check-in check-in check-in (vampwolves only)

[thornsofmalkav]

[Thorne's mental voice come in clear, early into the first night.]

Hey. I figured someone should do a check-in? I've been listening to people talk and we're in a place named Samartia. Dunno where that is besides Eastern Europe. I'll find a map later.

Anyway, we're in vampire and werewolf territory. They think you guys are something called corvigers? Uh, those are people who work for the supernaturals. We called them ghouls back home.

And there's this election thing going on. It's like their first time? I'm passing myself off as an elections observer. So's Melissa. If people want, they can pretend to be our human staff. Just let us know.

Comments

[someonetocarry]

Okay, somebody might hafta give me the run-down on what exactly "vampire" and "werewolf" mean. Heard the words, don't know a lot about 'em.

Also, I'm here. Zoe Washburne. Checkin' in. If anybody's seen River or Zed, point 'em my way?

[Because by this point in the night, she's probably found Wash. That particular search wouldn't have taken long.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Supernatural creatures. Uh, vampires are like me. Walking corpses who have to drink the blood of the living. Werewolves are people who turn into wolves on the full moon.

I don't know who River is, but I'll look around for Zed.

[someonetocarry]

Blood drinkin'? That sounds kinda alarming. What's that do to the folk who get drunk from? Is it like a blood transfusion?

[She's at least seen those. And she understands the principle of shapeshifting by now, at least, since she can actually sort of do it, herself. If giving one's self four arms and horns counts.]

[thornsofmalkav]

A bit like. Responsible vampires only take enough to sustain themselves.

[someonetocarry]

How's that even... happen? There some kinda drugs involved?

[It's the only thing she can think of. Reavers, in her world, were made by drugs, and while they're hardly "responsible", they do at least eat people. Horrifyingly.]

[inexecution]

Is that what this is? I've been to some strange parties before, but this seemed especially weird.

[It seemed like an especially intense mix of a club theme night and recruitment mixer]

I guess I'll keep a low profile and see what I can learn.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah. It's also a kind of wake? For their dead prince.

And good luck, dude.

[inexecution]

Okay, I'll keep that in mind too. Anything you can think of that we should avoid doing?

[Because even if she doesn't know this place in particular, Thorne's probably got a better idea on that than he'd ever have.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Throwing around a lot of fire? I don't know how much these vampires hate fire, but mine certainly do.

[inexecution]

I can't say I'd blame them for that, I don't think anyone would appreciate that.

[runawaystory]

Hey. Rosalie here. I'll be pretending to be Thorne's secretary, so if you see me wandering around with a notebook, that'll be why.

[lunchleader]

Wait...so...this is another person? People actually think to each other here? Wow...this is kinda cool. Definitely better than thinking that my Imagination was going nuts in the back of my head.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah! If you hear people's voices here, it's the psychic network. It's cool. I used to think it was voices in my head too.

[lunchleader]

Ahhh, glad that I wasn't the only one.

I'm Right. And you are...?

[thornsofmalkav]

Thorne! It's just Thorne, usually, but I'm going around calling myself Ms. Thorne in my capacity as election observer. And, like, Melissa's calling herself Ms. Lyre. That's her last name.

[lunchleader]

Nice to meet you, Thorne.

I mean, Ms. Thorne.

Never been in a world of vampires and werewolves before. And they keep talking about a dead leader...is this a funeral? They're dressed too flashy for it.

[mysunnydisposition]

Hey, everyone. It's Steph, miraculously still myself this time around.

[ And more directly, to Thorne, though still publicly broadcast: ]
Mind if I call myself an old friend of yours who tagged along? Or a friend of someone on your staff, at least? I want to see if I can get in with one of the households, and it'll probably be easier if I'm not officially attached to someone already...

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah! That sounds fine! It'll give you an excuse to meet up with us later too, if we all need to get together.

Anyone else, feel free to claim the same! It's probably a good idea for some of us to take service with the Infiltrators if people feel up to it, just to see what they've got going on.

[mysunnydisposition]

Cool! I'm a lot more comfortable doing this if I have a good reason to visit the rest of you if something comes up.

I don't know if there are that many of us this time around, but it might be worth trying to split up so we're covering as many people as possible. Hopefully without any of us having to give up... too much of our blood...

[thornsofmalkav]

It looks like we're pretty thin on the ground, so yeah. Splitting up is good. And if you're too worried about the blood thing, there's always working for werewolves. It looks like that's a legit career choice here.

[neverfeltthatway]

Ummm. Armin Arlert, checking in. I'm still myself.

But Eren and Mikasa are infiltrating - vampires, I think. And I can't find Sansa or Alcuin anywhere.

[thornsofmalkav]

Hey, Armin! Yeah, I haven't seen them either. I wasn't sure about her, since I wasn't looking that closely, but Alcuin's definitely gone.

Do you think they did that thing you guys did during Questing Country?

[neverfeltthatway]

[He's quiet for a long moment. He wants to believe it, more than he could say - but he refuses to let that lead him to delude himself.]

...There's no way to know. That's only happened once before that we remember, and we don't know why.

[thornsofmalkav]

[She will believe it. Because if she doesn't, if they're all just gone...]

Well. I'm going to assume that's what it is for now.

[neverfeltthatway]

That's all any of us can do. [...Armin can't. He can't bear assume that and then be wrong again. He has to be prepared for the possibility that they're gone.

He'd wanted to believe otherwise too, the first time someone important to him had vanished. But it's happened to him too often these past two years for him to be able to maintain that kind of belief when it happens. Now, he can only assume that they're gone, and hope that he's wrong.

But he doesn't want to say that to his sister. She's much newer at this. If she can hold on to that belief, even if it just means she'll be hurt more later... he can't bear to damage that hope. So he does his best to put a good face on it for her, to not let her see how hurt he is, how worried he'll never see them again - Alcuin and Sansa, the two most important relationships he's built while Traveling. For Thorne, he'll pretend to be all right.]