Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen's nights have been busy, and
the other night had been no exception, there had been a deck of cards
and two women, a few loose words and a hellish brawl in a Queens
demented court. All of this had transpired, and might make a story or
two to be told. But Kragen was battered and bruised after that little
adventure, and tonight he sought greener, perhaps more civilized
pastures.
So here he was, of all places. At a photo gallery. With a
frontage that was entirely glass and most of the art hung on wires so
that it floated in the air about him. Kragen, the man with his rictus
grin and askew hair, all wrapped up in a silk suit that was for once,
actually laundered seemed to wander about near the front, looking at
various pictures here and there, perhaps trying to understand exactly
what the artist was saying, exactly what they were trying to portray.
Because this particular exhibit had no explanations, hell it didn't even
have a name. Apparently the artist wanted the exhibit to stand on its
own two feet.
So far from the look on Kragen's features....it wasn't standing, so much as falling face first onto the sidewalk.
Molly Toombs
Miraculously,
in the past week and a half Molly's life found some semblance of
normalcy again. Of course, things had to crescendo their way up the
weirdness scale before calming down, but the thumping scraping noises
upstairs had been quiet for a while and her nightmares had abated.
Without the help of medication, she was able to sleep dreamlessly
through the night once more.
The night was full of heavy, rolling
black clouds and rumbles of thunder on the horizon. These clouds, along
with the on-and-off rain all day, did nothing but cement the fact that
the floods in the smaller communities surrounding the city would worsen,
and that more people would probably die, swept away in the rushing
brown waters that tore roads apart and ripped homes from their
foundations.
Thankfully, the city was relatively unflooded. But
at this pace, Molly wasn't certain that would last for long. As she
walked up the sidewalk, umbrella held over her head against the
increasing patter-patter of rain, she was thankful that she lived on the
fourth floor in her apartment building and not the bottom. She was
dressed for the cool weather in a pair of black leggings, black boots,
and an oversized cream colored sweater that was low enough to cover her
hips and rump and make the leggings-substituting-pants decision far less
inappropriate than what many girls in their young twenties liked to
strut the streets in. There was a gray scarf (more fashion than
utility) wrapped about her neck loosely, and she looked-- well, normal.
She'd
fallen in the habit of looking through the windows she passed as she
walked, but was halted by one face that called out to her, singing
recognition and relevance. She stood still, peered through the window
to be sure, then reached out and taped her finger on the glass. When
Kragen's attention was caught, she'd smile and wave.
Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen
had been busy looking at some slowly rotating display of photo's of the
homeless holding a coffee cup, probably an arts attempt at talking
about consumerism destroying humanity, or how even the poor could be
rich...to their own detriment. Eitherway the man seem's largely
unimpressed with the slowly turning show piece and he was turning to
walk further into the gallery when a sudden thumping could be heard
behind him.
The man turned slowly, almost cautiously until he was
looking at the window, those intense grey eyes finding Molly, and a brow
of surprise rose upon his forehead as he spun around on one heel and
strode up to the glass. He offered a quick wave before saying Hi, a Hi
that was of course..lost to the glass. But then he moved gesturing to
the door and pulled it open to say.
"Good Golly Miss Molly, I do
declare you seem to be out in some rather unpleasant weather." He says
holding the door. "Come in, I'm sure the photo's won't mind."
Molly Toombs
Kragen
answered with a wave in turn, then gestured for her to join him at the
gallery door. She was willing to comply, clearly, because she turned
and strode to the door with similar enough pace that she'd arrived under
the small awning as he pulled the glass door inward and open for her to
step inside.
"Oh, it's not the weather's fault it's unpleasant."
She said this casually, off-handed almost, and shook her umbrella off
and closed it before she stepped inside. "I'm hardly dressed for a
gallery stroll, though." She smiled half-apologetically, and glanced
about. Sure, there were a few people milling about on dates or group
outings. Some of which were dressed up, but there was an equal
smattering of people in jeans and sneakers and sweaters as well.
Clearly, no one would call her out on her comfortable attire.
The
umbrella was held in both hands, kept nearer to her torso because she
wasn't sure where else to put it or what else to do with her hands. Her
hair was left down to hang near her shoulders, with a few waves or
curls to be found mixed throughout the otherwise relatively straight
style. Make-up was scarce, but present enough to make the difference.
She clearly wasn't out for the sake of catching eyes or entertaining
anybody.
"How've things been?" She wanted to find a way to
apologize for buggering off as suddenly as she did the last time they
met, but didn't quite know how to frame it. So instead she'd let that
topic follow her into the gallery like an elephant taking up space in
the room.
Kragen Kingsmith
Molly moves into the
gallery and Kragen released the glass door, letting it swing back into
place with a gentle thump of its padded stopper against the door jam
before turning himself casually towards the young nurse who he had now
encountered a few times. Encounters which had gotten more and more
interesting as time had woven onward.
"Well the weathers
temperament aside you are looking radiant as always." He offered with
that rictus grin as gestured to the coat rack nearby, which..instead of
baring coats, held a number of umbrella's. "Feel free to hang it up, it
seems everyone else is, unless you prefer striking at photo's with an
umbrella as your preferred form of showing displeasure."
She asks
him how he's been and he choses to ignore the dull throb that still
clung to his back after that brawl and spread his hands wide, that
lighter in one of them as always it seemed as he shrugged. "I still live
and breath, and blood still pumps with abandon. Which is to say dear
Molly, that I am doing well." He lowered his chin then so that he looked
into her eyes more directly, trying not to look down his nose at her as
he said.
"And how about you?" His tone inquisitive as he stuck
his hands in his coat pockets for a moment. "I hope you got home alright
the other night?"
Molly Toombs
"Oh," is all that
Molly says when he points out the coat rack. She blinked at it once,
then hooked her umbrella on one branch of the coat rack behind someone
else's, then dusted her hands at her hips, onto the soft fabric of her
sweater, before looking back to Kragen.
He complimented her, and
she smiled-- the expression pulled more dominant on one side of her
mouth than the other, showing that she was both flattered and humored.
Radiant was a strong and borderline poetic thing to call a woman, so she
appeared to be certain that he was putting on airs and, in that moment,
with that smile, called him out on doing so. But the conversation had
turned, and Molly made herself comfortable wandering the gallery idly
with this increasingly familiar man.
He said he was doing well and
asked if she got home safely the other night. He was watching her
while waiting for the answer, not observing any of the art that was up
on display. Molly's attention was pulled from the dangling pictures,
rounded blue eyes meeting Kragen's for a moment. At first she seemed
unsure of what direction to take with her answer-- if she should level
with him (for she did have her suspicions about how he'd reacted to
Bertram along with her) or not.
