Envoys and Negotiations

[baronbalaz]

Who: The Baron and Uther
What: The monster problem
When: Post "Gaest" by about a week
Where: The castle, where else!
Rating: Classy
Status: Incomplete

Comments

[chaseandoldlace]

His first instinct was to say that the worst monsters in his world were people: the ones that let fear and prejudice dictate their every thought, and that they were more dangerous than anything supernatural. "Well there's this one guy made out of bees that I'd be on the lookout for, he'd be hard to miss, just listen for the buzzing, there's a lot of demons bumming around where I come from, uh... ancient evil gods? Lot a good ones too, but the older pantheons were pretty fuckin pessimistic."

"You mean, mortals who fashion themselves gods with their powers?" Byron ventured.

"No, I mean gods, you know, Thor, Loki, Siv, Freya, Odin, Gaia, Mother Goddess of the Earth? Bunch a really weird ones too, think they're supposed to be from space or somethin'," Chase waved a hand dismissively. "Can't really think of why they'd find this little pocket of the universe interesting but you never know-- oh we got a bunch of your normal magical stuff too, lot of overlap with Uther, really, Aside from the, ah. nosferatu, there's werewolves, shape shifters, fairies, the usual suspects. I think we might have dragons too, but the only one I've seen in person was the size of a cat. It's mostly the demons you gotta watch out for, I guess."

The Baron blinked, paused a moment to let it all sink in and nodded, "It seems the more I learn of others' world the more grateful I am for my own. Yours doesn't sound all that different from my world in it's darkest days, as they say, 'when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled' how do ordinary people in your world survive such trials?"

Chase shrugged, "By not being ordinary, I guess."

The tall man nodded. "Thank you, gentleman, I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time and caused such a fluster, I should be getting back to my duties now. Should you encounter anything or require assistance from the Watch, from now on, we shall be at your disposal. Good evening."

With that the Baron took another sweeping bow of his cape and saw himself out, the front door creaking shut behind him.

"Weird guy, not bad for a vampire though..."

[pendraeg]

Something relaxed in Uther that he hadn't consciously been holding taut; or, rather, that he hadn't realised had been discomforting him to hold taut.

He had grown accustomed to the easy, slouched life he led in Aternaville, demons and dangers notwithstanding.

"All right," he said, turning to Chase, hands on hips. "I must ask. What is a vampire?"

[chaseandoldlace]

"Well you know..." Chase shrugged off the more literal and unpleasant memory for another time, "that tv show with the puppets the twins watch? There's a character that teaches numbers, The Count? That's supposed to be a vampire." He laughed, "The kid-safe version anyway."

"The real kind are less, uh, educationally-minded and a little more...creepy." He flopped into a seat by the fire. "They drink blood to survive and if you're bitten by one you become one-- only things that kill them are sunlight or a stake through the heart. And uh, don't ask my why someone thought that'd translate to 'cute character to entertain children with.' Guess they don't actually exist most places other than stories though, so, uh, there you go? Vampires 101?" No matter how used to it he got though Klara or Uther explaining certain things from his time never failed to leave a strange taste in his mouth... Mostly because there was always that lingering absurdity of things that were (and he should know) true terrors that were re-packaged and repurposed in the most ridiculous ways.

I mean, Count Chocula, really? Chase enjoyed a sugar rush at breakfast same as the next guy, but nothing put it in more perspective than trying to get the context across without sounding like an idiot.

[pendraeg]

Uther furrowed his brow, somewhat puzzled. He had seen this count, of course, the purple puppet whose name seemed more descriptive title than rank. And the puppet did have prominent canines...

"The Count..." Uther said, trying to form an image that combined Lord Balaz, the children's character, and a supernatural bloodthirst. "Ah ah ah...?"

[chaseandoldlace]

"That's the one, 'Ave come to suck your blooood' and all." Chase said, in a mockery of the accent, holding his arms out as though clutching a cape. "'Always figured maybe makin' fun of it makes it less scary... even in my world where they're real... still what he said about Lace, think there might be anything to it?" It was a rhetorical question, but Chase was more interested if Uther thought it credible enough to pursue.

