Application for Rachel Morgan; Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series

[racheltherunner]

((For playability reasons, Rachel is being taken from the end of Dead Witch Walking, the first in her series. Just for clarification, the italicized portions are her answers. The rest is just...for your reading pleasure, I suppose. XD))I walked into the room, the clack of my boots on the stone floor echoing around. Huh. This was...interesting

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[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Hi, I'm Laura. *waves*

What's Inderland Security, and what's a living vampire runner?

Also, I'm so claiming the ink pen. Quills...well.

[racheltherunner]

I grinned, rolling my eyes a little and handing her the pen. "Yeah, what's the deal with that? I mean, I get the whole 'atmosphere' thing, but dear God, get a Bic." Then her questions hit me and I paused, puzzled. "Er...Inderland Security is the department set up to oversee Inderlanders." Way to explain it, Rache. "You know, non-humans. Since the Turn."

I was honestly a bit gobsmacked. Since when did people not know about the I.S.? "And a living vampire runner is... Well, a living vamp. Who's a runner." I laughed, running one hand through my hair. Right. This...was going well. "A runner is basically a detective and a cop all in one. Or a bounty hunter. We go after black witches, warlocks practicing without a witch license, vamps bespelling the unwilling, leprachauns for tax evasion," here I couldn't help a little snort. Damn Denon. That run had been down right insulting, "Weres and brimstone dealers, you know. Any Inderlander breaking the law."

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Thanks. *takes the pen* Couldn't agree more. Quills get old real quick. Try taking notes standing up outdoors with one sometime, or better yet, don't.

...Okay. I think what we've got here is slightly differing realities. We have some of those concepts here? But not organized in quite the way you're describing. Like, we have a Ministry of Magic, but not an Inderland Security. Aurors, but not Runners.

Let's start with this - did you come to Hogwarts on purpose, or just sort of appear here unawares? Both things happen fairly often here.

[racheltherunner]

Right, so... Wait, what? "Different realities?" Oh, man, Ivy was going to kill me. "I - Kind of on purpose, I guess. At least, I thought so. I intended to go to a magic school. But this..." I paused, shoulders sagging slightly. "This isn't Cincinnati, is it?"

I was so dead.

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Nuh-uh. Scotland. There's a magic school in Cincinnati?

Okay. What's this Turn you mentioned? At a guess, something that let vampires and werewolves and other things that go bump in the night loose in the everyday world?

[racheltherunner]

"Yeah, that's where I went to college." Oh, man, this was quite possibly the most surreal moment of my life, and that was saying something. "Scotland. I am in freaking Scotland?"

Damn.

"And - wait. You don't know what the Turn is?"

Double damn.

Sighing, I waved my hand uselessly for a moment, trying to think of how to explain. "Basically, about fifty years or so ago, scientists accidentally released a deadly virus in a genetically altered tomato. Nearly wiped out the human population. But non-humans," here my eyes narrowed slightly at the woman. Oh, she was a snack norm, all right. "Who have always been around, were immune to varying degrees. The Turn was basically the moment when the balance shifted. We didn't have to hide anymore." I paused a beat. "Which I'm assuming didn't happen...wherever the hell I am now."

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

...Okay. This reality? That hasn't happened. Which leads to the next question - 50 years ago from when? 'Cause people do appear here from other eras.

*winces slightly* I know non-human, ah, beings have always been around, believe me. I tangled with a vicious one that killed me 17 years ago. So, ahh, what type of...non-human...would you be...?

[racheltherunner]

"Other eras?" Ok, this was seriously weird. I decided to change the subject. I could figure all that out...much, much later.

I couldn't keep my eyes from narrowing slightly, though I did feel a pang of sympathy for her and...

"What?" I suddenly wished I had my splat gun, though what kind of good that would do me, I had no idea. "Did you say it killed you? How...that's..." I backed up, watching her warily. "You look pretty alive to me." Damn it, I wanted my splat gun and I wanted Jenks here so I knew exactly what I was dealing with. A vampire? Some sort of demon? God, and all I had were the sleepy-time charms.

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Yeah, killed me. People come here from their deaths too, often violent deaths for some reason.

Me, I was a ghost, for lack of a better term, trapped in a place between dimensions called the Black Lodge. An owl found me there with an application to Hogwarts, and when I was accepted they used magic to bring me over here and make me solid again. All's well that ends well.

Except that the, ah - animal spirit, the local Indian tribe calls him - is still loose back home, as far as I know. He feeds on pain and fear, and he can possess humans. I'm learning as much as I can here that'll help me fight him if I ever face him again. Which is a damn good feeling after being helpless, before.

[racheltherunner]

A ghost. A freaking... Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. My wary stance didn't fade in the slightest, though. A ghost. God.

"Sounds like a demon," I said shortly. "Bad news. And hard to control, if you don't know how." I knew more about demons than I'd ever wanted to. A flicker of sympathy flashed through my eyes and I sighed again. Oh, hell. "I'm a witch," I offered after a moment, an answer to her earlier question.

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

*nods* A friend of mine and I've been talking about him. We've got a theory that at some point way back when, some wannabe badass tried to call him up with a spell and got consumed by him, and that's why he wears the mostly-human face I always saw, no matter what body he was possessing.

Witch, huh? You've come to the right place, then. In the rest of the world - this world - witches and wizards hide from normals - muggles, they call them. Two separate, parallel cultures that've grown up through history, one totally hidden from the other. The wizarding culture at least knows muggles exist, but to judge by some of the Muggle Studies textbooks I've looked at, they might as well be from Mars. Anyway, you've landed in the wizarding culture. It's a fun place.

[racheltherunner]

I winced. I couldn't help it. "Yeah, that...sounds horrifically familiar, actually. Though the demons I've known could take on any form they liked. Well, any form that scared you. Anything they thought they could use against you or to entice you." I freaking hated demons. My thumb rubbed absently on the demon scar at my wrist.

"Fun?" Grinning, I laughed a little. "All right, then. I can do fun."

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Yeah. They're big with the random wacky around here. Like, be careful of chocolates or sweets left lying out for anyone to take? Some wiseass keeps putting out candy laced with random spells on them. I got turned into a cat by one once - that was kinda cool once I got done freaking out. I thought the candies at a wedding reception would be safe, but no, I wound up turning into a cartoon version of myself. Harmless, funny even, and wears off in a day or two.

So what do you do when you're not going to school, back home?

[racheltherunner]

Hexed chocolates? Huh. Now that was interesting. "I'm a runner. Independent." Oh, yeah, and that note of pride in my voice on that? Totally earned. "I have a business with my two partners - Ivy and Jenks."

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Independence is a *great* thing. Not familiar with runners, though - at least not under that name. What's the job like?

[racheltherunner]

"Basically a bounty hunter for hire," I said, grinning. God, I love my job. "We catch the baddies, bring them into the I.S. or whatever. As an independent, we also do missing persons, stolen items, information gathering, the works."