(Director's Cue: Greig, Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op 23, "Morning": That
Bambi-esque music)
Early in the evening, Erehwon awakens. He looks around the bar,
sees most of the people still asleep, stretches, and views the
surrounding Malkies.
fiend, half on-guard, calls out, "g'morning, ere! can I get you
something? gin and tonic? scotch on the rocks? rikki lake's head on a
stick?" It seems fiend's been up a little too long. After a polite
declination, Erehwon notes that fiend is half-asleep on the floor, curled
up, occasionally murmuring, "...all gonna die....zzz, murphle....coocoo
for cocoa puffs..." Handel is in much the same position, only curled
around a bottle of rum protectively. Mr. Badger appears to be chasing
something in his sleep. When he appears to have caught it, Erehwon
looks away. ME is in a corner, facing directly away from Mr. Badger.
Chriss appears to be comfortably resting alongside Spitz.
Having checked that no one has gone missing over the course of the
day, Erehwon turns to the rest of the airport and wanders out, after
first memorizing the position of the bar, and constantly maintaining
knowledge of the fastest route to return. He looks around, looking for
the others who were supposed to meet him here. Considering vectors and
relative possibilities, converting them to raw probability factors,
Erehwon decides to search the airport gates first.
Wandering down the gates, Erehwon quickly picks up on the
presence of four men in chicken suits, surrounded by a police barrier.
Noting this as having a high likelyhood of being his goal, Erehwon heads
directly there.
Of the four men, only two are already awake. Erehwon turns to
Omnicynic, and says, "Dare I ask what has occurred?"
"Only if it is your wish to know," replies Omnicynic, "Although
I'd tell you not to mention the guns to JoN."
(cue White Zombie music)
Upon mention of his name, JoN leaps up, still holding the sign
which clearly proclaims "ErE". "What?! Where'd they go? I shoulda..."
At a tap on his shoulder, he turns around, and sees Ere himself.
"ErE! Where were you?"
Erehwon points to the arrivals board, which proudly proclaims
this gate as accepting flights from Cleveland, Chicago, and
Philadelphia. "My flight came in several gates down and, apparently, over
an hour before you got here."
Meanwhile, Petey feels it an appropriate time to wake up Alex.
Jon says, "So, anyway, Ere, we got here, and we brought the chicken
suits, and all the firepower we...could...bring....Hey! Where'd all the
guns go!!??!? And what's this 'police line do not cross' crAp?!"
Erehwon shrugs. JoN looks meaningfully at Omnicynic, who smiles
angelically. JoN glares.
"In any event, the others are gathered in the airport bar. Shall
we proceed there?" No one mentions the chicken suits.
* * *
"Scotch is good. It's warm. I like drunk men."
He smiles in response. "It's a little costly, but worth it, I
suppose. I prefer this," he raises his mug of dark liquid. "Scotch is nice
for a change." A brief sip. "You must be quite happy working here then,
plenty of drunk men in a pub."
A laugh comes from between those perfect lips before she speaks
again. " 'Men' I said. Most all of those who enter here are little better
than dogs. You though have the markings of some higher kind of pedigree
with your book and all."
"I have been lucky, that is all. Do you read?"
She sits beside him and it continues from there.
Handel moans in his sleep, less troubled by the throbbing at the
back of his head than that being relived in his dream. Carol's face shifts
in his memory to the later version, the night he last saw her as anything
other than ashes - her skin white and perfect like it had never been before
she passed over. Then the Tremere . . . and despite his service for her
sake. Face mottled with blood and fury his fingers dig into the carpet, the
flooring and concrete beneath, gouging furrows in the usually unyielding
substance.
In dream Cere enters and laughs at his foolishness again. She draws
away without effort no matter how fast he pushes himself after her. A
chuckle makes him turn to regard a darkly garbed figure. Neither light nor
Auspex shed any clues as to its identity. With the nagging loss of memory
that he knows in the waking world as well, Handel is sure that he knows
this person.
"Forgotten me already, Handel? Maybe I should rattle off my
Curriculum Vitae and SO FORTH?"
"Balthazar, you son of a bitch!! You're fishfood." But Handel is
held by the slow motion effect so familiar in places of the Dreaming.
"We're coming for you, Kook. Now we know where. Soon you'll join
your long lost girlfriend," he adds with an arch smile. "Oh yes, I was
here for the whole pretty little scene. So that's what your problem is with
us. It doesn't alter anything, but it's quite amusing. The great HWC
falling in love, twice even!" His lip curls in contempt. "Got to be going,
fucker."
