Epsiode 4: Atmospherics After Dark

Seeing your friends die over and over again is a terrible way to live.

I woke up and found myself alone. It was just like at the start of my vision the day before. I knew how this ended. Maybe I had enough time to stop it this time. I reached over for my cellphone and called Maeve.

Maeve isn’t my student or my apprentice or anything that would put her under my power. She’s Maeve, future ruler of the fae kingdoms. She always honors favours that I call in. Nothing more, nothing less. Never has she gone beyond what I’ve asked her to do. One day, I hope she’ll make that decision to go further.

If my vision was still true, Robin was being held by Florence in a lab in the basement of the school. I didn’t use my powers to check the future again. I felt the itch to, like some part of my mind needed to know how doomed my plan was and how badly I would fail. I refused.

Getting into the building was easy enough. No security was waiting for stop me or Maeve. Maeve could pass for a student, though, and I wasn’t exactly remarkable on my own. We made it down to the basement, where we encountered a group of young men. Maeve managed to lure them out to a coffee shop while I snuck the rest of the way in.

I wasn’t sure what I was preparing myself for. I didn’t want to think that far ahead, visions or not. I got to the threshold of the lab. Robin was strapped down to a lab table and Florence was getting ready to do... something with a scalpel. I wanted to rush Florence, knock her out and run off with Robin like a big damn hero. Maeve stepped in before I could and started negotiating for Robin’s release instead, as if Florence had any right to a proper supernatural negotiation.

I stood back, tense, ready for anything to happen. I had to give Maeve space, though. This was everything that I had been trying to work towards with her. If she could peacefully resolve this, maybe this was what I was waiting for. That’s when I spotted the molotov cocktail flying towards us. I couldn’t close my eyes. I stared at the bottle. I reached out with my mind towards the bottle. I missed.

Everything in the room was deathly still. Almost. I looked down at my hands. They could move. So could the rest of me. Maeve and Robin could move. Nothing else changed. Somehow, I managed to stop time in the lab. I felt sick.

But that bottle. I ran over to where it hung in the air, pulled it down and placed it in the lab’s fire blanket. I had no idea when time would start flowing again. Robin pulled free of her bonds and went to download something from the computer. It didn’t work. Probably whatever I did with the room affected the computer as well. Maeve took the moment to tie Florence’s shoes together, then bolted in the direction that molotov came from.

I wasn’t sure what would happen once Maeve left the room, so I just willed time to flow again. I guess. Florence fell flat on her face. I pinned her down and tried to make sense out of everything that was happening while Robin grabbed the data from the computer. Florence had no time for me. She never really liked me in the past, something about assuming that Robin’s injuries were the result of me beating her. Robin got a little bit more information out of her, but not much.

Robin looked at me and told me should go. I knew why Robin wanted me gone and I knew that Florence wouldn’t live past the next ten minutes. It wasn’t personal, except that it was. I took a deep breath and walked away from the lab in the direction that Maeve had run.

Why didn’t I protest more? Why didn’t I tell Robin to stop? I don’t have good answers. I had seen what Florence potentially could have done in my dreams. That’s not evidence of anything, granted. It felt intrusive to demand Robin tell me what happened.

There was one time where I found myself in Robin’s position. A woman was confused, scared and armed, a dangerous combination. She shot me and tried to rip information out of my head as I was bleeding out. Two things were burned into my memory: the agony I was going through and how none of my suffering never meant anything to her. I still have a nasty scar on my stomach from where her bullet cut through me. If people ask about it now, I tell them it’s from a car accident. Why should I tell them what actually happened? It wouldn’t change what did happen and they probably wouldn’t understand.  

I bumped into Maeve down the hall. She had a pile of what looked like icy blue gel in her hand. She explained it was soul gel from Carla, who had given it to sworn fealty. Carla was off in the fae realms right now; the gel allowed Maeve to track where they at all times. While Carla wouldn’t stop trying to kill me, she would have the decency to alert Maeve before each new assassination attempt. It was the polite thing for a supernatural horror to do.    

Maeve had finally stepped beyond what I had asked her to do. I succeeded but she doomed me in the process. She couldn’t understand why there was no comfort in being alerted to attempts on my life.

