Tom follows, intrigued by the architecture and the layout of the institute. The place seems like an idea place to work. The place seems built to last and yet flexible, nimble--qualities that a successful Immortal might embody.

"Quite a canvas you have here," he says to Daiyu. "What do you think so far?"

Then Tom's phone rings, and he checks the screen. Grandad Baldwin. "Excuse me, Ms. Winchester, Daiyu. It's my grandfather. Is it okay if I take this call?"

OOC: If it's okay, Tom will move away and answer the phone.

"Of course," Kim says and you step away and answer the call.


"Hello. What is my favorite grandchild up to," your grandfather asks. You know that you are not the first of his grandchildren he has called his favorite. It seems that the youngest of you, walking in his footsteps to become an Air Force officer, is always his favorite.

"Hi, Grandad," Tom says. "Not too much. I have an internship this summer, and I'll be headed to camp in August. How are you? How's your summer going?"

"The summer's good. Slow but good. I wish Alabama was as good at spring sports as they are in football, but I can live through the loss. Football season is only a few months away, so that's good too."

"You come from a family of heroes. A family that serves their country. You made the right choice."

"So an internship. What is it you're working with this summer?"

Tom moves away from Daiyu and Ms. Winchester so he doesn't distract from their conversation. "Ha!" Tom chuckles. "Football's year-round, Grandad, what with recruiting and spring training. You still listening to Paul Finebaum? That guy's better at stirring the pot that anyone else I've ever heard."

"I'm working with an interior decorating company this summer, actually. It's funny the kinds of internships that are available, and this place is cool, though it's not something I'd normally think about. A lot of antiques, some very cool swords. We have a project to work on this place called the Salk Insitute, a scientific research lab. We're actually touring the place now. Very state of the art."

"I'm also doing a lot of physical training, running, hand to hand combat. There's a dojo here I've been working out at. Hopefully I can be ready for camp when it gets here."

"He's the best. Of course I'm still listening to him."

When you mentioned Salk Institute he got deathly quiet.

When you had told him about the dojo and the camp, he continued.

"You're busy. I should call later. See you, bye." And he hung up.

That conversation quickly turned strange. Your grandfather never acted like that. Or hung up that hurriedly.

Tom's grandfather's silence puzzles Tom. Was it the interior decorating? The Salk Institue? Jonas Salk, Tom knows, developed the polio vaccine. Why would the name bother his grandfather? Or had something happened at the Institute that his grandfather knew about? Very weird.

Slipping his phone into his pocket, he rejoined Winchester and Daiyu on the tour.

The tour continued. There were mostly office spaces, but you were also shown some laboratories.

All of the desks in the labs had wheels and they had been gathered in a few groups in each lab. The lights were fastened on rails in the ceilings that allowed them to be moved all over the lab. Most of the lights had been moved to the various clusters of desks, where they were doing the most good. There were a few lights in the rest of the room too, to make sure those parts weren't left to darkness.

The tour took a few hours. After which everyone said their goodbyes.

[OOC: Is there anything else you want to do here?]

The workspaces of the Salk Institute intrigue Tom, and he follows along, content to let Daiyu and Winchester do most of the talking. He feels guilty about telling his grandfather he was doing an internship and training at a dojo. Though in a broad sense, what he said was kind of true from a certain point of view, Tom knows this isn't a formal intership at al. He knows Daiyu has more to teach him than just how to be a better Immortal, but the main reason he is here with her is to hone his skills and avoid getting killed.

At the end of the tour, Tom thanks Winchester for her tour. "Very impressive place here, Ms. Winchester," he says. "I'm looking forward to what Daiyu has planned."

Daiyu and Tom returned to her place and spent the next few days in training.

At first, the pace Daiyu had kept up left Tom nearly exhausted. The older Immortal seemed to have limitless reserves of strength and energy, and it was all Tom could do to keep up with her, and even then, only barely. Still, his ROTC training had served him well as a foundation, and each day he felt himself becoming a little faster, a little sharper, a little stronger. He devoted himself to learning how to use his sword as an extension of his own body, to feel it organically integrated with himself. Daiyu was still quicker, still more perceptive, but he knew this training was a process, and each day he felt himself becoming a little more confident.

While you were training, a pillar of small blue and white orbs of light appeared in the dojo. A jingling sound emanated from the orbs that descended slowly.

When the bottom of the pillar touched the floor, the orbs changed into a female dressed in simple black shoes, jeans, and a white hoodie. The text on the hoodie said: "Saving People Hungint Things The Family Business" and in smaller print "Supernatural" and in even smaller print "Join The Hunt" everything was perfectly legible.

When the orbs appear, Tom pauses, and he swivels to face the being who has just appeared. His sword is raised defensively, and he is poised to defend himself or Daiyu if need be. The feeling that washes through his mind is different from what he has experienced before, but he doesn't need the lukewarm glow to tell him that this visitor is supernatural. Not Fae, Vampire, or Immortal, he reckons. Based on the light, he suspects this being to be an Angel, and if so, his blade is likely no threat to her.

His eyes still on the visitor, he asks Daiyu, "Friend of yours?"

OOC: Defensive stance.

"No," Daiyu said while readying a defensive stance with her longer Chinese blade. "She is not."

Daiyu was an attractive Chinese female, with black hair down to her chest on her left and back, but completely shaved on the right side of her head with strange tattoos where the hair would have been.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:13, Thu 19 Mar 2020.