"NOOOOO!! YOU'RE DEAD THIS TIME!!" Handel wakes himself with the
shout. Shaking he looks about. Any others that may have still been
unconscious have been awoken.
* * *
Upon returning to the bar, nearly everyone else is awake
already. JoN grins maniacally, and yells, "Well? Are we ready to go
kill something?!" Mr. Badger leaps at him, and they spend the next few
minutes in a rather vicious playful scuffle. Erehwon declines to get
involved, instead asking the various Malkavians already here about their
experiences with the creature which is apparently after them. After
several minutes of mentally organizing their information, including Badger's
and JoN's, Erehwon appears ready to speak.
Unfortunately, fate has chosen this moment for the Inquisitors to
arrive. Father Zahn points into the bar, and yells,
"There they are! Satan-spawn, I denounce thee forthwidth, hither
thee to the nether voids regions, and, having been so cursed..."
The Brothers and Initiate Fodder look at each other, shrug, and
begin the attack.
"Unexpected," frowns Erehwon as he dodges a round of highly
flammable liquid spray. Then, shouting, he calls out, "Omni! JoN!
Handel! Hold them off! The rest of you, follow me! Badger! Get over
here! Make us an exit, fast!"
Hmmmm man in funny hat order me around. Fair enough. Mr Badger grabs the utterly Dominated bar tender and throws him through the wall. Should do the job.
A hail of gunfire fills the room. Everyone looks at JoN who looks
back innocently with empty hands. Brother Semper Fi howls the traditional
Inquisition battlecry. "Eat Biblical hellfire Spawn of Satan!"
The gunfire fails to do anything other then get everyone's attention.
Rev. Omnicynic howls back, "'Tis an ill wind which blows no minds!" He then dodges out of the way as Handel appears behind Semper Fi and knocks him out with the hilt of his sword.
Omnicynic advances forward towards the chanting Father Zahn, flame
and bullets turning aside just before they mar the Malkavian's chicken suit.
The Reverend has produced a small paperback book, and is begining to read
from it
as he brandishes some kind of yin-yang symbol at the Christians.
At which point, Erehwon promptly obfuscates, appearing only as a voice near the various Malkavians who need it, urging them out, as necessary.
JoN, Mr. Badger, and Handel all step forward along with Rev. Omnicynic, some moving a bit faster than 1/10th second mortal eyes can register.
Gathering his powers, Handel converts half of the blood in Brother Ad
Astra into alcohol. With but a surprised lurch and reddened features the
holy warrior continues to fire his horrifically powerful new flamethrower
around the bar. There seems to be a little lack of precision, but other
than that the Inquisitor's actions seem unhampered. "Holy shit," says
Handel. "They're either Catholics or Fianna! So much for Rummery." Dodging
an incoming burst he lugs his sword out and flings himself towards the
nearest of the enemy.
Initiate Fodder sees the bearded demon heading towards him and
fires off a burst which obliterates a large portion of the liquor stores.
Handel reaches him and lops his arm off. Then he smells the smell he always fears to smell. Innocent booze has been spilt! In large quantities!
"Fucker, you took my arm" says Initiate Fodder, gaining a tarnish
on his soul and forgetting his training. It is the wrong thing to say just
at this time.
Handel's eyes open wide, "BALTHAZAR!! SHARK BAIT TIME!!" Poor
Initiate Fodder is reduced to pate in an amazingly short time.
* * *
ME realizes that there was really nothing to be feared, 'ceptin maybe the
cross that there one called Father Zahn was wielding, and she steps
from behind her protector. As he begins to rampage, she catches bits of
words which disturb her... Who were Carol and Cere? She cries for his
pain, but needs to help. She avoids Fodder... he'd had too much of a
battle, and sets her sights on the short one in the corner.
She walks over to the shivering zealot.
"What is it you want from ME? Have i done you harm?" Her eyes glow
with menace.
"B b b back Demon Spawn! Get thee behind me Satan!!!!"
ME turns. "Guess He didn't hear you, cause He's not there."
* * *
With the light of Frenzy in his eyes Handel heads towards Brother
Semper Fi, who is standing aghast, weapon lowered, at the nasty mess that
was once a vaguely promising Inquisitor.
