Ann and Elissa go hunting in a bright yellow world illuminated by streetlights.

Ann looked about them as they strolled through the cemetery. There was no sign of anybody.

"Here, vampire, vampire, vampire. Come get the stake that the nice Slayer's got for you."

She turned to Elissa.

"Is it cheating if we dig up the recently buried in the day time? Though come to think of it, that might be difficult to explain to the Old Bill. We should find out where the new plots are and wait there, though. We'd really be putting the stake in stake-out."

As they rounded a wizened tree, she asked, "So are you planning to see Sonja again? Or have you already seen her? You two seemed quite into each other."

"I am all for cheating, girl" Elissa said cheerfully. She had her little sports pack on her back with a cricket bat handle sticking out of it. "I don't know the magic involved though. Maybe nothing happens before they 'rise from the grave'. Or maybe they would dust. I think we'd have to dig them up though... which is a lot of work. At least this way they come to us"

"Hmm... Sonja." Elissa's cheerful mood evaporated as though Ann had flipped a switch. She felt it important to tell Ann something first before answering "Got to say, girl... you're nice company to be with. At school people would say rude words. Well not to my face of course. Not any more. It's nice you are accepting. I've not seen an ounce of bigotry in you."

"So I'm thinking a lot about her. She's dangerous and sexy. That makes being with her exciting... She's a creature of passion, and funny, and knows things.... So that's all uber cool. But ... shit girl... she only exists because of hatred. She shares a head with a demon. Could I kiss her during the night, knowing that there is a vampire inside her watching?"

"And hell... what if I... What is we... Suppose she was my first to ...er ... and we ...er... you know... went all the way? What if we made out or more and that caused her to let go of her hatred and the vampire takes over? Suppose I survived but only by killing her... How would I feel?"

"I know this is personal, but hell girl... there's not many people I can talk about this with. I sure as hell can't talk it over with mum. She'd freak out because Sonja's a girl, never mind the vampire bit. If it's 'too much information' we can change the topic to 'cricket scores'"

"I definitely don't want to discuss cricket scores. And you can always talk to me about what's bothering you. I get that having a demon in her head makes things difficult. Three is most certainly a crowd, and there's no way of getting rid of the vamp."

She gestured across the cemetery.

"Look out there. This place is filled with people who will never get to experience passion again. Well, I suppose the vampires will. My point is, you're going to spend enough time here once you die. You'll have all of eternity not to not do anything risky. Maybe it's just because I know that as a Slayer I can't really look forward to living long enough to get old, but I think we should enjoy life while we can. If I were you, I'd talk it through with her. If you're worried about the vampire taking over, imagine how she feels. You can move on to someone new, but she'll always have this problem. Maybe she'd rather take the risk than live life like a nun."

Her brow creased in thought.

"Come to think of it, I imagine that nuns do get up to that sort of thing a lot. How else are they going to spend their time, especially with no men around and not being allowed to do anything fun like go to a club? So maybe that was a bad example, but what does Sonja want? Does she really want to live a long life that isn't much of a life? Perhaps she thinks you're worth taking a risk for. And you need something more in your life than walking through midnight cemeteries with me. I can't even promise you a good staking."

"Shall we try over there? There are no vamps in this part of the cemetery."

"You know, girl, normally I give that advice. I say 'what's the worst that can happen'. And the usual answer is 'not much'. Then I say 'fuck it, do you want to be a nun your whole life'... "

"Here... what's the worse that can happen? Sonja might kill me when the vamp takes over. She might go all 'Stephen King' and hunt down family and friends first. I might have to kill Sonja... There's quite a lot of 'what's the worst that can happen'."

"Then... you know ... Sonja lives through hate. I ... I have a problem with that. Hatred damages you. I've seen it people. My dad tells me stories of wars that he fought in, about how the hatred of the people turns them into creatures as bad as the vampires. If she was ... say you ... and you hated someone. I'd try and help you get over it. But Sonja... if I try and help her 'get over it'... her vampire takes over... and then we're into 'whats the worse that can happen'"

"Yeah... that's why I said it's hard. It's not like 'I am in love with her' or anything. And she said 'no' anyway. I could probably push, but I don't think I will. Because... you know"

Elissa sighed. Then laughed at the nuns comment "I think they are asexual. Married to God. Literally I think"

She went back to the main topic, although in a way that said she was good if that was the end of the chat with Sonja

"I have more to life, girl. I'm good. I have an acting career lined up, I'm one of the best dancers the CCAT has ever seen and I might go audition for the Royal Ballet and if those too fail. I can always join the deadbeats in the House of Lords. Sonja gave me an idea. If I can work with the security services... maybe we can deal with the vampires 'officially'. And  ... you know ... I like being your sidekick, girl. We've saved people's lives. Maybe half a dozen so far. If we do this regularly... sure we'll loose some and it will hurt, but we will do a lot of good"

"I don't have a 'darth vader' for vampires. You do. What's it's telling you? My 'darth vader' is saying 'there is no disturbance in the force'. If yours says it's clear why don't we do another cemetary and then hit a pub that has a lock in."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:30, Thu 21 Apr 2022.