Robin dragged me away from the school and Maeve to Yellow 10. She dropped me off at the bar and told me she’d come back for drinks after she talked to Merov. I was okay with that. We didn’t really talk to me about what happened on the ride over or about why she left me at the apartment and how she came to be tied to the lab table. Carla was involved, based on the attack. I was fine with Carla trying to kill me, but now she was using Robin as bait to lure me out. I was not okay with that but had no idea how to fix it.

Instead, I did the only thing I could think of doing right now: drinking myself into oblivion so I couldn’t see what tomorrow would bring.

I met Derek at the bar. There was something off about the man. I really liked Derek as a person, but he was starting to feel like a failure of sorts. A mortal who had gotten in too deep and couldn’t be pulled back out. I reached out to touch his shoulder and... I saw things. His fears. Apparently Merov felt that he was being possessed by a demon. Derek’s feelings on the whole thing felt more mixed than I would have expected. I offered to buy him a drink.

Derek stayed a while and left to go back to wherever Dereks go when they’re finished dealing with the supernatural. I left Robin a message about how Derek might be involved with demons. I didn’t want her to die because of my fuck ups.

Hours later, Merov showed up. He wanted to apologize for not telling me about Carla and asking me if I watched my death. I was standoffish at first. The world was ending outside and there was nothing I could do to stop it and Merov, the one person who might have enough power to do SOMETHING about everything was woken up into this world late into the game. Much like Galen woke Prince Merovech up too soon and their attempt to save the people from Chilperic fell apart because or Merovech’s youth and recklessness.

Eventually, Merov took me to the roof. We touched. That strange power that went off with Derek didn’t go off with him. After, Merov made me an offer: he wanted to build a council to bring the supernatural parts of Boston into order and wanted me to be chancellor. I told him that I would think about it.

As soon as Merov left, I called Robin and asked her to come home. My timing was terrible, but all I could think of after Merov mentioned the storm outside was Robin. I slept with Merov because he was there and was Merov, honestly. He wasn’t the person I was in love with.    

Robin came home almost an hour later. She was covered in gore and thought Carla had hunted me down again. Nothing that dire was happening at the apartment and  she was frustrated that I would call her home when the world was ending. We talked. I told her that I loved her and that I was scared she would die before I was able to express that. She told me that she loved me back but that I had to live with her potentially not coming home one day.

She shared with me the true nature of the research that she was working on. It eventually lead to the ghoul plague in its current form, but it’s actual goal was a cure for supernatural powers. I let Robin take a sample of my blood. I have no idea what she’ll learn from it or what she could do with it; in the wrong hands, that blood sample could be a million times worse than the ghoul plague.

We talked about what could happen if she could figure out how to switch our DNA back into normal humans. I was hopeful, but I don’t want to dwell too much on a future that may never happen. Not when Boston is about to rip itself apart and might take all of us with it.

Session 3

I woke up in the apartment and Robin wasn’t there.

There was no coffee made in the kitchen. Something was amiss. We always make coffee for each other. I sent her a text to check in. No reply. Maybe she was off dealing with an urgent family matter or something. I stumbled into the living room and was immediately washed over by a vision.

Robin tied to a lab table. Her PHD advisor, Florence, stood over her. Florence leaned in, whispered something about research projects and test subjects, then stepped back to watch Robin’s reaction as she brought out a stainless steel tray of surgical tools. I knew in my gut this was happening right now. There was no way I could make it to Robin in time.        

I woke up in the apartment to the smell of coffee.

---

Robin hates it when Maeve comes to visit. I try to schedule Maeve’s meetings with me when Robin is off at classes, as a courtesy. Making plans like that has been harder since Carla shot me. Robin rarely lets me out of her sight now.    

Maeve came to ask your typical oracle questions: How could she get back into the fae courts? It always frustrated me when she asked simple questions like that. I knew she had potential to fix the way this world functions but couldn’t see beyond family and city politics.

I tossed Robin her mother’s ring. It’s a focal point that helps keep away the worst of the visions. Although, I don’t really know a lot about the ring’s previous owner or how those powers could have developed. Pushing that thought away, I let the waves of time and future wash over me.

