Omnes una manet nox. [complete]

[Masquerade]

[Omnes una manet nox. = The same night awaits us all. Ick Post XP]
Geist nibbled on one of his sleeves, the thick fabric tasting chalky with dust and a strange, faint hint of salt that'd probably come from his earlier treks close to the docks. He'd managed to avoid the Wharf Rats then, but he planned on taking an alternative route to get home.

The night was shaping up to be a quiet one, with Geist having not seen a single soul since he entered the Grid. Every so often he'd hear far off noises in the distance, quiet reedy sounds that probably came from some sort of nocturnal animal but were enough to keep him on edge. Since he'd run into the Wildcat (who's name he'd never learned) and his Cigarette pursuers, he was reluctant to walk in the open.

Instead, he clung to the fronts of gutted shops and buildings, occasionally pausing and dropping to his knees when he heard a noise particularly close by. His paranoia was strong, but not misplaced. The Grid was not the safest of places, neutral or no.

[Seraphim]

Jack “Blackguard” Eisenhorn perched on the roof of a gutted toy store. Her white trench-coat flapped noisily out behind her, and her copper hair streamed out in the blustery wind. That morning had come slowly – the sun wavering just under the horizon line, as though uncertain if it wanted to dawn on that desolate part of the world, before finally rising into a cloudy sky. It looked as though the night would come early – the sun regretting its decision to rise and trying to make up for it by leaving early. Breathing the cool, crisp air and the floating dust particles, Jack surveyed the streets that spiderwebbed out below her, stretching in all directions. The cold, cracked concrete and the derelict buildings were a macabre domain, but it was a domain none the less, and Jack surveyed it as if she owned it.

Sighing once, the small figure dropped from the roof onto a stack of hov-cars that the soldiers had arrayed to get better access to the drains when they sprayed the place with White Plague. She stood on the bonnet of the top vehicle, then slowly climbed down to the sidewalk. Pausing to do up the buttons of her coat, she set off down the street. She was quiet, of course, and careful – but she looked like anyone who ran into her was dead fish.

She was thirteen, barely up to a grown man’s middle.

[Masquerade]

Geist's own cloud-gray greatcoat made barely a whisper as stopped in mid-step, looking for all the world like a startled rabbit. He strained in the half-dark for the sound that had made him still, a soft flapping noise too irregular to be the beat of a birds wings.

Fear was the first emotion that took hold of him, but it was swiftly replaced with a creeping sense of curiosity. It was coming from only a few buildings down the block, although he couldn't make out anything other than a mountain of cars, and the remains of what might've once been a line of shopping carts. Whatever it was, it was beyond those things.

Skirting rubish and debris the young boy ghosted over the tarmac, clamouring over the smashed and bucked remains of a store wall and down the street without so much as a click of gravel from his feet. As he progressed, he finally set eyes on the source of the noise; there was someone - he couldn't make out gender or age, walking down the street.

Instinctively, as the hare avoids the fox, he knew he shouldn't approach. But he was drunk on the night air and slightly giddy from his earlier meal - one of the largest he'd had in months. And so he broke cover, allowing his shoes to scuff the pavement and his coat buckles to jangle ever so slightly as he came up behind the youth.

[Seraphim]

Jack was a suspicious, slightly paranoid person by nature – although not much could phase her, any sounds nearer to her than ten meters away disturbed her. The sounds of feet shuffling over the sidewalk, suddenly and without warning, made her jump. She spun on her heels, one hand in her pockets grasping her sawn-off rifle. She’d never used a gun before, or even held a real one, but this one she’d found in one of the houses she’d raided for food and it wasn’t loaded, but anyone who ran into her wouldn’t know that unless they took the gun and examined it. Keeping her hands in her pockets and he emerald eyes slightly narrowed, Jack completed her turn and examined the pavement behind her.

The wind picked at her hair and pulled it loose from behind her ears, playing thin strands over her slightly freckled face. She almost didn’t see the pale boy behind her, and when she did she almost mistook him for a large, dusty porcelain doll. It was only when he moved that she realized he was a real child. It gave her paused and she blinked owlishly, not knowing if the young child was a threat or not. He might have been about her age, or older, or younger – it was impossible to tell. It took Jack a few moments to spot dark crimson patches on the kid’s cheeks – either he had bloody tears on his face, or he had Vampire facepaint. Vampires hunted in pairs.

