Fate/Key Cloud: Alison

[Carthrat]

[11:49] <Carthrat> <->
[11:49] <Carthrat> Day (Night?)1: Friday, 1/02/XX. 5:00pm.
[11:51] <Carthrat> As always, it's late afternoon when Alison wakes up. In winter, the sky outside would be starting to dim around about now, and soon enough night would take over the sky. But in the heat of february, she can't expect the sun to vanish until around seven or eight, and even after that, there'll be an unpleasant, muggy heat permeating the city.
[11:51] <Carthrat> At least work is understanding, with a late-night shift that doesn't start until seven-thirty.
[11:54] * Alison yawns and stretches, lying in bed atop the covers--not much point climbing underneath the sheets in this heat. Though the shades are down (as is normal, any time the sun is up) Alison is well-practiced at knowing what time it is just judging by the light creeping through. Ample time for a shower and "breakfast" before she has to go out.
[11:54] * Alison (~Melanchth@pool-71-191-30-246.washdc.east.verizon.net) Quit (betamax.dejatoons.net scifi-classics.dejatoons.net)
[11:54] * Olorin (~Khazad-du@207-118-30-69.dyn.centurytel.net) Quit (betamax.dejatoons.net scifi-classics.dejatoons.net)
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[12:08] <Carthrat> The shower part certainly won't take long (unless you're willing to jack up your water bills; restrictions lately are in evidence.) It's a strangely painful process. It feels like all the old sores and scabs you've acquired from the sun are tingling when you step into the water, even though you should feel just fine.
[12:14] * Carthrat sets mode: +o Alison
[12:14] * Alison dispenses with the usual concessions to hygiene as quickly and efficiently as possible--her budget's tight enough already, no need to waste money. She wonders if there's something strange in the water as she gets out (that feeling wasn't normal, was it?) and dresses (head to toe covering is necessary as always, even in this blistering heat wave, but shirt and shorts are good enough as long as the shades are down).
[12:17] <Carthrat> Work itself is located in some leased office building somewhere close to the inner city, near the river. It usually takes a lot longer to get there than to come back, thanks to the way traffic deteriorates late at night. But there's still an hour and a bit to go until you need to show up.
[12:20] <Alison> So! Breakfast first. But, of course, the cat greets her as soon as she steps out of the bathroom, complaining as always. So Alison fills a bowl for the furball first (clearly having her priorities defined) before frying up some eggs for herself and sitting down to glance at a newspaper bought on her way back home from the last shift.
[12:23] <Carthrat> Yesterday's news... the front page is some political headline. Some politician got drunk in Syndey and made a fool of himself... oh, this might be interesting. A couple of people have vanished while being in the inner city over the past few days. People are warned not to go out alone and all that...
[12:28] <Alison> "Oh, that's reassuring," she thinks to herself. Granted, there's not much she can do about it. She *has* to go out at night. Maybe she could get Megan to walk her there if she's not on duty? Well, you can't take everything you read that seriously, anyway. she flips to the entertainment section as she finishes her meal.
[12:31] <Carthrat> The dreary lives of celebrities, a tale of moles and broads, endlessly retold... engrossing enough, perhaps. The sun outside is oh so slowly beginning to dip. It's probably time to go soon.
[12:35] <Alison> Dishes washed, teeth brushed, Alison dresses for the outdoors: a long dress that keeps her covered down to her ankles, a heavy long-sleeved overshirt, wide floppy hat...all thick fabrics, the best to repel the sun. It makes her quite a sight at this time of year, but she's used to it. And, of course, sunglasses--can't take any chances, and sometimes the light's harshest at sunset.
[12:38] <Carthrat> Some would say it makes you quite a sight in winter, too, but it's likely your fellow renters in this apartment have long since gotten used to your odd dress. It does a wonder on obscuring your features, too...
[12:41] * Alison pats the cat and bids him farewell ("Goodbye, you useless little furball," says nicely) before leaving. Though work isn't that far off, she takes the car as long as she can afford doing so. The less time outside, the better, and the AC is a godsend--wearing all those extra clothes is somewhat far from ideal when it's already this hot.
[12:43] <Carthrat> The car is an old second-hand thing, but it's done the job well enough (and indeed, the AC is a moment of bliss in this sun-scarred city.) The ominous crunching sound that comes from the hood of the car when you start it up doesn't sound so promising, though.
[12:48] * Alison chews on her lip for a moment before coming to a decision. It might be best not to push the old machine if she doesn't have to. Better she have someone look at it first than risk damaging something important. It's not like she's a mechanic herself. She gets out and resigns herself to walking to work. As always, she has a bottle of water in her handbag--a wise precaution given how much moitsure she loses in sweat on a day
[12:50] <Alison> like this.
[12:52] <Carthrat> The car did seem to be running, but with a scary clicking sound that makes walking seem like a good idea. Of course, there's always the train.
[12:52] <Carthrat> Neither of these are anywhere *near* as well air-conditioned as your car, though. The heat is like a giant, smothering blanket that just keeps pressing down on you.
[12:54] <Alison> Being some ways off from having the funds for a new car, Alison opts not to take any chances and heads for the train station, swearing under her breath and the cursing the general existence of the sun and any other heat-producing object.
[12:55] * Nerem (~Neko@pool-71-244-18-19.dllstx.fios.verizon.net) has joined #dunes
[13:00] <Carthrat> The inbound trains aren't packed, and you shortly make it to the relatively busy Flinder's St. station, roughly the central station for those getting around in the city. It's not too busy tonight, thankfully. Getting to your office is a simple matter of crossing a bridge over the river and finding the right building- a fairly squat little office-block that lurks just behind the fairly glitzy shopping/entertainment district on the waterfront.
[13:02] <Carthrat> on the waterfront.
[13:06] <Alison> "Well, here we go," Alison thinks as she arrives. "Another thrilling evening." At the least, she could look forward to ditching the overshirt soon, and kicking her shoes off under the desk. That would be some comfort, at least.
[13:10] <Carthrat> Heading inside, you're soon up an escalator and into the little set of cubicles that make up your workplace. You have to sign a couple of shift forms to clock in, but that's a trivial thing to do. There are only a couple of other people working this shift, and you don't really have a supervisor. (More.)
[13:11] <Carthrat> There's a plastic box of pending police tapes, which a couple of you have to transcribe (using a rather complex system of formatting). The management here have neatly avoided the issue of people getting distracted by the internet-
[13:12] <Carthrat> -by not including it. It'd be a wonder if the computers you use could even access the internet if t hey were connected- they're archaic machines. The monitors aren't even colour; everything you do is in CGA (four different shades of green). Once you're done transcribing them, they're passed on to a couple of proof-readers-
[13:13] <Carthrat> -before being put away for the police courier to come and pick them up.
[13:16] * Alison can't help but be a little amused by these computers--the machines look like they would've been relics even when she was growing up. Well, nothing for it but to get working. She mutters a bland greeting to what few co-workers there are, shucks off her overshirt, and picks up the first tape.
[13:19] <Carthrat> You haven't been working here very long, and the other co-workers- a dreadlocked student and a couple of middle-aged women- don't seem inclined to be very chatty. The first tape really should be interesting- it's a husband getting increasingly whiny as police question him over domestic abuse- but after a couple of weeks of this it's just gotten old hat.
[13:19] <Carthrat> (More.)
[13:20] <Carthrat> Hours slowly drag by as you complete tape after tape (you get a bonus if complete over your quota, so it's worth trying), when you actually do manage to land one somewhat interesting tape out of the small-time theft and domestic cases. It's about an apparent witness to a murder.
[13:21] <Carthrat> Over time, you've found that the most interesting cases are the ones where the person being questioned is crazy, and this certainly seems to fit the bill. It seems that someone shot a guy from an apartment block as he was leaving this morning; the witness supposedly saw it happen. Naturally, he's also a suspect, and he's not giving his innocence much credibility, as the following exchange occurs...
[13:21] <Carthrat> <Constable> "You're saying that he just leapt out of the fifth-story window?"
[13:22] <Carthrat> <Suspect> "Yeah. Right after he shot the guy. I was in the alley, so he didn't see me, but I saw! I saw! The guy dropped right in the middle of the street- weren't nobody else around."
[13:23] <Carthrat> <Suspect> "And so he just hops right out the window- way too high up, I'd say, uh, about fifty metres- then he lands *on his feet*, and just runs off, plain as day!"
[13:23] <Carthrat> <Constable> "He didn't seem hurt at all?"
[13:23] <Carthrat> <Suspect> "Nope!"
[13:25] <Carthrat> <Constable> "Now, we've checked the security tapes of this alleged apartment... Keystone Flats, you said. But there's no sign of a gunman on that floor- or in that building at all. What do you say to that?"
[13:25] <Carthrat> <Suspect> "I told you, I saws what I saw..."
[13:25] <Carthrat> After a while, the constable wraps up this, telling the suspect he'll probably be recalled in the future, and that he may be charged.. etc. etc. A lot of this job is just recording procedure.
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[13:27] * Alison can't help but think that another benefit of having to transcribe something like this is that it's hard to believe it's real. Real-life murder stories can wear at her composure, but it's hard to take something like this seriously. As bad as it must sound to others, there is some semblance of entertainment in these tapes sometimes. As long as you assume it really *didn't* happen.
[13:30] <Carthrat> There is a certain amount of formal distance between you and the cases. Every tape begins with a policemen drolly reading through the lines; "Such and such a time, at such and such a police station; senior constable anybody," and the like. Melbourne isn't really a crime-ridden city, and murder is actually a rarity on your menu.
[13:31] <Carthrat> Rape and theft are far more common. After another hour of them, you score a break. It's finally dark, and there's a few decent foodie places that should still be open at this hour, if that's your thing.
[13:35] * Alison gratefully slides out of her chair, stretches and makes for the door. She leaves the hat and sunglasses at her desk--she won't be needing them until sunrise--and makes for the outdoors. She makes for a fast-food joint a couple blocks away (though taking care of her skin is a force of habit and necessity, Alison's diet is another thing), meaning to get the cheapest meal available that doesn't make her retch and, most of a
[13:35] <Alison> most of all, something *cold* to go with it.
[13:36] * Olorin (~Khazad-du@207-118-30-69.dyn.centurytel.net) Quit (atarians.dejatoons.net scifi-classics.dejatoons.net)
[13:40] <Carthrat> Your colleagues seem to prefer working to eating. Well, most of them could've had dinner already (and they finish earlier than you in any case.) As you depart the office, however, a heavy hand falls upon your shoulder.
[13:43] * Alison jerks to one side almost automatically at this surprise--she's not overly used to people touching her in the best of circumstances, and this certainly isn't that. "What...?" she starts, whirling to face this rude stranger.
[13:47] <Carthrat> "I can't believe you didn't hear me calling you!" complains Molly, shaking you a little. Actually, it's a wonder you didn't notice her (it's not like the streets aren't well-lit or anything). It's a bit of a surprise she's here (she usually works day shifts), but a member of the police showing up to drop off and pick up tapes isn't that unusual. "It's the tape headphones, isn't it? Those things have a bad affect on your ears, I tell you."
[13:50] * Alison calms down immediately, looking sheepish. "Yeah," she says. "Guess I could get my hearing tested, sue for compensation?" She blinks and corrects herself before her friend can respond. "But I couldn't do that. It might come out of your salary. Anyway, what's up?"
[13:52] <Carthrat> She's wearing her uniform, and carrying a fairly hefty-looking bag of tapes in one hand. "Just dropping off these- hey, you're on break, right? Grabbing some food?"
[13:53] <Alison> "Ye-es, I am," she says, looking thoughtful. "Is that an offer to spot me fries and a salad?" she says teasingly.
[13:55] <Carthrat> "I thought I got you this job so I wouldn't have to do that!" replies Molly, rolling her eyes. "Oh, fine, fine, just a moment." She vanishes inside the building, and shortly emerges, bereft of her bag o' tapes. "Get any fun cases today? You can tell me, I'm excluded from your NDA," she remarks, starting to head towards the fast food joint.
[13:58] <Alison> "Just Spiderman," Alison says. "Some witness claims he saw a man jump five floors and just walk away from it. Pretty silly thing to tell the cops. Now *he's* the suspect. Hmm. Wonder if he was drunk when he said that. That is the sort of thing normal people do on Friday evenings, isn't it?"
[14:01] <Carthrat> "Oh, man, that guy," mutters Molly. "That case is giving the detectives cramps- hell, they don't even want to solve it." Entering a handy 24-hour mcdonalds, the two of you don't need to queue up to order this late.
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[14:03] * Alison gives her order first, then turns back to her friend. "You don't need to pay for me, Em. I was joking. If I wanted other people doing everything for me, I wouldn't have objected when mom and dad offered to pay my rent." She shudders a little at this factoid. "So, what, is there something even crazier about the case?"
[14:05] <Carthrat> "Oh, yeah. The guy who got killed? Just three days out of jail," replies Molly, grabbing something like five cheeseburgers and a sundae. "Got out easy on rape charges because the witness was too scared to testify properly. Everyone hates him, so, you know. We're supposed to frown on vigilantes, but..."
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[14:08] <Alison> "...But it's really hard not to say 'He got what he deserved?'" She takes her order--fries, salad, lemonade--and steps away from the counter. She nods at Molly's collection with a grin. "How many people are you eating for, there?"
[14:09] <Carthrat> "Me, and the poor suckers back in the office who aren't on pseudo-break," she replies, munching away. A couple of other guys enter the store... real pieces of work. One of them's wearing a heavy trenchcoat, even though it's hot, and he's got his hair tied back in a braid. On a lot of people, this would look pretty lame-
[14:10] <Carthrat> -but this guy does a credible job of looking intimidating, filling the store with his presence. In contrast, the guy with him looks like some geekish goth kid, with dyed red hair.. and he's in school uniform to boot. No matter how much you untuck your shirt and mess up your tie, school uniforms will never be cool.
[14:11] <Carthrat> "The other funny thing is that the bullet used was archaic, some really old round, the kind they used back in the war," continues Molly. "Just like a comic book, eh?"
[14:16] <Alison> "Huh. Maybe he pissed off Herman from the Simpsons?" She glances at the new arrivals out of the corner of her eye and then turns back to Molly. "Hey, Em," she says quietly, "what do you think of the Odd Couple over there?"
[14:21] <Carthrat> "Eh? Oh, not much," she replies, shrugging. Lowering her voice a little, she continues- "Just posers, Alison. A lot of people like to dress up in black and hang around the city at night, I mean, just check out the parks at 10. They're just bored schoolkids and a few uni students... totally harmless, mostly. I guess few do drugs, but that's the same everywhere..."
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[14:23] * Alison shrugs as well. "The big guy looks like he could tie the kid in a knot, is all. I just wonder how people like that get together." She shakes her head, and drowns the fries in ketchup. "So, what's the word on the romance front, Em?"
