Another IC post for the nWoD game
ChZZ: haven’t seen you in a while. you missed our date
SprtWlkr: We’ve been having troubles. You might actually be able to help! Anyone from the club free to jet on over here and help with the big… thing we found?
ChZZ: thing?
SprtWlkr: Yes, THING, since when did you forget English Chaz?
SprtWlkr: Listen, it’s stronger than my friends and I can handle. We’ve tried. It… It’s something dangerous, but we can’t figure out exactly what it is. I need you and your expertise.
ChZZ: Oh, why didn’t you say so?
SprtWlkr: I did. Moron.
ChZZ: Joanie, I love you. Don’t call me a moron.
SprtWlkr: Sorry Chaz, but I don’t want anyone else getting wind of my asking you or what I’m talking about online. It’s a touchy and dangerous subject.
ChZZ: yeah, i get that… what do you need me to do other than come chech things out?
SprtWlkr: Nothing. When can you get here?
ChZZ: Here being theh normal “here”?
SprtWlkr: Yes, and pay attention to your writing, it’s getting sloppy again.
ChZZ: get offa my case Joanie. I have Word, it corrects things for me, my chat box doesn't
SprtWlkr: Okay, well, get here soon. I’ll be waiting outside for you.
SprtWlkr HAS SIGNED OFF.
ChZZ HAS SIGNED OFF.
I didn’t know what else to do. My idiot brother left the IM window open on his computer and he ran off to help my best friend with “something” at their own secret place. They’ve been meeting here and there for a long time, but this was the first I’ve heard of them having a place to meet that they keep so tight lipped about.
Micah cancelled our date because he had to “meet with his court” and when I asked if I could come, he informed me that not only were humans not too welcome, but he had to keep most of his acquaintances secret, especially me. He said something like “having them like a pet is fine, I actually care for you, and that’s generally frowned upon. You have to be a secret.”
I tried studying but I couldn’t concentrate. I texted Micah telling him I missed him lots and I was going out for a walk, and if he got free before too late, he could text me and I’d tell him where we could meet.
Everyone in my life who was special to me was… different. Here I am, stupid little human girl. I can’t go out and fight spirits like Chaz and Joanie, I can’t see the ‘hedge’ or other changelings like Micah. Heck, Micah can heal things now, so when he kisses the places Chaz punches they get better for real.
I’m stuck, left behind. I have a few other mortal friends, but most of the time they’ve got better things to do than hang out with me. Erica and Uriah started dating, and Uriah doesn’t like one of my brother’s ‘friends’ so Erica only hangs out with me when she’s not making out with Uriah, and that’s almost never. Jess is college obsessed so she’s all about the Community Service, and that was kinda fun for a while, but she doesn’t do it to have fun, she does it for the hours that go to her college applications.
I ended up at a playground just after sunset. Chaz tells me to not be out alone after dark, but tonight I just don’t care. The swings are manky, most of them are broken or wrapped around the top bar so you can’t get them down. I found one that could hold me and started swinging a little, watching the cars go by on the street. Behind me, some of the toys began to squeak as if the wind was pushing them, but I didn’t feel any on my back so I turned to look.
He was like the night, all cool and collected his face had an age to it even though it was fairly young looking. Each toy he passed he put long fingers on. Most of them he smiled at, a few he sighed at, one he stood and stared at for a long time as if it was covered in something distasteful. When he looked up and saw me, he seemed surprised. He stared at me from across the playground as if he didn’t know if I was real. Finally he came up to me and stood before me, his pale hand wrapped around one of the chains of my swing.
“Why are you out here pitying yourself,” he asked me, his head cocked to the side. “You’re not the type to usually do that it seems.”
“How do you get off acting like you know me,” I shot back. I was unnerved by him hitting the nail on the head. “Back off.”
He took his hand off the swing and looked at the seat that was wrapped around the bar next to me. He jumped and smacked the seat, making it spin around and around until he could easily lower the seat so he could sit beside me. When he touched the seat he smiled for a moment and then he sat on the swing beside me and kicked it into life a little bit.
