And we creep under cover of darkness... [Narrative, then OPEN]

[rowan_narrators]

Who: Devorah, various demons, anyone who sees her
What: Hey kids. Mama's home.
Where: Outside Jhelbor, at the tree, on the streets.
When: Wednesday night to Thursday morning

Comments

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra was out walking as the sun rose. Her dreams had been restless and she wanted to forget about them. Unfortunately, the city was just so damn quiet. It was eerie. Just like home. And home was really the last place she ever wanted to be again. This was something that made her different from many of the others, but Cassandra was very used to being slightly different

[rowan_narrators]

One of the demons stirred, at Cassandra's scream. Despite an arm injury, he looked like one of the youngest and most fit of the guards at the tree; he sat up, rubbing his head.

"Gods below," he cursed, lowly, rubbing at his head. He vaguely remembered -- was it a woman, from the forest?

Oh, his head...

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra was momentarily pacified by the simple fact that the man was not, as she had feared, dead. With several halting steps, she knelt down beside him, looking at his face. "What happened to you?" she asked. She looked around at the others. "To all of you?"

[rowan_narrators]

He looked at her, dumbly.

"Uh."

He tried to get to his feet and staggered, the pounding in his head getting worse. He remembered --

"It was an attack," he said. But he probably shouldn't say any more than that. This woman was a worldwalker, wasn't she?

[itworks_bitches]

Hood had been thinking about Devorah since his conversation with Ianto. After she and Arlen had disappeared, after his imprisonment, things had moved too fast and too distractingly to let him dwell on the Gate Guardians.

And so, when the cloaked figure passes him, and the glimpse of a face that he catches looks like hers, he initially assumes he's projecting.

Wait.

He does a double take, and if she's seen him; recognized him, she doesn't seem to acknowledge it. Is it her, really? What's she doing back here?

Somewhat stealthily, he thinks, he follows her at a distance. He isn't entirely sure, but if it is her, then he doesn't want to be out on the streets when they meet again.

[rowan_narrators]

Of course she recognizes him; thirty years of training, seventy years of experience as a warrior has left her prepared for almost anything. Her face shows no sign of recognition, though, as she is pretending to be a demon here. It's entirely possible that he'll disregard her presence entirely.

...but no. He's following her.

Foolish man. She doesn't want to have to hurt him. ...but it would be dangerous to leave, now. He might mention her to the wrong person.

She stews in frustration, momentarily, and turns, casually, down a new street, out of Hood's sight, and among the still-abandoned part of Jhelbor. She stretches out her senses, carefully: no witnesses. No breathing, no muffled sounds.

And she leans against the building, and waits.

[itworks_bitches]

She ducks into a side street, and Hood's sure now; it's Devorah. He hesitates briefly, considering how dangerous she is, and the likelihood that she's not pleased with him for following her.

But his curiosity has always overridden his sense of self-preservation.

He turns, casually enough, and she's there; leaning against the wall? Waiting for him. Of course she knew he was following her.

"So it is you," he says, keeping his voice low, stepping just a little closer to her. "You came back."

[rowan_narrators]

She steps away from the wall, lean and smooth, like a stalking animal.

"I could have killed you three times over by now," she says, slowly, clearly. "No witnesses but the stones. You should be more careful."

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho scanned the area as she walked to the tree. Was this what Niko had been talking about? She really hoped not. There were men on the ground, though, and if she'd already come this far, she might as well keep going. "Are you all right?"

[rowan_narrators]

All around the tree, the seventeen that had been guarding it were picking themselves up, disoriented and confused, but all alive.

The first demon to regain consciousness looked up at Cho, bewildered. "Uh," he said, "I'm okay, could you go run get a healer? Areth looks pretty screwed up," and he gestured down at a man on the ground, his arm extended at a strange angle. "I'd set his arm myself but I'm, y'know, kinda dizzy."

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho frowned and knelt down beside the man with the broken and dislocated arm. "I think Cassandra already went to do that." She bit her lip and her hand hovered over the shoulder. "I could fix his shoulder..." Maybe. Possibly. Theoretically. Oh, but if she screwed it up even worse. She shouldn't have offered at all. "But it might be better to wait for the healer." Who would get here very very soon, she hoped.

[rowan_narrators]

"Nonono," said the demon, "it's okay, we'll wait for the healer." He had no idea how qualified this girl might be - through the gate meant a completely unknown quantity. And that scared him a little, though he'd never admit it.

He spared a glance at the watch commander, a heavyset older demon still unconscious on the ground. He'd probably catch hell for how thoroughly his team was trashed, under his command.

Man, and the demon couldn't even remember what had happened. The face of the woman that attacked them - it was dark, and he'd only seen her for a second. He probably wouldn't be able to describe her. Yeah, 'dark hair', that was really useful. Or maybe it was a cloak. Was it a cloak?

He rubbed the base of his skull, wincing.

[weedyshyguy]

It was the last straw. Every morning, Jem disappeared into the city and only returned to Bret's apartment at night to be fed. While Bret understood a cat's need to explore and be adventurous (and, for a kitten, Jem was getting a bit of a belly so Bret probably wasn't the only one feeding him), he also understood that cats are nocturnal creatures. Wherever the black and white kitten was going, he was going to sleep. And that just didn't seem safe.

So he was going around town with a cup of milk in hopes that, once he's found the cat's hiding place, he could coax his pet into following him home. He wasn't really focusing on the people around him at all until he mistook a creaking doorway for a meow and as he spun around (badnowafulno) the cup slipped from his hand and poured out onto the ground

[rowan_narrators]

Devorah paused, raising and eyebrow. "Do you?" she asked, smoothly, flawlessly switching into a more demon accent, quite a contrast from the deliberate, particular elf style of speech. "I don't think we've met."

[weedyshyguy]

Bret hesitated, his arm lowering a bit. "I- Yes. I think so. You seem different but..."

Devorah didn't talk like that before. But she had struck him as a bit of a dishonest person before so maybe she was trying to trick him. He wasn't going to let her go too easily.

"Where's Ar- where is he?" Bret asked, catching himself before starting a conversation that probably shouldn't be had in public.

[rowan_narrators]

"Oh my gosh you're one of the worldwalkers!" exclaimed Devorah. "Which one are you? Do you sing or cook? You all sing or cook, right? I keep hearing that!" Which wasn't a total lie. She did keep hearing it.

Family, demon gossip was inane.