[14:24] <Carthrat> "I don't have tiiiiiiiime," whines Molly, polishing off another cheesburger. "Ever since I've started working night shift, I've been acting like you! Don't get me started on my coworkers..."
[14:27] <Alison> "You make it sound like a fate worse than death," Alison says, making an effort at sounding affronted. "And do get started. It helps to vent. And by the way, I thought the rest of those were for my lovely co-workers?" she says in reference to the ex-cheeseburger.
[14:29] <Carthrat> "I'm eating because they aren't," she clarifies, nodding. "They can safely give up their break, knowing that somewhere else, someone is able to enjoy some food. And my coworkers.. well.. they're not that bad, but hardly any are the right age, you know? There is one guy who's kind of cute, but.. ugh, he's the type who got in the job for ACTION."
[14:29] <Carthrat> "When he discovered that the defining tropes of our work are bored housewives and paperwork..."
[14:30] <Alison> "Oh lord," Alison says. "I can imagine. So does he spend a lot of time making work for himself? Does he use the word 'proactive' a lot?"
[14:32] <Carthrat> "Let's just say he's a strong reason why I'm on night shift instead of the far-more-busy afternoon shift," replies Molly. "He'll complain if we bother with 'trivial' offences, like speeding tickets and that kind of thing. I think he wants to join up with our crisis unit, you know, our SWAT-equivalents."
[14:32] <Carthrat> "Little does he know that they have a more boring job than us, most of the time, and they have stricter physicals, to boot."
[14:35] <Alison> "Encourage him to transfer and let him find out the hard way? At least then you could go back to working non-graveyard shift hours."
[14:37] <Carthrat> "I'll settle for ignoring him," replies Molly, nodding. "Besides, this way, I get to pester you at work every now and then."
[14:39] <Alison> "Weeell, I guess that's true. I was going to say you could do that anyway, but it might look odd if you dropped me in your off-hours? Anyway, it's nicer just to think that someone's rearranging their whole schedule just for me,"
[14:40] <Alison> *strike the me after dropped. >.<
[14:42] <Carthrat> "Heheh, it's coincidence, coincidence," replies Molly. "Still, I'd better head back. You take care now, alright? Lot of weird stuff's been happening at night lately..."
[14:46] <Alison> "Sure," Alison says, getting up as well. "I'd give you the same advice but, well, I don't have to, do I? Guess anyone messes with a cop, they're the one to feel sorry for. See you over the weekend, if there's time." So Alison leaves and heads back towards work, feeling much more at home out in the dark. She hates to admit to that, or to anything that makes her sound like the lead of an angsty vampire novel, but it's true.
[14:47] <Carthrat> When you get back to the office... another set of boring tapes awaits you. A lot of the time you end up reading tapes corresponding to news articles you've read over the past week, and as you go through things, you read one of the newer tapes that's come in-
[14:48] <Carthrat> -and it's about one of those missing persons you read about earlier. Apparently, she was found- in a garbage catchment to the side of the river. The guy who found her is giving evidence- a doctor himself, he claimed that she seemed to have been drained of blood. Wild speculation on how this happened follows.
[14:51] * Alison shakes her head, but copies it all dutifully. Strange kind of night. She wonders for half a moment whether Alison might have slipped her some book on tape as a gag, but realizes there's no way her friend could have ensured no one else would get this one. Besides, it would be unprofessional.
[14:51] <Alison> *whether Molly
[14:52] <Carthrat> Since you all grab tapes from the same collective box, there aren't really allocations; you just pick them up as you go. Granted, you seem to work a good deal faster than your colleagues.
[14:52] <Carthrat> And, eventually, your shift slowly comes to a close. As always, you're the last person out...
[14:55] * Alison gather up her things--handbag, hat, glasses, extra shirt--and heads out, shutting off the lights behind her. Hopefully she's enough ahead of sunrise to get home without needing to put on everything else she brought with her. This and pondering the matter of what old show she'll download and watch when she gets home constitute the extent of Alison's introspection as she leaves the building.
[14:56] <Carthrat> Oh, sure; shift ends at around 2am, so you've got plenty of time. When you reach the train station, though, you see a couple familiar faces; that goth student and his muscular friend, who are engaged in a discussion on one side. Nobody else is around, so they glance at you briefly as you approach, before going back to talking.
[14:56] <Carthrat> You stumble forward a bit; your whole body feels like it's prickling.
[15:00] * Alison stops and catches hold of a nearby bench, dropping some of her things in surprise. She goes cold trying to puzzle out this sensation. Some side-effect she didn't know about? No, she'd read plenty about her condition and this doesn't sound right. And the artificial light at the station shouldn't be enough to bother her.
[15:00] <Carthrat> It's not terribly bright, and you've never felt like this before- it's kind of like your whole body went numb for a second, and then started suffering the old pins'n'needles.
[15:01] <Carthrat> Still, after a moment, it passes, and you feel alright again. Might be wise to schedule an appointment with your doctor tomorrow, though.
[15:03] * Alison nods to herself and makes a note to do this--not that she has a lot of cash to spare, but this isn't the sort of thing you take chances with. She gathers her things again (at least putting her hat on, so she doesn't have to carry it) and sits down on the bench, waiting for the train to show.
[15:04] <Carthrat> The station itself is a pretty big affair; the platform you get on is not the same as those two guys. The only other person around is some woman wearing.. trenchcoats sure are popular, lately. She's looking around rather wildly, but the train pulls up shortly and you don't have much time to ruminate on what would make her look so stressed.
[15:06] * Alison gets on the train, stealing a glance back at the other woman once Alison's found her own seat (interested as always in simple people-watching).
[15:06] <Carthrat> She got on a different carriage, sadly.
[15:07] <Carthrat> The train begins to trundle off. A happy voice informs you that "This is a direct service to... glen waverly... stopping all stations..." It's one of the newer trains that got put on, lately, and the seats are mostly clean, the walls are white plastic- it's very shiny and nice.
[15:07] * Alison just passes the time flipping through some trashy novel she'd picked up for cheap at a library selloff, then. Potboiler espionage rubbish, mindless but diverting.
[15:08] <Carthrat> You trundle past spencer st. station... then melbourne central station... then parliament station... then flagstaff station...
[15:08] <Carthrat> ...and the train doesn't stop for any of them.
[15:08] <Carthrat> In fact, it's picking up speed, and is hurtling forward at a rate it normally can't sustain, unless it's an express.
[15:11] <Alison> It takes a few moments for Alisons to actually notice there's anything wrong (this sort of thing happens when she's reading). She's about to get up, but this doesn't seem wholly advisable in a potential runaway train situation. Still, it'd be nice to at least ask someone what was going on. She eventually gets up to look into the cars behind and ahead of hers to see if anyone else is on this wild ride with her.
[15:12] <Carthrat> There's nobody else in your carriage, and the only other person you saw get on the train was at least two carriages away from you, leaving you alone. The train does come equipped with an intercom and emergency stop button for situations like this.
[15:15] * Alison yields to the temptation to hit the stop button first, and does so! She can find her own way home if she has to. She's been on the trains enough to know this speed isn't normal or safe.
[15:16] <Carthrat> The brakes on the train begin to screech, and the train begins slowing down quite quickly. There's an eventual lurch and a jolt as it finally comes to a halt... somewhere in suburbia, and thus away from the abudant street-lights of the city.
[15:17] <Carthrat> One might come to miss them very quickly, because after the train stops, the lights shortly go out.
[15:18] <Alison> Riiiiight, someone's definitely getting a letter of complaint about this tomorrow. Driver falls asleep at the wheel, then the power goes out? Unacceptable! "My computer has five-hundred shades of red," Alison mutters to herself sardonically as she steps to the door.
[15:19] <Carthrat> The door is locked and cannot be opened.
[15:21] <Alison> "Figures." Okay, *now* it's time to try the intercom. Alison makes her way back over to her seat and deposits her things before trying the button. "Anybody listening?"
[15:22] <Carthrat> There's not so much as a crackle from the intercom.
[15:25] * Alison smacks a fist against the offending device, but irritating makes way for panic in a moment. She'd be in trouble if she was stuck in here past sunrise. "I can wait a few minutes, but past that..." She starts looking for something to break a window, in the worst-case scenario.
[15:27] <Carthrat> There is in fact a tool for this kind of thing; it's situated just over the windows, and it's got a red plastic grip. A metal spike protrudes perpendicularly to the handle, used for smashing and cutting through glass.
[15:29] * Alison takes it, hefting it in her hands to get a feel for the weight. She's not exactly enthused about defacing public property, but it's not like she has a choice. And if anyone holds her responsible...well, her doctor can bac her up! She goes to the closest window and starts swinging.
[15:30] <Carthrat> Your first swing slams into the glass, cracking it, and that's all you can manage before that tingling senstation crosses your hands and makes them start to shake. The glass-cutter tumbles onto a chair, and your legs feel pretty weak all of a sudden.
[15:30] <Carthrat> 3"Yo."
[15:30] <Carthrat> OOC: Always the wrong bloody colour
[15:32] * Alison grabs hold of the nearest support, having enough composure left to look for the source of this unexpected voice. Wasn't the carriage empty?
[15:33] <Carthrat> Your vision blurs a bit, but the voice was coming from the other side... 4"Sorry, but there's no escape. Someone like you hasn't committed any sins, so don't worry- you'll be judged fairly." 1There's a woman standing there. But she's far from ordinary. (More.)
[15:34] <Carthrat> For a start, she's huge. A more imposing figure you've never seen. Standing over six feet tall, she peers down at you with hungry eyes. An enormous, skeletal wing protrudes from her back- only one- and seems to wrap partially around her, kind of like a piece of armour. (More.)
[15:35] <Carthrat> A black cowl sits loosely on her head, but it doesn't cover scarlet hair- more red than can be natural- framing an almost angelic face. A coin on a chain hangs around her neck, and she wears a blue dress... but your eyes process that in just a fraction of a second, before being drawn to her weapon-
[15:36] <Carthrat> -an enormous scythe, taller than she is. It should barely fit in the carraige, but it does- the scythe seems wispy at the end, as if the metal is becoming a liquid. As far as caricatures go-
[15:36] <Carthrat> -if this one is of death, it isn't funny.
[15:41] * Alison takes all this in in a long moment of mixed shock and confusion before she can bring herself to react. She scurries back to where she'd left her things (forgetting the glasscutter, but distantly realizing it probably wouldn't have helped anyway). She reaches for her handbag as she looks back at this freakish apparition. "Stay back, alright? I'm pretty sure I've got some mace here, or something," she says, knowing how dum
[15:42] <Alison> how dumb it sounds as she says it.
[15:42] <Carthrat> The woman... moves.
[15:45] <Carthrat> She's in front of you in an instant, peering down at you with evident curiosity. 4"A mace? It's a pity. My Master won't allow me to fight longer than necessary... well, the Rider class isn't suited to long engagements." 1Hefting her scythe behind her head, her cowl flickers back, revealing cold eyes, and a predatory grin. 4"I'll be taking your soul, now. But, don't hate me- to hate is a sin."
[15:45] <Carthrat> <->

[10:52] <Carthrat> <->
[10:53] <Carthrat> The walking, talking Death that has arrived before you laconically raises her scythe. The warped metal screams as it plunges towards you-
[10:53] <Carthrat> -what do you do?
[10:58] * Alison isn't an action hero, or a special agent, or even particularly well in shape. Fighting this bitch off isn't going to happen, and she's presumably still locked in the carriage...there doesn't seem much that someone like Alison can do but try to buy some time and maybe make enough noise for someone outside to notice. So, first: avoiding summary execution! Alison does her best to roll off the seat and below the scythe's arc
[10:59] <Alison> before it reaches her.
[11:01] <Carthrat> A train blares it's horn before trundling past alongside this one, heading back into the city. The carriage reverberates as you roll foward, and- find yourself practically clutching Rider's dress. 4"You're a feisty one, aren't you?"1 she asks, sounding surprised. 4"No claws, though? I'm insulted."
[11:05] * Alison peers up, into this...creature's face, just now noticing how close she is. Alison scurries back as best she can. It's probably too much to hope that someone on the other train got enough of a glimpse in to see what was going on. "That's what you get when you pick on civilians," she says, inching backwards, the unreality of the situation somehow making it *easier* to respond lightly.
[11:06] <Carthrat> 4"Civilians?"1 Rider blanches. 4"Wait, you're ordinary?"
[11:08] <Alison> "Um," Alison starts, not sure how to answer that. *Most* people wouldn't call her ordinary, but now's clearly not the time to bring that up. She stands up again, well away from the other woman (for all the difference it'll make). "Well, comparitively speaking...yeah. What'd you think I was?" Keep her talking, that's the ticket.
[11:09] <Carthrat> 4"Tch. A vampire," replies Rider, irritably. Swinging her scythe upright, she slams the hilt into the carriage with an audiable thud. 4"Some filthy creature that chose to escape death."
[11:12] <Alison> "I'm not a vampire," Alison says, sounding like it's something she's tired of having to point out. "And I took a shower just a few hours ago! So I'm far from filthy." Although, she thinks, if not dying is actually an option tonight, she'll *gladly* take it. "So, um..." She trails off, still eyeing that scythe.
[11:13] <Carthrat> 4"Sorry. I'll have words with my Master about this, but I'm not supposed to leave any witnesses,"1 replies Rider, sounding frustrated.
[11:17] <Alison> Shit! "Is that written down somewhere?" Alison says. "Or did he/she/it just tell you it was in the fine print down near the bottom of the contract? I know I just speak for myself here, but I *really* wouldn't want to go around killing someone unless it was very clearly necessary..."
[11:18] <Carthrat> 4"Well, there you go. Unlike me, you will surely reach Heaven,"1 replies Rider, starting to step towards you. 4"It's my Master's order, but I'll make it quick."
[11:19] <Carthrat> You can hear a banging, coming from behind you, like someone punching a wall.
[11:21] <Alison> "Hey, wait, it's never too late to turn your life around! C'mon, Darth Vader did it." Then, to herself, "...of course, he died afterwards..." There's a *bump* behind her, and she realizes she's backed against the carriage wall. "Um...can I at least know who ordered this little bureacratic snafu first, or..."
[11:24] <Carthrat> 4"I'd better not. You might become a spirit of vengeance if you know,"1 replies Rider, in front of you. 4"My regards to Charon."
[11:24] <Carthrat> What happens next happens very quickly.
[11:25] <Carthrat> Rider's scythe moves towards you with terrifying speed, whipping around the tall woman's body like a piece of wire; behind you, there's the sound of breaking glass, and something terribly strong grabs you under the shoulders and *pulls*.
[11:25] <Carthrat> Your back protests as it's run across the edge of a broken window-frame, and you go down in a tumble. 14"Move!"1 commands a voice.
