Dean seems acutely aware of the attention the newly declares Sire was attracting as they exited the elevator.

To start, Dean is not at all dressed for a night out at a five star club. Maybe a jog, or a workout, but not anything like what the majority of customers were wearing.

Then he factors in the steely determination and purposeful gait of the petite Asali, her "cloak" and of course her chihuahua. Eccentric was one word that comes to his mind.

With the lights, and the music, and the crowd Dean has trouble seeing his friends, but he moves a pace or two behind the woman with an expression that appears serious and resigned.

When he does manage to catch Tom's eye, Dean tries to motion for him to follow with a jerk of his head.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:05, Tue 12 Nov 2019.

In reply to Dragondog (msg # 10):

"That's a good call.  I hadn't thought about high-speed travel.  I was thinking more about the *political* ramifications of being there, though."  Abe responded.  "I'm dual-majoring in Criminal Justice and Police Science, and have several years practical experience as an MP that it's building on."

As Tom sat at his table, listening to the band, he was thinking over what the others had said about being a Hunter. Thus far, of the four of them, he had the least clear idea of what a Hunter entailed. Abe had mentioned Van Helsing, and Sparrow had said that was a similar idea, but that Hunters typically killed each other. Weird. Vampires killed werewolves, and vice versa, but hunters tended to kill other hunters?

Surreptitiously, he pulled his phone out, opened up Chrome in incognito mode, and typed in "vampire hunter". Scrolling through the results, he nearly chuckled at the first result. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Now he regretted not going to see that schlock fest. Then he nearly smacked himself in the face. Of course. Blade. Alucard. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Simon Belmont. Vampire hunters, or slayers, or whatever they were called were actually fairly common in TVs, movies, and video games.

This was actually pretty cool. He could get into being a modern-day Buffy or Simon Belmont. There was only one problem - all these characters hunted vampires, not each other, and if Tom wanted to stay in one piece, he was going to have to find something else to do with himself. Being a supernatural detector alone seemed kind of lame, and if he could heal his wounds instantly like Sparrow showed him, he'd made a first-rate blood supply for vampires, and that was even less appealing.

He next tried "hunter supernatural." Oh, right, of course, Supernatural. Tom had caught reruns of Buffy, but he had never seen Supernatural. Maybe he should add it to his watch list. Again, though, it seemed like those guys hunted other supernatural beings, not each other. There's also that girl who was in Warren Ellis's N.E.X.T.W.A.V.E. - Agents of Hate - Elsa Bloodstone. She's also a hunter. Again, though, a hunter of supernatural creatures.

One last search - "Hunters who hunt each other." That just gave him humans hunting other animals, wolf packs, prides of lions.

Shaking his head, he slips his phone back in his pocket and turns to see Dean exiting the elevator. Used to some of the feelings now, he can pick out Dean and the Pakistani woman. But that other, more muted cold - he senses two of them, but only sees the one bodyguard with Dean and the other vampire. Weird.

When Dean beckons to him, Tom slides from the booth where he had been sitting and falls in behind Dean. "Where's Jack?" he asks quietly.

"My family doesn't care where I live," Sparrow says to Abe. "But your new friends do care about where they live, so they may have issues with moving back and forth across the country. It shouldn't affect you directly though."



Thinking about his new life, Tom sees Abe's invitation and joins him.

Dean moves through the crowded club, a far easier figure to follow than the smaller attractive Pakistani woman. Complaints and comments about the dog trail in their wake.

Thankfully it's a huge space, and Tom is able to intercept the pair before they leave. Dean looks worried once more, rushed, but more out together than he had initially. Abe might recognize the demeanor of a young man going into a truly dangerous situation for the first time in his life. Or unlife in this case.

"Hey man" Dean greets Tom in the same muted whisper, glad to have somebody to talk with even for a few seconds. "Looks like we're leaving, don't know when I'll be back or where we're going, but I'll try to get ahold of you guys as soon as I can. Could I ask you to grab my stuff?" he asks as he side steps a bothered looking Hispanic couple.

”Sure, man,  no problem,” Tom says quietly. He looks down at the chihuahua. Is it his imagination, or is the dog a vampire, too? Or maybe not a vampire, since the bodyguard claimed to not be one. A pseudo-vampire? Quasi? Vampire lite?

”Be safe, big guy,” Tom says. He steps back and lets Dean and his escorts head on out.

Looking over, Dean sees Abe and Sparrow, thick as thieves, and so, grunting, he walks back over to his table and orders another Coke. What a place. Certainly not the kind of club Tom ever expected to find himself in. Nearly everyone here is either rich or stunning or both. And then there’s Tom. Perfectly normal, except for that weird feeling he gets in his head whenever someone unusual walks by. Oh, and the Wolverine healing factor, too.

Abe's jaw dropped a little.  "I didn't expect that I'd be able to learn to travel that quickly... so quickly.  Apparently I will have a good teacher.  I'm pretty excited and can hardly wait to start learning."  He said with a grin.

As the Asali/Dean posy heads for the door to the staircase upstairs, Tom returns to his table, and orders another coke, which arrives almost instantly. As he takes his first sip, Tom doubles over in pain, toppling his glass. most of the content is flung over the railing and out of view on its way to the floor down below.




"I'm good, but we'll have to see about that," Sparrow told Abe. "We all have our talents. Some learn some things faster than others."

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, approaches Sparrow and Abe. She was dressed to fit in, but not to stick out. Sparrow rose with a smile and the two females embraced.