[Masquerade]

Geist's tongue, startlingly red against his pale lips, snaked out and made a lizardish swipe over his bottom lip before retreating, his washed out eyes fixated on the weapon the girl - he assumed 'it' was a girl - held in her hands. It was a gun, and a fairly large one at that. The boy swallowed slowly, the nervous gesture hidden behind the upturned collar of his coat which just brushed the underside of his chin.

She seemed on edge, although that didn't surprised the waifish Vampire. He had, after all, snuck up behind her without announcing himself. Not that he could have even managed a hello, in his current condition. Instead he raised both arms, his hands lost in the volumous sleeves of the greatcoat, in a supplicatory motion of peace. He had no knife in his hands, hidden as they were, and he shifted his normally blank expression to one of childish naivete; the innocent look of a lost little boy who'd just found himself in the bad part of town. Complete bull honky, but in a vague sort of metaphorical way, accurate.

[Seraphim]

“Yew alone?” Jack snapped, her cockney accent tinged with scorn. He raised his hands, and her gun wasn’t even really pointed at him. She examined him and his huge greatcoat. It was much too large for him, and looked like it had been made of thousands of different fabrics rather than one with a few patches. Taking this as a sign that he was good with his hands – at least with a needle, Jack decided not to lower her guard lest he had fast knives hidden someplace that he could throw at her. She hated knives – never had been able to use one.

“Yew slinkin’ Vampires is always in twos,” she said accusingly, her coppery hair now almost completely free and lending her already elf-locked self a very wild appearance. Her white coat was more gray than white, with spots of soot coating its hems. There was a hole at about the height of her knee, and smaller holes on her elbows and at the ends of her sleeves. Despite this rather abandoned, wild-and-feral appearance, Jack maintained a careful hold on an air of dignified superiority.

[Masquerade]

[Haha. My 69th post. I feel special.]

Jack's fierce inquiry was met with swift nodding from Geist, the fine-boned hands and wrists finally sliding free from the sleeves as his vigorous head bobs jarred his jacket. They were empty, the ghost-white fingers curling up into his palms as they hit the cool night air.

He sniffed dryly, now glancing between the girls face and the gun. The boy couldn't help but admire the way her hair contrasted with the dull white-wash of her coat - yet another habit he'd developed in the drab, dead metropolis of New Pork.

Trying to futher insist upon the point that he was alone he mimicked looking around, his expression one of comical confusion which he followed up with a tiny shrug and a distressed look. He wasn't really sure if he made his point, however.

[Seraphim]

Confused at the boy’s odd movements, Jack shrugged, taking him for a loon and putting her gun away. She didn’t think the Vampires were accepting fruitloops – if she’d known, she might have joined them. Somewhat clumsily putting poking the snout of her gun into her large pockets, Jack wondered what to do with the fruitloop. She might be able to score points with the Wildcats or the Cigarettes if she somehow turned him in, but either of them was as likely to take her captive just as soon. Scowling darkly at the thought of it, the young loner cocked her head to one side and examined the kid again. Looks right silly, that one, she thought to herself. Fruitloop, hahah.

“Whut yew wan’?” She asked, peering at him through thick, messy hair with an expression of helpless curiousty marred by a stripe of malice. She considered him to be trespassing on her territory – she’d be shot for walking in times Square, Vampires aught to be shot for walking anywhere but there. But she had no silver bullets.

[Masquerade]

The noise that came out of Geist's throat sounded like a halted cough. This was, in fact, his attempt at addressing the girl. The sound caught in his throat, making him swallow and wheeze in order to remove the feeling of something caught at the juntion of his esophagus and windpipe. Not a pleasant feeling.

Trying to get his next point accross seemed easier; he pulled down the front of his coats collar and pointed to his neck, then to his mouth (he had his lips pressed tightly together for emphasis), and shook his head. Hopefully she'd be able to translate that into 'can't talk'.

While being mute had its advantages (Geist tended to overhear a lot of things simply because people forgot he was around) when it came time to interact with others, especially people who weren't familiar with his body language, it was a righteous pain in the arse.

[Seraphim]

Aw hell, a mute fruitloop.. Just what Jack needed right then. And he hadn’t told her what he wanted – company, food, a fight, or what? How was she supposed to trust a loopy mute vampire? It was like throwing a kid into a cage with a sulky pitbul – you never knew what was going to happen, for better or for worse. Well, maybe that comparison was a little harsh, but for all Jack knew, the fuitloop was as bad as the sulky pitbull and wanted to tear her head off, but was just taking his time about doing it.

