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1

The Luminary / Re: Scorpion Fire

« on: May 12, 2020, 11:50:11 PM »

He opened his eyes realizing something. This felt like the times he had been augmented, except he knew he hadn't been augmented. He pulled up his medical records and began to read through what Hofflan had noted in regards to his reactions after being augmented. He went to move to look up his records on his laptop, but moved too quickly as he felt the headache intensely pulsed as a sudden wave of nausea tugged at his stomach. He closed his eyes and sighed as he waited for it to pass. Once it did, he opened his eyes back up as he began searching through his medical records for his reactions to having been augmented. The one main thing that stood out is that his symptoms were attributed to an extreme acute immune reaction, and the symptoms listed matched what he was currently feeling, with one exception.

Seizures were apart of those symptoms listed when he was augmented, and not passing out. He thought about when he passed out, remembering his vision went wonky and when he woke up, he couldn't remember where he was or anything that had happened for a few moments there. The only other time he remembered passing out ever in his life was recently when his health was declining. Back then when he woke up he didn't know where he was and he was a bit confused, but he did remember he was teaching, that his vision had started to fade, then suddenly waking up in the hospital not sure where he was at first. The two situations felt different enough that he looked up the symptoms of having a seizure to confirm.

The look on his face soured, realizing he was too sick to stay unless he knew that Remi was to come back tonight he had to make some kind of a choice. While he didn't ask Sam about Remi, he would have expected to hear something if Remi was ok. After all he too was worried about that outcome. That didn't even mention the question he had asked Sam, figuring he would have had a response by now if things hadn't gone bad. He double tapped the screen on his phone only to hear No New Messages come from the speaker of his phone. Concern for not only himself but Remi had crossed him for sure. He decided he wasn't going to bother Sam for the rest of the night and that it would probably be best that he go home and rest. He decided against a hospital, figuring that this scenario would be too far fetched for mortals to believe, and against the health center on one of the upper floors due to the fact that this was a more complex issue.

However two memories came to mind and he was instantly able to tie them together. The first one was when he was 18, he had just fully recovered from his first augmentation. They had worn him out for a few days doing tests, to see what took and what didn't. He tested having some ability to see, but not a full ability to see and had tested physically stronger than before being augmented but not by enough to form conclusive data on whether or not it worked. Hofflan had sat him down and explained that he'd be getting weekly medical checks, as they weren't sure if the augmentation fully took and wanted to make sure he remained healthy. If not then they were working on a drug to cause the immune system to attack the augmented cells to destroy them, and they could try again after that. He was told that the drug had yet to be tested on others but it was getting to that point and if needed he could be enrolled in that trial as well.

The second memory was of about 6 months later, he had recently turned 19 but they still hadn't discovered if he had powers yet or not. Hofflan had been doing medical checks on him at this point close to once a day rather than once a week. He asked about the sudden increase in checks, and Hofflan did explain a little. That he was doing an experiment to help those who were augmented but had gotten cancer instead of powers and that it wasn't going well, that the medicine being tested was overly aggressive and causing damage to things it shouldn't be. When Dreki had asked about himself, as they didn't know if his was a success or a failure at that time, Hofflan didn't say anything right away, almost as if he had to pause and think about that answer. After what felt like forever to Dreki, Hofflan did say "No one in the trial was augmented with Angel DNA" and left it at that. Dreki didn't push further after that, Hofflan had seemed to be in a bad mood, but not actually directed at him.

He had been unable to put the two memories together before because of how his memories had been tampered with before, but now it made sense. He didn't have any proof that this is what was used on him, but he had a good inkling that it was. He wondered how quickly it would damage things and for how long. He felt sick for sure, but if his body was able to keep up with it then he felt like he'd be fine, even without help from others.

He stood up in attempts to pack up and leave, but the headache pain suddenly shot upwards and he instantly sat back down and put his head in his hands, wincing not expecting the sudden wave of intensity. A concern about him actually making it inside his own apartment cropped up within him. Any rideshare driver could easily get him home, sure, but what if he had a seizure in the car? The driver would probably either call for help or even decide to drive to a hospital instead. He didn't want to risk that. He decided that it would probably just be best to spend the weekend here. Less traveling, less of a chance something bad happening during that time.

