripping occasionally at the back, he sits on the couch and stares blankly at the late night news while he waits for his packmates to get back.
After the second rerun of the same headlines, Decker gives up. Grabbing his sweatshirt off the ground where he'd left it, he heads next door to ring the doorbell.
(james)
having not quite gotten his seatbelt on yet
one boot goes up to brace against the fine leather glovebox to keep his skull from smacking into the windsheild
but he doesn't exit the car
just opening the door, leaning out
boxer's fist wrapping around a tiny little anklethe child slid out and picked up
door slammed shut againwith the little girl held tightly in his arms, he stares out the window
this is not our problem
jaw clenched so hard teeth should break
she is not my child.(dimmy)
...suffer not thy sickness...She buries her face in James' shoulder and whispers over and over in his ear.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
He can feel a tentative child's kiss planted on his cheek as he stares out the window.
(imogen)
The useless feeling is like a maggot, slowly eating away at dead flesh. She made it home, turned on a CD, it's music a bare drone beneath the level of her hearing. Opened a file folder, and paid attention to the grisly photos and stark words, painting a picture of death. A pad of paper beside her, slowly fills with scrawled notes as her near unreadably cursive hand writing places thoughts and ideas in order.Some few minutes before Decker rings the door bell, she's stopped, staring at the red glow of the answering machine that still declares 150 messages, looking at it as if staring at it would allow her to learn the messages through osmosis.
The door bell rings, and fingers drag through undone red hair, falling down to press the heels of her palms against her eyes. Pause. She gets up, one hand reaching down to close the file folder, leaving the note pad still open, as she crosses the room.
A glance through the peephole, and the dead bolt is thrown open, and the door slides open, to let him in, "What th'hell happened?" she greets him.
(rune)
The tension in the car is thick enough that one could - if one will forgive the cliché - cut it with a knife, though a machete would be more appropriate. Both Ahrouns are stretched thin - close to the breaking point - by the absurd drama that just played itself out in the ER waiting room, in the parking lot.Given her current state of mind, Rune can likely be forgiven the fleeting wish that she had just run over the damned child and been done with it.
Much like James', Rune jaw is tightly clenched and the grinding of her teeth is audible above the low hum of the heater.
The car leaps into fucking gear, ridiculously responsive to Rune's (unusually) aggressive driving, and soon the Beemer is three, four, five blocks away from the hospital. Soon the Beemer is pulling onto the parkway, speeding north at a furious pace. She slows to a safer pace only when the radar detector beeps frantically, alerting, and they settle into cruising speed: 70 miles per hour.
Road signs flare in the headlights, but Rune avoids every exit. New York: 50 miles.
(james)
there's something that happens when you're at the bottom
when you're kicked, shoved, pushed, harrassed, insulted...
it's a trick that you learn
a safety net you build for yourself
when things get pushed to that point
when you've had to do the things the Gnawer hasyou learn to turn yourself off
and while he holds the little girl close, and safe
a living seatbelt for this wild, wild ride
the Ahroun shuts completely down
he doesn't see the roads they pass
he doesn't hear her thank yous
he doesn't feel the tentative kiss
he doesn't even realize the road they're on is taking him home
.... nothing.(decker)
The door opens on him the way it has a dozen (only?) times before: hands in his pockets, head held at its unconsciously arrogant angle. At her idea of a greeting, which rivaled his own charmers, the edge of his mouth hooks up."Come in first?" He raises his eyebrows, point with a glance at the inside of the condo. After she lets him in, he pushes his shoes off, watches her shut and lock the door, and then leans back against the wall. Speaks.
"Bastian was watchin' me 'n my pack. Took l'il pictures like some sniper paparazzi," he stumbles a bit over the word, "'n glued one on that rat. 'S why I didn't git in the car. Went on the other side 'n followed him a ways. Rune 'n James found some little orphan girl, seems to have got bit by a leech. Probably still down at the hospital."
Finishing his nutshell sum-up of the night's hectic events, he lifts his shoulders in a shrug as though to prove it was done. His grey gaze flicks over her, and he nods up. "You?"
(rune)
New York: 25 miles.The Beemer slides from the parkway just beyond this sign, pulling into a rest area (Sbarro! Burger King! Last gas before NYC!), when the impact occurs - " - the fuck? - " Under other circumstances, she might bother to try to watch her language around a child, but this night has put far too great a strain on the Glasswalker's frayed nerves. The car rolls to a stop in the first parking place beyond the curving exit ramp. Rune flings the door open and stalks out, heels clattering visciously on the pavement.