[11:28] * Alison falls to the ground with a gasp and a thump, but isn't about to ask questions at this point. Without taking a look at her savior, or even glancing around, really, she bolts across the tracks to the far side, back screaming all the while (she can feel air through rips in her shirt, and blood trickling down her back).
[11:31] <Carthrat> The tracks hurt. As you're running away, you can hear Rider complaining rather loudly. 4"Dammit, you're the vampire? I can't believe I got the wrong girl..."1 (More.)
[11:32] <Carthrat> You find yourself running into a wall, however; the train tracks seemed to be running between two housing blocks. In front of you is the back fence of someone's house, and to the left is apparently a train station; about a hundred metres to the right is a road that cross the train line.
[11:34] * Alison makes for the train station--jumping fences isn't exactly her bailiwick, especially in a dress. She has enough presence of mind to keep an eye out for oncoming trains as she runs for the station, but that's about it.
[11:38] <Carthrat> 4"Dammit, girl, if you run, that'll just increase my workload- crap!"1 There's a dull thud, and you can't hear much more because you're too far away. Soon enough, you reach the train station. Nobody seems to be around, and it's illuminated by dull white lights. If you climbed onto the platform, you could run through it and into the streets beyond.
[11:39] * Alison does so! Up on the platform, right across and (hopefully) straight through the station. Alison dimly realizes she hasn't a clue what part of the city she's in, but that's hardly a priority at the moment.
[11:42] <Carthrat> You're not too far out of the city, and find yourself running through relatively familiar suburban streets. Your back is in terrible pain (you think there might be a couple shards of glass stuck in it), but adredaline keeps you going; where you do try to head?
[11:48] <Alison> The first thing to look for is a street name--hopefully it'll at least give Alison an idea of where she is. Best thing to do once she's got her bearings is head back towards the city--some urban area where she'll be more likely to find help or transporation. A taxi maybe--hell, even a stranger in a car would be better than what she knows is following her. Though, if she can't keep up the pace, she'll have no choice but to bang o
[11:48] <Alison> on some poor suburbanite's door and force her way in.
[11:50] <Carthrat> You're in.. Richmond, you think? Actually, you're pretty close to a fairly popular restraunt district- there's a few pubs up this way, as well. Plenty of people, easy to get lost in a crowd, and there should be taxis and trams aplenty.
[11:52] <Alison> That'll do! Worst comes to worst, hopefully some late-night restaraunt patrons will have the sense to phone for an ambulance if she passes out. She's already starting to tire out (this is more excercise than she usually gets! Bleeding profusely doesn't help...) but stopping isn't much of an option.
[11:55] <Carthrat> To be fair, your injuries probably feel worse than they actually are. Jogging footsteps approach behind you.
[11:58] * Alison doesn't stop to steal a look back--if someone has any legitimate business with her this late at night, they'd damn well shout out first and make it clear they're not the scythe-girl!
[11:59] <Alison> *they'll, not they'd. Grammar failure go.
[11:59] <Carthrat> 14"Hold on, she's gone for now,"1 calls that voice again- kind of husky, a woman's voice, with a french accent (you think).
[12:01] * Alison does slow up a bit now, turning to face this stranger, but she tries to keep a good distance between the two of them for the time being. "Who...?" she starts, coughing a little. She hasn't run like that since high school!
[12:03] <Carthrat> A grey-faced woman stands before you- it's that woman from the station. She's lost her trenchcoat, though, and she has a huge hole in her left shoulder. Both her left and right hands have taken the form of huge claws, dripping with blood, and a small fang protrudes from her lip. 14"I had to wait until she appeared before I acted. I had to be sure she was after you."
[12:07] <Alison> Well, this woman's appearance is somewhat far from comforting...but at least she's not currently talking about killing Alison! So that's a start. "Okay...so..." Where to begin? Start off by asking what she is? Nooo, one step at a time. "I'm not going to assume you're on my side, but...at least you're not on hers..."
[12:08] <Carthrat> The claws shrink back into fingers, which still have rather sharp-looking nails. 14"Hmph. You really must be new to this,"1 she remarks. 14"I'm certainly not on her side, and the best chance for survival is strength in numbers."
[12:12] <Alison> "Well, yeah, I'd say that, not knowing what 'this' is and all, I'm pretty sure I qualify as a newbie," Alison says, rather irritably. She glances around, tempted to suggest the two go somewhere off the streets to discuss things but not sure she wants to be stuck in a room with this woman. "Start off by telling me what the sides are?"
[12:12] <Carthrat> 14"Yeah. But we can't stay here," 1she replies, wincing at her shoulder. 14"Too dangerous. Can you drive?"
[12:13] <Alison> "I...can if we have a car. But mine's temperamental. And several miles away."
[12:15] <Carthrat> 14"But you can. Good."1 The woman waits for a few seconds, standing at the side of the road. 14"Alright. I don't really know what's going on, but that.. thing. Rider. That's some kind of demon that's been summoned by Rahvin, and he's using her to kill off all the other vampires in Melbourne."
[12:16] * Alison blinks. "Other?" She can't help but think I've Got a Bad Feeling About This...
[12:17] <Carthrat> 14"We're not alone, even if we don't stay in contact,"1 she replies, rolling her eyes. 14"Oi, get ready." 1You can see the headlights of a car coming down the street.
[12:20] <Alison> Ready for what? Alison wonders. Nevertheless, it isn't hard to make a show of being dazed and injured as she waves to the oncoming vehicle.
[12:21] <Carthrat> The vampire? runs into the oncoming path of the vehicle, prompting it to slam on the breaks. It stops just inches away from her, and she runs around to one side, punches a hole through the window, and literally drags the driver out.
[12:22] <Carthrat> Not leaving anything to doubt, she promptly bites the unfortunate driver on the neck for a good five or so seconds, before dropping him on the side of the road. 14"There's still some left,"1 she adds. 14"If you need it."
[12:23] <Carthrat> The hole in the side of her shoulder is starting to close up, with a weird sucking sound.
[12:23] * Alison just watches this display with wide eyes, somewhat past the point of being able to respond with flippant remarks. "Christ on a stick. Um..." The urge to not be in an enclosed space with this creature is suddenly much more pressing.
[12:24] <Carthrat> 14"What're you waiting for?! Rider could show up any second, and you're praying to God?"1 snaps the woman.
[12:26] <Alison> "Damn damn damn," Alison mutters as she climbs into the driver's seat, trying her best not to look at the collapsed former owner. Still, out of two evils...of course, this woman also appears to think Alison's something she's not. Oh well. Putting distance between her and Rider *is* a good option. "Where to?"
[12:27] <Carthrat> "City," replies Rider. The car was a decent model... the guy's left his wallet on the dashboard, and he has a pair of dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. At least there aren't any pictures of his family here to stare accusingly at you.
[12:27] <Carthrat> OOC: er
[12:27] <Carthrat> OOC: City, replies the woman. Dammit.
[12:31] * Alison does as instructed, driving in the general direction of the city proper. Apropos of nothing, an old TV theme song forces its way up through her memory on seeing the fuzzy dice. She pulls them off the mirror and tosses them in the backseat. Not a time to dwell on trivia. "So," she starts, "pretend for a moment I don't know anything about what's going here and, you know, fill me in?" As eager as she is for information, it
[12:31] <Alison> doesn't seem advisable to tell this woman that she *isn't* actually a vampire herself.
[12:33] <Carthrat> 14"I guess you wouldn't know anything if you're young,"1 she mutters. 14"Alright. Do you know the basics? How long ago did you change, anyway?"
[12:36] <Alison> Damn damn damn! The longer she plays along, the harder it'll be to get out...but getting out isn't exactly something she can do in a moving car. "I've always been this way...just didn't know anyone else who was." Which is something approaching the truth, at least.
[12:38] <Carthrat> 14"Huh?" 1The woman seems quite fine at filling in the gaps herself. 14"I've heard some people lose their memory when they receive the bite... well. You're a vampire, if you didn't guess already. I suppose you're still squeamish about drinking blood, but if you don't know any sorcery, then you won't be expending very much..."
[12:39] * Alison had guessed as much about her companion--absurd as such a statement would've sounded hours ago, it's pretty hard to deny given recent events. "I...know *of* sorcery..." Alison says lamely.
[12:41] <Carthrat> 14"Turn left here. Well, yes. No wonder you weren't really resisting... the legends are lies, to a point. Just being a vampire doesn't grant you any power, like some of those inane stories seem to indicate. It just.. changes your diet, and grants you all kinds of new vulnerabilities. On the other hand, you can reconstruct your body out of other people's genetic material. In other words, you can heal quickly."
[12:41] <Carthrat> 14"You'd probably have figured that out, by now."
[12:42] <Alison> That'd be a nice trick there, Alison thinks to herself. Instead, she just grunts, indicating for her companion to continue.
[12:43] <Carthrat> 14"Look, it'll be troublesome, but I'll teach you a bit of sorcery. Vampires are weak at a lot of the old kinds, but when it comes to changing and enhancing our own bodies, we're the best." 1She gingerly pats her now-healed shoulder, looking at you as you drive along. 14"Rahvin, though... he's a master sorcerer. He was already the strongest before-"
[12:43] <Carthrat> -14"-and now he's got an unstoppable killing machine working for him."
[12:45] * Alison makes all the requested turns, listening with increasing discomfort. The events of the evening are finally starting to catch up to her and she can't help but feel she's standing on an icy slope without a pickaxe. "But you got away, right? So she can't be invinvcible?"
[12:46] <Carthrat> 14"I surprised her,"1 she replies. 14"I got in a couple of good hits, but she didn't care, and then she got me with that bloody scythe."
[12:48] * Alison nods. "Okay...so, this Rahvin, he's out to, what, kill the rest of us, or what? Why would he do that?"
[12:50] <Carthrat> 14"Rahvin works for one of the Dead Apostles,"1 replies Agatha, spitting out the name like a curse. 14"For some reason, one of them wants us all gone. I've no idea. Pull in here-" 1She indicates a small house, alongside the river. The windows have all be boarded up, and it looks more like a derelict place rather than a real place to live.
[12:51] * Alison just nods along, the term not meaning anything to her, and pulls up to the ramshackle building. It does look like the sort of place "her kind" would live.
[12:53] <Carthrat> Agatha gets out the car and starts walking away from the house. 14"I'm lucky I found you. I didn't think there were any others left, and I wouldn't stand a chance alone. I'd just be stuck hoping the church gets him before he gets me, but the odds of that..."
[12:54] * Alison stops the car and pockets the keys. "Church?" she says, following Agatha and hoping this question gets more explanation than eyeroll.
[12:56] <Carthrat> 14"Yeah. They're pretty weak in this city, so it's unsurprising you haven't run into them yet,"1 replies Agatha, heading to a much nicer looking yuppie house, and unlocking the door. It's a good distance away from the derelict. 14"The Burial Order, they're this group of hardline zealots. Out to kill vampires 'and any other threats to humanity', pfah!"
[12:57] <Alison> "Oh," Alison says, following along. "'The Burial Order.' Sounds like a metal band"
[12:58] <Carthrat> 14"They do indeed like their metal,"1 mutters Agatha. 14"I hear a new cleric took residence in one of the central churches, though. I think she means business... but don't go near them. They don't have any love for our kind, and truth be told, they don't care much about saving humans so much as killing inhumans."
[13:01] <Alison> "Sure, not a problem. I never really fit in any church anyway..." She glances up at the house. "So it's just us two here?" she says, trying not to sound awkward at the prospect of sharing living space with an actual vampire.
[13:01] <Carthrat> 14"Just you and my Dead,"
[13:02] <Carthrat> she replies, stepping into the room. Three men are sitting in an immaculate lounge, perfectly still, each wearing a beat-up suit. 14"I had more, but damn Rahvin got them all. Now I've got to be careful..."
[13:03] <Alison> And *that* statement isn't helping anything. "Okay," she manages, following Agatha inside with a glance at her watch. Chances are, she wouldn't be able to get home before sunup anyway. Or maybe she's just rationalizing letting fear push her along. Either way, she's probably past turning back as the door closes behind her.
[13:04] <Carthrat> It's 3:45am. Not long until the dawn. 14"If you didn't know, the Dead are what we usually use to gather blood,"1 she says, helpfully. 14"It's much easier to do it by proxy than go out yourself. Less risky, too."
[13:06] <Alison> "Alright. So they, um, go out and do the dirty work and you..." It's hard to repress a visible shudder walking through this concept. "I guess you drain them off afterwards, or...?"
[13:07] <Carthrat> 14"Psychic transfer,"1 replies Agatha. 14"You make them by feeding a victim some of your own blood. They're a useful sort of familiar..."
[13:08] * Alison nods slowly, managing a flat "Isee."
[13:08] <Alison> OOC: "I see," even. Bleh.
[13:11] <Carthrat> Agatha takes a seat in a different room.. it looks like a study, with a couple of leather-backed chairs and a lot of books around, mostly on medicine and history. 14"There's not much time until dawn..."
[13:14] * Alison follows along. She doesn't have to ask what happens at sunup--she's familiar with this kind of schedule. "Right. Was there something you wanted to show me first, or...and..." She glances around for a moment. "Where can I sleep?"
[13:15] <Carthrat> 14"Basement." 1Agatha rubs her head. 14"I was going to try and teach you sorcery, but I don't know where to start. Shaping your body should come easily enough... hmm. Though, it might be easier if you already had the genetic material of the forms you wanted to take..."
[13:17] <Alison> "I..." Alison starts, before deciding she'd be better off not mentioning that she has a cat (who knows what this woman would want to do with the poor thing?) and stick to hypotheticals for now. "Forms? What can you do?"
[13:18] <Carthrat> 14"Oh, I'm a traditional sort. Bats, wolves, mist, that sort of thing,"1 replies Agatha. 14"It's usually a lot of effort to fully change your shape, though. And unless you know exactly what you're doing, the form itself won't be much stronger than a human. So- if it's a fight, I just make the claws."
[13:20] <Alison> Amidst all this dizzying stranges, Alison is struck by a moment of curiosity. "How do you sample mist? The rest of it I think I see, but...sorry if this is a dumb question..."
[13:20] <Carthrat> 14"I got it from another vampire,"1 she replies. 14"I don't know where he got it from.. I suppose, in the olden days, living fogs were more common."
[13:21] <Carthrat> 14"For a moment, I thought that that's what Rahvin was doing- trying to catch all the vampires in Melbourne so he could steal their powers. But he's stronger than them all anyway, I don't think there'd be anything new for him..."
[13:21] * Alison manages a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so. Hey, do you mind if I ask...how old you actually are?"
[13:21] <Carthrat> 14"I've stopped counting."
[13:22] * Alison nods again. "Did you always live here, or...?"
[13:24] <Carthrat> 14"No. Nor is Agatha my first name. But these aren't important details,"1 she says, frowning. 14"Forming your magic circuits should be second nature to you, even if you don't realise you're doing it... a tingling, or maybe a painful sensation, as if your body is being transformed. It's not dissimilar to drinking blood directly."