Gaining power if one is born into power is quite simple. There’s less barriers if you have people on the inside. All Maeve needed to do to let herself back in was wait out the rest of her family. They’d all self destruct before she would and then the throne would be just handed to her. Of course, she could just get Robin and I to stir shit up in the fae world and the pieces would fall together much faster.

Robin asked for an answer next - What was Merov? I hesitated; Robin never asks me questions and I didn’t really want to poke Merov. Not after the whole past life thing. But Robin demanded an answer and there was no way that I was going to lie to my roommate. I focused, diving deep down inside of myself.

I surfaced on the endless ocean of time. Circling in the sky was a monstrous, winged shadow, so big that it blocked the sun. It turned its attention downward to a nearby island. The currents would take me there eventually. Merov didn’t need to depend on random chance.   

“A dragon” was the only answer I could cough out to Robin.

We tried to sort out a direction forward that would allow us to deal with the fae courts and Merov. That’s when Robin noticed someone or something lurking on our balcony. I panicked, but Robin remained calm and dragged out the person hiding on our balcony: it was a teenaged girl, no powers whatsoever. Very much not Carla. And then Robin dropped her off the side of the balcony.

I glared at Robin and wanted to demand what the heck she was thinking. I’m not sure if she took the hint or not, but she went downstairs to check on the kid with Maeve. I was left behind under strict orders to not leave the apartment.

I flopped on the couch and stared at the ceiling. I knew exactly why Robin wouldn’t let me leave the apartment: Carla. Carla was the reason my freedom had been stripped away. I understood the fear and the danger; if our positions were switched, I would do the same thing to Robin.

All I wanted was to walk up to Carla’s face and ask why she wanted to kill me. Just a sense of purpose to this violence would make me feel better about it. Then I could justify why she was wrong and why I deserved to keep living. Part of me wondered if she was trying to murder me for the challenge. Like a fox hunt, but through the streets of Boston instead of the English countryside.

The apartment suddenly started filling with smoke. The fire moved much faster than any natural one would. I pulled my t-shirt over my mouth and nose and raced for the door. Maeve met me at my front door again, this time soaking wet. A personal rain cloud hovered over her head.

Carla was dead by the time Maeve and I got outside. The killing blow exposed Robin to a fire magic attack. Maeve helped heal Robin, but the two of them got into a fight about how much healing was worth. I just watched silently. This was all my fault for somehow running afoul of a wizard. I still didn’t know why. Maybe the why didn’t matter now that she was dead.

We fed Carla’s body to the Eye in the basement of Yellow 10 and headed off to crash Merov’s apartment next. Merov wasn’t home, but his staff let us. Turned out that waiting at Chez Merov involved free booze.

I nursed a simple drink and texted Robin. Things had been different since I got shot by Carla. Just mentioning Merov around Robin pissed her off. She was angry that I came to him about the ghoul plague first. I tried to explain that I figured I could tell Merov the threats to his building. Then her and I could deal with the threat to the city. I had a vision of Merov dying. I wanted to stop that vision from happening. Robin pointed out that I managed to do exactly that. She doesn’t need to remind me is that I doomed her to an eventual but uncertain death instead.

Doombringer. That’s what people called me in the past. Doom is one of Robin’s favourite nicknames for me. Nothing ever changes, it seems.

Before I could wallow in my self-pity some more, Merov returned home. He stank of gore. His clothing was covered in odd stains that I really didn’t want to know the origin of. He decided that this outfit was completely unsuited for guests. He started removing his clothing in front of the three of us until he was standing in only his underwear. I’ve seen all of Merov before, but this context was disconcerting.

He and Robin chatted about supernatural politics. I zoned out a little bit until I caught Merov explaining that Tenzin had made a totem to tie Carla to whatever current body she had and to prevent her from jumping into another once the current one was killed.

I dropped my glass.

Carla could be anyone in this world. ANYONE. She could be in this room right now. I scrambled over to Merov and wanted to know why he never told us this. We would have done everything different! Merov asked if I was so concerned about dying because I had seen a vision of my own death. I then promptly lost my shit, as Robin would say.