* * *
Reverend Omnicynic slaps his forhead, ducks under a flamethrower
burst, and cries to the heavens, "Eris, am I the only Malkavian on the Earth
that is not involved with a Demon???" Another flamethrower arc cuts him off
from making a dramatic, though somewhat silly after the chicken suit is
figured in, pose of pathos. Grumbling, Omnicynic swings an outstretched
hand at the impaired Ad Astra, and bolts of Power bridge the gap between
the two. Astra is thrown backwards and out of the terminal, as his former
flamethrower shatters from the force of the telekinetic blow. Gas and
liquid begin to leak.
* * *
"You bitch. You're next Cere!!!!" Slobbers Handel around the blood
rising from his gnawed lip and the tears from his eyes.
* * *
Mr Badger grabs Brother Fodder (who couldn't see this coming?) and winks at JoN. JoN rips up a bench for each of them and the pair of Malkavians take the opportunity to stage the first Sabbat Tennis Championship. While Brother Fodder is further turned into mush the other members of the God Squad regroup.
* * *
Rev. Omnicynic ducks as a burst of flamethrower napalms the general
area where his head would have been. The other priests block off his path.
"How many ungodly spawns of Satan have we delivered unto HIS justice?" asks
Father Zahn.
"I make it none Father," answers a worried Semper Fi.
"Bollocks," replies Father Zahn with a few other words he really shouldn't
be saying.
While the remaining Brothers keep everyone down with astonishing levels of firepower Father Zahn looks across the room for Brother Fodder. What he finds is fiend, JoN, Mr Badger and fiend staging the first Sabbat/Carmarilla Mixed (up) Volley Corpse Championship. Not quite sure whether this qualifys as a mentally scarring experience Father Zahn gives further orders to the chaps. . .
* * *
As Initiate Fodder's life takes a sharp downturn. . .
One foe down, the death hippie malk in a chicken suit begins to advance towards the leader of these crazed zealots. Omnicynic bears before him
a ying-yangish symbol involving an apple and pentagon. Father Zahn weilds a
cross. Father Zahn becomes engaged in a battle of dogma with the Sinister Minister of the Phoenician Life Cabal.
"Yea, and though I walk through the valley of death..."
"Onward Christian Soldiers, Onward buddhist priests, onward fruits of
Islam, fight 'till you're deceased!"
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor
standith in the way of sinners..."
"When in doubt, fuck it! When not in doubt, GET IN DOUBT!"
Rev. Omnicynic's dominate command shatters through Father Zahn's
already taxed will (gee, isn't Dementation fun?), and the zealous Christian
warrior falls backwards. Omnicynic runs towards him, places the Sacred Chao
symbol against the man's forhead, and pushes his head down to the floor with it.
"You are HEALED!"
* * *
"POINT!" Badger screams as he lobs Fodder over the imaginary net once
again. "FOUL!!!" screams JoN, and they commence in a contest to see who
is the better. If she wasn't busy with this little mite of a human, ME
would show them a thing or two. boys.
ME turns her attention back to the worm as he grovels before her.
"You will tell me all you know, or i will rip your heart from your
pitiful chest and make you drink your own blood."
The vile creatures eyes bulge out. One word is all that passes
his lips before the sweet bliss of unconsciousness enfolds him in her
wonderous embrace... "Giovanni..."
ME stands and raises an eyebrow. She thinks to herself, an
action which is difficult to do, but not beyond impossible, "Giovanni?
What the heck do they have to do with this. I'll have to have a talk
with the Rev about this one" She scans the room for the Rev. He is busy
having fun with their new rag doll. Oh well... Maybe later.
* * *
"Commence retrograde maneuvers," shouts the Father.
"Wha?"
"Adjust the front in a disfrontal direction!"
"Wha?"
"Run away! Run away!"
* * *
Suddenly, Father Zahn begins rambling off some big words, as well
as many words unproper in his position, then says run away. As they
begin to recede, ME picks up their wayward friend and flings him after them.
* * *
"Ohhhhh, oh shi....." cry the Brothers, not wanting to be the last one
left in the room.
The other Inquisitors are already running for the exit as Father
Zahn crawls off with them, mumbling about something called a hodge-podge...
As they run from the general area, the good Reverend Omnicynic
chases after them, the powers of Eris discharging the Christian delusionals
into greater realms of panic than a violent death could ever do. The
Reverend is a vicious and powerful threat which promised a slow demise of their dogma! Terror spurs them out of the building, where Omnicynic
stops his chase, and legs it back to the terminal.
