THE NIGHT AFTER HIPSTERS
Jan 21, 2015 6:20:07 GMT -8
Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 21, 2015 6:20:07 GMT -8
'Twas the night after the hipster party, and at the Harlan Aquarium, bug care and magic were on the usual agenda for Trevor and his mentors. It was a good night for him.
Meanwhile, Courtney lazed the first half of the night, mostly in private, but finally, grudgingly, opened to the possibility of learning magic. She tried, but she couldn't make anything happen.
At the Marchese estate, August started his night like he ended it - corresponding with vampires on the internet and mad phone tag. First he messaged Jeannie because he's a gentleman yo. Then he checked in with Cam to see if he was OK, totally downplaying how much fun he had so his bud wouldn't feel too bad. Cameron was alright, but hoping his arm would be in better shape by the next night, and was just going to spend time with Demetri learning organized crime / business stuff. He also found out Ru was already on his way to pick up Babette, having not been able to steal Tristan from the Eebil One. August had wanted to offhand the role of evil foreigner to him so he could focus on directing and not have to dance or sing. At least for now, though, it could not be.
Meanwhile, Ru acquired Babette in the gravel-strewn, weedy drive of the Greyburn Cathedral and headed to the movie set. They got there ahead of everyone else, followed by Chloë and Wilhelm, then August & Quinn.
At the Sombreta Estate, Jason woke alone, meandered to a comfortable balcony, then got sucked into an awkward creepy conversation with Angela and Gaston-Louis. He was quiet and nodded sometimes.
When Jack got home from Chloë & Wilhelm's, he never got that far up the stairs. A piece of mail yarded his brains out and he went to his room to play dead miserably. Vitus looked for the youths, managing to extricate Jason from the weirdos, but not able to come up with much else for them to do at the moment.
Back at the movie set, August told everyone about the amazing reworking of the script from the session with Cam and Wilhelm, including a sword fight, possible shark attack, and how the dance number would fit in. August wanted it to be an edgy and elaborate dream sequence of Wilhelm's character. Possibly with a lot of fake blood and tasteful nudity.
Babette and the crew were nothing but professional during the movie rehearsals. Babette encouraged August's creative impulses, particularly his plan to involve Tristan in the movie, and hoped they'd have better luck in future nights. Ru rehearsed with his usual intensity, putting on his greatest of great acting chops for a dramatic, dark delivery.
At Fitzpatrick's, Darren festered.
At the Sombreta Estate, Angela and G-L were creepy and Jack took off. He ended up getting a ride to interesting places with Demetri.
Back at the studio, Babette used breaks to practice creating little illusions in her mirror - more cowlicks on her reflection, mostly. She attempted a single moth shape, which she found she could not create ex nihilo, but she could push the lines of the existing reflection. Still, what use was a moth made out of the boundary between her dress strap and collar bone?
Still, by the end of the night, she had become comfortable manipulating light without a mirror. She could make such an illusion directly on her own image. They didn't last very long, but it seemed random. Some lasted seconds, some several minutes.
Now and then, she stared wistfully at the ship set. She thought about Wilhelm's story, and then she thought about her first night as a vampire. Sometimes, she lowered her voice when speaking, afraid that Barren or another spirit was listening - knowing they probably were not. She began to understand why Courtney might dislike her "gift."
As the night stretched toward dawn, the rehearsal broke down into rolling discussions about life as a vampire, the meaning of death, foods to be missed, and fun things about being undead. Wilhelm helped everyone practice powers that wouldn't be too blood exhausting. Even in this late part of the night, Ru stayed in-character, and wrapped in DEEP MELANCHOLY.
August was more focused on the training so as to not be caught unawares, or in a fishing net. Or unaware in a fishing net. By the end of the night, he felt comfortable falling from as high as the crow's nest, able to break a fall at the last moment by focusing his sense of gravity on the deck - and he helped Chloë overcome her trepidation to do the same.
It was also clear that climbing was a little different from one lineage to the next. Marcheses could swing easily from hands and feet. Even Quinn came to be more at ease with it. Ru's climbing was a bit more like a lumberjack with climbing gear, Babette's like hurried tiny steps with her body held a steady parallel to the surface. In Ru's melancholy doctor mode, he was able to slow his fall more effectively than anyone else. It was a weird feeling, like he had invisible wings that could be spread by the action of his palms.
The main thing Quinn seemed interested in learning was fighting. He asked Wilhelm about it a few times. Wilhelm confessed to not having much training in fighting, relying more on powers when he had to. Also, those powers were blood-burning, so he didn't want to practice those that night. But he did have more experience fighting than Quinn had, so he could show him some moves.