She decided not, apparently, because she shrugged one shoulder and glanced out the window as the sky crackled with lightning.
"Oh
yeah, no sprained ankles or madmen demanding my cash on the way."
There was a beat, and then in a somewhat cramped and unsure tone she
added: "I kind of regret taking off as quick as I did. It was an
awkward way to leave a conversation."
Kragen Kingsmith
She
called him out with that silent smile and his own grin seemed to
confirm as he stretched his grin just a little bit more as they moved
through the the gallery. But he said no more on the status of Molly's
looks, leaving their other topic of conversation to spring to the fore.
"I
would certainly agree, if the king of siam had been present he might
have been a little displeased." He said as he looked away briefly. "But I
understood." He says with a nod. "I understood quite well." His words
linger, and when he looks back so too do his eyes. Meeting her's and
impressing upon her his meaning.
But then his eyes slip away
again, turning to the world about them as lightning crashed and the
world outside continued to soak up mother natures wrath. "So aside from
escaping the attentions of rather sibilant men with palid
complexions...what is new in your world" He inquired as he reached out
and tapped one photo, causing it to spin wildly upon its wire.
Molly Toombs
Kragen
wasn't bothered by the prompt and sudden way that she'd left that
street corner the other night. He understood. When he expressed that
understanding, he chose his words carefully and stressed the ones that
were key. He stressed that he understood quite well, and Molly felt his
eyes boring into her so she looked back to him. Darkened eyebrows rose
with significance when their eyes met again, this time conveying a
message.
I understand, that message said.
There was
a faint nervous flutter in her chest. She'd been apart from vampires
for the better part of a week and a half, and although there was still a
hiccup of supernatural between then and now, she was just growing
comfortable with feeling safe once more. To bring the topic back up
made her anxious, but wasn't enough to rock her world or make her try to
escape the subject.
He confirmed her suspicions by speaking to
'palid complexions' when referring to the person she'd fled from that
night. So, he was in the know. She studied his profile while he
reached out and tapped at the hanging picture, and decided to go out on a
limb when she answered his question to what was new with her.
"Well, I found out the apartment above mine is haunted. That was a night to drink away."
Kragen Kingsmith
Molly
could have let it drop, could have gone on about day to day business at
the hospital, or a new movie she'd seen. She could have talked about
hanging out with Nate, or reading a good book. Kragen had left his words
vague, but understood not only to keep the secret what it was, but to
let her keep away from the topic if she wished.
But then she's on
about a haunted apartment, and that brought an amused smile to the man's
lips as he nodded. "I could just imagine." A dry chuckle escaping his
lips. "I'm not a fan of ghosts either, there's not a whole lot you can
do to them that hasn't already been done. They are after all...already
dead."
He smiled at her, a macabre little joke he hoped might
lighten the ever darkening mood. It didn't help that the world outside
was growing darker and darker as the storm rolled overtop of the city,
blanketing it in its wet and thunderous embrace.
"It might be time
to find yourself a new apartment...I wish i could help you there but,
finding real estate isn't my particular forte."
Molly Toombs
"Eh,
I don't know." Molly sounded conflicted when Kragen said that she
should find herself a new place to live. For now, the woman seemed
content to look out the window and watch the storm as it rolled over the
city. The rain fell harder, steadier. People were running to and fro
on the sidewalk in front of them-- Saturday nights in the arts district
were always busy ones, after all-- seeking shelter from the pelting
rain.
"I've been there for two years. I'm settled in, I don't really want
to go anywhere else. Anyway, all of the--," and she waved her hand
vaguely in front of her, the motion swirling like a slow motion whisk in
batter. "...Activity, I guess, just stays upstairs. Nothing's
happened in my home yet, so I think I'll be alright.
"Besides,"
she added, and looked away from the window to grin up at Kragen
playfully, "worse comes to worse I can just get an old priest and a
young priest to come on by, right?"
Then there came a deep
rumbling, the type of thunder that you felt rolling around in your chest
before the roar met your ears. Molly stood a little straighter, looked
attentively out the window, and waited for the noise to subside. The
other denizens of the gallery noticed, too. Every human body went
still, looked up, toward the window perhaps, and waited for the sound to
stop before all of the chatter started back up, now about the storm and
the floods and how this certainly wasn't helping things.
With the
thunder quieted for the time being, she frowned faintly and shook her
head. "It's weather like this that makes me consider just sucking it up
and buying a car already."
Kragen Kingsmith
She
says she'd rather stick it out, deal with it. Molly was a survivor, or
at least stubborn enough not to be frightened away by something she
didn't understand. Kragen filed that away and offered her a chuckle as
she made her own joke about exorcisms, and he raised a brow as he nodded
a few times, turning on his heel as that rumbling rolled through the
city. The man taking a moment to watch just as everyone else did, but if
Molly happened to notice, happened to look up at the man as it
happened, it was a smile writ small and subtle upon his features, not
worry, not concern....but a smile.
"Well I might be able to assist
you with that particular issue, at least for the immediate moment." He
offers as he looks back to her now. "I don't usually offer taxi
services, its a bit below my paygrade. But one does ever so rarely get
to see a haunted building." He suggests, offering her a way out of here
that didn't involve getting drenched.
She'd just have to get into a
car with a man who was in the know about the supernatural...and who'd
she'd met only a few times before, what could go wrong?
Molly Toombs
Any
smart girl would know better than to get in a car with a strange man.
And if Molly was anything, it was a smart girl. She'd dug her heels in
on refusing to let Flood know where she lived, and wouldn't budge even
for the smooth talking, loomingly tall, chillingly unsettling undead
man.
But things have changed since that point. She finally took a
ride home from the vampire, as she had little other choice and in the
midst of her ordeal with the necromancer and his room of death, she made
the uncomfortable discovery that Flood was the person she'd trusted
most in that setting. She'd let him drive her home, and even now was
trying to decide the next best step to take in the vampire's pursuit of
her attention.
So, while she was smart enough not to take rides
home from strangers, she was also keen enough to realize that if she's
already been driven home by someone who had every reason within his
bones to take her very life away and survived that trip, then accepting
the ride from this older gentleman who parried words and wit with her so
charmingly couldn't be too bad.
Sure, Nate had told her that he
was involved in some kind of mercenary rabble-rousing circuit, but what
harm would that do to Molly? She had no political relevance, so she
highly doubted she needed to worry about ulterior motives in that regard
from this man of fire and explosives.