* * *
The Volley corpse game is called a draw after the body of Brother Fodder
is judged to be unfit for play.
* * *
ME checks the damage. Not much... considering. There is a hole
in the back wall where a bartender had somehow gotten thrown through, and
a liquified Fodder lying in a puddle on the floor. The only thing really
wrong with the Malks is that Handel is on the ground grovelling over all
the spilled booze screaming, "WHY? WHY?" to the heavens and attempting to
pack away enough liquor for a very long cold winter. ME worried about him.
ME shrugs. Wasn't she supposed to ask the Rev about
something? Oh well. It would come to her... maybe.
* * *
The rest of the Malkavians look around to also see a
suprising lack of damage considering the amount of gunplay. A fire is
growing in intensity on the far wall.
Mr Badger and JoN start a 'who's the
hardest man' competition by seeing who can get closest to the fire. Ere'
draws this game to an end for being a really stupid thing to do. With the
fire put out the team gets ready to leave. People gather together their
belongings. Handel is stopped at the door carrying a large box under each arm.
"We can't just leave this rum lying around you know."
"Drop it," commands Ere'.
"Just a couple of bottles..."
"Leave them."
"How about just the one?"
"NO!"
Faced with choice of leaving rum to an uncertain future Handel starts to
drink every bottle he can find.
"If I can't carry them outside my body..."
The Malkavians leave the bar carrying the blissfully happy body of Handel.
Elsewhere the four members of the Inquisition are still legging it. Brother
Semper Fi is sobbing after being made to abandon the tanker of really
dangerous fluid. Who knows, maybe this tanker just lying around will be a
future plot device.
Awakening for the second time this evening seems slightly better
than the previous occasion. Something about his centre of balance is astray
so he opens his eyes. Now the feelings make some sense. Badger has kindly
picked up his comatose form and taken it along wherever the mix is going.
"Fair enough," thinks Handel. "I've done it for him often enough. Hmm.
Wonder what happened? Everything went a bit black there."
Feeling him checking for any signs of grevious bodily harm, Badger
stops and puts him to the ground. "Looked like you were going to beat me
an' JoN here to killing everyone," he says. "You were yelling about Tremere
and life's rum and sharks and things and messed up our ball so much that it
needed a bit of fleshcrafting and obtenebration to keep it even partially
together." He looks at Handel quite sternly. "I had great hopes for you
there, even with the crying and everything, but then you had one of your
little 'turns' and started acting more like your boring old intelligent
self."
"I passed out afterwards, huh?"
"No, there was some rum left and you tried to bring it along in the
most easily carried container." Badger pokes Handel in the gut.
"Ahh. I wondered why it felt like I'd fed." He looks worried. "I
didn't umm . . . diablerise anyone did I?" he asks in a hushed tone.
Badger just grins in an annoyingly knowing manner.
* * *
Behind the wandering Malks a figure stirs. Rising with difficulty,
the remains of the Lawyer rises to its feet in a display of animation which
would put Industrial Light and Magic to shame. Normally it wouldn't be
quite so impressive, but the chunks removed by Badger whilst feeding are
quite an obvious danger to structural integrity. Shuffling over to the
flame licked 'phone it punches out a number and speaks in hollow Italian.
Looking around the scene of destruction, it espies the remnants of poor
Initiate Fodder. Words are exchanged and the figure hangs up the device. It
moves over to Fodder's remains and begins to rebuild itself. . .
Almost presentable, a form in a finely made overcoat shambles at
increasing pace after the Malks.
Forgotten in Handel's pocket, the 'paper of litigation' glows with
a slight nimbus of grey.
Arianna slept restlessly, the plane's turbulence wasn't
helping any at this point. So, with one last look on reallity, she
threw open the door to the dreamworld and knocked herself out for
the duration of the trip-- or so she thought.
~~The girl's face loomed close as Ari wandered the paths of
this stranger's dream. Her perfect white skin dissintegrated into
a viscous mirror of blood, and the face of another vampire slashed
out of the shadows, screaming....Ari turned away and ran from this
dream....Only to be met by one of Nighty's steamy porn dreams.