I’ve never gone looking for my own death. So much about the flow of time is hard to predict. I would be spending the rest of my life looking for a single event that might never happen. Other people’s deaths find me instead. Merov. Robin. Merovech’s friend who I apparently was in a past life. All of Boston. There is so much death in the future. I would never be so selfish to look into my own and be fixated on it. I stormed off.

Robin followed me out. I rambled about seeing death and killing Merov before, which probably only served to confuse her more.   

 

My phone buzzed as soon as we reached the outside. Tenzin. He wanted to know if Merov’s plan would succeed. I asked Robin for a Yes or No answer. After some debating about the sexiness of the answer, we settled on “Yes”. That’s what I texted Tenzin back. I was so exhausted from people asking me to predict local politics. As if there was no better use of my powers. Lying to Tenzin felt like a weight was being lifted off of my shoulders! The questions didn’t have to mean something if I didn’t want the answers to have meanings!

Robin drove us to Derek’s place. I wasn’t sure why, but I think it had something to do with something Merov told her when I wasn’t paying attention. Derek was completely out of sorts; he had saved his partner from some demonic hellhole, but not before the Back Bay werelions gave him a relic to guard until he could award it to their new leader. Now he was stuck being torn between his promise to the werelions and looking after Josie. The guilt from his choices was consuming him.

I knew that feeling. God, I knew that feeling. I told Derek the only way to deal with the guilt was act upon it. He had friends in the supernatural community he could call on. My original idea was to have Robin bodyguard Derek at the fight while I watched Josie, but then Robin reminded me of Carla. Until Carla was put down, Robin would be hard pressed to leave my side.

We couldn’t leave Josie alone, though. I called up Maeve instead and offered her one blank check of a promise - A Solid - to come across town to help us. Maeve has a strong understanding of how fae deals are done. She was in.    

We arrived at the werelion fight. Merov was there. Of course Merov was there. That asshole was everywhere. He fought the Pride’s currently leader for dominance. She was armed with natural weapons. Him with a sword. The werelion had Merov dead to rights until something shifted in him. It was like a switch was flicked and Merov went from someone who could pass for mortal to a dragon barely contained in a human shell. The end of the fight was fast and brutal. Merov was the victor.   

The Merov who stood in front of us now wasn’t the Merov we saw at his penthouse a few hours ago. The fight drained most of his dragon power and fire, leaving him almost completely mortal. The power would come back. It always did, or my fragmented memories of a past life told me that it would return in a few days. This Merov was that one I fell hard for. This wasn’t the first life where I had fallen for that mortal Merovech either. At least, this time, I had enough sense to know playing with dragon fire was bullshit and stepped way the hell back.

A tiny bit of power remained. Merov’s eyes linked with mine. I could feel his mind reach out and try to connect. Prying, looking for answers as to why things changed between us after he woke up. I showed him exactly why: my memories of when I was Galan and when our suicide pact failed. Captured and tortured by his father’s allies to send a message to anyone who would challenge the ruling powers. My death was stripped of any personal meaning to me.  

I think that unsettled him. He wanted me to share my pain with him, to say he was sorry. I just couldn’t. It hurt my heart too much to consider it. We could not be what we were before, in this life or in others.  

The werelion pack were busy celebrating their new king. Robin and I left before one of them got the courage to do something about us.

I fiddled with the ring as we drove home across Boston. Idly, I asked about Robin’s mom. I know a little bit about her family from the time I’ve spent with Jack, but that’s only been the odd evening here or there. Robin mentioned a few things, but was very careful about what she said. I thought on that myself and what would happen if she asked the same of me. I asked her to drive us out to Castle Island.

Castle Island has always been my place to hide from the rest of Boston. It has no value whatsoever to most supernaturals. The only person with claim to it is Massie, a ghost who used to serve at the base on the island when he was alive. We got along well, as regretful former soldiers tend to, and he allowed me free access to the island whenever I needed to escape. Before Robin, he was the only supernatural who seemed to get where I was coming from.

I led Robin along the park’s shoreline and talked to her about my past. My family. The terrible things I had to do because the world didn’t allow me any other choice. She shared as well, giving me a deeper glimpse into the Robin most people wouldn’t see. Parts of her personality that needed to remain guarded for her to function in the supernatural world.