"Well, Kragen, I appreciate
you stooping so low as to offer to be my taxi for the evening." Her
grin was lively again, and she lifted one eyebrow to him. "I'd happily
accept. And I appreciate it, by the way."
She reached out and
stopped the still-twisting picture with two fingers, then slowly took
her hand away to ensure it stayed still. The same hand gestured lightly
toward the door. "Unless you still wanted to look around? Although
I've got to say, you looked downright bored when I spotted you."
Kragen Kingsmith
"Even
us high and mighty gentleman can be brought low and scraping by but the
faintest attention from the fairer sex." He says it dramatically,
humourously like his nose was stuck in permanent hoity toity mode and
then his grin became a more genuine thing and he started towards the
door. "Besides your quite right. I honestly think I'd rather drench my
head in napalm then stand around in this effrontery to the idea of art
for another second."
He started for the door then, stopping ever
so briefly to retrieve Molly's umbrella as they made their way to the
doorway. He tipped an imaginary hat with Molly's umbrella before handing
it back to her. He wouldn't need it it seemed, not at all worried about
his second hand suits...he could aways buy more, ten dollars a dozen.
He
fell in step beside her once more and briefly looked around at the
display one last time before leaning in to speak in a conspiritorial
manner. "Is it just me, or does art in these modern times, seem a little
ridiculous? I mean...these pictures don't tell you anything an informed
individual should already know."
Kali
Ahh, rain.
It's a cleansing experiences that helps wipe just a bit of the grime
off the city. And with the way that Denver had been pelted by the
stuff, you could imagine that the city was in need of some very serious
cleansing indeed. And you wouldn't be wrong; there are all manner of
dirty little deeds scumming up the streets, whether it was necromancers
or Sabbat backroom dealings or Camarilla charm oozing out like an oil
spill. The rain would pelt at all of that, but while it could send
rivers of dirt flowing into the sewers, it couldn't wash that kind of
scum away.
Kali hates the rain, if she's being honest. It doesn't
bother her physically of course; all but extreme cold or heat is
infinitely managable when you're no longer alive. But it screws up her
fashion sense because you can't go out looking like a high-class street
walker in the rain and not get people wondering. So tonight, she's
walking along in a very different look than normal; it's still slut-chic
but the corset is covered with a black leather overcoat, the heeled
boots have been traded for one-inch soled Doc Martins and her lower half
is less leather pants, more torn-up jeans. She flicks a cigarette into
the gutter as she passes by the photo gallery...where someone familiar
catches her eye.
She pauses. Takes a step back to get a better
look. And she cocks her head, smiling curiously. She remembers Molly
of course, and she has a mystery in her head about the girl. So she
gives a quick look around to make sure there aren't Lasombra skulking in
the shadows like a stalker and then waits there since it looks like
she's exiting with this guy she hasn't met yet. She doesn't try to be
sneaky; she smiles wide and waves.
Molly Toombs
Kragen's
wordsmithing was chuckled at, but not much more. She accepted the
umbrella when he handed it to her, and once outside the device bloomed
out to create a shield to keep her dry. She found the angle that the
wind had the rain falling at and tipped her umbrella to be most
effective. The umbrella itself was simple, a plain black thing with a
large span of coverage. It was plenty big for two people, so Kragen's
dismissing any need to be sheltered from the rain was simply tsk-tsk'ed
at, and she would stand near his side and hold the umbrella to cover the
pair of them anyways.
"I won't lead you astray; I'm not very
interested in art myself. Or, well, not visual art at least, not by
much." She shrugged one shoulder and went on. "I came to one of these
galleries on a date last month, and was bored enough to slip out the
back. Although, to be fair, that might not have been the best idea
because that's where I ran into Bertram for the first time."
And hey! Speaking of running into vampires....
Up
the sidewalk there was a woman with flame red hair and an overcoat to
keep her sheltered from the rain. Molly squinted at her through the
gray blur that such heavy rain liked to turn the world into, then slowed
her pace when recognition settled in. Kali was smiling and waving
pleasantly enough. Molly had to force her way past the initial spasm of
fight-or-flight that came, as her first impression of this woman was
trying to keep a door closed and prevent her from entering with that gun
in her hand.
Logically, though, Kali had done her no harm. Molly
shouldn't have to be too concerned, right? After all, the red-haired
woman was only trying to be of assistance when she ran after her into
the antiques shop. She was trying to keep her and Flood from walking
into the mayhem that they'd found, and then did no harm to either of
them (although it seemed to Molly that Kali and Flood were on different
sides of the same war [rivalry?]).
So, cautiously, Molly
lifted a hand and showed Kali her palm in a greeting that was much like a
wave, but still instead of side-to-side.
"Oh here we go," Molly murmered, half to herself and partly for Kragen as well.
Kragen Kingsmith
[Per+Empathy? What you talkin bout Molly?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6) ( success x 1 )
Molly Toombs
Molly
comes across as tense, obviously. She's very uncertain of this Kali
woman, and seems ready for confrontation. Now, Molly clearly doesn't
want any sort of fight with Kali, because the way she stiffens and
stares at the red-haired woman makes it quite clear that she has full
knowledge of the fact this woman is a Vampire.
Simultaneously, there's a
sense of resolve. She seems to know that interaction probably isn't
going to be avoided, and is steeled to be braced for whatever it is
that's about to come.
Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen
receives a spot of honour beneath Mollys umbrella, the woman standing
near so that he was protected as well and would not have to see his silk
suit into the trash heap at the end of the day. He looks up at the
umbrella curiously but seems to nod in appreciation as they step out
into the street in search of the old man's vehicle.
"The heart
most definitely does funny things doesn't it?" He offers in response as
to how she ended up meeting Bertram. "That must have felt like a blind
date nightmare." He muses softly as he stepped out and seemed ready to
turn down the street when he notices the tension in Molly's body.
He
watches her for a moment, wary and becoming increasingly alert as he
watched her wave and turned to see the woman named Kali waving in
response. He did not know this person, had not met her. [but then how
many people do you meet in a city of millions]. He took a moment to
consider before turning his gaze back to Molly and asked quietly.
"You, my dear Miss Molly, seem to have a predilection for a very specific crowd."
Kali
They
notice her, and Molly raises her hand for an enthusiastic wave.
Honestly, the little spitfire of a drug lord doesn't expect Molly to be
particularly trusting, and why should she? The Ravnos had tried to warn
them off of the strange building and then walked in and blew the head
off of a necromancer as things started to get weird. Kali knows weird
and she knows how people react to weird. She wouldn't trust her either.