He much more carefully stood up, took things more slowly and listened to his body by taking small moments of breaks when he needed to. He made his way upstairs to the lobby, feeling winded just by going up one flight of stairs. He took a moment to breathe before going to the counter, but once he felt he could breathe again he made his way over and asked for a room for the weekend. He paid and was given room 1425 which was a single bedroom style room. Once he got the key to the room he started to make his way up the stairs to the room. After he made it up two stories worth of stairs, he just felt too winded to continue via the stairs. He knew he was exhausted, but he didn't realize that this whole situation tonight took that much out of him. After he took some time to catch his breath, he decided the elevator would be better than trying to suffer the stairs.

His ride up the elevator was more uneventful than expected, while he did feel the twinges of anxiety he was too focused on how he felt physically for it to really get to him like before. Once he made it to floor 14, he felt the number signs to make sure he found his room. Once in he made his way to the couch, placed down his bag, and collapsed down into the couch. He fell asleep fairly quickly, his body craved the rest he was now allowing it to have. Before he fully dozed off, he hoped he would feel better when he woke up and not worse.

2

General Announcements / Re: Welcome BACK Worst Evangelist

« on: May 12, 2020, 08:19:33 PM »

Hello hello and welcome back!

3

The Luminary / Re: Scorpion Fire

« on: April 06, 2020, 10:26:57 PM »

He made it into his office and sat down at the desk, setting the bag down next to the desk then leaning forward putting his head into his hands. It's been such a long time since he had last had a headache he had forgotten how annoying they were. He had the idea of checking what he had of Hofflan's notes and his own medical records on his laptop first. He didn't have all the notes, but he did have ones that he felt might help. Some that he wanted to read more thoroughly rather than just skim over, and he hoped he could find a clue in what he did have on his laptop.

He reached into his bag looking for anything that might be able to help his the headache. When he didn't find anything in his bag, he looked around in his desk. He usually kept supplies for students around as he does for his morning job as well. He did find a bottle labeled as acetaminophen with a placed braille label, and took two out as thats usually how much any of his students had asked for in the past. He pulled the tea out of the plastic bag and took the pills with the tea hoping they would kick in soon.

For now, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and put it on the desk so he could feel it vibrate if Sam ever got back to him. He put in his headphones to navigate his computer and to listen to these documents he had on his laptop. It wasn't terribly long until he noticed the headache was getting worse and not better. He slowly turned down the volume over time, more and more, until he realized that he had just went down to 0. He turned it back up to 1, he hit pause, removed his headphones and put his head down into his hands. He knew this wasn't good by any means and that there was something on that knife for sure. He took a deep breath, he needed to push through the pain. This wasn't as painful as when he was first augmented, but it for sure was painful enough to make concentrating on anything difficult. He put the headphones back in and continued to listen around, clearly looking for any hint of a poison or something. He was taking the search slowly and after failing to find anything under poison or toxin he took a small break.

He began to feel like someone set him on fire. He felt pain in his muscles and joints as his internal temperature was rising. He folded his arms on his desk and rested his head down. He had almost felt like he had been augmented again but he knows that isn't the case. That was always a much more involved process than a single jab, but it was causing similar side affects. He was trying to think on what else could cause these side affects. He sat back up and searched his symptoms on the internet. All that came back were results for the flu, common cold, and other generic infections.

Annoyed, he closed his laptop and removed his headphones, but he noticed that his sight was acting funny. It wasn't like he had been drinking or anything how it was like before he would normally lose his vision, but the outlines of the objects he did see almost seemed as if they were pulsing along with the pain of his headache. Then suddenly his vision went dark as he collapsed out of his chair and on to the floor. He was out for maybe a minute or two tops, but when he woke up he felt super disoriented. He sat up and looked around, his vision wasn't quite up to par yet but it was coming around. He didn't quite remember where he was or what even happened. He scooted backwards against the wall, as he gathered his bearings. He remembered he was at the school, that he had been attacked, and now dealing with whatever might have been on the blade to have made him ill.