“It is refreshing at times to enjoy places like this,” he said to me after he had his swing going, his long legs lifted up off the ground. “I don’t often come to this park, but I am glad I came today.”
“You’re creepy,” I said to him, still watching him like he was some strange animal. “Why on earth are you talking to me?” My swing was still, and I stood up and walked a few feet away from it.
“You seem to need to vent,” he said shrugging. “I have nothing better to do with my time,” he shrugged again. “I needed to be in a place that is usually filled with life and joy, there aren’t enough places of happiness in this city.” He looked at me again, and he seemed sad himself. He watched me with little expression on his face. Then, after a minute or more of silence he spoke again.
“I’m feeling lonely too,” he said quietly, his long legs touched the ground and slowed the swing down some with this echoing scuffing noise.
I nodded to him then and sat back on my swing, kicking it into life and pumping a bit to get it going. He watched me and then did the same. We sat there, swinging in silence for a while before he began to laugh. He had a good laugh, something was so down to earth about it, it was very genuine, not forced.
“I am glad to have met you,” he said again as we were swinging. “I’m Alex.”
“Luna,” I replied, panting. It took me more energy to keep my swing going than it took him, but we were swinging very high so occasionally I could stop pumping and enjoy the rush of moving. “Nice to meet you too.”
“Luna,” he repeated. His eyes slid up into the sky and locked on the moon hanging fat just over the horizon. “Like the moon. Lovely name for a pretty girl.”
His words creeped me out some and I looked at him again. He was staring at the moon, and then he glanced at me and smiled. It wasn’t an unpleasant smile, but it was definitely the smile of a predator. I let my feet down and began slowing the swing down. When it was slow enough I let myself launch from my seat and I hit the crumbling blacktop running. I heard the chains of the swings behind me jingling and then I felt a cold hand wrap around my upper arm.
“Luna, please, don’t run from me. I give you my word I won’t hurt you,” he stared at me again, that strange unblinking stare.
“Yeah, well, let me tell you. I’ve met plenty of predators before, and you have that… aura,” I told him, the words just tumbling from my mouth. “So don’t blame me for being nervous about you.”
“Predators,” he repeated, then smiled at me again. This time it was less hungry and more just like a normal smile. “As humans, we are all predators. You do eat meat, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but,” I said, but then lost my train of thinking. “I guess I never thought of it that way before.”
“You’ve gone looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend before, haven’t you,” he asked again, his cold hand sliding down my arm to hold my hand gently. “We all hunt things Luna. It just depends on what we plan on doing with it once we’ve found it.”
“What’s your plan then,” I asked, snatching my hand away from him.
“Just chatting, being around people who don’t have any ulterior motives or ideas or goals that I need to be manipulated into doing.”
I wanted to shoot back at him that I didn’t believe him, but I did. He looked at me and just seemed so lonely. His eyes darted down to my watch and then back to my face.
“Time for you to get going home, people might start worrying about you,” he said, smiling at me again. “If you would like, I can walk you there and… keep you safe.”
“I’m not made out of china,” I snapped back and then instantly felt bad for it when his eyes widened. “Thanks, I can make it on my own.”
“Hope to see you again sometime soon then,” he said, turning his back on me. He took a few steps and then turned and looked at me again. “Nice to have met you… Luna.”
I waved at him and watched him leave out the gate on the other side of the park before I left the park running.
When I got home my parents and Chaz were still gone, but pacing my living room like a caged tiger was Micah. When I stepped into the house he practically leaped on me. He grabbed me and pushed me against the wall beside the door and looked outside the small windows that surrounded the door. His eyes glittered in the light and he curled his lip. His fingers nimbly locked the door and he pulled me up to my room and shoved me in. As he followed me he closed and locked my bedroom door and pulled the curtains closed and turned off the overhead light. He lit a small candle and grabbed me by the arm and led me to the bed where he sat down and pulled me down beside him.
“Why did you leave the house,” Micah demanded. “Not only leaving the house, but not bringing your cell with you?”
“I have my phone,” I shot back with a snarl, patting my pocket. When I didn’t feel my phone there I started patting all my pockets. Micah held my phone up. “Why’d you take it?”