The
usual cocky smirk is gone at this particular moment; it's a smile and
while there's a bit of amusement in it (there always is), she's not
seeming to enjoy the woman's potential discomfort. "Hey...you person
that I met once." Okay, now it becomes a bit more of a grin at the joke
that isn't really a joke. "I'd use your name if I'd gotten it, but
crazy dance-hall nights, y'know?" Hey, it was a dance of a sort.
Bertram danced with his fists, Kali danced with a gun, Bo with a knife,
Flood and Molly with their feet (defensively). Besides, what's she
going to say in mixed company, Sorry about not asking your name while
we were fighting off the corpse-fucking wizard and his army of
anthropomorphic Disney furniture? Doesn't have the right ring to it.
Ahe
looks over Kragen a moment and gives him a bit of a smile. "Hey
there. Sorry, we haven't met. Although technically, she and I haven't met
either, but...dance hall. You were listening I'm sure. Kali. I'm in
the pharmaceutics business." It's meant for both of them, of course,
and a crossing of extended hands, so that her arms form an 'X' with a
hand held to the both of them.
Molly Toombs
Kragen's
whisper near her ear was met with a glance in his direction and a
significant raising of darkened eyebrows. "Tell me about it," she
whispered back, then looked to face Kali as the woman in the corset,
jeans, and overcoat approached.
The woman gave her introduction,
and Molly smiled politely but uncertainly (of course, it was only
natural). Pale arms cloaked by the coat crossed in front of her so one
hand could be extended to Kragen and one to Molly. As Kragen was
offered the right hand, that left Molly to try and shake with her left.
It was awkward, but she did reach out and grasp Kali's hand (cold, cold
and pale and with no pulse that she could detect, no thrum or throb
under her fingers) and give it a small shake before reclaiming her hand.
"Yeah,
I'll say it was a crazy night..." And then, after clearing her throat a
little and adjusting her grip on the umbrella: "I'm Molly. And this
is my friend, Mr. Kragen Kingsmith."
Kali
[[Ack! Sorry, I should have said in here. Kali spends blood to appear human.]]
Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen
usually wasn't the sort to take the back seat in situations. It wasn't
how he operated, and he rarely let anyone set the pace for him [a small
group excluded] but this time...this time he lets Molly set the pace. he
steps up, those intense grey eyes surveying all there was to see, of
Molly, of Kali, and of the interactions between them both and with him.
Kali,
she of the pharmaceutical business offers her greeting. Her enthusiasm
and warmth at a glance seeming honest and forthright [oh how you catch
flies with honey] and the hand extended is taken and shaken. For her
part Kali can probably be very certain that Kragen is human, his pulse
strong and vital, his skin ruddy in the way older men tend to be.
He
is introduced though, so he simply inclines his head to the woman and
says. "A pleasure, to be sure." He offers politely, and perhaps even
somewhat rakishly as he took his hand back and looked at Molly.
"A dance hall, you don't say? And they say the old ways are dead."
Kali
"Molly and Kragen." She says them as if committing them to memory and nods. "All right, I won't forget those."
She
glances from the woman to the man, and then back with a vaguely
apologetic look in case she's not wanted here. No indications such
(beyond Molly's wariness), but you never know. "I actually hope I'm not
intruding. I just happened to see you and wanted to come check and see
if you were okay after all of that. Flood and I have a little bit of a
love-hate dynamic, but you seemed alright with him at that particular
moment and I had a few fires to Captain Planet out so it seemed like the
best course of action."
She cocks her head, looking legitimately curious to the answer of her next question. "You're doin' fine though?"
[[Per+Emp: Are ya fine? How ya doin?]]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 6, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Molly Toombs
[Hah! Woops! Well then, disregard all of that stuff about cold hands and no pulse and replace it with more suspicion. :D]
Molly Toombs
Molly
and Kragen stood near to one another, but that was largely for the
purpose of sharing the umbrella. That was difficult to do with several
feet of polite space between shoulders, after all. But neither had arms
around the other. Hands were kept to themselves. If Kali was
interrupting something, it probably wasn't a date that was going
incredibly well.
Plus, there was the obvious age gap to keep in mind there. That tended to skew perceptions of interactions between people.
Kali
appeared apologetic, and came across as relatively sincere if nothing
more. Molly was curious about, struck and intrigued by, and downright
wary of the fact that Kali had felt warm (not cold, as she'd expected,
not cold at all) when she'd shaken her hand. She knew the woman was a
vampire, but if that was the case then why did she feel so alive?
The
questions swam in her mind, but didn't impact her ability to maintain
conversation. When she spoke, her tone was even and slow, words a
little cautious but mostly deliberate when she answered.
"Well, I made it home in one piece, at least. But I'm fine now. Thank you." Well, at least the 'thank you' sounded sincere.
Molly Toombs
Molly said she was fine, but Kali could see right through that. She could see every detail.
The
young woman put up a strong front. She was level and in control of her
own condition. However, she was clearly not 'fine', as she'd
expressed. That night took its toll on her, and the very subject of the
escapade with the Necromancer and having to escape it with Flood made
Molly want to pale, made her mind try to feel faint to reject the
memory, made her want to sit down and just breathe for a few minutes.
She
was worn out and on edge. She was distrustful of everything around
her, as this had become a constant state of being for a woman thrust
into a world of monsters and shadows, and sent through that new world
with a pat on the bottom and a firm knowledge that she had no way to
keep herself safe from all of these dark and scary things.
This
distrust was currently focused on Kali like a laser beam. That said,
the distrust was mingled with some desire to want to trust, to want to
be comfortable, oddly enough. She wanted to like Kali, but was smart
enough to know better than to become comfortable around someone who
would consider her a food-stuff.
Kragen Kingsmith
This
was a dance meant for two, and in this case the dancers were Kali and
Molly. Kragen had no inclining of what had happened at the 'dance hall'
he hadn't been there, and his knowledge of those involved was tenuous at
best. He had been busy elsewhere, with his own work and that mean't
that here and now, rather then interjecting blindly, he listened.
But
his silence does not mean that he is no less animated. He has that
rictus grin stretched across his features, his teeth hidden by lips for
the moment as he turns from Kali to Molly. But there is a definite look
of interest, and contemplation when there is talk of Flood, there
weren't many people, living or dead who went by a moniker such as that,
and so the grey eyed man had a fairly good idea of just who the
conversation involved.
This drew his gaze curiously to Molly, it was a look that spoke to 'just how deep in are you?'
