Blowing you all away in the shitstorm sweepstakes

[vvdanicavv]

Time: approx. lunchtime, Christmas Day
Location: Basement stairs

Manicured fingertips flicked burning embers off the gun before picking it up out of the pile of ashes and shaking off the remains of a lackey who had obviously shown more loyalty to Danica than was good for his health. She checked the magazine, stepping purposefully around the couch,

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[colbert_bump]

Stephen had taken a short break from all the Christmas activities going around. It was one of the few times he actually felt at home on the island, with the cold and the food and the singing. He had gone downstairs for a bit but couldn't stay there long - the Christmas Spirit was too strong! He had to rejoin everyone!

He was just leaving the dorm area and going for the stairs when he heard gunshots. Really loud, nearby gunshots. After his initial reaction of dropping to the floor, he wondered who the hell would be shooting people on Christmas. That was no way to get presents.

Then a body came tumbling down.

God, seriously? Stephen had to be the one to deal with a dead body?! This was bullshit!

Clearing his throat, he got off the floor, peering from around the wall he had dove behind. "...Are you alive?" It was worth a shot, right?

[colbert_bump]

Oh thank God.

"Good! Great! Hopefully she'll still be there," Stephen rambled, turning on his heel and heading for the stairs. He kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure Asher was actually following.

[asher_talos]

She?

"Del?" Asher asked immediately, managing to keep the twinge of panic in his voice to a minimum, but just barely. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go any further - she and basement had a potential for horrifying results, if history was anything to judge by - but he followed anyway.

[colbert_bump]

Why would it be Del? Del wanting to see Asher in the basement would possibly be scarier than the reality.

"...No," was all he said as he started down the steps. "I can't explain it, okay?"

His foot hit the floor, he looked around, and she wasn't there. "Oh, God." He sounded panicked, so he cleared his throat and shot Asher a nervous smile.

"Uh...hello?" he called out. "I found him..."

[vvdanicavv]

As usual, when she found herself in a situation beyond her control, Danica had quickly switched from disturbed back to plain irritated. As her default setting, she took reassurance from the familiarity of it. Since the laundry room hadn't been up to standard, she'd paced her way into the next room, hoping to find better. The bright red stocking hanging at the end of one of the beds told her she hadn't.

The humans quick return surprised her; faithful familiars were hard to find these days. "Clever boy," she commented disinterestedly as she stalked out of the bedroom. When she caught sight of her brother, her cocky exterior faltered for a moment, relief flashing across her face too fast for those without a keen eye to notice. "Call the car," she told him tersely. She'd deal with her trip to Never Neverland once she was home again.

[asher_talos]

Asher wasn't aware he'd been lost and needed to be 'found'. He didn't know what the fuck that weird smile from Stephen was for, either, but he just rolled his eyes and kept his mouth shut despite not being in the mood for games. Stephen's games least of all. Those usually just made his naturally bad mood that much worse.

When he heard that voice, though, he froze on the spot, eyes widening as she emerged from the dorm. "Dan?" He managed the name after a few tries failed attempts at getting his mouth to actually work for him.

At the risk of bodily injury, Asher closed the distance left between them, peering at her for a brief moment before he hugged her and held tight. He'd seen things on the island that weren't really there, held conversations with them that he rather forget. But she was solid. "This place has shitty reception," he said quietly, knowing that he should have had his guard up and at the ready for any physical attack she tried to send his way for the invasion of personal space, in front of a stranger no less, but he

[colbert_bump]

In a rare moment of awareness, Stephen wondered if he should leave... He had watched Asher's movie and he knew that Danica was important to him. He should probably give them privacy or something.

Yet he couldn't move, because he was too busy staring. Asher was hugging someone. Sure, it was his sister, but it was still one of the strangest sights he had ever seen.

[vvdanicavv]

Asher must have inhaled more atomized silver than Danica had initially feared judging by his behavior. His touch didn't bring its usual comfort, not when the public affection simply added to the pile of what the fuck? that was steadily growing.

Danica glared at staring Stephen over her brother's shoulder, readjusting her grip on the gun and raising the hand to Asher's elbow. Most of the time she was content to leave his toys alone but this one had such an entertaining reaction to the weapon that she could hardly help herself.

"This place is shitty, period," she corrected in annoyance, pushing Asher away, and not only due to the increased ache in her ribs from his hold. Her inability to scent him properly despite her efforts had put her permascowl back on her face. There was a certain flair in the way she brushed past him to the stairs that suggested her arrogance was back full force. "If this is a fucking bunker I'd rather take my chances out there with Blade."