“I didn’t, you left it on the desk! I called and texted you,” he held the phone out to me and I quickly flicked through the missed calls and numerous texts. “I’ve been waiting here for a little over an hour. I saw Chaz’s computer and the note on the fridge from your parents. I know that you were alone, but that doesn’t mean that you just take off! What the fuck do you think you were doing? What little game were you playing at?” The look on Micah’s face was that of anger and fear, and his grip on my wrist had become tight and uncomfortable.
“I went for a walk. I walked up to a playground and swung on some swings. Met some guy named Alex, he offered to walk me home but I said no. He left first, and out the other way from me. When I saw he was gone, I ran home.”
“Was he… strange in any way,” Micah asked, squeezing my wrist tight.
“Sure,” I said, pulling my wrist up and prying his fingers off. He left welts from where his fingers sat and I stifled a whimper as the pain from his grip and the blood rushing back to it hit home. “He touched everything, but I’ve seen stranger at school. Hell, Missy is more bonkers than this guy could have been on a bad day.”
Micah looked at my wrist and then at his hand as if he couldn’t believe it was his hand that caused all the damage. He stared at me for a long time and then took my hand in his hands gently. He raised my wrist to his lips and began kissing it and the bruises and pain began fading. As the pain faded the kisses shifted from gentle healing kisses to more insistent and passionate kisses but I pushed him away.
“You think you can kiss your way out of the way you’ve acted tonight,” I asked him, crossing my arms in front of me and scowling at Micah. It was all I could do to remain annoyed with him and when he leaned in and placed his lips on my neck I could barely pull away. “Micah, you made a promise to me, do you remember what it was?”
“To not use my… abilities on you,” he said, his mouth was parted slightly and his eyes were heavily lidded. His tongue slid out and over his lips slowly and I just wanted to kiss him but I knew I needed to be strong.
“You’re doing it again. If you want me, you need to stop letting that control your actions and your smell. Kiss me because you like kissing me for once, not because you need the desire it evokes.”
“You’re already full of it, you know you want me,” he said to me leaning forward and teasing me with his mouth coming so close to pressing to mine before he pulled it away again.
“I do want you,” I told him, cursing at myself inwardly. It was hard at the best of times to resist him, but now was harder because he was pulling out all the stops. “First, you have to tell me what the freakout was. I know better than you telling me that it was just that I forgot my phone.” I gasped and felt a tremor in my body as one of his hands pressed into the bed between my legs and his lips barely brushed my earlobe.
“Other… things… lurk the streets,” he whispered. “I would die if they got you and took you from me.” His lips tickled my ear and when he finished speaking he gently took my earlobe between his teeth.
He won, or maybe I just gave in. I woke just before dawn to my brother pounding on my door quietly yelling for me to unlock it. I looked at my undressed state and the lovely body lounging beside and over me and I sighed.
“Can it wait,” I whispered back. “I’m not up for company, it’s 4 in the morning Chaz.” With the sound of my voice Micah woke and looked at me, his fingers lazily played over my stomach and I swatted them away with a smile.
“Just let me in damnit,” he fumed. It sounded like his lips were pressed against the door.
“Fine,” I sighed and pulled myself from under Micah and covered him up. I threw on one of Chaz’s old ratty t-shirts and a pair of silk boxers and unlocked the door. Chaz stormed in before I had time to turn the knob.
“Where have you been,” he Chaz growled at me. “Why haven’t you answered your phone?”
I walked over to the bed and fished around until I found it half buried under Micah’s sleepy head. I lifted the phone and pulled the sheets down so Chaz could see how much of Micah was bare and then covered him back up when he mumbled. Micah’s hand slid out and between my thighs, fingers tracing lazy circles on the inside of it.
“Get your hands off of her,” Chaz growled, stepping toward Micah. I stepped between them an Micah lifted his sleepy head and smiled up at Chaz.
“I don’t mind his touches, and you’re the one who told him he could date me, so what’s your problem. Why are you barging into my room at 4 in the morning when you should be sleeping? Why can’t I get back to bed, where I can eventually go back to sleep. I’m sorry my phone was buried in the bed and on vibrate so I didn’t get your call. I’m safe. Go away,” I told my brother, raising my hands to push him away and back out the door.