When he got his vision mostly back, he moved back to his chair at his desk and pulled the ponytail out of his hair as he put it in a bun instead trying to keep his hair off of the back of his neck. He wanted to relax a bit before continuing his research so he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He did feel slightly better, but exhaustion nagged at him and thus he wanted to relax a bit before looking back on his laptop or leaving to look up things in the library. He was awake and if anyone opened the door he would open his eyes and engage with them.

4

The Luminary / Scorpion Fire

« on: April 03, 2020, 02:46:32 PM »

The night after he had met with Sam and Remi he had to have his class in the Luminary anyway, so if Sam did want to meet up later in preparation for whatever Remi would find tonight, he was in close quarters and could be there quickly if needed. Tonight he did wear a long sleeve undershirt and a vest, mostly because he felt it a bit chilly out but didn't want to bother with a jacket, so he put on more and warmer layers. His class was mostly uneventful, he taught, answered questions, held a discussion with the class, assigned homework as appropriate, it was a fairly typical night except his worry that loomed in the back of his thoughts.

After he dismissed the class, he went to his office in this building to grade the classwork for the day, then from there he had plans to head to the library to read around like he always did. Even with his worries, he was determined to treat this day like any other and while he did plan to spend a longer time in the Library tonight than he normally did, just in case he was needed, he was prepared for that lack of sleep before his morning job. After all he had tomorrow night off from his night job so he could just catch up on sleep then if needed.

He decided to leave the building for a little bit, get something to eat since he didn't eat anything after his morning job, which was a little unusual but he was busy with the school band after school practice for that job and it didn't end until 5:30pm as they were preparing for one of the weekend football games. He walked over a couple of blocks from The Luminary building to a local convenience store. When he went in and talked with one of the clerks, explaining that he needed help picking out some food from the frozen section, explaining exactly what he wanted. While waiting at the counter for the clerk to come back, he felt like something was off, as if someone was looking at him and turned his head to look behind him. He didn't see anything out of place or weird and the clerk had come back with his frozen french bread pizza and a bottle of tea. He shrugged off the feeling as he paid for his stuff and walked out.

He was on his way back to The Luminary, knowing he could eat while grading classwork from today's class before heading to the Library to spend most of the night in case, wondering what he should read into tonight, part of him wanted to read more into Dark Angels but he wasn't sure if that was a good idea given what happened the night before. Mostly he wanted to find out info to help Remi out, but didn't want to be accused of possibly being interested in the strange Angel's offer. He was to an extent, but he was concerned about what the offer entailed, and if it did entail going down a dark path.

He was snapped out of his thoughts after hearing a pair of hurried footsteps behind him. He moved off to the side, walking as close to the buildings as he could, to allow this person to hurry by him but curiously the person slowed down and started to walk next to Dreki

"Professor Arach?" had asked a younger male voice, "Wasn't expecting to see you out here" Dreki had known the student as Mark Daniels, a 23 year old fire demon whom had a mom, dad, and older brother that Mark had looked up to greatly, and hated how humans thought of demons just based off of his interactions in class discussions. He wasn't in class today, and while he was curious about it, also knew it was none of his business in the end.

"Yeah?" Dreki responded, "I still have some work I need to get done before I head home, and I wanted something to eat." He didn't think it was that unusual that he would be around this area in general. He visits the library more often than the days he works in that building, and he knew Mark would have known that class was held at this location. "I personally find it more unexpected to run into you out here." Mark looked away from Dreki, knowing exactly that his absence was being referenced. He was unable to enter the building today, and was unsure why.

"Yeah, overslept," Mark said sheepishly, "hey I've actually been meaning to talk to you about something."

"Oh?" Dreki asked raising an eyebrow. Mark didn't have bad grades, he participated in class, he couldn't think as to why Mark wanted to talk to him. "What about?"

"Look, I know you generally don't talk to us about your past or family, but you have us talk about ourselves all the time," Mark had started, the nervousness was even palatable in his voice. Dreki's face went from one of concern to one of a much more serious tone. He didn't like where Mark was going with this.