[13:27] * Alison isn't about to tell this woman that drinking blood isn't something she's ever done before, or something she plans to do in the future. She'll be in trouble if she doesn't get away from Agatha before the vampire expects her to share in some...feast. Still, this isn't the time to look for an exit--it wouldn't be safe to leave until nightfall. "Well," she says. "I'm Alison." First name would have to do. No last name makes i
[13:27] <Alison> it harder to track her later.
[13:28] <Carthrat> 14"Pleased to meet you. Tomorrow... tomorrow I'm going to have to think of something to do about Rahvin,"1 she mutters. 14"You'd better get your rest. You'll need it."
[13:29] * Alison nods. "Yeah...I don't doubt that."
[13:30] <Carthrat> Agatha isn't sleeping with you (apparently the study will do for her), so she shows you the basement and leaves. It's actually a wine cellar, with a number of expensive vintages still corked. Agatha drags a matress down there for you to sleep on, and warns you not to go out during the day- the sun, apparently, blasts the stairs down pretty badly.
[13:33] * Alison doesn't need any reminders about not going out during the day. The racks of wine make for a powerful temptation after the night's insanity, but it's probably not wise to be seen being overly fond of...well, any beverage, really...in front of Agatha. Not to mention that she'll likely need her wits about her soon enough.
[13:33] <Carthrat> Agatha promptly leaves you alone.
[13:35] <Alison> The accomodations aren't exactly luxurious but, well, Alison's own apartment tends to be rather messy as well. Tired as she is from all the running around, she finds herself pacing around in the darkness, for once in her life less than fully at ease in it.(more)
[13:37] <Alison> She takes some time to turn things over in her mind before settling on the mattress, thinking back to the encounter with Rider (did she really mention bloody Star Wars in front of a demon? ...She did. Hell). It's hard to avoid concluding that this is pretty much the archetypal "lesser of two evils" situation.(more)
[13:39] <Alison> Still, as much as "Agatha" is trying to be helpful, that could change *real* fast. All it should take is the little revelation that Alison is not, in fact, a vampire, and she'd probably be the woman's next meal. Alison doesn't kid herself about there being any kind of comradery developed over the course of an evening that could prevent something like that.(more)
[13:41] <Alison> The only conclusion she can reach is that, somehow, she has to get away from the woman as soon as night falls again, or maybe a bit before if she's willing to take some temporary health risks in the hope that the vampire fares even worse in daylight. Whatever the case, sleep is a long time coming.
[13:41] <Carthrat> OOC: So you don't intend to wake up until late afternoon, at the earliest?
[13:42] <Alison> OOC: No, she's pretty wiped and needs the rest. Barring GM intervention, she probably won't be rising "early."
[13:42] <Carthrat> OOC: Right. Then we'll pause here.

[Carthrat]

Day 2, 2/02/XX
13:31] <Carthrat> You wake up, and... you're not where you went to sleep. Instead you're outside a skyscraper... a skyscraper covered in thick, red cobwebs. You recognize it. The 'Eureka Tower', the newest- and tallest- construction of this scale on the southern hemisphere.
[13:31] <Carthrat> Naturally, it is in Melbourne.
[13:35] * Alison sighs. "Curioser and curioser." She is, naturally, confused. She's becoming used to this state of affairs, though, and figures she may as well look around. The tower is...ominous. Being covered in red webs tends to do that to a place, though.
[13:36] <Carthrat> Nobody else is around at all. Actually, everything is perfectly still. Even the river isn't moving, not even slightly.
[13:37] <Carthrat> Getting into the tower would normally be done by walking through the front, but the doors are covered by those webs, as well. Perhaps there's a side-entrance somewhere.
[13:39] * Alison stops and observes the river for the moment. It's not often you see something like that! With that sort of straightforward logic characteristic of dreams, she looks for the side entrance to the tower, because it seems the thing to do.
[13:40] <Carthrat> You do find a carpark at the back, which has a back door.. but it seems to be covered with these webs, too.
[13:41] * Alison frowns. She's not touching that stuff if she doesn't have to! There's gotta be something around to scrape it off.
[13:42] <Carthrat> There are a number of cars around, and a couple trash cans; a fire-hose closet, too. Back out on the street, you might be able to find a stick on a nature strip or something.
[13:44] * Alison peers around, and doesn't find anything convenient. Tentatively, she reaches out one hand and prods the weird red stuff with a finger.
[13:45] <Carthrat> The stuff is a little sticky, and it feels more like hair than web- sticky, oily hair, that hasn't been washed for a while.
[13:46] * Alison shudders, but figures she'd best get it over with. She grabs a hunk of the stuff in what she hopes is the vicinity of the door handle and yanks at it.
[13:47] <Carthrat> With a taering sound, the red stuff peels off and drops to the ground, where it seems to lose it's sticky consistancy and spreads apart like hair in a barber shop.
[13:48] <Alison> "Eugh," Alison mutters, wiping her hand on her shirt. She tries opening the door now, hoping to yank the rest of the webs off with that force instead of pulling it all off manually.
[13:50] <Carthrat> You yank open the door, and- a woman stumbles out, the first moving thing you've seen so far. She's breathing raggedly, and blood seems to stain her long, black hair. Her lips seem a little burned, and you're sure she's bleeding from the shoulder.
[13:52] <Alison> "Oh god," Alison mumbles in surprise. Without even thinking about it, she tries to catch the woman before she can fall over or anything. That shoulder injury reminds her of something..."Hey, are you okay?" she asks. It's kind of obvious the woman isn't, but she has to say *something.*
[13:53] <Carthrat> She looks up, burning into your face with clear blue eyes. That weird tingling feeling washes over your body in an instant, just like how you felt moments before Rider appeared, and then it passes just as quickly.
[13:53] <Carthrat> The woman coughs and stumbles forward, past you, before sliding next to the wall and sitting down.
[13:55] * Alison follows along, wary of anything that reminds her of Rider even in the slightest, but at least willing to give the benefit of the doubt to someone not actively trying to kill her. She kneels next to the woman, not wanting to seem opposing by standing above her. "Look, um...I'm not a medic, but you should do something about that shouler, I think."
[13:56] <Carthrat> The woman shakes her head, despite her obvious pain. "Ne... who are you?" she asks, plaintively.
[13:57] <Alison> "Alison. Alison Zandt. How about you?"
[13:58] <Carthrat> "Lancer," she replies, coughing a bit more and putting her hand on her shoulder. "'should run away from here."
[14:00] * Alison peers back towards the door, as though expecting some eldritch horror to creep out any moment. She forces herself to stay calm, though. It's not like this other woman (Lancer? Odd name...) can run herself. "What happened in there?" she says.
[14:01] <Carthrat> "Fight," she replies, putting one ginger hand on her shoulder. "This is... outside the building, right? Technically, I suppose, it should be alright..."
[14:03] <Alison> "We're outside, yes. It is," Alison says, glancing up and half-expecting to suddenly see a roof over the world or something. It's that kind of experience. "Fight with who?" she asks, though she can't help but mentally add "or what?"
[14:07] <Carthrat> Lancer shudders a little. "Don't know. Caster, I think, but... something wasn't right," she replies, slowly standing up. "You shouldn't stay in this city, whoever you are. There's a war on, and it doesn't care for.. regular people."
[14:10] * Alison is about to mumble the requisite "Well, I'm not *that* normal," but figures she can deal with someone thinking she is, for once. "Regular people? So, what are you?" she asks, hesitating to mention that she'd gone to sleep in a vampire's basement until she knows where this woman stands on the whole Humans vs. Nonhumans issue.
[14:11] <Carthrat> "Servant," she replies. "Servant Lancer. A monster, I suppose." She doesn't seem too convinced.
[14:14] <Alison> "Well...you don't look like one," Alison says, more out of the need to say something than as reassurance. Servant? That sounds familiar...This might be a bad idea, but, "Do you know of Rider?"
[14:17] <Carthrat> "Rider? Ugh.. I run into Rider yet," she replies, shaking her head. "But Rider shouldn't be a problem for me to defeat. That class can't beat mine without using their Noble Phantasm, and by the time I meet her, I should know what that is."
[14:17] <Carthrat> *I haven't run into Rider yet
[14:20] * Alison figures she may as well go for broke. "Look, can you tell me as much as possible about what's going on here? About these Servants, and the vampires? I'm...already involved. Rider tried to *kill* me. I'm lucky I'm alive, and I need to know what's happening if I'm going to stay that way."
[14:22] <Carthrat> "You're.. involved? Vampires..." murmurs Lancer, staring past you. "You're alive now. If you take more steps into this world, you won't be able to come out. You can probably still walk away- it'd be a hassle to find a single human."
[14:25] <Alison> "Walking away is going to be hard. I'm...I *was*, before waking up here, napping in a vampire's basement. It's...not easy for me to get around. Besides, this is where I live, you know?" She sighs. Despite herself, and the obvious risk to her life, she was becoming curious about this whole affair.
[14:27] <Carthrat> Lancer reaches out to touch you. Her hand lays onto your cheek, and it seems to instantly go numb. "I don't know about your vampires. But this war is between magi. Seven magi, each summoning a single servant, such as myself. With these familiars, they fight. In the end, the winner can get their wishes granted."
[14:30] <Alison> "The woman I met, the vampire who saved me from Rider...she said Rider serves another of her kind. Who is your master? Your magi?"
[14:31] <Carthrat> "I can't tell you that. I'm not even supposed to talk to you. If my Master knew... I'd be in trouble," replies Lancer, shaking her head. "Since my order was to kill all witnesses inside the tower, I had to follow it, but you're lucky, I suppose."
[14:33] * Alison backs away, suddenly glad she hadn't got inside but also fighting back a surge of nausea. "You...how many people did you kill?" She can't help but look at this woman as though she's some sort of alien life form. Alison is, apparently, alive on a technicality.
[14:34] <Carthrat> "Beats me. My powers work almost without any real action on my part," she replies. "You see why you shouldn't hang around? Even if I want to kill my Master for making me do this sort of thing, I can't. If we meet again, it'll probably go badly for you."
[14:36] <Alison> "...Do you want to?" Alison asks. It almost sounds as though this woman can do nothing of her own volition, which is a horrible notion. "How long have you...been like this?" she says, recalling Agatha's answer to the same question.
[14:38] <Carthrat> "I was summoned... it would have been two days ago," she replies. "Before that, there's nothing... I suppose I was alive once. I think the real me is alive even now, actually, but I hope she never finds out about this."
[14:42] <Alison> "What do you mean, 'the real me?" Alison asks, fighting the reflexive (and horribly inappropriate) urge to hum the Who song that pops into her head of its own accord when uttering this phrase. This woman's life--if that's the right word for it--sounds like a horrible existence.
[14:43] <Carthrat> "As a servant, I'm not a real person," she replies. "I guess you might say I'm the collected memories of someone who is alive. The memories they had, and those others had about them. People with particularly strong spirits can find those spirits- duplicates of those spirits, really- summoned by magi for the purposes of combat."
[14:43] <Carthrat> "...even when I say it, it sounds stupid. It's not like I don't have any of my memories myself, or as if I don't feel, or have my own wants. I don't know if I even believe it. I know things that are *going* to happen to me but haven't happened yet!"
[14:44] <Carthrat> "But I can't do a thing about them."
[14:45] <Alison> "What kinds of things?" Alison asks softly.
[14:46] <Carthrat> Lancer is silent for a long while, and closes her eyes. "I don't know. Anything. All the bad things, all the good things. When people laugh, when they die, my failures and my successes.. all of it."
[14:49] * Alison nods along. "So you...don't have any wishes or desires yourself. You just exist to carry out someone else's orders? That sounds awful." Then something else occurs to her. "Do you know when *you* will die?"
[14:49] <Carthrat> Lancer nods, but she looks away. "No.. you're wrong. I do have a wish, I do have a desire. That's why I continue fighting, and why I can't just disobey my master and kill myself."
[14:51] <Alison> "What is it?" Alison asks sympathetically. Her mind's also busy puzzling out the further implications of this woman having full knowledge of her own future, but it doesn't seem right to go into that first.
[14:52] <Carthrat> "It's.. it's so stupid. Even if it's granted, I won't be around to enjoy it, but I want my brother to live again," she replies, dimly. "I'm such a hypocrite."
[14:54] <Alison> "n, that's...I don't see what's hypocritical about that." She glances around. "Look, we've been talking for a while. Shouldn't we sit down somewhere? I mean, if...this place is safe."
[14:57] <Carthrat> Lancer shakes her head, dimly. "I've spent too long as it is. I must return and report to my Master. But you know... I'm glad I got to speak to someone about this. If I had a Master who'd listen to me, I'm sure I'd even be able to win this bloody war without spilling so much blood."
[14:59] * Alison smiles sadly. "I guess there's no way to switch teams, is there?" She has to agree with this last statement of Lancer's. What little she knows about these Magi suggests thay're *far* too ready to ignore the deaths of bystanders.
[14:59] <Carthrat> "If my Master died, and another found me, I could swear another seal and bind myself to them," she replies, whimsically. "But they won't do that if they already have a servant, and besides, without my Master, I'll shortly dissapear unless I kill more people, which I won't do on my own."
[15:01] <Alison> "Would you...want that to happen?" Alison asks, not remotely considering the possibility of killing someone herself, even someone as unpleasant as this Master is likely to be. She's just forced by curiosity to explore the issue in full.
[15:02] <Carthrat> "Yeah... I would. But you see, I can't start something like that myself. Even if someone tried to kill her, I would have to defend her."
[15:03] <Carthrat> She blinks, and starts to walk away. "I've already said too much, now. You got saved by a vampire, you said? They're not to be trusted, and it shouldn't be hard to guess why."
[15:05] * Alison nods. "I understand. And...I don't trust her any further than I have to for the moment." She smiles. "I'm glad you got a chance to talk to someone, though. I think probably you needed it."
[15:06] <Carthrat> "Are you really ok?" asks Lancer, glancing back at you. "You seem to be fading away."
[15:06] * Alison glances down at herself, hands going to her midsection as if to reassure herself that she still exists. "Am I?"
[15:07] <Carthrat> You seem to still be there, but Lancer is still looking at you rather curiously, and she says something but you can't hear, and then you're back in the basement, lying uncomfortably on the floor next to the matress, and your head hurts.
[15:10] <Alison> Alison's head isn't the only thing that hurts. Her back is stiff and sore from the previous evening. She stretches and winces, hands going to her back to feel over the tracks of dried blood. "Damn, I need a shower." Obviously, though, this is not first priority!(more)
[15:12] * Tai{HoMM3} is now known as Tai{ProjectWN}
[15:12] <Alison> She's torn between two trains of thought--finding a way out of her present circumstances and dwelling on the dream of Lancer (if it WAS a dream)--but finding a way away from Agatha really seems the more pressing concern. Getting up, she walks to the door and tries to peer under it to get an idea of the light level outside.