"This is Daiyu, a friend and my decorator. And this is Abe, a friend of mine."

[Edit: I added "friend" in the previous line to show that the two women are both friends and that Sparrow is Daiyu's client. I think their friendship was clear based on how they acted, but it should have been said too.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:10, Thu 14 Nov 2019.

The irony of the situation is not lost upon Dean as Tom says his goodbyes. Of all the people in the world his friend Tom was one of just a few that can understand best what Dean was feeling. They were also supposed to be enemies apparently, although Dean felt quite the opposite.

Tom is like a rock of normality in that moment, good, earnest, still alive. And Dean's appreciates that quite a bit.

"Hold up" Dean says to Asali, more a warning than any sort of command. The former football player turns at once and makes his way back towards Tom, trying to keep an eye on him through the shifting crowd. When he arrives, he uses what little medical knowledge he knows to assess what he finds there.

That feeling again, like he had experienced outside. Tom is used to the cold he senses from vampires and the laughter from Abe and Sparrow, but this feeling is different, intense, almost paralyzing. The college student nearly doubles over from the intensity.

Gasping, still a little in shock, he waves Dean away as the latter approaches. ”I’ll be fine,” he manages weakly. Scanning the room, he looks for new faces. One such new person is a woman approaching Sparrow.

”I’ll be okay,” he whispers to Dean. ”It’s just that Spidey sense or whatever I get. Each type of person feels different, and for some reason, some people feel like this intense pain.”

Managing to get to his feet, he walks over to where Abe and Sparrow are talking to the new arrival. ”Sorry to interrupt, but have we met?” Tom asks the Chinese woman. ”You seem really familiar. You’re, uh, not related to Sparrow, right?” He realizes the question seems ridiculous.

The Chinese female laughs a little despite herself and she looks at Tom. "I don't think so. I'm Daiyu Ming of the House of Ming. Are you here for me?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:08, Thu 14 Nov 2019.

"You sure?" Dean replies, feeling worried as put a hand on Tom's shoulder. There is not much he could do in any case about that sort of malady, but he seems concerned about Tom all the same.

"Alright...well hopefully it gets less intense over time I guess. You take care man, be safe. Hopefully I'll see you soon "

Reluctantly Dean turns to go, and once he was back with his Sire he nodded. "Sorry about that, we are all new to this". He seems ready to go

The Sire and the Youngling left for upstairs led by the MIB and followed by the tiny dog.

Abe stood to great the 'decorator.'  "It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ming"  He said.  "Tom here is a friend of mine."

"Friends all around then it seems," Ming says. She keeps herself aware of her surroundings.

Blushing a little, Tom says, ”No, sorry. I just thought—no, it’s nothing.”

The woman probably thinks he’s hitting on her or something. How do you go up to someone and say, “Excuse me, I think your being here is blasting my brain full of pain sensations. Have you ever had that effect on someone before?” Too, perhaps the feeling he had almost been assaulted with had come from someone else. There’s no shortage of an influx of people coming and going at the club.

"So are you like Madonna, Prince, or Beyonce," Ming asks Tom. "Having just one name?"


Sparrow invited Tom and Daiyu to join her and Abe at the table.

"It is good to be surrounded by friends."  Abe said, but then he noticed Daiyu's cagey-ness.  "Is something the matter?"



15:00, Today: Abe Griffith rolled 13 using 3d6.  Detective! on Ms. Ming. - was hoping to determine what kind of motive she seems to have for keeping track of her surroundings - whether she's expecting something to go down, or is afraid of someone here, or what.  Fail by 1.

GM passing a message.

Tom colors again. Daiyu has him on the defensive, and he’s not quite sure why. ”Flanagan. Tom Flanagan. I’m a student at Croatan in North Carolina. My friends and I got caught up in some crazy stuff this week, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of it.”

He looks sidewise at Sparrow. ”You’re a friend of Sparrow’s? She’s been a great deal of help over the past 24 hours or so.”

"Yes," Daiyu says. "We are very good friends. And it doesn't surprise me at all that she has helped you." Daiyu looked at Sparrow and smiled.

She gives Tom a business card, neither of you saw where she got it from. Perhaps she does card tricks as a hobby. "You should come by the store sometime. I'm sure I can find something that will interest you."

"Nice trick," Tom says, reading the card and then slipping it into his pocket beside the coin Sparrow had given him. An antiques dealer. Maybe she has some old comic back issues he can check out. Not that he has the money right now to buy comics, but who knows? "Can you make other things appear out of thin air, too? I've always wanted to learn that trick where you pull a quarter out from behind someone's ear."

He takes a seat beside Abe. "Dean's apparently done downstairs," he says quietly to Abe. "He asked me to make sure I get his stuff out of the 6x6. You think Carson's still around? I need to get my bag out, too."

"I know many tricks," Ming says. "I had never thought I'd teach them to anyone. Perhaps you can change my mind."

She then faces the group as a whole. "It was very nice to meet all of you, but I'm actually here meeting a prospective client. As friends of Sparrow, I'm sure I'll run into you later. Sparrow." Ming then walked away from the table.

As Daiyu left, Sparrow sat down again.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:04, Fri 15 Nov 2019.

Abe sat back down as well.  "Interesting lady.  I'd make some wild speculations but I was recently reminded to watch my mouth," He said, almost half-jokingly.

"Wild speculations," Sparrow asks quizzically. "Do tell!"