"But I think I found out something. You were in the news when you were a teenager, weren't you? Ran away from your foster home because of abuse?" Mark asked, Dreki shifted in his chair as if he was uncomfortable, but didn't respond. "Well your adoption papers were easy to find. Seems as if someone already dug those up, but your adoptive father, Jonathan Hofflan, He worked in a," the next words seemed hard for Mark to say for some reason, almost like it had caused him pain, "Medical Facility, outside of town didn't he?" Dreki had stopped walking forward, looking none too pleased about this situation, and was more focused on the fact that Mark even found any of this out, rather than the hint of pain that was given when talking about the facility itself.

"Look, I have my reasons for not talking about this stuff and would appreciate it if you kept all of that information to yourself," Dreki started when Mark had made a noise much like a congested choke, causing Dreki to look at Mark, to find him with his hands covering half of his face. "Hey, Mark are you ok?" Dreki asked, with his tone of voice changing from serious to concern.

"Uhh yeah, just a nosebleed." Mark responded turning away facing the alleyway that they were currently walking by. Dreki's face had a small look of panic as he put his hands in his pocket trying to see if he had a spare napkin or something. He remembered his receipt, it was useless to him but better than nothing. He pulled it out of the plastic bag and he moved to be next to Mark, ended up putting his hand with the bag around his wrist on Mark's back, and his other hand holding the receipt and he tried handing the receipt to Mark.

"Lean your head forward, here, it's not the best thing, but it's all I have and better than nothing." He said offering what help he could, and being this close to Mark he could very clearly see what Mark looked like for the first time, rather than the vague appearance he could gather from where Mark sat in the classroom. The features were familiar to Dreki, but before he could think as to why Mark seemed familiar he felt a sharp burning pain in his lower abdomen as he felt himself being pushed deeper into the alleyway, away from prying eyes until he was pushed into a wall. He looked downwards towards where the pain was coming from, and saw a hand, holding onto a a handle. His eyes followed up the arm, to the shoulder, and to Mark's face. He could see the outline of of blood coming from Mark's nose so he knew that wasn't a lie. Looking down at Mark's mouth, he saw the the corners of that mouth upturned and all he couldn't figure out was why?

"You remember my brother, don't you?" Mark asked looking up at Dreki, smirking. "I know its been, what? 10 years now?" Dreki was trying to rack his brain of memories, but there was so much to go through he was having a hard time trying to think of everything that happened that year. He would have been 19, a full year after his first augmentation, and a lot happened that year. He connected the fact that Mark knew about the Facility not through researching his past, but he was likely apart of it all.

"Oh come on Dreki, you can't tell me you don't remember your first kill?" Mark asked, there was a sense of contempt but also happiness in his tone. There was a sense of shock that happened upon Dreki's face. No wonder why Mark looked familiar that up close, which lead him to realize that Mark was likely altered just like he was, and not a flat out full fire demon.

"Oh so you do remember him. Good, because I know he hasn't forgotten you," Mark said while giving the knife a quick small turn, Dreki winced and grabbed Mark's hand and wrist that were attached to the knife.

"L-look it was an accident," Dreki tried to explain, his voice shaking from the pain of the recent twist of the knife but Mark was quick to shut him down.

"Shut up, I'm not looking for an excuse," Mark's tone was incredibly harsh, but not loud. It was clear he wasn't trying to bring attention to all of this. "I was instructed by your dad to watch you, and it wasn't that hard to. He paid for my tuition up front, and promised that I would be paid handsomely for this, whether it be through money and backing from the Facility, or through revenge. This knife was also a gift from him in case it was revenge I got, its special you know. I was told to be careful with it, that it can make someone really sick. I was told to use it if your dad didn't contact me for 3 weeks in a row. I know that I won't be hard to find after all of this, but by the time they get to me, I'll already be in hell, waiting to greet you. Wish Seth could be there too, but maybe he can watch from heaven. Goodbye Dreki. It's a shame that the other students you have speak highly of you. I'm sure they will miss you."