Near sunrise at the aquarium, it was keepaway time again. Trevor was falded, Courtney nutshelled, and no undead were destroyed.
August drove himself and Quinn home and played phone tag some more. Seemed like Jeannie was also interested in playing totes cazh, which was fortunate for vampire boys who may need more people in the bank. Real internet vampires were nice and fake internet vampires were silly.
Ru drove Babette home and on the way back to the mansion - for the second dawn in a row - almost got into three crashes driving while daysick.
During the whole night, Trileon actually kept Aubrey company. Ellen made sure she knew how to call her telepathically if trouble happened, but nothing came up. The old maniac talked art and God stuff with her, and did crafts for the night while she painted.
~Spoiled Stuff No Longer Canon~
The night after the Hipster Party, Eli woke, and took care of himself. Shower, fresh clothes. There were sounds around the place, hints of doings and goings on, movements of servantry. He didn't have any big plans, they'd been getting shuttled around a lot lately, maybe there was somewhere he'd have to be. He went out into the hall and looked for signs of doings.
Jack's door was shutting. He just went in? He'd been somewhere else at the end of the night.
Hum, going to get dressed? Eli went to check the main area to see if there was a Vitus waiting with a clipboard, otherwise he might go tap on that door... No Vitus. No waiting anyones. He kept on down the hall and tapped Jack's door.
No response. He heard a slight rustle from within. Bedding? Taking a double nap? Didn't seem likely.
There was some movement within.
He left the guy to any wallowings he may have needed...
The night was a quiet one. At some point, Jason jetted to hang out with Sophie.
Eli caught Vitus reading too much. Angela and Gaston-Louis had to give him
a weird time. Eventually, Jack called.
Those guys got in Jack's ride and went for a spin. The engine was hot fire blowing
in their faces, the street cool stones, most empty before the rise of pre-dawn workers.
Jack spoke as they drove.
Meanwhile, Courtney lazed the first half of the night, mostly in private, but finally, grudgingly, opened to the possibility of learning magic. She tried, but she couldn't make anything happen.
At the Marchese estate, August started his night like he ended it - corresponding with vampires on the internet and mad phone tag. First he messaged Jeannie because he's a gentleman yo. Then he checked in with Cam to see if he was OK, totally downplaying how much fun he had so his bud wouldn't feel too bad. Cameron was alright, but hoping his arm would be in better shape by the next night, and was just going to spend time with Demetri learning organized crime / business stuff. He also found out Ru was already on his way to pick up Babette, having not been able to steal Tristan from the Eebil One. August had wanted to offhand the role of evil foreigner to him so he could focus on directing
Meanwhile, Ru acquired Babette in the gravel-strewn, weedy drive of the Greyburn Cathedral and headed to the movie set. They got there ahead of everyone else, followed by Chloë and Wilhelm, then August & Quinn.
At the Sombreta Estate, Jason woke alone, meandered to a comfortable balcony, then got sucked into an awkward creepy conversation with Angela and Gaston-Louis. He was quiet and nodded sometimes.
When Jack got home from Chloë & Wilhelm's, he never got that far up the stairs. A piece of mail yarded his brains out and he went to his room to play dead miserably. Vitus looked for the youths, managing to extricate Jason from the weirdos, but not able to come up with much else for them to do at the moment.
Back at the movie set, August told everyone about the amazing reworking of the script from the session with Cam and Wilhelm, including a sword fight, possible shark attack, and how the dance number would fit in. August wanted it to be an edgy and elaborate dream sequence of Wilhelm's character. Possibly with a lot of fake blood and tasteful nudity.
Babette and the crew were nothing but professional during the movie rehearsals. Babette encouraged August's creative impulses, particularly his plan to involve Tristan in the movie, and hoped they'd have better luck in future nights. Ru rehearsed with his usual intensity, putting on his greatest of great acting chops for a dramatic, dark delivery.
At Fitzpatrick's, Darren festered.
At the Sombreta Estate, Angela and G-L were creepy and Jack took off. He ended up getting a ride to interesting places with Demetri.
Back at the studio, Babette used breaks to practice creating little illusions in her mirror - more cowlicks on her reflection, mostly. She attempted a single moth shape, which she found she could not create ex nihilo, but she could push the lines of the existing reflection. Still, what use was a moth made out of the boundary between her dress strap and collar bone?