“Something odd was outside the house this morning, I caught scent of it when I got home,” Chaz said, catching my wrists before they touched his chest. “I didn’t know where you were, and Micah had called for me because you weren’t home when he got here. I thought the worst when I couldn’t get you.” He leaned around me and looked at Micah who was now sitting up and staring at him with his lips pressed tightly together.
“Damn, I didn’t see anything last night but I guess I didn’t look hard enough,” Micah said, pulling himself off the bed and walking to the window naked. He slid the curtain aside and peeked out of the blinds for a moment before coming back to where I was. He wrapped his arms around me his fingers lightly brushing the sensitive skin on the side of my breast, and kissed the back of my head. I felt his body pressed against me and it made me want to melt but I didn’t want Chaz around for any of it so I shooed him away.
“I’m safe, Micah’s here, I want to be alone,” the tone in my voice meant business, but Chaz ignored me.
“Did you bring someone else home with you last night?”
“NO! I didn’t! I went to the playground and played on some swings and talked to a guy named Alex and came home to find Micah. I didn’t do anything, and I just want you to leave my room now Chaz. We can talk about it when I’m ready for breakfast! Go away!”
Chaz stared at me, then looked to Micah, then back to me. His expression was unhappy but he walked out and shut the door. I could tell he wanted to slam it, but he didn’t want to alarm mom and dad too much. I turned around in Micah’s grasp and put my face on his bare chest. My fingers moved down his skin until I found the hem of my shirt.
“No,” Micah purred. “I like doing the unwrapping sometimes.” With that, he smiled and pushed me back to bed, his fingers dancing up under the shirt. Unwrapping indeed.
Micah’s cell went off a few hours later and he got up to head to a photo-shoot. Chaz was still up, pacing around the kitchen like a caged wolf. His mood only seemed to get worse from the intervening time. Micah calmed him down, and I made everyone eggs and toast. Joanie was sleeping on the couch. I woke her up when the breakfast was done, when I got back to the table, Manny was sitting there, his bare feet tapping on the floor staring at an empty plate in front of him with anticipation. We eat while Manny explains that he tracked the strange scent from the park to here, around here, then away. Micah shakes his head, while listening, and just as he’s putting the last bite of food in his mouth a horn honks and he puts his plate by the sink on the way out.
“Dunno what it was,” Manny says around a mouthful of eggs. “It walked around, and the street said it left in a car. The street said that it’s been at the park before, but not for a long time.”
“What did you DO last night Luna,” Chaz demanded. “What the fuck did you bring back here?”
“Moron, I went to a park, swung on the swings, talked to a strange guy named Alex, and came home after he left the way he came.”
“He followed you somehow,” Manny pointed out, brandishing his fork at me.
“I didn’t see or hear him behind me,” I said with a shrug.
“Tell me about him,” Joanie asks between sips of coffee.
“He was a strange guy, quiet and intense. He walked around the playground looking at all the equipment, running his fingers over things. It was like he was remembering playing there before or something. He came over, we talked a little, he got on the swing, we swung. He said he was leaving, I watched him leave and I ran home,” I told her with a shrug.
“What did you talk about,” Joanie asks, leaning forward.
“Being lonely… Hunting… He wanted to know what was bothering me.”
“Well, what was bothering you?”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“Well, then tell me,” Joanie says with an exasperated sigh.
I shrugged at her and looked at my plate, “Not really interested in talking about it.”
Her expression softened some. “Boyfriend troubles,” she asked. Her tone told me that she empathized.
“No,” I replied. My voice was flat, Manny grabbed the toast off my plate. “Maybe later, okay?”
“Fine,” she scoffed. The chair creaked as she leaned back in it.
“You eating the rest of that,” Manny asked, pointing to my eggs.
“Go ahead,” I told him, pushing away from the table. “I’m going back to bed. You can do the dishes Chaz.”
“Get back down here. You don’t get to just walk away from here. I’m talking to you,” Chaz called after me.
“Screw you, you’re not dad and nothing happened, now leave me alone,” I quipped as I stalked out of the room and back up to my bedroom.