Muttering to herself and futilely putting her hair back behind her ears, Jack caressed the handle of her gun idly while debating whether or not to turn on her heel and leave the fruitloop to do what he wanted. He might attack her from behind, or wait until she was feeling safe before calling his vampire buddies to him. Or – oh, hell. Jack needed to learn to be more trusting.

[Masquerade]

Geist finally let his hands drop down to his sides, his fingers were starting to tingle from lack of blood. Sometimes low blood pressure was a bit of a nuisance. The loner was looking at him funny, but the gun didn't seem to be coming into play.

Taking a chance that might sign his death warrant, the boy shuffled forward a few steps, reverting to his usual deathly silence and blank features; although his eyes showed a little life still, perfectly clear of malice and more curious than evil. The eyes of a curious child, not a silent killer.

[short post=Mask all 'bwuuuh']

[Seraphim]

Jack stood stock still as the fruitloop came closer. She stared hard at him with her startling emerald eyes, her eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. Her hair came loose one last time, and this time she ignored it. Small children had always scared her, so this wasn’t the best thing for her psyche. However – if it wasn’t going to run at her screaming and pulling a weapon, she could live with this. How much damage could a little mute fruitloop do, anyway? Chastising herself for trusting the waif fruitloop, Jack remained still as he came closer, but kept her hand near her gun. If push came to shove, she could always shove it up his nose and break for it.

[Masquerade]

Geist paused long enough to plunge one hand into an outside coat pocket and pull out a small pink wrapped candy before he continued forward, this new item held out towards the girl. His chin was tucked away under the collar of his coat again, and the lower half of his face was obscured by the heavy material. If it hadn't been, the smallest hint of a shy smile might've been seen.

He stopped a few feet short of the girl, not wanting to agitate her into bringing the gun into use (whether via shooting or just beating him with it, he wanted to avoid both) and outstretched his hand, motioning that he wished her to take it from him.

A peace offering, as it would seem.

[Seraphim]

Jack blinked and brought her hand closer to her gun handle as the fuitloop put his hand in his pocket. What was he getting out – a knife? A fruitloop-sized gun? Odd, she’d never seen a pink, shiny gun before – oh, not a gun. A – what in hell? A lolly? That one was loopy as fruitloops got, and crazy to boot. Examining the kid with one eye and the wrapped sweet with the other, Jack shrugged and shook her head – beckoning that he should keep it. Jack hadn’t brushed her teeth in a few days – didn’t want cavities, no sur.

“No thanks, loop. Yew keeps it.” Jack grinned and finally put the gun away, putting her hands in her other pockets instead. She offered the fruitloop a blank look.

[Masquerade]

Geist sighed angrily, a silent thing of course, and shoved his hand back into his pocket, leaving the candy with the loosely wrapped bundle of short, handless knives he - for a brief moment - considred pulling out. His fingers tips were caressing the dull ends of the blades when he thought against it.

With a quiet shake of his head, he let his hands fall to his sides once more, hands once again sheltering in the confines of his sleeves. His dusty eyes glanced once up at the young womans face, then were lost behind his bangs as he looked to the ground, his body suddenly taunt with silent hostility.

[Seraphim]

“Whoa, fruitloop,” Jack started. “I din’ mean no offence by it, its just I ain’t seen a dentist round here, an’ I don’ want to ave no teef left when we done with all dis.” She grinned at her own joke. It wasn’t funny, but to Jack it was. She had absolutely no sense of humor to speak of, unless you counted the mangled thing that made her laugh at the most ridiculously not-funny things.

She watched the fruitloop warily, suddenly on edge again. He was creepy, strange little thing. What was he doing with the Vampires, anyway? He was much more suited to someaught like the Cigarettes – they were accepting weirdos. They were led by one, for god’s holy sake.

[Masquerade]

[This post = HAHA. Sucks.]

Fruitloop...? Fruitloop?!

She'd called him a freaking fruitloop.

Geist sighed silently, his body still under his coat, making him look for all the world like a oddly dressed, misplaced mannequin. Except no mannequin had blue-gray eyes that snuck glances to the sides from under the cover of hair the gray of a senior-citizan, not of a young boy.

He was irritated, and only his apparently lack of speech kept him from cursing out the girl in a flurry of angery German. Oh, he understood English perfectly fine, even the girls rough accent, but speaking it was another thing altogether. Even if he could, he'd only be able to give the most heavily accented of 'fork you'.

Without another word he turned on his heel and trotted off into the dark. He'd let her think he'd left, then he'd double back and follow her again. He wanted to see what she was up to.