Still, by the end of the night, she had become comfortable manipulating light without a mirror. She could make such an illusion directly on her own image. They didn't last very long, but it seemed random. Some lasted seconds, some several minutes.
Now and then, she stared wistfully at the ship set. She thought about Wilhelm's story, and then she thought about her first night as a vampire. Sometimes, she lowered her voice when speaking, afraid that Barren or another spirit was listening - knowing they probably were not. She began to understand why Courtney might dislike her "gift."
As the night stretched toward dawn, the rehearsal broke down into rolling discussions about life as a vampire, the meaning of death, foods to be missed, and fun things about being undead. Wilhelm helped everyone practice powers that wouldn't be too blood exhausting. Even in this late part of the night, Ru stayed in-character, and wrapped in DEEP MELANCHOLY.
August was more focused on the training so as to not be caught unawares, or in a fishing net. Or unaware in a fishing net. By the end of the night, he felt comfortable falling from as high as the crow's nest, able to break a fall at the last moment by focusing his sense of gravity on the deck - and he helped Chloë overcome her trepidation to do the same.
It was also clear that climbing was a little different from one lineage to the next. Marcheses could swing easily from hands and feet. Even Quinn came to be more at ease with it. Ru's climbing was a bit more like a lumberjack with climbing gear, Babette's like hurried tiny steps with her body held a steady parallel to the surface. In Ru's melancholy doctor mode, he was able to slow his fall more effectively than anyone else. It was a weird feeling, like he had invisible wings that could be spread by the action of his palms.
The main thing Quinn seemed interested in learning was fighting. He asked Wilhelm about it a few times. Wilhelm confessed to not having much training in fighting, relying more on powers when he had to. Also, those powers were blood-burning, so he didn't want to practice those that night. But he did have more experience fighting than Quinn had, so he could show him some moves.
Near sunrise at the aquarium, it was keepaway time again. Trevor was falded, Courtney nutshelled, and no undead were destroyed.
August drove himself and Quinn home and played phone tag some more. Seemed like Jeannie was also interested in playing totes cazh, which was fortunate for vampire boys who may need more people in the bank. Real internet vampires were nice and fake internet vampires were silly.
Ru drove Babette home and on the way back to the mansion - for the second dawn in a row - almost got into three crashes driving while daysick.
During the whole night, Trileon actually kept Aubrey company. Ellen made sure she knew how to call her telepathically if trouble happened, but nothing came up. The old maniac talked art and God stuff with her, and did crafts for the night while she painted.
~Spoiled Stuff No Longer Canon~
Eli jetted out the door with hardly a word before sun fell, got a gym membership, and went straight to swimming.
Elsewhere, Sophie and Francesca were getting snuggly talking about big stuff, deep history, things no one else would likely ever know. But the attention spans could only take so much before they called Eli.
Sophie reached him just as he was propositioning Jason for funtimes, since they hadn't spent much time together at the hipster party. Vitus was cool with riding out the night in bookland and let them away to clubland. He forgot about Jack. By the time Eli and Jason reached the cloughb, Jack was still in his room and Vitus was still in the second floor library.
Back at the cloughb, Jason wanted to twerk until sunrise. His booty shaking skills were on fleek. But Francesca liked to hunt almost every night, and Jason and Eli were pulled along on a Dragomir-style vampire time. Fran took them to places where the action be, got them into a brawl with some foolios, and then they all made with the surreptitious blood drinkings.
This was what Jason was best suited to - he was too young and uptight for seduction, too brutal for frail weaklings, but just brutal enough to hunt violent crime types. Eli had wanted to teach Jason more self control, so things like the Great Hypster Smashing of Last Nyght didn't happen again. But maybe it was less about self-control than it was about picking prey that were hardy enough to survive his attacks.
Post-hunting, Francesca led her group to chillax at a nice fancy hotel bar. Eli noticed Sophie seemed unbelievably comfortable with her, given the circumstance. He tried to get Jason to practice sound and hypno powers some, but he just didn't have the attention span for it. Nonetheless, Eli did get a hot tip from Sophie. Before trying other types of mesmer moves, try lulling the tired to sleep. It was one of the easiest things to do, and ridiculously useful for vampires. Sophie felt like she was almost there, even though she'd hardly practiced at all.
Eli took Jason to Shopville, the only store that was open at bonkers-assed hours. He grabbed some art supplies there - they were shit quality in comparison to what he'd lost, but better than nothing. They parked somewhere scenic and chatted while Eli worked on a new piece until it got closer to dawn.