[15:12] <Carthrat> It's.. bright!
[15:15] * Alison winces. Damn damn damn. And she left all her things on the train. Hat, extra clothes, sunglasses, even her handbag (though that, at least, suggest that maybe the police will be on the lookout for her once they investigate the wrecked carriage. Assuming no vagrant swiped her things first). If she wants to get out safely at a time like this, she'll have to improvise. Alison glances around the room for useful items or possi
[15:16] <Alison> possible coverings.
[15:16] <Carthrat> There's a few rugs on the floor, here, and an awful lot of wine (do vampires even drink wine). The matress had some sheets as well. Of course, there's always the rest of the house- you didn't see too much of it.
[15:19] * Alison yanks the sheet from off the bed. It'll have to do for now. She doesn't intend to go exploring the house too thorougly, lest she find and wake Agatha, but if she sees anything more convenient she intends to grab it. Holding the sheet about her so that all but some of her face is covering, and shielding her eyes with her free hand, she opens the door.
[15:19] <Alison> *covered
[15:21] <Carthrat> The basement door is... opened! Light, painful light smashes into the sheet and penetrating through a little, though you once again avoid bursting into flames. The house is a two-story affair, and the ground floor doesn't really seem to have any bedrooms.
[15:21] <Carthrat> There is a lounge down here, though, as well as a dining room, a kitchen, and of course the study and a bathroom.
[15:22] * Alison squints, the bright light painful to her eyes even once they've adjusted from the darkness. She makes for the bathroom first--maybe there's a bathrobe or something. Even that would be an improvement, and hopefully there's no window in there (only crazy people design ground-floor bathrooms with windows).
[15:23] <Carthrat> The bathroom is thankfully devoid of bright light, and you do indeed find a bathrobe down here, hanging on a rack
[15:23] <Carthrat> .
[15:27] * Alison shuts the door gratefully and takes the robe, simply putting it on over her clothes. That should render everything but her face and hands pretty well protected, at least. Maybe the sheet could do for those...she rips a few shreds off and wraps them around her hands. Manual dexterity will be an issue, but it's some protection. She does the same for as much of her head as she can afford to.(more)
[15:28] <Alison> She'll look like a burn-ward patient, probably, but without knowing how long she'll be outside before finding shelter, she can't take chances.
[15:29] <Carthrat> A glance in the mirror shows that you look pretty strange, but hey- nobody ever really cares.
[15:31] * Alison takes a breath and nods to herself. Well, the sooner she gets away, the better. She exits the bathroom and heads for the front door--the urge to run is powerful, but she doesn't want to make any noise that might wake Agatha. Assuming the vampire's servants don't stop her, she'll take off running once she's outside.
[15:31] <Carthrat> Actually, the vampires servants don't appear to be here. You don't see any sign of Agatha or the like as you take off outside and start running... where?
[15:33] * Alison heads back down the street for the car--obviously she has a much, much better chance of getting somewhere that way than on foot. It probably even *looks* stolen, given the broken window and all, but the first priority is to get away from the vampire's house. She gets in, starts the engine, and pulls out, trying to get her bearings first.
[15:34] <Carthrat> Well, you're close to inner-city melbourne, which means it won't be a problem to get to your place if you have to. You'll just have to hope you don't come across any cops on the way-
[15:34] <Carthrat> -which would be pretty awkward, seeing as there's a hole in the window, and a dead guy lying somewhere in suburbia with most of his blood missing.
[15:36] <Carthrat> There is still a wallet lying on the dash, though.
[15:37] * Alison drives towards the inner city and tries to remember a convenient place she can ditch the car unseen that will place her within a reasonable walking distance of a train station (she's not leaving that car right by her apartment complex!) (more)
[15:38] <Alison> She doesn't even look inside the wallet--she doesn't want to know the name of the man she just watched Agatha kill, and keeping it would be idiotic in case she did get pulled over--but simply tosses it out the window (she'd feel dirty even checking it for spare cash).
[15:39] <Carthrat> It doesn't take you long to get close to a train station (they're everywhere in the inner city).
[15:39] <Carthrat> You can catch a train to the central station, and then catch another out of there back to your house.
[15:40] * Alison stops the car a couple streets away from the station and walks to it--not running, as much as she wants to, as much as the skin around her eyes already tingles and itches from exposure. Running from a car with a broken window is a BAD idea for someone trying to avoid attention. The walk to the station seems interminable, Alison coming down with a headache already.
[15:41] <Carthrat> Your body is starting to feel sick all over, and even a regular person would quickly start sweating under this heat (nevermind one as weighed down as you). It strikes you that you're incredibly hungry and terribly thirsty.
[15:42] <Carthrat> You shortly arrive at a nearby station, and will be forced to wait about ten minutes for a train. A couple vending machines are on the platform, for soft drinks and chips.
[15:45] * Alison fumbles in her pockets (under the bathrobe!) for spare change, slotting enough into the machine for at least a drink (dropping the coins a couple times, given how her hands are covered). She retrieves an orange soda and practically drowns herself in it in relief. Then she settles down on a bench on the platform (in the shade, if there is any).
[15:46] <Carthrat> You can hide from the sun (some of the seating is in a small indoor area). Eventually a train pulls up, and the doors open. Looks like a few dozen people are on each carriage... well, it's a Saturday.
[15:49] <Alison> Damn! Ignoring all those prying eyes as best she can, she walks to the nearest carriage (she looks unusual enough already, she's not drawing more attention by running). If she's lucky, people will just assume she's a Muslim or something and not ask any questions. She picks a seat facing away from the sun and settles down, breathing hard in relief.
[15:50] <Carthrat> The train lumbers out of the station, announcing that it's stopping all stations to central.. typically, it's only got a couple stations to go, and this time it actually reaches your destination. No red-haired monstrosities accoust you as you get out.
[15:52] <Alison> Well, that's something, at least. Alison gets out and looks for a train that will drop her off near home.
[15:52] <Carthrat> You need to navigate your way through the complex for that, which takes a couple of minutes. As you pass by one of the exits of the station, you can see a conglomeration of goths hanging out the front-
[15:53] <Carthrat> -one of them looks pretty familiar. In fact, you're sure it's the same kid you ran into with Molly last night. His larger, more imposing friend doesn't seem to be with him, but he's just hanging out with a few others.
[15:53] <Carthrat> Other goths.
[15:53] <Carthrat> Not large friends.
[15:53] <Carthrat> Yes.
[15:55] * Alison thinks this kid needs to find something more productive to do with his time, but otherwise ignores him. She'd hung out with a few of his type in school (given her condition, it was almost inevitable that a few of them would get curious about her) and found them not to her liking. She just makes her way through the station, ignoring everyone, looking for her train.
[15:59] <Carthrat> You soon find yourself waiting at the station. A couple of discarded newspapers are on the benches, and your eyes catch a few headlines- dozens go missing in Eureka Tower. Mysterious train found devoid of inhabitants late last night. Another recently released ex-con shot and kill just days after his release.
[16:01] * Alison takes the paper, both reading it and using it to shield herself from some of the night (she needs all the help she can get!) Eureka Tower...? People went missing? Not dead, she thinks, remembering the last night's dream. "Missing." Strange. She checks the train story first, though.
[16:02] <Carthrat> Seems that the train was found last night when the driver didn't check in with the one behind him. He was found dead- some very wide weapon had stabbed him through the heart.
[16:03] <Carthrat> The trains power cables were cut and the backups destroyed, and all the video tapes were scrambled (including of the one platform where people were seen boarding it.) A hole was found in the side, with blood on it, and footsteps that ran away from the train.
[16:03] <Carthrat> Nearby, an Edgar Rice was found dead on the road, with his car apparently stolen. Police are asking any witnesses to step forward.
[16:04] <Alison> It doesn't take much imagination to tell what that was. Stupid Rider. She *could* have waited for Alison to get off the train to kill her, right? She didn't have to kill the driver? At least Lancer had shown some regret about killing people. (more)
[16:04] * Alison reads about the dead Edgar Rice with a stab of regret. She could've gone without knowing the man's name. Would've made it easier.
[16:06] <Carthrat> The article doesn't talk much about Rice. In fact, he's glossed over, excluding a few notes about the bizzare way in which he was seemingly killed (it seems someone caved in his nose, and then extracted his blood. Police suspect a fetishest.) They're much more baffled about what occured on the train.
[16:07] <Alison> Well, Alison knows plenty about what happened on the train, not that she has any intention of talking to the police about it. Not even Molly would believe her. She checks the article on Eureka Tower next.
[16:08] <Carthrat> This article is even stranger. Once again, all the video cameras in the area were scrambled, but a few passerby's indicated that 'at that time, the walls seemed a bit weird'. It seems that all the people who were still in the building at around 7pm simply never came out. However, some blood was found in an elevator, as well as some streaks leading out of it and onto the second floor. (More.)
[16:09] <Carthrat> Furthermore, there were reputedly large dents in the walls that weren't there before. Police are speculating that this crime and the train are related, but have no idea how- the only link is what happened to the security tapes.
[16:12] * Alison can only conclude that this was Lancer's work, as the woman claimed. The thing that makes it hard to believe, actually, is that Alison herself was apparently there. This is hard to reconcile. Out of body experience or something? She'd never quite believed in stuff like that...but she'd never considered vampires were real, either.(more)
[16:13] <Alison> (Although, while young, she'd conjectured that the myth type might've got some inspiration from a few unfortunate people with a certain rare genetic defect. Turns out she was wrong! But kids are wrong about a lot of things). She spares a glance around. Where's that bloody train? She seems to be sweating off the flow of the Nile.
[16:14] <Carthrat> Oh, here it is, coming in just now.
[16:14] * Alison gets up, eager to be back onboard and homeward bound.
[16:15] <Carthrat> And you're off. This train is an express, but it manages to not skip pass your stop as it quickly passes by.
[16:16] <Carthrat> er, yes. it doesn't pass by your stop.
[16:16] <Carthrat> That is correct and true.
[16:16] <Carthrat> In fact, it stops! And the doors open.
[16:16] * Alison gets off and makes a beeline for her apartment complex. If any interested or suspicious individuals had followed her this far, she didn't have a chance of shaking them anyway. She needs to be home and back in the dark, *now*.
[16:17] <Carthrat> After a short period of time you arrive back at your good ol' apartment, safe away from the trials and tribulations of the outside world... and your answering machine is flashing with a happy red light, indcating that you have some messages.
[16:21] <Alison> The first thing Alison does is ditch the rags, the bathrobe, her shoes and socks, and crank the AC. God, it's good to be back indoors, for so many reasons. The messages can wait--she's burned and it'll only look worse tomorrow if she doesn't apply some sort of medicinal cream first to alleviate the itching. *Then* she checks the phone messages.
[16:22] <Carthrat> As you apply your medicinal cream, you notice that there are long, red lines on your arms, extending from the back of the hand and up to the shoulder.
[16:24] * Nerem (~Neko@pool-71-244-18-19.dllstx.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout)
[16:24] * Alison gives her hands and the space around her eyes a liberal coating, though she does leave the fingertips of one hand free to avoid smearing it everywhere. Those lines...she traces them up one arm with her clean hand. No one hurt her there, or anything. And they're too even to be scars anyway. Is there any sort of pattern to them?
[16:25] <Carthrat> It looks kind of like a tattoo. There are three thin lines on either arm, and for the most part, they appear to be straight (it gets a bit fuzzy around the elbow). When you touch them, they don't really feel any different to the rest of your arm.
[16:27] <Alison> One more mystery. She can look into it later, disturbing as it is for tattoos to suddenly appear on one's body! Maybe she'll get lucky and another dream-messenger will show up to explain it. In the meantime, she grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and plops down next to the phone to hear the messages, heaving a weary sigh.
[16:28] <Carthrat> It's... Nelemental4. Or, rather, Janet. You've spoken over the phone a couple of times (it's one of the things you occasional do online, after all.) You're sure you haven't heard what she's speaking about before, though-
[16:28] * Nerem (~Neko@pool-71-244-18-19.dllstx.fios.verizon.net) has joined #dunes
[16:29] <Carthrat> "-hey, Alison! Just letting you know that my plane's been late, so I won't be getting to Melbourne until Sunday. Don't worry about picking me up- you haven't moved, right? Just, uh, don't go anywhere, I don't really have the cash to grab a motel, you know? Anyway, I'll see you then!"
[16:29] <Carthrat> *click*
[16:31] <Alison> ...Well. This provokes several conflicting reactions almost simultaneously! While she'd be glad to see her longtime friend...since when did the two make plans to meet? Janet could not have picked a worse time to make a surprise visit. Though at least the other woman will likely be convinced by this that Alison's condition IS real. She'd always been unsure if Janet believe her about it.
[16:32] <Carthrat> You can't really remember making plans to meet (and certainly, they'd be made well in advance, surely.) Janet isn't the type to make a surprise visit, anyway- and if she was, she wouldn't ruin it by calling ahead.
[16:33] <Alison> This doesn't make any sense...but that's starting to become par for the course. Any other messages?
[16:34] <Carthrat> That's all.
[12:23] <Carthrat> Having finished listening to her message from her overseas companion, Alison is left alone in her silent apartment, with nothing immediately pressuring her except her previous surreal experiences.
[12:27] <Alison> Well, as much as puzzling all the strangeness out is probably going to be a matter of survival eventually, Alison's feeling a pressing need to be grounded in reality for a while. She needs a good solid meal..and she should probably get her credit cards cancelled in case someone swiped her things from the train. Wait, she can ask Molly about that first! And genuine human contact would be reassuring as well.
[12:29] <Carthrat> If your stuff was found on the train, that'd make you a probably witness, and there doubtless would be several interested people out there who'd like to talk to you.
[12:32] <Alison> A valid point! Actually, it occurs to her that Rider could've taken it, if she really was intent on eliminating all witnesses. This is a sobering possibility and makes the supposedly safe bastion of her home markedly less reassuring. Nonetheless, she calls up the credit car company and has he current card cancelled. Then she tries to ring up Molly.
[12:33] <Carthrat> "'s me," says Molly, picking up and talking rather shortly.
[12:35] <Alison> "Hey!" Alison says, doing her best to keep a light tone. "Could we meet up somewhere, maybe get something to eat?"
[12:36] <Carthrat> "-oh! Alison!" she asks, sounding surprised, and she readjusts her tone appropriately. "Aren't you up kind of early... I mean, sure, if you want. When?"
[12:38] <Alison> "Yeah, it's an odd hour. I wasn't sleeping right. Someplace indoors and shady would be good, but I guess that goes without saying. I'm not picky beyond that...Oh, I dunno, sixish?"
[12:39] <Carthrat> "Uh, sure. Chinese near your place sound good?"