With that Mark pulled his hand away from Dreki, leaving the knife behind and walked out wiping the blood from his nose off on his sleeve.

"Shit," Dreki muttered to himself realizing that he was in deep trouble if he didn't act fast. He had dropped the receipt and his bag of food at some point during the whole thing but he wasn't sure when. He knew it was likely that this was the last time his past would haunt him, for either the better in regards to that would have been the last person that would have wanted revenge against him, or for worse in that he'd die. Although he wasn't aware that the person he had killed all those years ago was named Seth, nor that he had a younger brother. In this situation, he was actually thankful for his training at the facility, even if it was also at fault for him having been in this situation. He was able to keep level headed enough to think through the pain, to at least do what he needed to do to survive.

He slid down the wall he was currently leaning up against. He needed to remove the knife, he knew he could heal if he just got it out. Then from there, he could figure out a solution as to what Mark had meant while not slowly bleeding to death. He put his hand on the handle of blade and pulled, only for the blade to barely even make an appearance outside of him. He could feel it pulling on his insides as he pulled and he nearly screamed. This wasn't like when he was stabbed protecting Ash, that knife had slid right out when he had pulled on it. He looked down at the handle, and used his hands to feel what he could of the tiny bit of blade he did manage to get out. Instead of there being one sharp edge like a knife used for food, or two sharp edges like most blades used for injury, this one had 3 sharp edges, and the triangle formed blades were curved almost as if this blade was specifically made to be difficult to remove.

He knew what he had to do, he unbuttoned his vest, and his shirt. He knew the less fabric in the way, the easier this was going to be. For his undershirt, he got his fingers under the hole made by the blade and ripped the shirt downwards completely, and a little upwards to give himself a little room. He put both hands on the handle of the blade, he took a deep painful breath inwards and with his exhale he pulled and twisted with the curve of the blade and it budged a lot easier. Enough that he could remove the blade without pulling out his insides, but it hurt enough that he has let out a pained gasp that was barely audible as he bit through his lip when his teeth clenched together.

He set the blade in the plastic bag he was carrying, it wasn't even that large of a blade, maybe an inch in length, in fact the handle looked much longer and it looked sort of ridiculous. That sharp burning pain he felt when stabbed, stayed even after he removed the blade. His lip healed like it was nothing. This wound however, while healing, took longer than usual likely due to the 3 pronged blade. That burning feeling remained, and he wondered what Mark meant by it could make people ill. Was it a poison, illness, or something else? He knew his ability to heal was useful, but also knew that before he was healed by Remi, his immune system was running amok so it wasn't impossible that something had coated that knife that could be harmful to him, but he wasn't sure what.

He knew that he couldn't just go into a hospital and say he may have been poisoned, or had something put into him via a stabbing wound that was no longer there. They would look at him as if he was crazy, and wouldn't be able to help him. He was thinking over his interactions with Hofflan, trying to see if there was anything in his memory, on top of also thinking about what he had learned in the hard drives that had been collected. He figured that the Library might have some answers as well. While he sat there, taking his physical break, thinking of his next moves, past memories, and gained information, an idea hit him. He pulled out his phone. He knew Remi was busy tonight, and thus went to his next best source.

'Hey Sam, sorry if this is a bother, but I have a question for you. I'm assuming you've read a lot of books in your life, considering how excited you were when you got this job, and how we first met in a library. Did you read any on poisons or illnesses or anything negative that can affect supernatural beings after it having entered a bloodstream? I'm ok, but please respond asap.'

He sent the text. Technically he didn't lie. Right now he is ok, at least beyond the burning feeling in his abdomen. He had buttoned up his shirt and vest again, lucky that really only his undershirt had gotten blood on it. He stood up and began to walk back to the building itself not thinking of how odd exactly that things may have looked. The knife covered in his brassy-coppery colored blood in a plastic bag. The receipt slowly moving around in the light breeze on the ground, and drops of Mark's blood had trailed from the alleyway to the way opposite of The Luminary. Dreki's hands had some of his own blood on them from when he removed the knife, but it quickly dried and he hadn't noticed.