At their slightly pre-dawn return, Eli asked Jason if he wanted to stay in his room for the night (in a non sexy way). They still managed to get to third base before sleep took them. Elsewhere in the mansion, Jack came in quietly and let himself die.
Elsewhere, Sophie and Francesca were getting snuggly talking about big stuff, deep history, things no one else would likely ever know. But the attention spans could only take so much before they called Eli.
Sophie reached him just as he was propositioning Jason for funtimes, since they hadn't spent much time together at the hipster party. Vitus was cool with riding out the night in bookland and let them away to clubland. He forgot about Jack. By the time Eli and Jason reached the cloughb, Jack was still in his room and Vitus was still in the second floor library.
Back at the cloughb, Jason wanted to twerk until sunrise. His booty shaking skills were on fleek. But Francesca liked to hunt almost every night, and Jason and Eli were pulled along on a Dragomir-style vampire time. Fran took them to places where the action be, got them into a brawl with some foolios, and then they all made with the surreptitious blood drinkings.
This was what Jason was best suited to - he was too young and uptight for seduction, too brutal for frail weaklings, but just brutal enough to hunt violent crime types. Eli had wanted to teach Jason more self control, so things like the Great Hypster Smashing of Last Nyght didn't happen again. But maybe it was less about self-control than it was about picking prey that were hardy enough to survive his attacks.
Post-hunting, Francesca led her group to chillax at a nice fancy hotel bar. Eli noticed Sophie seemed unbelievably comfortable with her, given the circumstance. He tried to get Jason to practice sound and hypno powers some, but he just didn't have the attention span for it. Nonetheless, Eli did get a hot tip from Sophie. Before trying other types of mesmer moves, try lulling the tired to sleep. It was one of the easiest things to do, and ridiculously useful for vampires. Sophie felt like she was almost there, even though she'd hardly practiced at all.
Eli took Jason to Shopville, the only store that was open at bonkers-assed hours. He grabbed some art supplies there - they were shit quality in comparison to what he'd lost, but better than nothing. They parked somewhere scenic and chatted while Eli worked on a new piece until it got closer to dawn.
At their slightly pre-dawn return, Eli asked Jason if he wanted to stay in his room for the night (in a non sexy way). They still managed to get to third base before sleep took them. Elsewhere in the mansion, Jack came in quietly and let himself die.
The night after the Hipster Party, Eli woke, and took care of himself. Shower, fresh clothes. There were sounds around the place, hints of doings and goings on, movements of servantry. He didn't have any big plans, they'd been getting shuttled around a lot lately, maybe there was somewhere he'd have to be. He went out into the hall and looked for signs of doings.
Jack's door was shutting. He just went in? He'd been somewhere else at the end of the night.
Hum, going to get dressed? Eli went to check the main area to see if there was a Vitus waiting with a clipboard, otherwise he might go tap on that door... No Vitus. No waiting anyones. He kept on down the hall and tapped Jack's door.
No response. He heard a slight rustle from within. Bedding? Taking a double nap? Didn't seem likely.
Eli-
"Hey, dude... you okay in there?"
Muffled Jack-
"...Uh... Sorry, shit..."
There was some movement within.
Eli-
"I don't mean to bug ya, just wanted
to see if you were alright..."
Jack-
"I just saw something... upsetting.
I dunno. Bad moment."
Eli-
"Oh, damn, sorry man. Anything I can do?"
Jack-
"I don't know. I'm too raw... Should I
wallow in that for a while, or avoid it like
the plague? Might freak out at random
if I don't take the time to process it."
Eli-
"Yeah dude, maybe you should wallow, but don't spend
too long on it. Watch some TV or like... damn, can't go
get a burger, but y'know, go for a walk? I don't have any
plans so you can always give me a call if you wanna
do something."
Jack-
"I think you're right. Maybe later tonight, thanks."
Eli-
"Sure, my guy. Take it easy."
He left the guy to any wallowings he may have needed...
The night was a quiet one. At some point, Jason jetted to hang out with Sophie.
Eli caught Vitus reading too much. Angela and Gaston-Louis had to give him
a weird time. Eventually, Jack called.
Jack-
"Hey. You still around the house?"
Eli-
"Yeah, dude. Wanna do something?"
Jack-
"Maybe. Maybe not much. Wanna go for a drive?"
Eli-
"Sure, I'm on it..."
Those guys got in Jack's ride and went for a spin. The engine was hot fire blowing
in their faces, the street cool stones, most empty before the rise of pre-dawn workers.