He
at last says something at least. "In one piece? That sounds like one
hell of a dance party." He looks at Kali then, his lips falling from
that smile slightly. "Just my type of dance."
Kali
Molly
says that she's fine, and there's nothing in Kali's face that suggests
she suspects otherwise. She smiles and she nods, her eyes flicking to
Kragen when he speaks up and says it's his kind of dance. That draws a
quick, appreciative look over the man and a grin before she looks back
to Molly.
Because here's the truth: Kali's more perceptive than
she lets on sometimes. She plays the fool and she acts oblivious; she's
jokes and pop culture references and teases and creatively-worded
multi-lingual profanity. But Molly in particular knows how deadly Kali
can be; she watched a man's head split open like a ripe melon, and that
was with a gun, much less vampiric powers. Kali loves it when people underestimate her, because that's right when she can strike.
The point here isn't that she's going to strike. The point here is that she knows.
And she doesn't make a big show of it, doesn't try to out Molly in
front of her friend. There are many reasons for this, but the primary
one is simple: she doesn't want to.
So she smiles, and she digs
into her overcoat for a card. The card reads 'Aunt Buffy's Private
Stock Shipping Service' with a picture that looks like something you
might find on a Monopoly Chance card, with an elderly woman leaning out
of the window of a shipping truck with her hand raised in a wave.
There's a phone number on it.
"I'm glad," she says, and she seems
honest again. "Listen…call it crazy business networking, but if you
need anything…you don't have to. Rip this up after I go and toss it
away, that's fine. But if you need anything…shipping service, a little
conversation, whatever. Then keep this and gimme a call sometime. I
promise I have a good ear and I love talking on the phone. Just call me
Teen Girl #3 in Random High School Comedy: The Movie that way."
She
scrawls something on the pack with a pen from her pocket really quick
and hands it over. "No face-to-face needed if you don't want, I
promise."
On the back it reads: Be smart and be safe.
Kali
[[Oh, and just for grins, a Charisma+Emp: "Yes, I'm indeed trying to look out for you"]]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Molly Toombs
The
look that Kragen shot her was not missed. However, Molly had a method
to socializing with Vampires that she'd taught herself to stick to. You
don't show them your nerves, you don't challenge them but at the same
time you don't make yourself look weak.
The best advised that
Tommy Lynch could have given her, the advice he did give her, was to
make herself not be interesting. While she appreciated his suggestion,
she was afraid that it was too late for that to work. Regardless of
what she tried, it seemed that she was some sort of catnip for the
undead. They flocked to her, even to the point that ghosts apparently
decided to haunt the apartment above her head because of its proximity
to her home.
While she couldn't dampen her own appeal, she could
at least find a fine line to walk and stick to it. So, the look that
Kragen gave her was noted but not answered outright, not in front of
Kali, because that would go against Molly's own sense of code. She
didn't want to confess how nervous it made her to know very accutely how
deeply submerged she was in this scary new world.
As Kali handed
her a business card, and as Molly reached out to accept it, she felt the
cold dark waters of this unknown society creep from her chest to her
shoulders. This would be the fifth business card from a person of
less-than-average nature, and it would be added to a growing collection
on her dresser.
And yet, when Molly accepted that card, the words
that Kali had to give along with that phone number seemed comforting.
She looked up into the red-haired woman's face, and for the first time
since she realized the vampire was there waving at her she didn't appear
so... tense, or distrusting. Now she just looked curious, openly so,
and maybe even a little bit touched by the gesture.
"...Thank
you," again is all that she had to say at first. The card was flipped
over, and Molly's mouth pressed into a line that might indicate she was
trying to subdue a reflexive smile. "I'll keep a hold of this." The
card was tucked down the front of her shirt, for tonight she carried no
bag or purse and had no pockets in the leggings or sweater that she
wore. When she looked back up to Kali again, it was with a small and
grateful smile. "I don't doubt that I'll come across some reason to
reach out."
Again, the thunder clapped in the sky, and Molly paused, glanced up, then cleared her throat.
"Well,
ah, I may have to ask for you to excuse us, Kali. Kragen here is so
kind to take me home, and that's where we were headed."
Kali
She
scowls instinctively and looks up when she hears the thunder clap, the
glance mirroring Molly's. Again, Kali hates the rain. But she's
quickly back to Molly and the scowl shifts to a smile. She taps two
fingers to her brow, then shifts them forward as if giving a little
salute.
"Of course. You kids have a good night. Don't do
anything I wouldn't do...which you probably don't have to worry about,
the list is pretty slim there."
She gives a little wink and nods
to Kragen. "Nice to meet you Kragen. Molly, good to see you again.
Stay dry." And with that she nods, turns and starts off on her way.
Molly Toombs
Molly
would watch Kali go on her way with a smile and a wave-- this time, the
wave wasn't just a still salute of greeting. It was warmer, more
genuine. Molly was pleased to find that she was walking away from the
encounter unharassed and without the hair on the back of her neck
standing on end. "Oh, I'm sure we'll be fine," she played along with
the woman's warning not to do anything she wouldn't do. "Have a good
night."
Then, when Kali had been on her way for a solid couple of
seconds, Molly looked back up to Kragen and shrugged her shoulders
almost apologetically.
"So," she explained, and offered him a sheepish and crooked smile. "I don't know how they keep finding me. But they do."
Then: "Shall we?"
Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen
listens still, and this is probably the least that Molly has ever heard
the man speak, he was always vocal, always upfront with a quick bit of
banter or a double entendre. But he is watchful today, and he watches as
Kali hands Molly that card, and of course...he cannot help but see
those words written on the opposite side of it. The fact that they are
there has him examining Kali all the more carefully, like his eyes were a
microscope and she was an amoeba.
But then they are parting ways,
Molly says she needs him to drive her home, and Kragen tilts his head
to the side. "She works me like a slave she does." He comments as he
steps out and waits for Kali to take her leave.
She winks at him
Kali does, saying its nice to meet him, and perhaps a little
skeptically, the man nods. "It was a singular pleasure. To you the same
hope." He says with tilt of an invisible hat before he watches Kali take
her leave, heading off into the rainy night.
But then they are
alone, and Kragen is waiting a few seconds more before he responds. "We
shall indeed dear molly. My chariot is right over here." He says witha
gesture to a fine looking luxury sedan...with rental plates.
Molly Toombs
Kragen
pointed out where his vehicle was parked, and Molly adjusted the
umbrella when the wind shifted, moving how the rain fell along with it.
Her boots splashed where puddles grew on the sidewalk as she walked
along with the older gentleman in his silk suit to where his car was.
