[open] Daylight burns your sleepy eyes

[keeps_in_step]

Characters: Derek, random NPC vampire, and...?
Time: late afternoon-near night
Location: a small distance from the Bean of Summoning
Content: Derek arrives in Chicago, without remembering last time, with some darker company.
Format: starting with prose but will go with whatever after
Warnings: TL;DR start, probably a little language and violence

Comments

[wanderlustroad]

"You'll want to run," came a voice, quickly approaching from behind Derek and just off to his left. At that moment, a silver-haired young man came running to his peripheral view, a strange key-like item gripped in his hand.

Riku normally wouldn't have been anywhere near Millennium Park after he heard about the vampire attacks that had plagued it until he realized that despite their best efforts, new people might be arriving with no idea how to fight the vampires. It would be a rude awakening - even a fatal one.

It was why he had decided to just take a quick glimpse under the Bean - if no one was there, he'd head back to the hotel and try to get some more information out of those who had recognized the three men at the meeting in the theater.

It was a good thing he decided to come.

[keeps_in_step]

Normally, Derek would have heard the approach of another a lot sooner, but the young man's voice and footsteps on the pavement had appeared just as the first notes of his melody reached Derek. The Agent should have heard the melody first. Something was very wrong here.

The warning came not a moment too soon. (Derek was more inclined to trust the silver-haired young man with a beat than the other person without one.) Derek moved further away from the hungry looking person just as the later had tried to lunge toward him.

That was enough to get Derek fully on guard and ready to defend himself. A microphone wouldn't get him very far; it wasn't a nightstick or anything of the sort, but he could throw it at the person if need be. The young man looked more prepared.

"Hey," he addressed the man who tried to attack him. "Calm down. Not an enemy."

[wanderlustroad]

Riku shook his head vehemently, jumping between the approaching vampire and the newcomer, dark fire licking up the length of the keyblade. "He won't listen - it's a vampire."

It was then that he noticed that the vampire's movements seemed to have attracted the attention of others, moving just along the edge of his line of sight. Gritting his teeth, Riku added, "They don't leave the park. We should head west and fast."

[keeps_in_step]

Fighting off the urge to put himself between the two, Derek didn't sound as surprised as he could have been. The Agent had met a myriad of beings during his missions, from fire breathing golems to laughing zombie mushrooms and more in between. "Vampire? As in burns in daylight, hates garlic?"

But he left the question hang as Derek followed the youth's gaze and saw movement in the distance. "... Right. Lead the way." Now wasn't the time for questions.

[wanderlustroad]

"Exactly," Riku murmured, eyeing the approaching vampires. It wasn't as many as there had been before the raid - the others had seen to that. Keeping Way to the Dawn up, ready for a defensive strike, he backed up towards the new arrival.

"Alright, lets go!" He took running west, still making sure he kept himself between the vampires and the unarmed man.

Unsurprisingly, the vampires gave chase.

[keeps_in_step]

Derek mentally swore when the vampires ran after them, clearly not wanting to lose their meal. The Agent thought he could start picking out something that could be the vampires'... "tunes," or was that just his imagination trying to hear something that wasn't there?

Ignore that and think about it later. Run.

His shaded eyes scanned the streets as they ran, trying to find something he and the silver haired youth could use to their advantage. Derek almost reached for his earpiece to contact HQ for a location--only to remember the previous static. "Know if there's a church nearby?" Well, if they were the standard fantasy vampire... "Or a supermarket?"

[wanderlustroad]

A church? Riku shook his head as they darted to the edge of the park, hoping that while they were running, they didn't somehow attract the attention of a horde.

"There are restaurants along Michigan Avenue, but no supermarkets."

He heard a scramble behind him and dared to look over his shoulder for just a moment - and cursed. It had been too much to hope for that they wouldn't get any more attention. Three more vampires had joined the chase and were steadily gaining ground.

[keeps_in_step]

"Any of them Italian?" Garlic bread was the only food dish that seemed to come to mind as Derek ran. There really wasn't the luxury of stopping to think of anything else or ask the locals. They'd probably say blood anyways.

