Who said anything about being missing in action?

[secondcity_npc]

Characters: NPCs and you!
Time: Wednesday, after sunset
Location: Oriental Theatre (Ford Center for the Performing Arts), ANYWHERE ELSE YOU WANT Jump into one of the later threads if you want a vamp attack!
Content: Remember those missing people? Maybe you can find them!
Format: Whichever you prefer
Warnings: Vampires.

Comments

Trump International Tower NPC Rescue?

[johntaylor_pi]

John walked with his hands in his pockets. It hadn't taken him long to get to that area of the city, John had been pretty regularly looking over maps and trying to figure out where things were. He couldn't do that in the Nightside so it seemed like it'd come in handy if he had the map of this place memorized. Also, he was in the area which helped things a bit.

It was while he was approaching the hotel that he realized he had a problem. He hadn't gotten the man's name. Brilliant detective. He sighed and called out instead, "Hey? Is the guy who was lost around here? I thought I told you to wait!"

[secondcity_npc]

A tall young man peered from around the corner of the building, blond hair slicked back in a style that went out in the mid-1950s. His clothing still reflected which era he had been pulled from before getting dumped in front of the American Girl Place days ago.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and began heading towards the man.

[johntaylor_pi]

John wasn't bothered by the out of date hair style. For one who was a man in a white trench coat to criticize and two he saw enough time displaced people back in the Nightside. He was quick to notice the other man approaching and nodded, "Sorry, forgot to get a name. Glad to see you stayed in one place though...makes things easier."

[secondcity_npc]

[johntaylor_pi]

John's sense of smell was just as ordinary as anyone else, but that didn't mean he didn't have a sensitive nose...mostly to blood. A denizen of the Nightside, you got used to that scent in the air. But not here, he hadn't smelled it much in Chicago.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the shambling woman. There was something not right about her but for all John knew she could just be a drunk. He looked back at the man, "I think you could use a drink. My buy." He kept one eye on the woman and attempted to steer the man away. Call it a gut feeling.

[secondcity_npc]

"Wait a moment," the young man said, having also caught sight of the woman. "By gosh, man! She could be hurt!"

He slipped from John's grip and began heading over to the woman. "Ma'am? Ma'am, are you okay?"

[secondcity_npc]

[johntaylor_pi]

Dammit. It really sucked not having his reputation here. Back home they'd be more likely to go with him than worry about something else...or at least run away screaming. John sighed, he didn't have it in him to walk away. Maybe the kid was right and the woman needed help. John had a feeling that wasn't the case, women who smelled like blood and needed help tended to scream. This one wasn't doing that.

He didn't like this at all. While Mr. Helpful ran over to check on her, John noticed something drop from her hand to the ground. It looked like fur. John wondered why a woman was just carrying that around. He approached her cautiously, hands in his pockets and ready for things to go south (call him paranoid, go ahead). "We were just going to grab something. Want to join us?" He tried to get closer so that he could put himself between the kid and the woman. After all, he was pretty sure the kid didn't have a protective coat and minor healing abilities.

[outtabubblegum]

Harry really hated having to rely on electronics to figure out what was going on in this insane city. Checking the phone every day was far from first nature for him, and so it seemed he was constantly playing catch up.

Staff in hand, he headed into the theater looking for the crowd that had trundled off at the first sign of a mystery. Honestly, did no one look before they leaped anymore? Wait, there was one of the groups now. Two men he vaguely recognized, and a young girl who seemed upset, which instantly set off all sorts of bells in Harry's head. "Is everyone alright here? Seems I'm a little late to the party."

[secondcity_npc]

He stopped within a few feet of her, slowing to more cautious pace. Slowly, his eyes fell to the ground to where the woman had dropped... something. He kept on looking as the... thing quivered slightly - it was a rat. And despite its coarse fur, there were some very apparent marking by its neck.

As if someone had attempted to take a bite out of it.

He looked up at the woman in alarm. "Um..."

[crossgrave]

He'd come looking to find the loss person, treading cautiously through the theater. It was as alien as the rest of Chicago. Nothing was as he remembered it to be last time he'd come here on a mission. ...the device at least meant he wasn't getting lost anytime soon. That did him little good when he rounded the corner to be slammed with the scent of rot. The scene before him with the three men and the woman made him feel wary when he approached with a polite nod.

He paused a reasonable distance of the woman, he left hand held out just enough in case he needed to use claw or sword form of his weapon. His eye couldn't detect the danger, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. "Evening." He spoke quietly and fixed the alarmed man with a smile that didn't reach him eyes. "Sir, I think you might want to step back away from her."

[secondcity_npc]

[johntaylor_pi]

Well, this was turning into a real party. John hadn't expected tag-a-longs but it looked like he was getting them in the form of a tall bloke in a duster and a younger man with white hair and a strange marking on his face. Right, these were people from the network. He recognized them as Harry and Allen. Well, at least they had experience (or so they claimed).

Just as he was about to tell them both that he had this under control the woman made her move. John acted on instinct, shoving the man with the 50's hairdo out of the way and pulling from his pocket a bag of pepper that he threw in the woman's face as he also moved out of the way. Hey, it might not be holy water, but he was pretty sure even a vampire was going to have an issue with a nose, mouth, and eyes full of pepper. Plus, it'd by him time to find more things in his pockets since the pepper had been the first thing he found. "I told you we should have just gone to get a drink," he shouted at the young 50s man.

[outtabubblegum]

Too slow, too damn slow

[secondcity_npc]

He didn't react quickly when the girl lurched at him, and would have most definitely been dead if John hadn't abruptly shoved him out the way - he stumbled onto the road, blinking in surprise. Catching himself, he turned to see not just pepper go flying but a gust of wind strong enough to send him stumbling back a few more steps.

It seemed to take him a minute to grasp Harry's words, but he began digging through his pockets, searching for something, anything that could be useful against the vampire.

[crossgrave]

Allen was in motion the moment the vampire was, his left hand not yet invoked into the deadly weapon it could be. He dropped down when the pepper was flung and cursed the drop in his speed. He wouldn't have made it in time to prevent the woman from doing something horrid to the innocent man. His arm changed before Harry was finished attacking.

His sword would be too slow despite how quickly he could move. The boy rolled on his feet, coming up with Crowned clown's cloak settling around him. He darted toward the dead with Innocence enhanced speed (yet it felt less than it should be). The claw came upward in a smooth arc. The Edge End attack seared out holy energy in his slashing motion. A girl's corpse used like that, it made his teeth grit.

Putting too much power into the slash could cost him when he might need the energy most. Regardless of the vamp's response he was hopping back out of the way, charging energy in his claws for another attack and circling cautiously.