He made his way inside of The Luminary and started to walk down towards his office, where his laptop and bag were currently. He wanted to pack up and head directly for the library, to maybe do some research on his own of the things he had asked Sam. While he hoped Sam would get back to him quickly, he couldn't rely on that, and hoped that there would be some material on such a subject. While pretty much all of them weren't as fragile as humans, he wondered if they even had anything comparable to such a thing.

5

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: March 08, 2020, 06:09:00 AM »

When they got off the elevator, Dreki's grip on Sam's hand relaxed back to his normal grip strength as he walked with Sam through the lobby and out the doors.

"Of course, and thank you for helping too. I'll see you around." He said as he got in the car, he felt closer to Sam after all that happened tonight and while his worries for Remi were temporarily eased, in the back of his mind he knew tomorrow night would likely be a different beast altogether. He hoped for the best outcome that Remi would be fine.

6

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: March 07, 2020, 01:00:18 PM »

"No, medical related facilities seem to also make me highly uncomfortable. I went to find a new doctor that was in the know after I became free because I knew at that time that I would need it. My first visit didn't go over so well, not because of them, but because I had such a hard time with being there." He explained, not really commenting on Remi's issue with the elevator, but did make a mental note of it. If he did get used to elevators again at some point, he'd have to keep in mind that with Remi, he'd just take the stairs.

"Other than that and people going through my memories without at least warning me or asking first, I haven't noticed anything else yet." He wasn't trying to bring that up to jab at Sam or anything, but it was something he learned he didn't quite enjoy that night, "I don't think I'd have an issue with someone speaking with me mentally if they needed to, but I actually haven't tried that yet and it was something that Hofflan did with me a lot. At the same time, when he did that, he generally wasn't near me physically." He was trying to think about if that would actually bother him or not.

7

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: March 06, 2020, 12:51:03 AM »

"Since I became free," he mentioned a quieter voice, "while I'm glad to have my memories back in full and wouldn't change that, getting used to being reminded of, things, some of which I really don't want to be reminded of, when I do certain things has been not the easiest thing to get used to. In fact, getting used to be free in general has actually been a little difficult to deal with, but I've been getting through it little by little." He explained as he looked down at the ground feeling a little embarrassed over his own discomfort, part of him felt like he should be better than this.

He remembered the last time he was in an elevator with Sam with that 'Since when' comment, and even if he was uncomfortable with elevators back then, he would have been far too busy to have been worried about such a thing at that moment. But there was one word that struck him as odd in Sam's questioning.

"What do you mean by 'either'?" he asked looking back at Sam, with more of a curious look to his face, "You know if you don't like elevators yourself, we could have just taken the stairs. Probably requested the car around floor 3 or 4 and still would have made it to the lobby with decent time." He seemed to be feeling a little better talking to Sam, the distraction of the conversation helped a bit.

8

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: March 04, 2020, 12:21:30 PM »

"Thanks, I should be mostly free tomorrow night aside from the one class I teach, but that's early enough in the night that I can easily just be available for the rest of the night after that without issue," he explained basically giving Sam an open invitation to contact him or even to ask for company again if needed. After all he did feel it was his fault that Remi could possibly be in some form of danger, it was really the only way he felt he could make that up to Sam.

When Sam had mentioned the car wasn't that far away and started to walk with him to the lobby, he realized it wasn't feasible to ask about using the stairs at that point and that he'd have to suffer the elevator again given how they were on the 15th floor. He didn't really mind that Sam was walking with him holding his hand, in fact he felt grateful for it once they were on the elevator. If Sam stood close to the wall, then Dreki would kind of position himself behind Sam to be able to grip the arm railing with his free hand. If he stood closer to the wall then all the easier it was for him to grip the arm railing with. In his discomfort he tried not to grip Sam's hand too tightly and tried to focus his other hand on doing so but the raise in heartrate and the tighter grip on the hand was probably noticeable regardless.