And in the middle of all that, there was a moment when the distance between us disappeared and the rest of the world didn’t matter. We had always been two friends who clung to each other as they stood on the oblivion. In this moment, though, there was a hope I didn’t feel before. I know Robin sees her whole life as a futile struggle where she will keep killing and keep avoiding being killed until it just ended. I factored into that as an enabler, the person who helped point her in a direction where she tried to leave this world a better place than it currently was.

I didn’t want to be that anymore. I wanted to be the person who stood by her side until whatever fate consumed both of us. They were the feelings I felt when Robin was infected with ghoul plague, where I twisted time itself to spend as much more time with her as I could.

I shared my deeper thoughts with Robin in the way that we always exchanged our emotions on the uncertainty of life and existence: physically, back at the apartment. Sex is our usual outlet for that sort of thing. It’s the one thing where we’re probably not broken.      

In the stillness that followed, Robin asked me what Merov was to me. I told her that he was a mistake.

Sleeping with Merov was a terrible mistake. He could have lived out the rest of his life not knowing he was a dragon from outside of time. Instead, went from a charming playboy who I would have fucked in a heartbeat to a monster bent on taking over Boston. I killed the Merov that was, accidently triggered the gears of revolution and had no idea how to stop it.

The quiet continued, as if Robin was leaving room for me to ask a question back. In a moment of weakness, I asked her what I was to her.

I wasn’t sure what answer I was looking for. She lay silently for what felt like hours until she replied back: I was her friend. I held my breath for a minute. Friend. I could live with friend. Love is a scary, painful thing. I guess I was okay if Robin didn’t feel it back. The last thing I wanted to do was take away her only friend in the world.  

She seemed uncertain about her answer, though, as if I was pressuring her into swaying the other way. I squeezed her hand and told her that I was glad that we saw things the same way. But god, it didn’t feel that way. Maybe tomorrow I would carefully bring up the topic again differently. Maybe not as directly. Certainly not after sex. You can love someone as a friend, right?     

---

The sky went on what seemed like forever until it finally reached the ocean horizon.

The house we bought was a small, modest place out on the seashore. It was far enough from civilization to make Robin happy and close enough that grocery shopping wasn’t an impossible task for me. The place was old, probably needed a full reno but it suited us just fine. I had jokingly told Robin that I would have to retire from the Red Cross and become a full-time handyman to make sure it didn’t fall apart around us.

Eventually, retiring early is what happened. Not because of the house. Because of the kids. I elected to stay at home until things settle down in a few years. See, dad’s totally the cooler parent. Dad took everyone on a hiking trip down the beach where I taught lessons in building fires with things they could find out in nature.  

Mom’s the strict one refuses to teach archery lessons until they’re older. I agree with her, but I’ll never admit that to the kids. Being raised normal, mortal humans is a gift. One that we fought to reclaim so they would never had to fight in the future.  

---

I woke up in the apartment and Robin wasn’t there.

Session 2: The Order Has Fallen

Imbalance

The problem with visions is that you can get mundane ones that have no real bearing on your future. One of a great place to watch the sunrise on a particular morning. One of the baseball scores for that night. Today, it was a vision of one hell of a fae party at the Boston Common. 

Don’t get me wrong - I have had some fabulous evenings with fae. They tend to be less uptight about... stuff. It bothers Robin when I hang out with them, though, so I haven’t been in touch with that scene other than checking in on Maeve. 

This particular dream of a fae party involved some magic that risked destroying the walls of reality. The park was across the street from Merov’s penthouse, so I figured Merov ought to know before his place was blown up a second time this month. There was also something else in this vision that worried me. Walking the party from Merov’s building were a vampire carrying a plague bomb and a high ranking wizard who stood by and did nothing.    

Some quick phone calls later and I managed to get a Court Order from a fae lawyer to would shut down the party if it tried to destroy reality. Turns out Fae politics are pretty strict behind the scenes. I figured that Merov would be interested in it. That... wasn’t so much the case. 