The
vehicle was nice, and it looked clean from what she could see through
the window. The plates indicated the vehicle was a rental, so she
assumed that the inside would smell strongly of a forced sanitizing air
freshener solution. That was just fine, though. However, she did find
herself curious enough to ask as they walked, the dull low heels of her
boots thudding on the sidewalk (although that noise was silent, covered
up and swallowed whole by the smacking of rainwater against every
surface in sight).
"I know you said you were new to the area... I didn't realize you were just on your way through?"
There you go, Molly. Talk about mundane things instead, like business and travel and rental cars.
Kragen Kingsmith
They
move off, alone once more and come up to that fine luxury sedan in a
forest green. Kragen pulls out a pair of keys and pops the locks with
the FOB and even does the solid gentlemanly thing and open the door for
Molly. Once she was safetly inside, her umbrella folded up within he
climbed in the other side and nodded to her casually as he stuck the
keys into the ignition and turned the car on.
"The nature of my
work tends to keep me in a state of transience, but that varies.
Sometimes I will be in a place but a night, others I have stayed for
years." He offered her a wry grin as he took the car out of park and
started to drive them along towards wherever Molly would direct him.
"Its
shaping up that I might be in the market for my own car soon however.
This particular contract might be of a particular length, so it seems
I'll be getting at least..somewhat comfortable."
Molly Toombs
Once
inside the car, Molly left the passenger door open long enough to shake
the umbrella out as well as she could manage before closing it and
setting it on the floor near her feet. She'd thanked him, of course,
for opening the door for her, and buckled herself into the seat. She
settled back, not bothering to adjust the seat because she didn't like
taking such liberties in cars she didn't ride in too often.
When
Kragen was in the car with her, he'd expressed the nature of his work,
and then revealed that his current 'contract' would probably keep him
here for long enough to get comfortable. Molly's eyebrows hopped
upward, and she bit her lower lip with one tooth like she was trying to
keep words from falling out of her mouth before they were considered.
But,
inevitably, she speaks anyways. Her hands were folded together into
her lap after she'd pulled the hem of her sweater to make sure the top
of her lap was covered up. Leggings left very little to the
imagination, after all.
"So, I've heard a rumor about your line of
business, Kragen, and I was curious to know if you'd confirm it or
not. Someone told me you were a bit of a... mercenary." Clearly, her
interest is piqued. This was the kind of excitement that she strained
for back when she was living a normal life, bored of the mundane and
unaware of the fact that Denver was actually teeming with monsters and
the undead. Her eyes all but sparkled when she looked over and watched
his reaction to what she had to say.
"Makes me wonder, what your contract here might be?"
Kragen Kingsmith
It
seemed someone had been digging, someone had been talking. The question
was....who was it? Kragen had his suspicions of course, he always did.
But that meant nothing when your confronted with what it is you do
outside of your own terms. Now Kragen doesn't look upset by this reveal,
he certainly seems to hold no need for penance or reproach when Molly
watches him.
But he meets her eyes, those intense grey eyes
locking on hers as he nodded and said. "You have some very informed
little doves dear Molly." He said as he took a turn, heading off into
traffic. "It would seem we are a little more intertwined then even I had
imagined." He said with some concern then, his eyes flickering over to
her as he hit a red light and drew the car to a slow stop.
"I have
recently been contracted by the man you know as Flood, to assist him in
bringing the growing rivalry between two vampiric factions to a more
decisive close." He puts it all out there, lets her know right away that
they had a shared acquaintance. In truth the tuck of his lip, and the
way he momentarily sucked on his teeth made it seem like that fact did
not thrill him.
Not one bit.
Molly Toombs
Kragen
didn't seem very humored with the conversation, but at the same time he
wasn't unwilling to continue it. He expressed that they were more
intertwined than he imagined, and then as they rolled to a stop at a red
light he explained that he was here because Flood hired him to help tip
the scales in this War, so to speak.
Molly's expression wasn't so
sparkling and curious anymore. Rather, a grim sort of cast takes her
features, and recognition of exactly how intertwined they actually were
settled in. Molly had been leaned forward, turned at the waist to face
Kragen more completely, but now she settled back into the seat again and
looked out the windshield. Her eyes were unfocused on the world
outside, just looking at the glass and how the wipers passed back and
forth overtop of it.
"Well," she said finally. "That does explain some things."
She'd
wet her lips, be quiet for another few ticks of the second hand on the
watch on her wrist (concealed under the sleeve of her cream colored
sweater), then continue.
"Flood's been persuing me. I'm not
certain of his game. I was sure he was just toying with me at first,
very much like a cat and mouse. But... I'm not so sure that's the case
now. I think I'm getting pulled in to this world and society and I
can't find my way out, and now it seems like Flood's not just guiding me
in deeper, but sheltering me on the way down." Beat. "If that makes
any sense..."
Kragen Kingsmith
[Per+emp]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Molly Toombs
When he takes the moment to study her tone and her face, he'll find that she's deeply conflicted about the whole affair.
On one hand: Vampires are fucking terrifying.
The fact that she realized they were real meant that she had to accept
that everything else could be real as well-- a few other things have
already been confirmed. That shook her to her core, and made her very
uncomfortable and scared for her life. When she spoke of Flood, she
sounded like she didn't trust him-- like she was just waiting for the
moment that it's revealed her every interaction with him has been a
build up to a trap.
On the other hand: The world wasn't as boring
as she thought, and that boredom was about to kill her. She was
thrilled in a chilly, scary way (like when you go to see a horror movie)
by the fact that she was one of a select few plain Jane humans to know
that this is all real. She was intrigued. She liked Flood.
She wanted to see more of him. She said that he was guiding her deeper
into this world, and it seemed that she was prepared to follow.
She was confused, conflicted, and had a strong need to learn more.
Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen's
eyes saw more then what was simply on the surface. He saw the fear of
the unknown in Molly's eyes and he also saw the intrigue, the undeniable
need to know more. To see with unclouded eyes the reality of the world,
horrific though it maybe. There is a hint of a smile breaking through
his frown now. But wary caution still clung to his features as he looked
her up and down once more before the light turned green and he started
to drive once more.
"I've seen it a thousand times." Kragen says
smoothly, a hint of warning in his voice as he speaks of Floods likely
intention. "He'll draw you down so deep that when at last the bubble
around bursts from the pressure, the only person who you'll think your
able to turn too will be him. Then he'll have you, and he'll either make
you like me, but a slave to your passions, or worse...he'll make you
one of them." That last idea puts a hint of bile and causticity into
Kragen's voice, like the idea of becoming one of them was abhorrent.