[12:39] <Alison> "Yeah, that works. See you later!"
[12:39] <Carthrat> "Okay, bye!"
[12:42] <Alison> Well, going out in daylight was never fun--she'd have to be more thoroughly covered even than she was when going to her job the night before (was it really just in the last twenty-four hours that everything happened?) Anyway, she has some time to kill before then, and it seems best to spend it digging up whatever information she can.(more)
[12:43] <Carthrat> Well, when you think about it, all the 'action' you were part of last night took less than two minutes to resolve itself, assuming it starts when you see Rider and ends when you started driving off.
[12:44] <Alison> Still...what could she find? If all this stuff about Magi and Servants, and Lancers and Riders could pass wholly unnoticed by society in general, it's a safe bet she won't find much on it...so, the tattoo? Where would be a good place to search for similar marks?
[12:44] <Carthrat> A wide range of places! You could...
[12:45] <Carthrat> 1) Check the internet for tattoos. Granted, figuring out exactly what search clause to put in would be a bit of a bitch.
[12:45] <Carthrat> 2) Actual tattoo parlours.
[12:45] <Carthrat> 3) It's generally rumoured that a lot of the goths who hang around the city centre are totally into the whole occult scene. Maybe there's even a grain of truth to it, now?
[12:46] <Carthrat> 4) Could the police have seen these markings somewhere before?
[12:46] <Carthrat> 5) Lancer might know, but she's difficult to get into contact with...
[12:46] <Carthrat> 6) So might Agatha, and she'd be remarkably easy to get into contact with.
[12:48] * Alison isn't especially eager to be hanging around with goths again, and she's wary of going to the police for a number of reasons now. Lancer...well, Alison could go to sleep and hope for another vision, but that's hardly a surefire way to contact her. Besides, she might oversleep. And Agatha isn't someone she wants to see again soon. So! Time to look up local tattoo parlours.
[12:50] <Carthrat> There's a few... here's one that's local to your area, "Big Dave's Paints and Tattoos", it's called. Probably has some biker motif...
[12:53] <Alison> Well, it's a start. So Alison gets ready to head out again. She changes into clean clothes--another long-sleeved shirt and skirt combo, as usual. Another hat (she does have more than one of these), this one with a light veil hanging from the rim. Every little bit helps! And she doesn't have another pair of sunglasses, so this'll have to do for eye protection. then she grabs a parasol and heads out for Big Dave's.
[12:55] <Carthrat> It's... pretty much what you expected. A dingy little place tucked into the corner of a shopping strip. Rock music echoes softly out of the open door, and it is illuminated by a cruedly animated set of christmas lights out the front-
[12:55] <Carthrat> -that form the shape of a woman reclinining and beckoning.
[12:56] <Alison> Well, that's not exactly promising. Nevertheless, she goes inside and looks for someone to talk to.
[12:57] <Carthrat> There's some huge biker guy sitting behind a counter, flicking through a magazine which he hides as you enter. "Ey," he says, peering at you curiously and stroking his beard. He's wearing a leather jacket and has a bandana on his head...
[13:01] <Alison> "Hello," Alison says. So, how best to bring this up? Well...probably she should frame it in terms this guy's likely to relate to: "I have...something of an odd request for you. Was on a binge a few days ago and woke up with a tattoo I didn't recognize. I thought maybe you could tell me if it's something someone's asked for before, and if so where it comes from?" Making sure to angle herself away from the front window, she pulls
[13:02] <Alison>  she pulls back one sleeve a few inches to show the red lines.
[13:03] <Carthrat> Woah, it's changed since you last looked at it. Weird runes and glyphs are stretched out in a symmetrical pattern along your entire arm, now, covering it all the way around.
[13:03] <Alison> That's...disturbing, to say the least. Granted, it might make it easier to identify, too.
[13:04] <Carthrat> "Ain't supposed to treat drunks," mutters the tattoo artist, pulling out a monocle and having a look. "Huh... looks like those older runes. Popular amongst wicca, I'm thinking, but hey, let me make a quick call."
[13:05] <Carthrat> So saying, he quickly dials a number into his phone and begins having a conversation. "Yeah, Bob, 'bout what you told me about last night.. yeah... yeah... yeah? Mm... got somethin' similar... yeah... yeah... mm... uh... right... okay... yep... naw, poker's cancelled this week."
[13:05] <Alison> "Sure," she says, carefully keeping her voice steady. "Go ahead."
[13:05] <Carthrat> He then hangs up, and turns back to you. "Yep." He grabs your arm without so much as asking and peers closely at the tattoo, sniffing it!
[13:06] * Alison squirms a little, not really expecting or enjoying this up close and personal an inspection, but waits.
[13:06] <Carthrat> "Yep. Don't know what this is, but it ain't no tattoo," he replies, letting you go at last.
[13:06] * Alison blinks. "Huh? What else could it be?"
[13:07] <Carthrat> "Can smell the paint when you've got a nose for it, but nothing different about it. It's something else. See, friend of mine had a girl come in and ask about something like this too."
[13:07] <Carthrat> "Only it was on the back of the wrist, not all up and down the arm. Drew me a picture- it looked pretty similar," he continues, fishing out a piece of paper and showing it to you. It's a small set of stylized runes-
[13:07] <Carthrat> -the meaning is lost on you, but they do look very similar to your own.
[13:09] <Alison> "I...see," she says eventually, glancing at the scrap of paper and then pocketing it. "Well, thank you, at least."
[13:10] <Carthrat> "Weird times, lately," he remarks, just shaking his head. "Was some housewife, too. Gonna swear off drinking for a month..."
[13:13] <Alison> "Good plan," she says. "Have a nice day." Well, that was...somewhat productive. If far from reassuring. So her body is now choosing to redecorate itself on a whim? Fantastic. There doesn't seem much else to do here, so she heads out. She uses what spare cash she had lying around the apartment to buy a new pair of sunglasses and then heads to the restaraunt a little early.
[13:14] <Carthrat> Suitably equipped, you reach the place early. It's a cafe you and Molly often head to- the cuisine isn't too elaborate, but it's good for some noodles or simple rice dishes, as well as dumplings and the like. Experience has taught you that you're better off asking for a number than trying to name your order to the waitress, though.
[13:16] * Alison asks for a table far in back. Being a regular customer, this isn't an unusual request. Once there, she nurses a simple ice water (cursing the summer's light and heat both until she's cooled off) until her friend shows up. She rolls back her sleeve again and takes another glance at her arm, in case anything's changed again even in this short time.
[13:17] <Carthrat> Molly shows up shortly behind you (also early, for that matter). "Hey," she greets, with a wave of her arm. Your arm... if something has changed, by now, you won't be able to tell- the intricate patterns are beyond your ability to remember perfectly.
[13:19] * Alison covers up her arm again before Molly can get a look at it. One step at a time as far as explaining things goes! "Hey," she says. "Didn't wake you up earlier, did I?" Being an off-day, Molly was probably awake already, but Alison has to ask.
[13:20] <Carthrat> "Nah. I never sleep, you know that," replies Molly, jokingly. "Is something up? You sounded a bit off on the phone."
[13:22] <Alison> "I've just...been feeling strange. All this crazy stuff on the news, you know? Eureka Tower and all that, and the train. I'm just a little freaked out, needed to get ground again, you know?"
[13:23] <Carthrat> "Oh, yeah. I'm glad I'm off today," mutters Molly, shaking her head. "But it's terrible. All those people, just gone..."
[13:24] <Alison> "Yeah, I know what you mean. I wouldn't want to be one of the people having to investigate that, having to go back in there?"
[13:25] <Carthrat> "Eh, from what I've heard, the scene is frustratingly clean," replies Molly, ordering a coffee. "And I'm not a detective, anyway, so it's not really my job to investigate. But they're pretty used to strange stuff like this."
[13:27] <Alison> "Well, that's what I mean. It'd be one thing if they were clearly killed, but just disppearing? That's just...out of the Twilight Zone." She shakes her head. "Well, in that case, I'm glad I'm not a detective. I don't think I'd want a life where things like this seem normal."
[13:27] <Carthrat> "Aww, really? I think it'd be kinda fun," replies Molly, stretching her hands. "Humans can adjust to anything, you know? We're pretty resilient."
[13:29] <Alison> "Well, yeah. It's just, from the perspective of my dingy little life, it's hard to imagine. They have any ideas about what happened on that train?" she asks, trying hard not to sound overeager for information.
[13:30] <Carthrat> "The train case... eh, not that I recall," she replies, sighing. "It's really odd. Someone killed the driver, stopped a train which had hardly anyone on it, if anyone, and then punched a hole in a carriage three steps back and left?"
[13:31] <Carthrat> "There wasn't any blood or bags or stuff left behind or anything, and no evidence that any of the carraige doors were opened, either."
[13:32] * Alison nods. "Probably a junkie or something," she says. "Someone on PCP can pull some pretty crazy stunts," she adds, remembering other stories of Molly's.
[13:33] <Carthrat> "Yeah, maybe," she replies. "Anyway, people are way more curious about the eureka tower at the moment. Especially the hair found at the scene, the forensics guys have been.. really close-lipped about it."
[13:33] <Alison> "Huh? What could be weird about hair?"
[13:34] <Carthrat> "I've no idea. I mean, usually it gets kept for sampling and stuff, right? So if we find some more later, we can check to see if it's from the same person."
[13:34] <Carthrat> "Doesn't usually take long to get results, but for some reason they're waiting around longer than usual."
[13:35] * Alison just nods, kind of at a loss to see what could make a hair sample so unusual...but the last day or so *has* been pretty unusual. "Are you going to be around tomorrow, Molly? I might have to ask you for a favor," Alison says.
[13:36] <Carthrat> "Yeah, I'm one of those people who works during the week, like a normal person," she replies. "Is something up?"
[13:38] <Alison> "Well, it sounds like I'm going to have a surprise houseguest and I'll need to pick her up at the airport. My car was kinda...acting like it wanted to go on the fritz yesterday. If it doesn't work tomorrow, I might have to call you up."
[13:38] <Carthrat> OOC: Actually, she explicitly said not to worry about picking her up.
[13:38] <Carthrat> OOC: Mean to do this anyway?
[13:39] <Alison> OOC: D'oh. Bad memory. Not, strike those last few lines.
[13:39] <Alison> OOC: I'll repose.
[13:39] <Carthrat> OOC: 'kay
[13:41] * Alison just nods, kind of at a loss to see what could make a hair sample so unusual...but the last day or so *has* been pretty unusual. She switches the chatter to small talk now, satisfied that at the least no one could immediately tie her to any of these supernatural events (as much as having the police's protection might be nice...what could they do against something like Rider or Agatha? Besides, they might take her in as a
[13:41] <Alison> suspect).
[13:43] <Carthrat> Dinner is served shortly thereafter. Molly's a vegetarian, so she doesn't have any meat. "Well, without any more evidence, these cases will probably get dropped eventually," muses Molly. "Though, given the scale of them, it'll probably take years."
[13:45] * Alison nods, working through a sizable platefull of noodles. "Well, I just hope it all stops," she says, naturally meaning it in ways Molly couldn't imagine. "It's one thing when stuff like this happens in books or movies, but real-life excitement seems like more trouble than its worth."
[13:46] <Carthrat> "Stuff is always happening," replies Molly, thoughtfully. "Just because most of it doesn't get reported... I mean, I wish I was out of a job, too, but that'll never happen, eh?"
[13:46] * Alison manages a laugh and nods at this. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point."
[13:48] <Carthrat> And just like that, dinner ends. Molly stretches on the chair, before checking her watch. "You want to catch a movie or something?" she asks, shrugging.
[13:49] * Alison nods. "Sure. Beats watching something at home with the cat. The commentary's less amusing." She spares a glance outside. If it's not getting dark already, it should be by the time the movie's done. "Anything good out?"
[13:51] <Carthrat> "Yeah, Die Hard 5," muses Molly, heading out to catch a tram down to a cinema... (more)
[13:52] <Carthrat> ...a few hours pass of idle relaxation. The movie obviously doesn't require any effort to watch, and when it finishes, it doesn't really leave a lasting impression. Molly is still stuffing herself with popcorn as she leaves the theatre, chortling to herself as she walks (it always we her kind of movie).
[13:52] <Carthrat> *was
[13:54] * Alison is grateful to go without her hat and sunglasses if it's dark enough outside afterwards. The movie was a good diversion to take her mind off the craziness of the previous evening, but with night falling again she finds herself peering warily at dark alleyways.
[13:54] <Carthrat> It's pretty dark, been evening for an hour or so by now. "Hey, I'll be heading off now," says Molly, pausing at a train station. "You'll be alright getting home, yeah?"
[13:56] <Alison> "I hope so," she says before she can stop herself. She's torn between wanting company on the way home and not wanting burden Molly with her own problems (which she likely wouldn't believe anyway!) "Yeah, see you later!" she adds before parting from her friend.
[13:57] <Carthrat> Molly looks at you a bit uneasily, but shrugs. "Yeah, later, Alison. Get your car fixed, okay? It's not good to need to walk around at night lately."
[13:58] <Alison> "Okay." Alison has usually felt much more at home in the night than most people would, but she has to concede that Molly's point is accurate. She starts heading towards home, meaning to make no deviations no matter how trivial.
[13:59] <Carthrat> Even though it's saturday, hardly anyone is out this late at night. From where you are, it's easier to catch a tram and slowly trundle your way back home. At least there are a few other people here, and the streets are neatly illuminated.
[14:01] <Alison> Well, that's some comfort, Alison thinks, eyeing the other passengers for anything out of the ordinary as the tram trundles down the road towards her neighborhood. Bah! Look at her, suspicious of everyone around her now. Silly.
[14:01] <Carthrat> They just look like normal people...
[14:02] <Alison> That'll have to do for now!
[14:02] <Carthrat> ...heading back, like you, from the city after probably having some fun. Nothing unusual about that. The tram comes to your stop, and it's a short walk back to your apartment from here.
[14:03] * Alison heads back to her apartment, hopefully without incident.
[14:03] <Carthrat> As you come around the corner and start heading towards the steps, you see another recurring sight. Namely, that goth kid is sitting on the steps in front of the apartment. He hasn't seen you, but he seems to be waiting for something.
[14:05] <Alison> ...Well, she's seen him several times before, and he hasn't done anything overtly hostile. Hell with it. Alison doesn't want to hang around out in the street, and who knows how long the kid'll be there? She walks right up to the apartment complex as though she lived there (which she does!)
[14:05] <Carthrat> His head snaps up as you approach, and a look of panic crosses his feature. "Run!" he shouts. "Rider's waiting for you!"
[14:08] <Alison> "Wha--" How does he know? And if he does, why hasn't Rider killed him like she supposedly does with all witnesses? Also, she can't help but think that that shout of his might have been a bad idea. He could've explained things calmly, so that no one inside would've overheard. Still, she does stop and back away a little.