We didn’t really have much of a relationship. I mean, we had a thing a couple of months ago. Now, it was different; Merov was quick to deflect any personal attention I gave him and I wasn't going chase someone who says no. We were on friendly terms, but that past connection between us had changed. I couldn’t figure out why. 

He seemed to take the threat of the plague bomb a little more seriously. I got the sense that Merov was more clued into supernatural politics than I was. With the head of the Amber Vampires dead, a lone vampire terrorist may have been the sign of a changeover in power. 

I brought up the wizard from my vision as we stepped out onto Merov’s rooftop. That’s when the bullet hit my shoulder. Reflexes and pain took over; I went down hard, feebly trying to aim for cover. I knew a shoulder wound wouldn’t kill me, but a follow up shot might. 

Merov’s staff were at my side almost immediately. I guess they thought the boss was the target and were probably disappointed to find me bleeding out instead. I wasn’t sure where Merov went. I could have sworn he was standing beside me. Then I saw him rushing back out onto the rooftop from the penthouse. Maybe I was remembering things wrong? 

A string of frantic questions followed from Merov. Yeah, it hurt like hell. No, I didn’t feel sleepy. Yeah, I guessed that wizard pulled the trigger. So much talking. Robin never plays 20 questions like this. It wasn’t unpleasant, though. It was... nice. Merov didn’t owe me anything, but he was willing to give me everything in that moment.

The warm feeling didn't last. I caught a quick glimpse of the future. The ghoul plague would still be unleashed. Merov would get infected. My early warnings would amount to nothing. I couldn’t change anything. Everyone I cared about was going to die.

Merov must have sensed the sudden change. He pulled us close and locked eyes with me. He asked quietly me if I felt it. I definitely saw it. 

Merovech’s dead body lay at my feet. His blood stained everything; my hands, his clothes, the floor. I held an ornate carved sword, details accented now in dark red. It had been a gift from Merovech just days before, celebrating the bloodless victory we were supposed to have in Therouanne. Instead, we were betrayed. 

Realizing that we had little time until the King’s forces arrived, had Merovech called me to his side. He seemed so calm about what would happen next. “Up to the present we have had one mind and purpose,” he said. “I ask you not to allow me to fall into the hands of my enemies, but to take your sword and rush upon me." 

I pushed the sword against my stomach. All I needed to do was rip myself open like I had done to Merovech and this terrible mistake would be all over. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t free myself. The sword slipped from my shaking hands and clattered to the ground. 

I woke up in hospital bed, a world away from Therouanne. Merov had called Robin to meet us there. I explained to her about the vision I had of a ghoul plague bomb and she decided that we had to act now. I was okay with that. My shoulder still hurt like hell, but I’ve been through worse. 

Before I could ask to be discharged, a strange nurse walked into the room and tried to inject something into my IV bag. Derek (that nurse who Robin and I saved a few weeks back) stopped her and chased her down the hall. I followed, dragging my IV stand in tow. I found the clearly ghoulish nurse stabbing Derek and, finally fed up with all of the bullshit this evening, I mentally reached out the ghoul and made her feel all of the sadness and loss that I felt on Merov’s rooftop. The nurse snapped back into something more human and I immediately regretted sharing my pain. 

It was clear the hospital wasn't safe and we all had to leave now. Robin insisted on separate cars and for me to be in the one with Merov. Sometimes it’s hard to read what triggers Robin’s temper. I had a feeling it might have been going to Merov first. The drive was interrupted by a small demon nurse who healed my shoulder and a pointless phonecall from Tenzin, but was otherwise uneventful. I managed to email those fae legal documents to Maeve. She would have a better idea of how to use them.  

We arrived in the parking lot and I spotted the vampire from my vision. I rushed her and grabbed the briefcase with the plague bomb, but couldn't find a way out in the confusion. The vampire reacting by throwing a spare vial of plague towards Merov. At that exact same moment, Robin went in for a killing blow and the vial shattered against her instead.  

It was like my world stopped. 

I had put all my energy into stopping the ghoul plague and saving Merov. All I had managed to do was push the infection from Merov to Robin. This was a unwinnable situation. These visions that cursed me were a terrible joke. 