Somewhere someone (or perhaps it's a nightingale) is whistling.

"I know you've got more in your life than this. But dancing and slaying, well, they're not the same as having a love life. You once told me to find someone. Consider this that advice returned."

Ann pointed in the direction of the whistling.

"There's a disturbance in the Force is in that direction. But we should be careful; this isn't a freshly risen vampire. Far from it."

She started walking in that direction.

"The pub will have to wait, it seems. At least we'll get some action tonight. It might take your mind off your problems."

"Advice accepted and ... oh hell what's that?" Elissa said "I wonder if it's the same Fey we met last time... Or maybe ... well I guess we have to go see"

She chuckled at 'mind off problems'. "No it's all good. I wouldn't have mentioned it if you hadn't asked. But ... advice accepted and I will act on it"

The vampire is a fat white man in an icecream coloured suit that barely stretches over his corpulence.  He is whistling some kind of New Orleans Jazz or maybe Delta Blues number.  It's hard to tell, this stuff was old when your fathers were young.  He carries a cane and wears a straw hat on his head.

He stops when he sees you and tips his hat.  "Slayer.  Blue-haired not-Slayer with the skills but no watcher.  Good evening to the both of you.  What brings you to this particular graveyard."

"Good evening to you too, Colonel Sanders. We're just out looking for a bit of exercise before bedtime. Though from the look of you, your heart is likely to give out before we get the chance to stick a stake through it."

She pulled out a stake and settled into a crouch.

"But you haven't told us why you're in this cemetery. You look and whistle like you should be in the American South. So what brings you to little old me in Cambridge?"

"Not a slayer. Just the sidekick" Elissa said pulling out her cricket bat. A cricket bat made for a truely excellent club substitute and had the value that the police wouldn't hassle her over it. Elissa didn't like this repartee. The less 'human' the vampire was, the easier it was. Thinking of them as mindless killers was a lot easier than fighting this quite polite and obviously perceptive gentleman. And his words begged many questions: how did he know that Ann was the Slayer? Did it show up on the vampire's 'Darth Vader' sense. And how did it know that she was a bit like Ann but different

She waited for Ann to lead. Elissa was the sidekick and would back her play

"Mah name is Jules Duchon", says the fat vampire, "And this is the fourth cemetery I've visited tonight looking for you two.  I am here on behalf of the godawful English poet to offer a truce until the fairies have finished the really stupid shenanigans they're fixing to get themselves into and threatening to take everyone else with them."  As he speaks he grows slowly smaller.

Roll Perception and Notice.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:56, Thu 21 Apr 2022.

"A truce? Would this involve you no longer feeding on humans, or are you just looking for me to stop killing your kind? Because that seems like a one-way trade. And what exactly are the fairies looking to do? Oh, and who's this English poet?"

OOC:
20:27, Today: Ann Winters rolled 9 using 1d10+5.  Perception + notice. – 9. That's a success level of 1

"I have no idea", said the vampire.  "Personally I loathe the taste of human so I'd say yes but I've no idea what William means.  Oh yes, the poet, he's called William the Bloody not because he's a vampire but because his poetry is so bloody awful.  Apparently that's funny in English.  I daresay he sent me here in the hope you'd put an end to me just like Mrs Parris did when I was alive.."

"Ah the nihilistic 19th century poet" Elissa stated. She was with Ann on the need to bash the vampire. It was interesting though that the vampires had sent an emissary. That was deeply worrying. Deeply deeply worrying. It implied a lot of things and none of the good

Of course the vampire could just be trying to keep alive.

"Got your back, girl" she said very quietly. She wanted Ann to know that she'd go with whatever the slayer decided. The words did offer an opportunit though

"He doesn't like you. Sent you here with a letter stapled to your forehead saying 'please kill me'. Do you want to do him a dirty? What can you tell us about him that he won't like?"