Jack spoke as they drove.
Jack-
"So man... I think I just wanted to talk.
No destination in mind. Any ideas?"
Eli-
"Hmm, maybe just get on the highway going north,
feels all like, metropolitan. Maybe we can go do a
loop at the Valley Park. Used to do that one when
I was helping my buddy Todd learn to drive."
Jack-
"Cool... So this fucking guy, one of the vampires - kinda
got me into this situation because he's a creeper. He found
an obituary for me, had a pic of me and my friends in it. I
think he thought it would be romantic to send me that."
Eli-
"What?! Oh man, there's a reason we don't look up
that shit ourselves. That sucks, man. I'm sorry...
God, these vamps... guess they don't remember
what it's like to be a human anymore. Ugh."
Jack-
"I knooow. Anyhow, what am I supposed
to do with that shit on my brain?"
Eli-
"That's a such a weird thing to do... it's either just
some braindead 'I'm a million years old' thing, or
maybe he wants to upset you? I don't know why..."
Jack-
"Thanks a lot for that, it's easy to
imagine I'm being oversensitive."
Eli-
"No, man. That's fudged up. What do you think you'll do?"
Jack-
"...I guess I have to just ignore it. But how do I shake the
feeling? I'm just bummed out that my life is gone. I'm sure
everyone is already getting over it, because it's what people
do, and part of me resents that, which is super selfish."
Eli-
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I've really been trying
not to think of it. Denial's pretty bad but it's my been my
go-to coping mechanism lately. I guess you wouldn't
want people to be feeling bad forever, either."
Eli-
"Maybe just think about how it's a different life.
Like you fell into an alternate dimension where
you have superpowers and stuff. That's not denial,
it's just... being fanciful! I like that, I'm stealing it."
Jack-
"I dunno. Super hero stuff? Don't think
it works for me. Nice try anyhow..."
Jack-
"Not just saying that, it was a nice try.
Maybe I'm just not ready to be OK?"
Eli-
"Yeah, man. You wouldn't expect someone to
get over a loved one's death in a couple weeks.
Probably takes a bit to get over your own."
Jack-
"You know what helped me a lot getting over
another bad feeling in life? Bitching about the
dude who was at fault. Might be worth a try."
Eli-
"Oh sure, I'm always down for that. So what's
with this weird dude? Who does that?"
Jack-
"Demetri Ionavic, Market Analyst. Did I
tell you how he got me turned into a vamp?"
Eli-
"Oh yeah, Mr. Pleatedpants tryin' to front like
he's cool. Remind me of why he sucks..."
Jack-
"I used to do, like, petty crimes for him when I was a kid.
But it turns out he was into me, because as soon as he got
the chance to pick somebody to turn, he called me up,
forced me to go to this messed up party.
It's only because Father Fangomir wanted to make it
a game that I ended up with Vitus instead. Who knows
what that bunch woulda done to me if I'd gone to them?"
Eli-
"Don't speculate too much on that one..."
Eli-
"Stick to the sucky dude. Like, what even?
He thinks he can step to you? The temerity!"
Jack-
"Yeah, no respect for like, personal autonomy.
Just 'cause you got a romance boner for a guy
doesn't mean you're entitled to shiiit, fool."
Eli-
"Not respecting autonomy is kind of a theme
with these bozos, innit. No respect, I tell ya."
Jack-
"And yet they're all total bootlickers for The Man.
The law, the vamp bosses, whoever is slightly more
the boss of a moment. Afraid of conflict? I dunno."
Eli-
"You think he'd be too busy groveling to his masters to
have time to mess with you. What do you think you'll do?"
Jack-
"Think I just have to take advantage of the half-assed
extent to which he thinks of himself as honorable. And
that I'm not 'his,' for what that's worth. It'll probably
just be hella awkward for a century or whatever."
Eli-
"Ugh, this blows. I was worryin' about getting aced because none
of these elder vamps gave a damn about me, but it'd be even worse
if they did. At least I don't got anybody emotional-abusing on me."
Eli-
"Is there something else I can do for you?"
Jack-
"I'm sorry. I really don't wanna denigrate your struggle, my
guy. Getting aced is a legit concern. How are you holding up?"
Eli-
"I'm hoping that if I'm boring enough, I won't be worth the effort
to destroy, heh. Wishing we didn't start out so puny though."
Eli-
"Darren seemed to think you were pretty powerful
for a fellow baby though. That's cool."
Jack-
"I don't know about that. But if Vitus takes you
out sparring, watch out for the super combo..."