Tenzin talked about quarantining Robin, like my friend was some sort of animal to be studied and examined. I thought about how things played out. If I had just waited a moment later after grabbing the suitcase instead of trying to run away, everything could have played out different. 

As I was reliving the exact moment of Robin’s infection, in all of the graphic detail that was burned into my mind, something clicked. I could “touch” that moment of infection in the same way that I could “touch” my memories of the rooftop and push them to the nurse. It was something tangible to me. This sounds completely crazy, but I took those seconds where Robin was infected and threw them forward in time. I threw them as far as I could and didn't look back. I had no idea where they "landed". It wasn’t now, though. Hopefully it was after we had found a cure.

We locked up the plague case in Tenzin’s sanctum. It’s buried under a magic ward that requires the combined forces of Tenzin, Merov, Robin, Derek and myself to open. I don’t have faith that it’ll be safe forever. Safe for long enough is all we need, though. The paperwork we found with the plague seems to be from Robin’s school. But what a mortal school would need a ghoul plague for is still a mystery to me...

CURRENT DEBTS AS OF END OF SESSION

Robin: Hold 1, Owe 4

Merov: Owe 2

Tenzin: Owe 1

Maeve: 

Derek: Owe 2

Session 1: Here Comes The Flood

When the night shows 

the signals grow on radios 

All the strange things

they come and go, as early warnings

My name is Curtis Scanlon. I’m a Biomedical Equipment Technician for the Red Cross, which is a really fancy way of saying that I wrangle expensive medical equipment that could spray blood everywhere if something fails. As for my track record, the whole “spewing bodily fluids” thing has happened much less often since I got hired. 

I also have the uncanny ability of seeing things before they happen. This sounds cooler than it actually is. Most of the time it’s abstract thoughts and concepts that don’t make a lot of sense when you first see them. They may make a little more sense in hindsight, if you’re lucky. 

One of these “visions” (if you would) was what led to me and my roommate, Robin, driving out to the theater district in the middle of the night. In the dream I saw one of our acquaintances, a young fae named Maeve, consumed by flowers and vines. The reality was Maeve bleeding out on the sidewalk and her attacker still at large. As I said, abstract. 

I called an ambulance while Robin dealt with the hunter. Violence isn’t really my speciality and while I know a little bit about medicine, dying people are beyond my skills. I mean, I can keep them stable, but that only lasts for so long. Maybe it seems strange to call for EMS while in the middle of a firefight. I know Robin pretty well, though, and I knew that she would have the attacker down and in dire need of medical care by the time EMS arrived.

And that was how Robin and I found ourselves in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at a completely unreasonable hour in the morning. 

I handled explaining the situation to the cops. That meant completely downplaying the whole “supernatural warfare” aspect. Cops aren’t super fond of that. They prefer hearing stories about drunken bar disagreements going wrong and violent. It makes them feel better about working while the rest of the city sleeps. At least they didn’t make complete fools of themselves. 

After that was settled, Robin asked me to talk to the nurse practitioner on duty as she passed by to head out... somewhere... I didn’t ask, to be honest. She had this determined look in her eyes that told me that it wouldn’t be worth my time to stop her, even if only for a moment. So, yeah, I went to talk to the nurse on duty. Turns out that it was another person I knew in passing: Derek. He’s a stand up guy, even if he always seemed in over his head. We met after Robin saved him from a “drug deal” gone wrong. He spent some a couple of nights sleeping on our couch during the aftermath.

Derek complained of seeing odd things in ER change room. I told him that I would check it out. So-called “normal people” are actually pretty good at identifying when the supernatural oversteps its boundaries. Just as I predicted, the change room stank of the supernatural. Demons, in particular. The “drug deal” that I mentioned? That was part of a demonic ritual that didn’t fully go off. That ritual was still running on autopilot and was desperately looking for Derek so it could finish, like a demented rogue computer program.

It was time to call in backup. I went with Tenzin. He’s a wizard and one of the few ones I can tolerate, honestly. Plus he owed me a solid. I introduced him to Derek and explained the situation. Tenzin seemed really cagey until I reminded him again of that favour he owed me. 

