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

[iamaman_punch]

Walking around after dark in a strange city that just got stranger as the days went on was probably not the greatest idea. Tempting fate tended to be 1) dumb, 2) really dumb around here, and 3) the Critic's area of expertise. Linkara had an excuse, though: it hadn't been dark when he'd started walking around, trying to get a feel for this new, emptier Chicago. It was a lousy excuse, but hey, it was what he had.

He'd wound up near some sort of theater, watching people head inside as some sort of chimes sounded. "Huh," he commented to nobody in particular, "You wouldn't think they'd still be having shows with the city like this." One nonpartisan shrug later, he'd turned to head back to the hotel.

[supremeweek]

Franky, conversely, had never been one to hold back when fate dangled anything ominous in his face. Not necessarily because he liked taking risks, and not even because he was a bit contrary when it came to what he should or shouldn't do, but mostly just because if he felt like doing something, he'd do it and the consequences be damned. No one had told him about the monsters or anything, either, but he really wouldn't have cared if they had; he was, after all, part of a crew including a skeleton, a talking deer, and a guy with moss for hair.

He'd been exploring the city, eventually lured, as people are wont to do, toward the glow of light in midst of the darkness. Franky wandered near to see what the fuss was about, and caught sight of that one guy from the bean wandering back nearby. "Oi, Hat-bro. You hittin' up the theater or somethin'?"

[iamaman_punch]

Turning around to find a pantsless cyborg in front of you could be a bit unnerving, to say the least. The fact that Linkara took it in stride was both a testament that his life had gotten weird lately - weird enough to make the cyborg's presence fall on the "relatively normal" end of the scale - and a result of the fact that he'd met the guy before.

"Hey, Franky." He moved pretty quietly for a big guy. "Not really. Just wondering how they managed to get enough people to put on a show, never mind get an audience." He glanced back at the theater - looked like everyone had gone inside - and turned back to the cyborg. "So, seen any 'evil faeries' or anything lately?" Yes, that sentence came complete with finger quotes. Just because they'd been warned about the fae population of the city didn't mean Linkara was buying it.

[godofcologne]

It was probably not surprising to anyone who knew what he was that Thomas would be on the streets of Chicago after dark. After all, prowling at night looking for some hapless doe to feed on was exactly what vampires did. Never mind that the previous night's debauchery had been wholly useless, and left him with little more than guilt and bad dreams, without even the satiation of the Hunger to take his mind off things. So he walked around the city, alternately trying to convince himself he was fine and thinking of going down to Zero

[supremeweek]

Franky gave a snort at Linkara's question, but before he could answer, another voice piped up. The cyborg glanced over to see some fancy-looking guy off to the side. He crossed his arms and grinned in that way that most people would deem unnerving. "Damn, I hope so. I got a lot of aggression to work out this week. You can ditch if you want."

He gave the new guy another glance, before turning back to Linkara. "He a buddy of yours, or do you just attract an entourage?"

[secondcity_npc]

[iamaman_punch]

"They come when they're called?" Of all the things Linkara had heard about fae, that hadn't been one of them. "And they use flaming arrows? You think they'd be a little more creative than that." If they did show up, however, he was definitely leaving them to Franky - or, more to the point, he wasn't going to get in Franky's way.

Franky's question got a bit more thought. "No, but I do have fans..."

The police car was the first thing that night that came as completely unexpected. He raised an eyebrow at the request - and at the perfectly functional car, which he was starting to find was a rarity around here - but then realized that if a seven foot tall pantsless cyborg didn't count as disturbing the peace, then nothing did. "Okay, officer," he replied slowly.

[godofcologne]

"I prefer the flaming arrows to the teeth," Thomas said dryly. "Empty night the teeth are scary." He gave the pantsless man (was his nose made of metal?) a second look and added, "Better you than me, big guy. I've fulfilled my lifetime quota of flaming faerie arrows to the face."

And then there was the cop, nothing visible of him except a hand. That was a little weird. Cops usually loved flashing their badges, at least the beat cops did. Karrin Murphy was a little bit more circumspect. So, Thomas did what he did best in situations like this. He shot off his mouth.

"Could we see some identification, officer?"

[supremeweek]

"More fer me, then!" Franky had filled the lifetime quota for a lot of things that most would deem unpleasant, but dammit, he had been in the mood to beat up something since he got here, and a few weenie little arrows sure as heck weren't gonna throw him off.

Unfortunately, that bad mood of his wasn't about to dissipate with some uniformed guy telling him what to do, either. It was easy enough to figure out this guy must have been some sort of sheriff by the uniform, confirmed by the other two calling him officer. The other two might have been playing it polite, but an underground boss-turned-pirate didn't feel like mincing words.

"I'll move along when I damn well feel like."

[secondcity_npc]

[iamaman_punch]

This would have been a fantastic moment to have a facepalm, if the cop hadn't interrupted it by getting out of the car. It wasn't the sight of him that brought a dead stop to Linkara's sarcastic thought process; rather, it was the smell, a choking wave that attacked his nose with all the power and subtlety of a sledgehammer. He wasn't sure what that was, but it couldn't have been anything good. It was only after the rest of his senses caught up with his nose that he realized just how...less than alive this particular cop looked.

"We look odd," he deadpanned, slowly bringing his right arm back to rest on his hip. In an ordinary situation, going for a gun in front of a cop was a bad idea. This was not, however, an ordinary situation, or an ordinary cop. "Uh-huh."

[godofcologne]

"We are the ones standing with the pantsless wonder," Thomas muttered at the more reasonably sized man. He realized belatedly he didn't know either of their names and mentally dubbed them Hat and Pants. And then the cop got out of his car, bringing with him the distinct and unforgettable scent of grave dirt and rotten meat.

"Empty night," he breathed, stiffening. He'd never forgotten that smell. Not when the Black Court was responsible for the what had happened to his employee Sarah and her friends. Employee? She was a doe. Does are meant to be hunted. And they were responsible for what had happened to Justine. Justine, our doe, our bottle of wine, ours, ours, ours... He shook his head firmly. No, what had happened to Justine wasn't their fault, it had been his. His and his demon

[supremeweek]

That was the thing about having your nose replaced with metal: smelling got a lot harder. Franky was used to some pretty bizarre-looking people back home, and this didn't really measure up to his idea of being worthy of worry.

The massive cyborg sneered. "You got rules against lookin' weird?" He didn't care that it was night. He tapped down his sunglasses. It was the look that mattered here. "You're gonna have a damn hard time with me, then."

[secondcity_npc]

[godofcologne]

When Pants opened his mouth, Thomas clenched his teeth. That guy was definitely getting eaten first. He eyed the vampire as it came closer and shifted on his feet. This was not a fight in his favour, but even he wasn't enough of a monster to let two people get chomped to death by one of the Black Court.

"Guys," he muttered as he reached up for the waist of his pants in the most casual way possible. The vampire was going to hear him no matter how low he whispered, and supernatural speed or not it was going to get ugly. "It's a vampire."

Before the first word was out of his mouth, the Desert Eagle was already in Thomas' hand and he squeezed off a shot.

[iamaman_punch]

Linkara opened his mouth to make a comment about how bad an idea it was to make fun of the living dead - and how had Franky not noticed that this guy was dead anyways? - when the new guy's comment hit home, followed by the sound of a gunshot going off near his ear.

Oh. That cleared things up.

"Really?" He'd already pulled the magic gun out of its holster and laid the barrel across one of his arms in a practiced motion, using his arm as a level. "See, I-" He fired a shot at the vampire cop without missing a beat, the circle of energy flying out of the barrel and towards its target at an incredible speed. "-was thinking zombie."