[14:08] <Carthrat> "There's no time, she's-" 4"You ruined it! I can't believe you ruined it!"
[14:09] <Carthrat> 4"Just whose side are you on, anyway?"
[14:10] <Carthrat> Something falls out of the top of the apartment block, roughly where you room is... no, it's Rider, leaping through the window and landing on her feet, a way-too-long distance below. She still looks as dreadful as ever.
[14:10] <Carthrat> That massive scythe, that twisted, skeletal wing, and her inappropriately handsome face, marred with the same kind of frown a mother might give her unruly son.
[14:10] <Alison> That's it! Alison knows that voice. Now she does bolt without really looking back, not really sure where she's going at first as long as it's AWAY.
[11:01] <Rider> "You better believe I'll be talking to your master about this- oh, crap, she's getting away!" You can hear every word Rider says as you stampede away from her and towards escape. You have to curse yourself once again for not living in a busy neighbourhood, and when you catch your breath you realise you've run deeper into the suburb streets-
[11:02] <Rider> -and not, inconveniantly towards the main road. Only three real options reveal themselves to you- you could try and turn around and head towards the closest busy street, or you could try going to the park and hiding there. Alternately, you could try the river- might be able to get close to a bridge. Rider seems to have vanished for the moment-
[11:03] <Rider> -but she's surely chasing you, so it might not pay to be predictable.
[11:06] <Alison> Heading for a crowd doesn't seem like it would help. Rider and Lancer both have proven that they're more than willing to kill any and all witnesses, and it's unlikely any random bystander would be able to take Rider...and hiding and waiting all night would drive her insane. So, Alison makes for the river!
[11:08] <Rider> The river is dark and poorly lit at this segment of town, but that doesn't mean there isn't stuff here- when you get close to it, you can see a small pier for rowing boats not too far ahead, complete with a shed for storing equipment-
[11:09] <Rider> -and behind, a bridge across the river that takes you to a road that leads straight into the city. It connects up to a freeway. There's nobody on the river at this time of night, but you do remember that there's a circus not too far ahead that's come to Melbourne to perform, complete with giant tent and everything.
[11:12] * Alison runs for the bridge, keeping an eye out for a car to flag down. If all else fails, the circus would be a good place to lose the hunter on her trail.
[11:13] <Rider> By the time you reach the bridge, you're totally winded and out of breath. Adredaline must've kept you going, but now your legs feel numb, and your chest is heaving terribly. A taxi slows down as you wave at it, pulling up beside you.
[11:15] * Alison topples into the back seat and tosses what little spare cash she has in her pockets at the driver. "Far away from here as that'll take me," she huffs. "Into the city. Move!"
[11:18] <Rider> The driver blinks, and shrugs, driving you onto a large main road that heads into the city proper. Barely two minutes after you've started, he runs into painfully heavy traffic in an underpass.
[11:20] <Alison> "Shit, shit, shit," Alison swears under her breath. "Hey, how much do I have to pay for you to flagrantly ignore traffic regulations?" She peeks out the back window, looking for a sign of Rider.
[11:20] <Rider> "Hey, lady, even if I wanted to go forward," he replies, gesturing ahead of you. There's no room to go around the traffic, unless he wanted to suicidally drive in the wrong lane and get hit by oncoming traffic in seconds. Rider is in the back seat.
[11:22] <Rider> Oh, wait, no she's not. If she was in the back seat, she'd be next to you, and you'd never have even noticed her get in.
[11:22] <Rider> Must be your nerves fraying.
[11:27] <Alison> Dammit. There's no time for this. Alison gets out of the cab on the driver's side--with traffic nearly deadlocked, this shouldn't be too dangerous--and starts running forward between the lines of cars, ducking down somewhat and hoping to use the vehicles to block her from sight at least partially.(more)
[11:27] <Alison> She probably won't be able to keep running for long, so she keeps an eye out for any sign of police--better to get picked up as a street lunatic than take her chances out her with Rider.
[11:30] <Rider> They're never there when you need them, huh. You pass through a few emergency fire exits as you run through the tunnel, which probably lead to the top- the other end of the underpass should take you very close to the arts centre/concert hall, and a central park.
[11:32] <Alison> On a whim, Alison ducks into one of the fire exits--the less sense it makes, the less likely Rider is to guess at her course of action.
[11:34] <Rider> The heavy door swins open slowly, and you eventually manage to get to the other side. A flight of stairs leads up to somewhere.
[11:35] * Alison pauses inside to catch her breath--she's not used to this much excercise, and she usually would've slept through much more of the day than she got a chance to today. She pulls back one sleeve to glance at the tattoos while she rests, looking for changes.
[11:38] <Rider> The tattoos are still there, but as you look at them, your whole body starts tingling. Whispers and the clash of swords echo through your mind. Even through your clothes, you can see the tattoos extend throughout your entire body, now, even to your face and legs. As if you are undergoing metamorphesis, as if hands turned to fire and lips to glass. Golden skin, clawed fingers, and a skull of agony.
[11:39] <Rider> Throb.
[11:39] <Rider> Throb.
[11:39] <Rider> Throb.
[11:39] <Rider> And a throne hovering in nowhere, built of souls and stories.
[11:40] * Alison clutches those fingers to her skull, moaning in pain and confusion--utter bewilderment at what's happening--and she sinks against the cold wall of the passage.
[11:42] <Rider> Rider walks through the wall and looks at you, shaking her head. "Geez, you can't even run properly," she remarks. "I've got to say, you're the first person to escape me, and you did it twice to boot. The first time was nothing personal, but I've got a reputation to uphold, you know?"
[11:45] <Alison> "Wouldn't want...to ruin your good name," Alison grunts. It seems like there was something important out there, for just a second. A throne...?
[11:45] <Rider> A golden throne, on which the LORD sits.
[11:47] <Alison> Seeming to live in two places at once, Alison tries to focus on this Lord as she struggles to her feet, ready to drop or roll down stairs or do whatever's necessary to avoid the inevitable slash of that scythe.
[11:48] <Rider> "Man, I feel like I need to justify myself to you," complains Rider, holding her scythe calmly next to you. "Well, you should be thankful. You've no idea how many souls get lost on the way to transcendance, but everyone I kill goes to where they should be." The LORD is the MASTER.  Rider leisurely swings her scythe around towards you. "Well, this is the end."
[11:52] * Alison just collapses--she doesn't have the energy to do much else, and hopefully it'll be enough to duck under that lazy stroke. What was it she heard about Masters recently? A Master commands a Servant, and a Servant protects the master without question...? She could use one of those right about now, she thinks, falling and staring more at her hands than her nightmare assailant.
[11:53] <Rider> Hands, covered in flaring runes. A shadow falls over you.
[11:53] <Rider> CLANG!
[11:53] * Alison peers up, from her heap on the ground, at this unexpected noise.
[11:54] <Rider> Rider's gone. In her place is a suit of armour... no, there's a suit of armour in front of you. No, there's a person, wearing a shining suit of armour, in front of you, and he's blocking Rider's scythe on a sword.
[11:55] <Rider> Then he spins around and kicks her solidly in the chest. She slams into the wall opposite, denting it and causing concrete to crumble out. "The hell? That's not fair! If you had a servant to begin with, don't wait until the last second!" she yells, angrily.
[11:56] * Alison doesn't bother wondering where this figure came from--if Rider can walk through walls, why can't mystery knights. She just props herself against the wall as best she can and snarls to this new apparition: "KILL her!"
[11:57] <Rider> Rider balks. "This is bad," she mutters, apparently not having much room here to wield her massive weapon, and she rapidly leaps through the ceiling. The knight, if that is what he is, glances at you-
[11:59] <Rider> -short, golden hair, and an unblemished face that doesn't exist in reality. Piercing blue eyes that see everything, enclosed in literally shining armour; he lights up the room with his presence. But the armour is compact, not bulky, and seems almost like a second skin on him; emblems crisscross it, similar to the runes scarred into your body. His sword pulses with a red light-
[12:00] <Rider> -even a shield is on his back, though he's not using it here, and he spares a brief moment to bow to you. "It will be done, Master," he swears, before leaping through the roof after Rider.
[12:03] <Alison> It's a long moment before Alison draws another breath. Only then does she notice the heavy sheen of sweat over her entire body. "Jesus," she pants. Swallowing heavily, she climbs to her feet and starts, slowly, for the stairs. Somehow, whatever's happening up there seems like something she should see, if her...Servant is going to work.
[12:04] <Rider> You're on fire, or at least it feels that way, or maybe swimming in lava, but it's pleasantly warm regardless. Clang! Clang! Clang! you hear, screams of metal on metal. Reaching the top of the stairs, you manage to exit, and see... Rider and your Servant, facing off on a deserted street. 
[12:05] <Rider> Rider seems to be panting heavily already, but your Servant is just standing there, his sword in a relaxed position. "You cannot win," he declares in a soft voice full of confidence.
[12:06] <Rider> "..truly... that seems to be the case," replies Rider, reaching into her cloak and pulling out a small hand-mirror. Of all the times to be checking her appearance...
[12:07] * Alison just observes, for now, still in a daze, occasionally glancing at her new tattoos (do they cover her hands now, too? She'll have to start wearing gloves if she wants to cover that up...) and then back at this mysterious champoin.
[12:08] <Rider> They're pulsing, they're red, they're everywhere. They hold a terrible amount of power, something tells you. "Vanity. The last reprieve of the worthless," murmurs your knight, charging towards Rider-
[12:09] <Rider> -a scythe isn't meant to be used in war. For starters, the balance is off; the curved blade makes it difficult to swing accurate. You can see that Rider has trouble just defending against your servant, never mind making a return blow. She has to wield the weapon like a staff, which is troublesome for her.
[12:10] <Rider> Swords, on the other hand, are made to kill. Your servant has no trouble pressing his advantage against her. Rider seems surprised. "What the- you're someone who doesn't know death! How can you be summoned in this war?" she replies, as if it's a personal insult.
[12:10] <Rider> "Dying would have impeded my duty," he responds, slamming her weapon with a bone-shattering blow. She flies back again, evidently overmatched.
[12:14] * Alison feels her hands creep up her face, as though they were moving of their own accord, to sense whether the marks cover her even there. All the while, she can't help but hope the knight manages to rid the world of the Red Menace.
[12:16] <Rider> "And a demonic sword, too, but you're not a demon," murmurs Rider, peering through her mirror. "Hah. I'm not as overmatched as you might think, you know. Yeah, I'll come to you in time. Unfortunately, my Master won't let me bring out real power without his signal." "So you're going to run away." "I'm going to run away."
[12:18] <Rider> "Looks like you live another day, sweet," she calls to you. "You'd better enjoy it, because even if I'm not the one who does it, you'll certainly be killed."  And Rider starts leaping away with great, gravity-defying hops.
[12:20] * Alison watches the enemy retreat, and only once Rider is well out of sight does she relax a little. "Hey," she calls out to the knight, tiredly. "Thanks. So...what do I call you...?"
[12:21] <Rider> "Saber," he replies, at your side in an instant. "Master. Are you injured? Did that Servant land even a single blow?"
[12:23] * Alison shakes her head. "No, she didn't touch me...just near ran me to death."
[12:24] <Rider> "That is well. Come, we must go from this place quickly, lest other servants arrive. Do you have a strategy prepared?" he asks, extending a hand to you.
[12:27] <Alison> "Uh, I was meaning to work on that when she found me," Alison bluffs. Then, more honestly, "Actually, was hoping you could answer some questions for me, about a lot of things...but I need to get home first. It's probably not the safest place around, but I'm dead on my feet here."
[12:28] <Rider> "Very well," he replies, before vanishing. His disembodied voice continues to speak, however. "To your castle, then."
[12:29] * Alison laughs bitterly. "Yep, my 'castle. Try not to step on the cat..."
[12:30] <Rider> "I will take utmost care," he replies, without the slightest trace of sarcasm.
[12:32] * Alison just nods, and guesses she's stuck walking back. Being disembodied must have its conveniences sometimes. She starts back down the fire escape for the long trek.
[12:33] <Rider> You're weary, but full of energy, which may not be a good thing if you can't accurately gauge how tired you are. Bursts of adredaline have their downsides. "Master, have you registered with the Church as of yet?" queries the Servant.
[12:36] * Alison hits the pavement, back in the underpass, and aims for the bridge she'd crossed earlier. "Uh, I haven't been to a church in a while...we don't see eye to eye on a few things...look, Saber, you can call me Alison, you know."
[12:38] <Rider> "Alison..." Saber sounds surprised. "As you wish." There doesn't seem to be anyone around by the time you hit suburban streets. "You should ask your questions; things should be clear on your mind in case we are attacked."
[12:41] * Alison laughs reufully. "Well, all of them? That'll take a while...I think we'd better start with this Church." She remembers Agatha mentioning such an organization. *Most* disapprovingly, but then, Agatha's a vampire.
[12:43] <Rider> "The church... I do not know the state of it in this world completely, but I believe it is an organisation of unworthy cutthroats," he replies.
[12:43] * Alison nods. "Okay, this is what I've heard, so...tell me why we'd want to walk in there and 'register?'"
[12:45] <Rider> "We would not. I was checking to see if you had as of yet," he replies. "It would have been unsightly if you had, but then I would request to dispose of the supervisor. It seems that this is not necessary, however."
[12:47] * Alison blinks, and is suddenly very glad she hasn't performed this odious task. As much as she would've been happy to see Rider sliced into bits, she isn't comfortable with the thought of this Servant of hers killing actual people. "Okay...then I guess I should level with you: I'm kind of new to this whole thing. How many of these Masters and Servants are there? Do you know?"
[12:48] <Rider> "The traditional figure is seven of either," he replies. "I take it you do not know what you are doing if you are asking such questions."
[12:48] <Rider> His voice isn't accusing or condemning, but stating a fact.
[12:50] * Alison laughs, and there's more than a hint of desperation in it. "Oh, jesus," she says. "I haven't got a clue." She has to stop for a moment to lean against the nearest building, almost doubled over from mirth at the sheer insanity of the whole situation--she is, after all, talking to an invisible voice.
[12:53] <Rider> "Be calm. It matters not," replies Saber. "I cannot lose. Regardless of what intrigues surround the war this time, I will not fail or falter in your service. Our souls are intertwined as of now, and I will protect you until the duty is done. For summoning me at all-"
[12:54] <Rider> "-I am grateful to you eternally, no matter if it was accidental or desired. You have nothing to fear as long as I am at your side."
[12:56] * Alison is silent for a moment, a little surprised at the sincerety and old-fashioned pride of purpose in Saber's tone, but genuinely reassured by it. There is a rock to cling to amidst the tide of madness! She starts walking again. "Well...thank you...so, 'this time?' This kinda thing happens a lot?"