With that underway, I checked in on Maeve. She was demanding answers out of her attacker. The hunter said that the Amber Vampires had kidnapped his niece and had her in a warehouse by the docks. I suggested that the proactive thing would be to help save the niece from the vampires. Then hunter problem would then be able to solve itself. I texted Robin to see if she wanted to join in. What I got back was a terse message to save the kid and get out as quickly as possible. 

Maeve and I were successful at getting into the warehouse (her more than me), but I found not just one niece, but countless other mortals trapped by the vampires. Maeve quickly found the hunter’s niece and ran. I waited until Robin arrived and made a scene before leading everyone else out and getting them to scatter. 

The vampires were not as lucky as their captives. 

When I tried to meet up with Robin after, I ran into the person who called her here: Merov King. Merov and I were briefly a thing in the past. Very briefly. We had a weekend fling, okay? He might be a little bit on the attractive side and I had no plans for those days. 

Anyway, Merov said he had things to discuss with us. The Amber Vampires attacked his penthouse earlier than night and he wanted to relocate to his cottage upstate until the damage was repaired. As I mentioned taking Merov’s helicopter, Robin gave me this look. The kind of look people get when they realize something terrible that they can’t unlearn...

CURRENT DEBTS AS OF END OF SESSION
Robin: Owe 3
Merov: Owe 2
Tenzin: Owe 1
Maeve: Hold 1
Derek: Owe 2

OOC: On Being Nice and Sex

Curtis is a nice guy. Curtis also likes sex. Curtis is not a nice guy so that he can have a lot of sex.

Curtis is a nice person because he finds joy in having a positive effect on people’s lives. He emotionally needs human connections and relationships. Those don’t happen if you’re a jerk. Curtis is also a character who started off in an Apocalypse World game and found it easier to not get shot at or killed by being nice to other people.  

Sex is pretty much Curtis’s favourite hobby. It’s fun and a different way to connect with people. Curtis’s position on sexual relationships is that they’re all finite. They are destined to end eventually and need to be enjoyed fully in the moment. I guess this position is a little depressing, but it’s one he’s taken to cope with life. Enjoy it while it exists.    

OOC: Starting Positions

The Oracle

Name: Curtis Scanlon
Look: Male, Caucasian, Warm Clothing.
Demeanor: Volatile

Character Stats: Blood 0, Heart 0, Mind 1, Spirit 1
Starting Factions: Mortality 1, Night -1, Power 1, Wild 1

Gear A simple apartment, a crappy car, a cell phone, 1 Set of unique items (Ritual objects collected from friends that keep the visions away)

Moves
Foretellings: At the beginning of the session, roll with Spirit. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 7-9, hold 1. During the session, you can spend your hold to declare that something terrible is about to happen. You (and your allies) take +1 ongoing to avoid the impending disaster. On a miss, you foresee the death of someone important to you and take -1 to all rolls to prevent it.
Double Life: Take Mortality as a second Faction. When someone rolls with or marks your Faction, tell them which one is most appropriate.
At Any Cost: When you interfere with someone’s plans or actions to prevent one of your visions from coming true, mark their Faction and take +1 forward.

Character Theme Songs
Listen To The Radio - Tom Robinson
Atmospherics after dark 
Noise and voices from the past 
Across the dial from Moscow to Cologne
Interference in the night
Thousand miles on either side 
Stations fading into the unknown

Night Train - Bruce Cockburn
And everyone's an island edged with sand 
A temporary refuge where somebody else can stand 
Till the sea that binds us like the forced tide of a blood oath 
Will wear it down - dissolve it - recombine it

Ghosts In Empty House - Jukebox the Ghost
In my darkest hour when death is knocking at my door 
I can feel the tug of a thousand fingers 
But what are the ghosts here for 
They say: 
Beware, be wary 
Of secrets that you may keep 
Cause if they're any indication of what sorrow brings you 
Then don't take your demons to sleep

The Arrival - There's So Much Energy In Us - Cloud Cult
The mission's over now, and my breath is running out.
Can't let go of it, can't let go of it. 
I didn't mean what I said, I didn't mean what I said. 
I love you more than this. I love you more than this. 
Then lights they fill the air, or were they always there?
I finally see it. I finally see it.