The first place she looks? The front bumper. If her car is fucked up, she's going to be very pissed off. Fortunate for Dire, he did not leave a dent in the bumper, nor even a scratch on the finish. It's been a long. fucking. night.
(dimmy)
...for everything there is a season...Dimmy clutches to James at the impact and when the car slows to a stop she releases her grip. She leans back in his lap and takes two of his dreads, one in each hand, and stares into his face. She cocks his head to the side and stares deeply into his eyes. Expression drops from her features, leaving it a blank canvas of child features with no emotional backing
(imog)
Come in, first?A faint gesture of her hand, smoothly eloquent in its simplicity. He enters, and the door shuts behind him, the deadbolt clicking shut as she turns to face him, leaning against the cool surface of the door. Short story. She hadn't expected much more. He knows she went to work this morning. Seven in the morning when the pager had gone off. Two hours of sleep. Three in the morning now. That she shows little signs of her sleeplessness is either testimony to her constitution or her acting skills. "Other than when y'saw me? Met up with one o' yer tribesmates. Twitchy bloke." One of her own, too. "Saw Mr. O'Leary one more time."
A faint tilt of her head, watching him from her reclined position against the door, "So it's been decided that th'vampires exist?" Leech... vampire... connections are easy, particularly when you have a penchance for word games.
(dire)
*A grunt as he slams back to earth and rolls though the grass on the shoulder. Another grunt as he looks down at his broken leg. A bit of a snar as the bone snaps back into place on it's own and a grunt as he stands to look over at the motherfucker that hit him* Grrith Fnontth! * he shakes his head and remembers to cuss in english* FUCK!(dimym)
...and a time to every purpose under the sun...She leans in close and whispers something to James and then is out of the car in almost a flash and pelts out of site behind the buildings. Searching for her, you will find, is futile after the first ten minutes doing so.
(("She's better off where she is, Jukebox. I can't fix the pain. That is all yours. But I wish you had been my real daddy. Mr. Kitty said you were nice. He was right." ))
(rune)
The motherfucker that hit him is a tall woman made taller by three inch heels, groomed to within an inch of her life. Black hair spills across her pale features set in such a mask of utter fury that it would - perhaps - leave even Decker taken above. The streetlamps spill over the red shimmer of a camisole visible beneath her short black suede coat. There's a cell phone clenched in her hand, and she's staring back at him like he's the motherfucker who walked in front of her fucking car.Yeah. Bad night.
Bad. Fucking. Night.
(decker)
Seven am is so bleary a memory he isn't quite sure if he dreamt it up. In the rose-grey morning shadows of her bedroom, he seemed to remember her pager going off and the clank of her hand hitting the phone out of instinct. Then she rolled out of bed. He raised himself on his elbows. Go back to sleep, she'd said, and he rolled over and did exactly that. Then it was two pm and the light was coming from the right direction: west.Twelve, seventeen, twenty hours later: she didn't mention a nap. Either she'd neglected to note it or, more likely, neglected to take one. A snort as she mentions the twitchy one, "Dire," and then his eyes flicker to hers. "Yeah?"
He waits for her to elaborate on Mr. O'Leary, apparently.
For the vampire comment, another shrug. "Rune seems sure of it." In most situations, Decker seemed to rank himself under Rune. It's probably wise. He's stronger but she's wiser, and in the end that made all the difference.
(james)
automatically, a hand extends to catch the weight being thrown forward on impact
wrapped palm pressing against the leather dash
oddly..... disturbingly.... calm, he just shifts his weight back
settling once more into the seat
still staring out the window
Rune can take care of herselfthe only thing that gets him to turn is the tug on dreadlocks
eyes normally so warm, such a rich umber are as glazed and blank as the child's
listening to the tiny whisper brushing against his ear
(and something..... breaks)
when she bolts?
he doesn't even move to follow her
he doesn't even close the doornot my problem
not my child
she died two years agoelbows resting on his knees
head resting in his hands
dark eyes slowly closing(james fade out, comatose rest of night)
(dimmy)
And Dimmy's teddy lies by James' feet in the Beemer, left behind and forgotten, staring at the crestfallen Gnawer with beady black souless eyes.Fade to black for Dimmy and Bear...
(rune)
"See that black stuff?" she points the cell phone at the rest area's exit ramp. "It's called a road."See that machine?" and turns the cell phone toward the Beemer. "It's called a car."
"Cars. Drive. On. The. Road. Do I need to call a fucking ambulance or what?" Her eyes snap to the fleeing child, and then back toward James in the passenger's seat before settling back on Dire. She'll deal with her problems one at a time, and she waits - the picture of impatience - for an answer to her query.
Posted by james at November 02, 2002 12:00 AM
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