Movement out of the corner of the Agent's eye and the rustle of leaves caused him to spin around and swing. Microphone collided with something hard; a sickening crunch cracked through the air. Derek didn't know which he hoped that the noise had come from: his mike or the vampire that had joined them. He continued with his movement to unbalance the vampire enough to knock him to the ground. Then Derek ran again to regain some distance. He doubted that would be enough to stun the undead.

Definitely different than fighting ninja car salesmen. "How much further?"

[wanderlustroad]

"Italian?" echoed Riku, even as he readied himself to call forth magic. He had no idea what that meant unless he was asking about garlic.

He almost stopped when he heard the sound of metal against decaying flesh, ready to turn around and help in the sudden scuffle. However, he found that the man, despite the brief pause, was still keeping pace with him. The edge of Millennium Park was so close - they really were going to have to push it.

"Right up ahead," Riku said, swinging out his keyblade and lopping off the arm of a vampire that came too close.

He hoped they made it.

[[OOC: Regarding your email, we agreed that it should be fine. It won't be as powerful as a regular object of faith, but it should still be able to put a nice dent in a vampire's skull :D]]

[keeps_in_step]

"The edge of the park, right," Derek said as the young man chopped off a vampire limb with the strange sword. The destination didn't look too far. Good since they hadn't lost the group that followed them. They'd be there soon, just a few more feet

[wanderlustroad]

The strong gust of wind almost made Riku stagger, but a quick swing of the keyblade shifted his balance enough to keep him from stumbling to the ground. When he glanced over his shoulder to make sure that the redheaded man was still running alongside of him, he could only stare as the man dove back for a hat.

"What are you doing?" Riku exclaimed, not even pausing for a second to run back towards him.

He did stop when the fedora smashed the vampire's face in. Confusion flickered across his face for a brief second before he realized that now was definitely not to the time to wonder who enchanted the Indiana Jones hat and, once the man had caught up with him again, took off to the edge of the park, hungry vampires snapping at their heels.

[keeps_in_step]

With the brim of Morris' fedora tight in his grip, Derek sprinted to run up beside the young man giving a quick, "Sorry." as his only reply for now. It seemed that he hadn't expected the fedora to do so much damage. The vampire with the bashed in nose dropped further and further behind the two.

Derek kept the pace a little further until the young man slowed, signalling that they were safe from the vampire mob. Otherwise, he didn't look back.

[wanderlustroad]

Only once they had nearly tumbled out onto Michigan Avenue did Riku put his hands on knees, the keyblade vanishing into thin air as he doubled over to catch his breath. Those vampires were faster than a majority of the Heartless and Nobodies he had encountered.

Some of the vampires screamed in frustration as the two of them crossed that invisible barrier, and looked almost ready to leap over it. But the moment passed and after a few moments of angry pacing, the remainder took off back towards the center of park, disappearing in the shadows of the night.

Riku grimaced, giving the man a sideways look. "Welcome to the city."

[keeps_in_step]

While not doubling over, Derek breath was heavy. He wiped away the sweat on his brow and then concentrated on regain control of his breathing and calming down the heart pounding in his chest.

"Nice welcome party..." Derek gave a look back to the park and the angry, hungry vampires. Something had stopped them, just like the young man had alluded to.

And to think, just a moment ago, he had been running down a hall to play Fedora Frisbee. He turned to the young man. "I'm Derek. Thanks for back there."

[wanderlustroad]

"Tell me about it," Riku groused, straightening up and brushing silvery hair back from his face. Throwing one more dark glance at the park, he turned back towards Derek and nodded. "Riku. Don't mention it. This place isn't too safe at any time of day."

As if to confirm his words, the sky overhead rumbled ominously.

[keeps_in_step]

"Nice to meet you, Riku... Circumstances aside." The Agent looked up at the rumbling in the clouds just as Riku did. "Don't think I want to be caught in that. Is there a place everyone stays at?"

Derek assumed that there were more people here. And hoped that was the case.