"I mean, he said stuff that made sense, like he really did know something about... however Old Lace was created. When we found her in Gert's basement it triggered a recording of her parents saying they'd gone way, way into the future to have her made. Baron didn't really look like he was from the future but shit, who the hell knows what the future looks like. That far ahead may as well be as weird to me as this time is to you." If how the Yorks dressed was any indication, the future had a very... odd idea about fashion, either way.

"I just think if there's a way to protect this place better, why not give it a shot, ey girl?" Chase called to Old Lace, who, along with Adamant, was playing the part of dishwasher with the serving plates from a rather successful dinner of roast beef.

[pendraeg]

"Training is usually beneficial, sometimes necessary, and often rewarding in its own right." Uther observed Chase and Old Lace, as he did when he was reminded of their unusual relationship. There was nothing in his own experience with which he could compare the link that Chase shared with such a creature, at times so alien and at others just like any other living, thinking thing. They couldn't speak with one another, and yet they felt with one another, beyond the abilities of speech. "You may find...efficiency, and in some ways, greater ease, in discipline. At least in knowing how to work that way, should the need arise. I can help you to train."

[chaseandoldlace]

Chase nodded.

"Thanks, majesty, that'd be great!" He settled deeper into the chair and started into the back of the blackened brick. "I know how it feels I just don't think I've ever thought about it; it never looked like Gert had to." He closed his eyes, concentrating on what, at the moment was a soft, content hum of static white-noise. With the sound was a feeling of incredible contentment, that seemed to creep from his brain down his spine and to every nerve and muscle in his body. Seperating Old Lace's contentment from his own was at the same time simple and impossible-- on some level there was no difference, but the further up he went; picking apart the nuances the easier it became. There was something primally simple to Old Lace's feelings.

"Sometimes, when she gets into a frenzy it's like....like I want to jump out of my own skin and join in, I see red and it's hard to turn her out. She's quiet most of the time but when the Baron showed up I could tell... I wasn't the one who was threatened it was all her. I might not have great memories of vampires but I don't know if I even meant to blurt that out the way I did. Wouldn't be the first time I think OL's spoken through me." No, the first was not long after Gert had transfered her over... it was hard to stay still, and grief was usually immobilizing for Chase, but he hadn't been able to stay still.

"Do you think maybe we could get started sooner, rather than later?" He wasn't sure what Uther had in mind, but he was willing to give it a try.

[pendraeg]

Uther agreed readily. It would be of use, as Balaz had said, should more monsters come their way. As for the how-- "We cannot summon a threat for our purposes. Are there other things that stir Old Lace to a frenzy?"

[chaseandoldlace]

"...Hunting." Chase volunteered the word with reticence. It wasn't something she had to do often in his own world, but since they arrived in Canada, it was impossible to deny that she was indulging in the instinct far more often. "I dunno, man, she's pretty much all instinct then, that might be diving into the deep end." Chase tried to exercise while she hunted, whether it was hacking at a tree with a sword, practicing with the fistigons, anything as long as it wasn't sitting around. Not that he could if he wanted to.

"On the other hand that's kinda what we'd be doing anyway, isn't it?"

[pendraeg]

Uther tried not to visibly light up or react too enthusiastically at the mention of hunting, given Chase's clear discomfort. But then, given Chase's discomfort it was clear they'd struck on exactly what it was he needed to work on.

"It is what we're looking to do. You have been...'treading water in the shallow end' with some complacency and it is time to remove the...you put them on your arms and you inflate them."

He hovered his hand around his triceps, frustrated.

[chaseandoldlace]

Chase laughed. "Water wings, and ain't that the truth." Anywhere else, especially back in his own world Chase would be a lot more insulted at the idea that he didn't really have as good a handle on his link with Old Lace as he'd like. But a peaceful life had muddled things-- what was 'undiciplined' to The Baron was, Chase realized, lack of practice.

There was never a lack of things for he and Old Lace to sharpen their.. talents... on back home. Until recently, Aternaville had been nearly a paradise, and they were suffering for it.

"Alright, guess that settles it. I guess we can start whenever hunting would be, uh, optimal." For Old Lace he was relatively certain that translated to 'whenever my stomach is empty.'