"I
assure you dear Molly, it might seem like a wonderful ride...but it
isn't. I've been on that ride, and it took years to get free of it."
Molly Toombs
Kragen's
advice was sage, and given through a ghost of a smile (at first, at
least). As was the case with anything that had to do with the
supernatural, Molly listened carefully and absorbed whatever information
there was to gain.
He cautioned her, warned that while things may
seem okay now they wouldn't be later. He wanted her to understand that
this was certainly a trap, and that Flood no doubt had nefarious plans
for her. She stopped staring at the windshield and looked to him again,
blinked slowly, then nodded.
"I don't think you're wrong," she
said, and at first it seemed that was all she would say. But then she
continued, after only a second or two. "I know others. I'm networking
now, I guess." The last comment came with a little chuckle, and she
shook her head. "Truthfully, I'm more wary of Bertram than I am of
Flood. I feel like he may try to put me in a position where I owe him a
favor, and then wring that leverage for everything it's worth."
She
felt tired all at once. Being introspective with herself was one
thing, but confessing these suspicions and thoughts aloud was another.
Hearing the words carried on her own voice made her uncertain of them,
and made her want to re-evaluate what she'd concluded on these matters
already.
She realized all at once that Kragen was taking her home
but didn't know where she lived, so she interjected with a quick set of
simple instructions on how to reach her apartment building. Just make
like you're going downtown, but then turn on this street instead. Then
you turn here, and the building you want will be on this corner.
When
they were on a path headed in the right direction (the ride wasn't very
long, really, it would take him perhaps seven minutes to drive her
there), she asked:
"So, what did you mean, he'll make me like you? "
Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen
wasn't the one spilling the beans, he hadn't broken those laws the
nightwalkers had set in place to protect their kind. Someone else had
done that, now...now he was just arming someone with the weaponry they
would need to see themselves safe, or at least doomed to a fate of their
own choosing. There was relief on his features when Molly agreed that
he was probably right about Flood, that one way or another, he was
intending in some form, to make Molly his be it the simplest ways, or
the most grave it was all but a certainty.
"Every single last one
of them want's something Miss Molly, and they all have their coin to buy
it. the danger, more often then not. Is that what they want is either
you...or what lies in your veins." He offers as he turns the car about,
moving to take her downtown but not downtown.
"There are more
states then just alive, undead, and dead." He stated when she asked
about what it mean't to be him, and some might have let it lie there.
But not Kragen, he was arming Molly, making a fortress of her mind and
her heart.
"They call this state ghouldom. When a living human
drinks enough of a vampires blood to halt the aging processes, to give
them powers and a few other things besides." He gestures to himself
then. "I'll be turning eighty in march. I am what you'd call a ghoul."
He holds up a finger then, as if this point that came next was VERY
important. "The thing about drinking vampire blood, and I am ashamed of
this, is that its addictive, more then weed, more then caffine, more
then crack or meth...you want it. You need it, and when you get to be as
old as I am...your life starts to depend on it." His voice rings hollow
in that moment, but he presses on.
"Problem is, it affects your
mind too. Especially if...say, you drink to much of one vampires blood.
It makes you want them, makes you trust them...makes you love them. Can
be a pint or it could be a drop, but if enough of it gets into
you...your their's mind body and soul." He says with a shake of his
head. "That's how he'd get you, that's how he'd keep you."
He
comes to another stop light and looks over at Moly once more gravely.
"Only two ways to break the hold, I've been through both. The first, is
to kill the fucker who bond's you. It hurts like a son of a bitch when
they die...but it works. The other way, is to deny yourself for
months...months and months, never seeing them, never talking to them,
never thinking about them." He grimaced as he gripped the steering
wheel.
"I can assure you, neither are a particular hoot."
Molly Toombs
Again, Kragen had information to share and Molly soaked it up like a sponge.
She
was silent the whole time he spoke, adding nothing and asking no
questions-- simply listening. She was looking out the window again when
he started, but then he started to explain what 'ghouldom' was. At
that point, she turned her head slowly to look at him. He confessed
that he was turning eighty years old this spring, and her expression
changed to one of muted shock. It's not that she disbelieved him-- in
fact, she had no reason to do anything but believe what he said was
true. After all, if vampires were real, it only made sense that
drinking their blood as they did that of humans would have some sort of
shared supernatural impact.
He expressed that he was one of these
things, and that you became one because you drank vampire blood, and
that you relied on it. He explained that this was how they got you, how
they made you yours. Her eyebrows hopped up on her forehead again, and
she committed that one not just to memory, but to a mental sticky note
that would hang someplace she would see it often. This was something
she had to stay aware of, for it could be exactly how Flood would end up
trying to trick her, to have and keep her. She was curious, she had to
know more, but that didn't mean that she wished for undeath.
Then,
in case you do end up too deep, he explained how to get back out. He
says he's done both, and with a grim expression he advised that neither
were fun.
At the end of his explanation there was quiet, and it
lasted some time. Then in what would prove a bold maneuver for someone
who just learned the man who looked like he was 45 years old was
actually 80 and drank the blood of blood drinkers, she reached for his
hand and, if he would allow, took and squeezed it.
"Thanks. I feel like knowing that-- all of it, is gonna save my life one day."
Kragen Kingsmith
Kragen
is thankfully stopped, waiting at one of those infernally long red that
downtowns are famous for. His hands are white knuckle on the steering
wheel as he waits, tense in the telling, but equally relieved to do so.
To be able to properly prepare Molly for the realm she was so obviously
becoming embroiled in. But then there is a moment of tender surprise.
Molly's hand came up and took his, and he let his hand fall from the
steering wheel with surprise and those grey eyes turned upward moving
from the hand, to the eyes of the woman giving it that gentle,
reassuring squeeze.
She thanks him, tells him he may have just
saved her life. It brought an eventual smile to his lips, one that
almost approached that rictus as he chuckled. "I hope it to be true dear
Molly, but I fear all I've done is taken off your blinder's and let you
see a little bit more of the whole, terrifying vista."
He purses
his lips briefly, perhaps shocked at his loose tongue with so little
gain, he WAS a mercenary after all, and he was gaining nothing from
revealing this, except potential trouble for himself. But he went on to
offer.
"My work, as you can guess is violent and dangerous." He
says tentatively. "I ask you this only because your involved now,
because you know the dangers. I need a medic, someone who I can turn too
if things go from sublime to subpar as they so often do.." He says
looking pointedly at her. "I can offer you information, more of it in
exchange for that service...if you want...I can offer you even more then
that."