[12:58] <Rider> "This would be the sixth time shadows of the past have been called to fight for humans," he replies. "The prize is the Holy Grail."
[13:00] <Alison> Every answer raises more questions..."'Shadows of the past...' Is that what you are, then?"
[13:01] <Rider> "Yes. My name is --------, but I implore you to address me as Saber. Names have always held power, and those who knew of me may find some advantage should they know my identity."
[13:05] * Alison nods. "Of course," she says, just mentally boggling at that one and filing it away until examining it makes her feel less insane. Still, it fits, in a way. "Next subject then: the Holy Grail. Are we actually talking, like, Indy and the Last Crusade here, or..." no, he wouldn't get that. Wrong audience, Alison! "Well, what is it?"
[13:06] <Rider> "A magical artifact capable of granting wishes," he replies.
[13:07] <Alison> "Any kind? No catch?"
[13:07] <Rider> "Hahaha... I do not know," he replies. "I presume there is a limit on this scale, as the world is still here despite the past wars."
[13:08] <Rider> "I believe the wish is more likely to succeed if it is on a personal scale, but this is conjecture on my part."
[13:10] <Alison> "Well, I could think of a few things," she says with a sigh. "So, I guess, these other Masters...they track each other down, fight it out, winner takes all?"
[13:12] <Rider> "Correct. There are various means used to find one another, but the war itself drags participants together regardless of their intent," he responds, still invisible. You can see your apartment now. "Aditionally, there are various means used to increase the power of a servant, beginning with taking the souls of others... most servants object to this, and must be forced into it."
[13:14] * Alison nods, remembering Lancer's almost somber reflections during their conversation. "You might be glad to know there's at least one Master who doesn't like the idea, too...so, what other ways are there? And...what happens to the losers?" She takes up a station just down the street from her apartment building, looking around for anyone else loitering in the vicinity.
[13:17] <Rider> "It would depend on if the Master or Servant is killed," he replies. "Should a master be slain, then the servant will be unable to maintain his form, and vanish... should the servant be slain, then the Master is at the mercy of his foes. If he is not killed, he can attempt to make a new pact with a masterless Servant."
[13:17] <Rider> "Thus it is only common sense for us to dispatch our foes completely."
[13:20] * Alison sighs. "Yeah, I guess so." She likes the sound of this less and less. "Okay, one more query, before we head inside and brave the wrath of an unfed housecat." That is, assuming Rider didn't kill the thing out of boredom, Alison thinks with some worry. "When did all this start? You said this was the seventh time, right? Who started it all?"
[13:28] <Rider> "Sixth time," he replies. "Powerful families of mages began this war a long time ago. The presence and battles of servants serve to fuel the Grail, which is then used by the victor."
[13:31] <Alison> "Gladiatorial games, human sacrifices, jolly good fun..." she mutters.
[13:08] <Saber> Your apartment building stands in front of you, darker than you remember it. A few of the streetlights nearby aren't working this evening, it seems, and it's alltogether quiet.. though it is also quite late. There isn't any sign of Rider, or of that goth kid...
[13:10] * Alison stops a block or so away, taking a look around the surrounding streets. "Saber," she says. "Can you tell if there are any other uninvited guests waiting for me tonight? If not, can you take a look around?"
[13:11] <Saber> 12"I can't detect any other servants in the area,"
[13:11] <Saber> he replies, softly. 12"One moment, however." 1 You can't see him move, but you seem to feel the distance between the two of you lengthen, briefly.
[13:12] <Saber> After a minute he returns. 12"Although this place contains many other humans, none appear to be injured or dangerous. Rider will surely not return tonight."
[13:13] * Alison nods. "Thank you. Let's go home, then." So saying, she walks across the street to the apartment building, soon heading up the stairs to her floor and hoping Rider wasn't as petty as to take out her frustrations on Alison's furniture.
[13:16] <Saber> Saber materializes beside you when you reach your room, although he's no longer wearing his armour. Rather, he seems to be wearing a fairly archaic shirt and surcoat, rather reminiscient of a renaissance nobleman. Beneath the armour, he has a lean and wiry frame that seems ready to spring into action at a moments notice. "Will you be resting through the night, Master?" he queries at the threshold.
[13:21] * Alison has to smile a little at the antiquated garb. "I...shouldn't," she says. "If I get thrown off-cycle, it can be hard to get it started again." She chews her lip for a second, thinking. "Granted, the last night wasn't exactly restful...How about you? Come to think of it, do you have to sleep?"
[13:22] <Saber> "It's not necessary," he replies, and his voice has lost that unearthly quality as well. "All I require for sustenance is mana... though it seems you are providing me with plenty."
[13:22] <Saber> "I noted that your command seal covered your entire body. You must be very strong."
[13:23] * Alison glances at her arm. Are those runes still there? Will they be visible constantly, or only when she...does whatever she did to summon Saber? "Apparently," she says, plopping down on the sofa. "Though that's kind of a revelation to me, I have to admit."
[13:29] <Saber> The runes... aren't there. But they are there. But they aren't visible, that's right. "Fortunate for us," replies Saber, stepping into the room after you. "It means we will not need to exercise any draconian measures to continue fighting." On your coffee-table is an open book that you can't remember taking out, apparently about chess.
[13:32] * Alison glances at the book. Rider must have taken it out while waiting for her, as hard as it is to imagine that creature browsing any kind of book to pass the time. Well, maybe Clive Barker or something. She takes a look at the particular page the book is open to, out of curiosity.
[13:34] <Saber> Looks like a recounting of one of the chess world grand finals a few decades ago, indicating a few of the famous plays therein. You'd need to be quite the chess player to really understand it.
[13:35] <Saber> Saber walks over to one of your windows and peers out of it. "It's better for us to engage our opponents than allow them to come to us," he explains. "The issue is of course locating them."
[13:37] * Alison isn't much of a chess player, though that's never stopped her from trying! She grabs a piece of scrap paper from the kitchen-counter and bookmarks the spot for future reference. "I know," she says, with a sinking feeling in her abdomen. She doesn't want to start thinking about putting other people through what she's dealt with the past couple days, but...pragmatically speaking, it might be a matter of survival.(more)
[13:40] <Alison> "I have a couple ideas," she says eventually, sounding uncomfortable about this prospect but proceeding nevertheless. "There was someone else waiting here tonight, aside from Rider. Some kid--I think he actually tried to warn me. Shame he couldn't keep his voice down. I've seen him around the city lately, and he might know something if we can find him. Otherwise..." She thinks back to the tattoo parlor. If she can find the shop
[13:41] <Alison> If she can find the shop "Big Dave" called while she was there, she might be able to track down this other woman with the mystery runes that she heard about.
[13:42] <Saber> "If he knows something about Rider, he could lead us to fight her sooner rather than later," agrees Saber. "Hmm. He may also know something of her identity, which would greatly aid us in combating her. Do you know why she was persuing you initially?"
[13:44] * Alison chuckles bitterly. "She thought I was a vampire. There *was* a vampire on the carriage, but it was someone else. Even after Rider figured things out, she said she had to kill all witnesses. That's why she's *been" chasing me...I guess she's got another reason now."
[13:46] <Saber> "Unbefitting of how a hero should act," condemns Saber with a trace of regret. "More reason to put an end to her. Ah-" Rather bashfully, he approaches you a bit more closely. "I forgot to tell you the most important thing."
[13:48] <Alison> "Uh?" Alison says, most eloquently. Saber seems almost shy now. It's an odd look for him. "What is it?"
[13:52] <Saber> "The command seal," he explains, gesturing towards you. "Though it seems to have vanished for now. The seals on your body are what bind me to your service, so to speak. You can use them to issue me absolute commands."
[13:54] <Alison> "Absolute commands? Something...against your will, I guess?" She thinks back to the conversation with Lancer, who certainly didn't seem to enjoy every aspect of her tasks.
[13:54] <Saber> "Not necessarily. They can push me beyond normal limits as well," he replies. "For instance, even if we are seperated by a great distance, I can be at your side instantly if you use the seals."
[13:55] * Alison nods. "Good to know."
[13:55] <Saber> "You can issue three such commands during the war, and yes, many masters use them to ensure their servants will not turn on them. However even if you use all three of yours, I will still defend you until the war is done."
[13:58] * Alison smiles at this last comment. "I believe you," she says, and then nods again. "Right, three wishes, use only in an emergency. Naturally."
[13:59] <Saber> "Yes. Well, now, is there anything else you would like to know?" he continues, shrugging. "About myself, or the servants, or the war?"
[14:03] * Alison fetches a drink from the fridge--some exotic fruit juice, with a sizable collection of ice cubes--and closes the blinds (just in case she dozes off before remembering to do so) before settling back on the sofa with the lights dimmed. As always, she's more comfortable that way. "Well...it's been a while since I read The Once and Future King, but if I recall correctly, you found the grail once upon a time?"
[14:06] <Saber> Saber's lips purse and his face blackens somewhat. "Those legends... I do not know what I found at that point. There is a hole in my mind. It feels more as if my quest is never-ending, which is why I am summoned for these battles."
[14:08] * Alison nods politely and backs away from the subject a little. It seems a touchy matter...and anyway, anything could be made up after this many centuries, right? "Do you remember anything?" she says quietly.
[14:12] <Saber> "Yes... to a degree," he replies, rubbing his head. "It feels as if parts of my mind have been constrained, but I remember serving well enough. Although we servants are beings crafted out of legends, I am sure most of what you read is true in some way."
[14:14] <Alison> "Well...I should consider myself lucky then," she says. "So these servants...anything more you could tell me about them? I know about Rider, and I met a girl who claimed she was a Servant called Lancer."
[14:16] <Saber> "Each servant possesses certain abilities dependant on their class," explains Saber. "Of course there are many heroes who can fit one or more of these descriptions, each bringing their own special traits to the field. Tradtionally, the 'Rider' class is weaker in direct combat than my own, but possesses strong 'noble phantasms', or legendary relics that hold their own power."
[14:19] <Alison> "The scythe, I guess? What are the other classes? And, I do have to ask: we know Rider isn't at all suited to fighting you. Is there anyone that acts as a counter to you?"
[14:21] <Saber> "The scythe... I didn't notice anything unique about it, apart from it's odd shape," muses Saber. "It's more likely she has relics she chose not to display- using the noble phantasms at the wrong moment can make them useless. As for myself, well, I suppose Berserker and Assassin have the greatest chance of defeating me... the remaining classes, by the way, would be Archer and Caster."
[14:25] * Alison nods along, intrigued despite herself by all this talk of the arcane, though she yawns rather hugely as well. She's used to being up at this time, but that run across town was a lot of excercise by her standards.
[14:27] <Saber> The fruity drink is refreshing, and Saber seems to be staring at it with interest. "Anyhow, although Berserker can likely defeat me in a straight match, generally that servant will not be given to much strategy. And as long as I remain wary, Assassin will not be able to land a sneak attack. Of more concern is if our enemies can strike at things close to you, actually."
[14:27] <Saber> "When you cannot defeat a foe in fair combat, attack his resolve- this is what your opponents may try to do."
[14:30] * Alison sighs, thinking of people close to her who could now be in danger--Molly, her parents, the ill-timed surprise visit from Janet--before considering the possible usefulness of such a strategy and hating herself for it.
[14:33] <Saber> Saber remains standing at attention, or something close to it. "Hence why we should go to them. Well, I will await your decisions. Certainly you should have time to reflect on it- if only Rider was after you previously, then the other masters will not likely be aware of you just yet."
[14:36] <Alison> A laugh. "No, I doubt it. I wasn't aware of me until a couple hours ago...Anyway, we do have a couple leads for now, at least. I'll probably have to go out in the light to follow up on them..." She rattles around the ice cubes for a moment, and looks embarassed. "Haven't mentioned that, to you, have I?"
[14:37] <Saber> Saber blinks, and soon sits down on a nearby chair. "Mentioned 'that'?"
[14:41] <Alison> "I can't be out in bright light too long, or I'll, well...burn to a crisp, really. 'm hypersensitive." She gestures in the air as she speaks (though what this is intended to convey is far from clear), as though looking for the right words. "Think of it as an allergy, if that helps?"
[14:42] <Saber> "That should be alright. The war is fought at night in any case, so you should be awake when it matters," agrees Saber. "Can I have some?"
[14:44] * Alison blinks, and hands the glass over. "Sure. I didn't think you needed any, but I guess that was silly of me. People don't eat and drink just to survive, after all. It's a tropical fruit blend, very sweet." She hands the glass to Saber. This small gesture will have to do, since she's not sure how to convey her immense relief at the man not finding anything odd about her condition.
[14:46] <Saber> Maybe he's seen stranger things. "Anyway, you said something about-" -he takes a sip, pauses, and leisurely takes his time swallowing it, before continuing- "-another vampire? Connected to Rider in some way?"
[14:47] * Taishyr (ferixstade@58.194.238.102) has joined #dunes
[14:52] * Taishyr is now known as Tai{STARTROPICS}
[14:52] * Alison looks obviously amused to see the gallant night so relishing such simple pleasures, and grins silently for a moment before continuing. "Agatha was her name. Rider was looking for her and found me instead. Agatha told me later that Rider's Master is trying to kill the other vampires, though I'm not sure how far we can trust her word. I could get back to her lair, if it seems worth finding out more. Wouldn't be my first ch
[14:53] <Alison> choie, though."
[14:53] <Alison> *choice
[14:55] <Saber> "If what she says is true, she would be an ally, but given her form," muses Saber, polishing off the rest of the drink. "It would not be wise to trust her too far... oh, another, please."
[14:58] * Alison laughs and gets up to go to the fridge, taking Saber's glass and refilling it. Nonexistence must make one miss such things! She grabs a beer for herself and pops the cap as she sits down again. "As for me, I am in desperate need of one of these." She shouldn't get *too* tipsy, but if there was ever a time when she needed alcohol, it's now.(more)
[14:59] * Tai{STARTROPICS} is now known as Demedais
[15:00] <Alison> "Agatha...I don't trust her at all. I'm sure the only reason she didn't make me one of her meals was because I thought I was one of her own. I wouldn't go to her unless we have no other options, but I'll keep it in mind."
[15:01] <Saber> "Alright. I suppose we will be remaining here until light, then?" questions Saber, taking his time with his second glass and peering around at all the interesting things you've got stashed around.
[15:07] <Alison> "We will. I'll collapse if I try to go anywhere before getting some rest." She yawns again. "Which I should be doing soon, even if this isn't my normal time for it. We'll probably have to follow up these leads in the daytime, so we should get out in the afternoon. I need to back here by the evening--a friend is visiting from abroad." And what will she tell Janet about Saber? Best to keep her friends ignorant?
[15:11] <Saber> Saber seems to have the answer. "Is that so... I can remain dematerialized if that is the case. Normally to do so would require mana, but I don't see that as a problem. Well, then, I will keep watch until you are ready."