But this dream was not like her others, mused Ari. This one feels
different....~~
~~"Oh, Paul...." cried Nightshade, her voice speaking
everything she felt for him in those two words. I would give her
back her joy if I could, Ari thought as the misty path rose up to
take her into her own dreams~~
-=} Ah, it is you again, the Nightengale. {=-
~~Ari looked up abruptly to see a dark figure claw it's way to
the surface if her dream. No, she thought wide-eyed, this isn't
....no, not the Beast....what is it?~~
-=} Nightengale, or "Birdie" as he called you...{=- The figure
laughed, a silken sound. -=} What do you want most now, little
Dreamer? All you've ever had are these dreams, and now you're just
a puppet, following the strings to a mastery of Malks. Fool. This
clan is what took your life. This clan is what killed your joy.
And yet you go to them willingly, a fly attracted to the light.
Waht a pity, when you've had the answer all this time....{=-
~~Answer? I...I never...had an answer to anything..I've
failed, I cannot give anyone the answers anymore...~~
-=} And more so are you the fool for not seeing it!! {=-
hissed the shadow acidicly. -=} You could have helped them all
along, yet you coware away from the knowledge...you have it, you
have it...you could help me, Little Bird, you could give it to me.
Then no one will have to suffer anymore becuase you could not give
them what they most desired. *I* will give them the truth, since
you cannot... {=- The voice weedled and twisted and finaly snapped
the truth in two with these words, waking Arianna with a start.
"Good evening, this is your captain speaking. We'll be
landing in Toronto shortly..."
~~No, ~~ thought Ari, ~~ I have done what I can. You will
never have it.~~
The plane ride was damned uneventful. Nightshade had a small
fortune that had been left to her, in what seemed like another life.
Early in the evening she ticked her fingers against the windowless cabin.
It was amazing what enough money could get you on an overnight flight,
even a private room, a comfortable bed.
The bar had various liquors in it, vodka to fine wine. Nightshade
ignored these and any craving she had for blood too.
Sometimes, she didn't drink at all. She just lay in bed, at peace
with ambiance and stared at the ceiling.
Arianna fell back asleep almost as soon as they boarded and
proceeded to nightmare her way through the evening. Nightshade was in
close contact with Ari's emotions...She could see the dreams.
The only unnerving part was knowing that Ari could see her seeing
them, "and remember when you look long into the abyss...the abyss stares
right back." Empathy was nothing new to Nightshade.
She ticked her fingers more.
Eventually she went to bed, and her dreams were plagued. She felt
wrong sometimes, pretending to she didn't know what was going on,
pretending to be like her cousins on the Malkavian side.
She was too much like Daquiri. He would be proud. He would know
he had gotten all the Malkavian out of her afterall. Except Daquiri was
dead, had left her a fortune and a house in New York.
She climbed into her bed and curled up with Ari, who faced the
other way and trembled. When sleep came, it brought dreams.
The lady in the mirror, the dryad and the dark man flashed in
sequences of her life. But that was her life BEFORE she met them...and
eventually she dreamed of Daquiri, of putting neon lights in his
paintings, of blind-folding him, taking him into one of the deepest slums
in the city and telling him late one night that this was his new canvas,
the city commissioned him to paint here...and gleefully watching him do
his best work night after night, only to find out six months later that
his masterpiece had all but been destroyed by bullets, dirt and graffiti.
And she and Paul had sat there, on one of the hanging painter's
swings and bit their lower lips and held onto each other to keep from
falling off.
There had been plenty of pranks, even ones she thought of then.
The night she and Paul had followed Daquiri to his latest preoccupation,
being a dj for a local skin-head type bar. She also remembered how
Daquiri had smiled at her and let her change the discs for him and how
she'd swapped the most requested song of the night with a country song
about some guy's dog and his wife and his brother or something.
And that had ended that.
Paul was thrown out, taking only his hat and his old stalf and
leaving, without telling her where he was going or if he would come back.
And Daquiri was dialberized by an angry prince the two years
later. She'd already left him. She was quite surprised when the police
came to her to tell her she was one of the two benefactors of his will..
They would not disclose who the other was.
She didn't miss Daquiri. Maybe his art. Maybe his sense of
beauty. Maybe what he'd taught her about her art, but not him. He was
nothing. He was a man in a fluffed out white shirt, tight leather pants
and an ego that had gone to the grave with him.
Paul...who left late one night she missed.
She was totally unaware of Ari tossing and turning, totally
unaware of Ari's nightmares... She only wanted to kiss the lips that were
long since vanished.
Go to the Broadway Geocities