He starts to drive once more then, his hand withdrawn to
guide the steering wheel as they turn onto Molly's street, her building
only a few blocks away. "What do you say Miss Molly, how does that suit
you?"
Molly Toombs
His hand had been glued to the
steering wheel, so she'd touched fingertips to the backs of his knuckles
to catch his attention, to let him know what she was trying to do. He
complied, moved his hand from the steering wheel, and for a brief span
in time their hands were wrapped up together over the center console.
He
confessed that he didn't believe he saved her, simply that he opened
her eyes. "Well, it's appreciated regardless," she told him.
Then
he had a question for her. A request, an offer, maybe even a job if
you looked at it that way. The light turned, he let go of her hand and
grasped the steering wheel again, and wanted to know in so many words if
she would be his medic for when things with his rather violent job when
awry. She contemplated this for a moment, and settled both of her
hands into her lap once more.
"This turn," she directed at first, and then went on to respond to his request.
"I
can't have police come knocking at my door, but from what I understand
you've never really been tied down to any of your pieces of work. If
you can keep me from getting a warrant out for my arrest? I can help
you if and when you need it. I don't plan on quitting my job at the
hospital and coming to work for you or anything like that? But if you
need someone to patch you up and make sure you won't bleed out, or
something like that? I'll lend my know-how. As for repayment? We'll
see how much you need my help and how much that puts me at risk. Right
now I'm happy to call it even-- you've helped me tonight, told me things
you didn't need to, and have me better prepared to keep myself taken
care of now."
After the next turn, she'd gesture to a five-story
brick building on the next corner. It had old stone stairs leading up
to white wooden double doors, and a sign over the doorway that says 'Brookstone', black letters painted onto faded white wood. "Here's home."
Kragen Kingsmith
It
wasn't a yes, not in the fullest sense, but it also wasn't a no. It was
the smart answer, the answer that had addendum's and catches. Molly was
looking out for herself, and that simple thing seemed to ease Kragen's
tensions far more then hand holding or anything else that could have
happened.
He feels these things, feels the lose of tension in his
mind and his hands and he offered her that rictus grin, the one he wore
when he was in his element and he chuckled happily with a nod. "Good for
you Miss Molly, good for you. Stand for yourself, not for others. If
you'd asked me to quit my job, I'd have smelled a rat as well." He
tapped the side of his nose and waggled his brows.
"Under the
counter is better for both of us regardless, less of a trail, less of a
target. I've kept myself out of jail because of those idea's. I'd like
to say I'll do the same for you."
He pulls over then, Looking up
at the five story building and considered amusingly. "An old
brownstone." He said with a pleasant nod. "A classic, not unlike
yourself dear Molly." He said as he put the car in park and turned
towards her, a guaging look in his eye that told her he wasn't quite
done.
"I have one...more thing to offer Molly, one more bit of
ammunition for your newly acquired mental weaponry." He offers as he
unbuckles his seat belt and leaned slightly towards her. "The vampires
will use their blood as a trap, a beautiful guilded trap to keep you in.
But, you can exist without a leash, without a master." He offers. "I do
it, several of my associates do it as well. If you believe this trap
may soon come to fall over you, to hold you forever. I can offer you the
way to break their monopoly...vampiric blood...without a master." He
makes this offer now, one that might make her assume he believes that
her ghouling was inevitable, but he adds, at the end.
"Its a dirty
offer, a trap all its own, a trap I hope you can avoid. But I offer you
the trap by your own hand...rather then by another."
Molly Toombs
If
there's ever anything to be said at the end of the day about Molly, it
was one thing. Not that she was a nurse, not that she was a classic
example of womanhood. Not that she was caring or warm or soft. Not
that she was beautiful, not that she was strong, not that she was loud
or quiet or assertive or passive or anything else.
Above all else, Molly was smart.
So,
naturally, she answered not with a simple yes or no. She wouldn't
agree to anything without details, and even when she had details she
knew better than to give an outright 'yes', because there could be other
things that were left out. So she agreed with her own conditions, and
Kragen appreciated that. It relieved him to know that the woman was
smart and aware of how to look out for herself-- that was a comfort,
because the path she was walking was one littered with traps and lures
that would lead her astray and seek to harm her.
He agreed to her
conditions, but when they pulled over he had one thing to add-- an
offer. And if she understood him correctly, it was to be like him.
Ghouled, but with no master. She'd unbuckled her seatbelt when the car
stopped and leaned down to collect her umbrella, but paused when he'd
turned to her and leaned in some and made such a dark temptation of a
chance. The way she watched him wasn't with distrust, not the same way
that she watched vampires when she spoke with them. Rather, it was with
some small bit of what might be pity, given the way that her eyebrows
stitched together.
"Well, that answers my question about who
you're... bound to, I guess is how you'd say that. It seems the answer
is no one, or yourself maybe." All the same, she shook her head and
lifted a hand to tuck her hair behind one ear. "I appreciate the offer
and what you're trying to do by extending it, Kragen, really I do. But I
don't want that for myself. Not unless I have to, unless Flood or
another tries to make a move and I'm left with no other choice.
"And
I figure you'll know when I have no other choice." She smiled now,
breaking the tension in the car between them-- or trying to, anyways.
"You're going to be coming calling when Flood starts getting you in
trouble, I expect."
Kragen Kingsmith
"Soon enough I
suspect, ahh the joys of killing monsters for other monsters." He says
with a chuckle as he unlocks the door, letting Molly know without saying
it that she's free to leave whenever she wishes.
"And I hope
against hope that you avoid the trap dear Molly, I hope you traverse the
trails of darkness and bare witness to the fruits of this sordid world
without becoming one of those fruits for another to pluck. But let my
offer stand as your last resort against the chains of false love and
eternal devotion." Its almost lyrical what he says, as if it might be a
poem. But then that rictus grin comes back and he tilted his head.
"Besides, you'd make a horrible servant. To much backbone."
Molly Toombs
She
couldn't help but laugh, even if only a little, when he explained why
she would be a terrible servant. Oh, how correct he was.
The
doors unlocked, and Molly adjusted her posture within the seat and
reached for the door handle. Before getting out, she added: "I've
still got your phone number. When I get inside I'll send it a text-- I
assume it's a cellphone. That way you'll have my number on file for
when you need it.
"You know, per our agreement." She grinned and
opened the door and stepped out onto the curb. She'd lean down to look
into the car one last time, and said: "Goodnight, Kragen. Thank you
for everything."
And then she'd close the door, wave, and make her way up the stairs to her building to call it a night.