[asher_talos]

Reluctantly, Asher let her go, though he was afraid she'd vanish into thin air once she was out of his arm. He wasn't about to put any manner of spiteful behavior past this place.

The island's tendency to fuck over each and every one of its inhabitants at the front of his mind or not, it wasn't nearly enough to keep the smile from his face. The horror of potentially losing her again took a back seat to happiness. They'd probably switch places in due time, but he was in no rush for it to happen. Stephen's gawking might have pulled some unpleasant reaction or another from him under ordinarily circumstances, but Asher almost forgot he was there completely.

"Unless you brought him with you, you won't find the Daywalker out there or anywhere else on the island." Asher briefly wondered if that was the catch. "So would you put that fucking thing down?" He said, motioning the the gun.

[colbert_bump]

Stephen pretty much agreed with Asher on that. He was kind of scared to say anything, since that would bring some attention back to him. Which usually, he wanted. But not when it involved possible death.

So he just offered a nervous smile and wave in case anyone looked at him.

[vvdanicavv]

The smiling was starting to get on Danica's nerves, it was like a fucking epidemic. As far as she could tell there was nothing that was worth a smile here. All it did was make it more than obvious that Asher was still very much in possession of his fangs, so why the hell wasn't she?

Not having to deal with Blade should have brought her relief but she held it off before she'd seen it with her own eyes. She'd learnt her lesson when it came to premature celebration before. Though she trusted her brother he wasn't enough to stop her determined ascent, gun still beside her. There was plenty she wanted to say but she kept her mouth shut, literally, ignoring Asher's request; she sure as fuck didn't want him seeing what she'd lost.

It was only once her vision has risen above the top stair and she saw people, humans crawling all over the place, that she hung back. The daylight streaming through the doors at the opposite end of the corridor automatically forced her down a stair and she huffed out a furious sigh.

"Asher." After five hundred

[asher_talos]

"It's safe," he said after having followed her to stand at the bottom of the stairs, watching as she recoiled at whatever it was she was staring at up there. Whether it was the sun or someone walking by eating a raw garlic clove, it wouldn't have any affect now. "You're human here, Dan." There really was no gentle way to put it. Her sense would be dulled, fangs gone, body weaker than it had been a few moments ago, because that's how it had been for him. "And up there are a bunch of other humans who'll just panic and stampede like spooked cattle if you take that gun up there with you."

There would also be a few people who wouldn't panic and flee, but who would probably advance and try to lock her up.

"She been down here long?" He asked Stephen. He was the one who had gone to 'find' him, after all.

[colbert_bump]

Stephen was pretty glad he hadn't been around when Asher first learned he was human. Of course, from what he remembered from the movie (which wasn't much unless it was a scene with Asher in it), Danica would probably react worse... Stephen could see himself reacting just as badly if he were in that position.

But he had always been human. An amazing human, of course.

He blinked in surprise at actually being addressed with something other than a threat. About time.

"Just about ten minutes." If that. Who could tell? Time moved so damn slow here. "She...fell down the stairs when I was down here." She seemed okay, though.

[vvdanicavv]

Danica knew. She'd known the moment she'd lifted her head from the concrete that she'd changed back. Become human. Weak. She may as well have just stuck her head into the ventilation shaft and inhaled a lungful of silver, she doubted the feeling of decay would have been much different from what she was experiencing now

[asher_talos]

"Jesus!" Asher hissed, dodging to the side as the gun clattered down the stairs. That's all he needed - a stray bullet to the head just when she got here.

"I would if I could," he said, picking the gun up off the floor and removing the magazine. And he hoped she believed that much, because he meant it, but it wasn't like he had the power to call the shots when it came to that. The island had cleared his system of the virus; the fangs were just for show now. "I've got the hardware, sure, but I'm just as mortal as you. Bit him," he told her, nodding over at Stephen. "No change." A strange fang fixation, maybe, but he was still most definitely human.

"This place... it zaps all that stuff out at the door. Not just vampires, but anything that wasn't human before it got here." As if that knowledge would make her feel any better.

[colbert_bump]

Oh great, now they were talking about biting. Stephen looked uncomfortably around the room, automatically reaching up to scratch at his neck even though it hadn't itched for months.

Danica was blocking the stairs...he couldn't escape yet...