Cailin nodded to the two in front of her, her eyes showing a marked interest when she noticed the swords. “Hello, sorry, I didn't want to startle you but… There's no way to do that appearing like that…” She frowned. “At least I don't know how…”

Shaking her head, she turned to Tom, “I am Cailin. I have… Hmm… Been assigned to watch over you and your cohort, so I wanted to introduce myself.” She tilted her head to the side, her eyes falling on the blade then opened her mouth to ask something but thought better of it.

"Assigned? Assigned by who? The Baron?" Tom gauges the woman. If she could teleport, she no doubt has other abilities as well.

"You know, you could have just knocked," he says, shifting slightly and lowering his weapon, though he does not stow it away. "I'm Tom. This is my shifu, Daiyu." Turning to Daiyu, Tom says, "My cohort are my friends that I told you about."

OOC: I'm not sure if we've established how much Tom has told Daiyu. He would have described what had happened to him during the drive, his death at the diner, who his friends are, and what he owes Baron De La Vega. He would have also emphasized how fearful Vampires are of Hunters, that Sparrow thought Daiyu was a non-supernatural mortal, and that he wouldn't divulge who Daiyu was to the other supernatural denizens of San Diego.

Abe figured out that Daiyu was more than what she seemed, but I don't know if Tom knows that Abe thinks that. He would have told Daiyu that it was a possibility, though.

Daiyu nodded and lowered her sword too. She was still ready to use it though.

"And why did they assign you," Daiyu asked.


[OOC: Cool. If we hadn't established it before, we have now. So let's go with that.]

“Not… Technically.” Cailin seemed to think about that for a moment. “I was first assigned to Mr. De La Vega.” She pointed a finger to the sky. “Who told me that if I wanted to help him, the best way to do it would be to help you. As in you and your cohort.” She squinted. “Apparently, the powers that be agree.” After all, her map was all the evidence she needed. “So,” She stretched her hands to the side. “Here I am.”

“As for knocking, I'm not sure I can do that before I appear but I'll try next time.” She paused, obviously amused, then added. “I targeted you, I had no real idea of where you were. And I'd rather avoid appearing like that in the middle of the street. That'd be pretty bad…”

She turned to Daiyu. “Well… Apparently, new Angels - that's me for the time being - are handed difficult tasks, that way the next ones seem easy. Or so I was told.” She shrugged. “Who knew hazing was a thing even up there, uh? Though it comes with perks, so…” She shook her head. “Anyway… Hmm… Would you mind teaching me when you have time?” She looked at both when she asked that, obviously not sure who was doing the teaching. If anyone was…

"You want to know how to fight with a sword," Daiyu asked.

“Well…” Cailin shifted on her feet, uncomfortably. “When you think Guardian Angel, you think flaming sword, right? I don't have the sword of course…yet…I hope but it can't hurt to learn, right? I'm not supposed to fight anyone else's battles, but the way I see it, it doesn't mean that others won't try to prevent me from helping… Worst case scenario, I learn something new that I can't really use, so…”

"You were assigned to the Baron?" Tom considers this, a quizzical expression on his face. If Angels were real, then how did they get assigned to Vampires? "I would have thought that your team and De La Vega's would kind of be on opposite sides."

He has more questions, but he figures they can wait for another time. "So you're new, huh? So am I, but I guess you probably already know that. If you want to learn how to fight with a sword, Daiyu's a superb teacher, but that's her call." He's sure what he's seen of Angels on television isn't completely realistic, but those Angels often had blades, so it makes sense that they need to know how to use them. "So, are Angels more like they are on Lucifer or Supernatural?"

“So did I.” Cailin stretched her hands to the side. “But I'm not the one making the rules, so…” She shrugged. After a second, she frowned. “Wait, you're not on his team? Aren't you a vampire too?”

“As for Angels… No wings…” She seemed pitiful. “Other than that…” She grumbled. “I was told that I was a Guardian Angel, I met one of our leaders, was explained a few of my new powers and sent here so…” She shrugged. “Ask me again another time…”

Nodding, Tom says, "No, I'm part of the Baron's cohort, but I'm not a Vampire. I'm what they call a Hunter. I can detect other supernatural beings, and I'm training to become a weapons expert. When you came in, I felt this kind of lukewarm blue-white light in my head."

As Cailin reveals more about herself, Tom nods. "I guess you have to earn your wings, then," he says with a wry smile. "My powers didn't all manifest at once. In fact, I'm continuing to discover new ones." He bows to Daiyu. "Daiyu has been helping me with physical conditioning and weapons training. She's a friend, so you're safe around her."

“Oh. Sorry.” Cailin grimaced. “I assumed that you were all vampires…” She shook her head. “I shouldn't have done that I guess.” The girl tilted her head to the side. “A Hunter, eh? Well… If you happen to hunt demons, I'd bet that'd give you some brownie points. Could come in handy at some point.” She winked. “Just sayin'.”

She smiled mischievously for a moment, then sigh. “Well, for the wings it seemed to be pretty definitive. Which is weird when you think of it: everyone thinks angels have wings, surely it comes from somewhere, right? Anyway…”

She grinned, amused. “I'd say I'm pretty safe from anyone who knows what I am and who's not a demon.” She frowned. “The problem is that while most would at least hesitate before attacking an angel, it's not necessarily the case with attacking her charges. And there, what I can do at the moment is a bit limited, even if won't fight their battles for them…” She shrugged. “There should be a middle ground of sorts. Hence the sword idea. Plus, it's cool.”

"If you get yourself a sword, I can teach you," Daiyu said.

[This thread is now closed.]