We're in The Luminary, I teach here, I go here at least weekly, even more for the library, this isn't the facility. Hofflan isn't waiting for me at the bottom, it will just be the Lobby. A room I walk through all the time. Elevators are useful and quicker, there is no reason to be like this, this isn't a bad place to be. This is my workplace, a friend's home, I'm safe, this isn't the facility. Hofflan is dead, I'm safe. I'm safe here.

He was trying to reassure himself as they went down, but as a result of being focused on his thoughts, he was otherwise quiet and in general not paying attention to whatever stops the elevator seemed to make either. He would start moving again if he felt the tug of Sam's hand, and would snap out of his thoughts if Sam, or anyone else, directly spoke to him.

9

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: March 03, 2020, 10:22:48 AM »

When Sam had kissed his forehead then just got up, he was left blushing. He certainly hadn't expected that at all and it did bring him back to some of the more colorful memories he did have with Sam, and a remembrance of a couple of songs he had been asked to sing while they did something that they never did get around to doing because of interference from the facility. He sighed while he realized he probably wouldn't exactly be appropriate to choose either of those songs, he figured he could use them as a jumping off point on what Sam would probably enjoy listening to. So when Sam came back with a laptop he was able to directed him what to look up, most of the time, and then from there look into related videos to choose the next.

Of course at some point the "4 Chords" video came about and Dreki explained how it was interesting because it showed that a lot of popular songs tend to rely on the same cord progression with being completely different genres and sounding different. From there it devolved into things that looked interesting to Sam, and while some things did get a small chuckle out of him, other things Sam did have to explain what was going on and sometimes the context. Some things would get a small chuckle while other things got more of a 'huh.' with some internal thinking about it on Dreki's part.

He had been more than enjoying himself, but he could also feel the tiredness tug at him. Part of him wondered if the couch they were on would become his bed for the day but not long after that thought Sam's phone rang and a sense of excitement and anxiety rang through him when told it was Remi. He paid close attention to Sam during the phonecall wanting to know that Remi was fine, and what had happened. Soon enough he had his answers and felt a sense of relief wash through him that tonight Remi was fine. He did remember hearing Sam say that the angel in question would be there every night basically so there was still this sense of worry deep within him, but the fact that tonight, Remi was fine, did make him feel better for the moment.

"A car would be nice, provided that you're doing ok enough that you don't need my company to feel ok anymore. If you do then I have no problem staying." He mentioned again. While Sam's couch was comfortable and probably very easy to fall asleep on, he'd of course much prefer his own bed. The anxiety of what happened earlier caught up with him finally and he did just want to get some rest, part of him was worried that if Remi didn't call when he did that he'd just end up falling asleep on the couch while Sam looked at funny videos. "Also thank you, might seem silly but I do think if I did go straight home I would have had a much worse night than I ended up having. If you need me, don't be afraid to reach out, ok? It wasn't torture to be here at all." He said with a small chuckle and a reassuring squeeze of Sam's hand. He might be more willing to reach out to Sam himself if he needed it after tonight.

10

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: March 01, 2020, 06:18:26 AM »

He was shocked to hear Sam even mention any of that. He would have thought that Sam had better and closer friends but he also understood it. He felt the same way really, after all he had yet to really allow Ash into his more personal feelings, and Drew, well the whole thing about the facility disillusioned him from Drew. When hugged, he easily leaned into it and wrapped his free arm around Sam's mid to lower back and was smiling when they pulled away. It was really only awkward for the physical position they were in rather than socially. He chuckled when Sam hinted he wanted a song.

"Honestly I feel the same, it's kind of hard to explain, but I understood where you were coming from in the past. It is something I couldn't fault anyone for, even though it did hurt to face, but it was that pain that actually helped. It motivated me to look for an escape quicker, to not try and starve myself to death, to actually fight back and make it out because I also couldn't see any relationship I would have entered while still under their control having ended well anyway and you opened my eyes to that. I didn't really feel like either of us had a real chance to know each other because of that mess and I felt it was only fair to really back off until I could escape that hell and to see what happened after that. To be truthful I didn't expect you to respond back to me at the carnival, I kind of wanted to use your lack of response as an excuse for being sad so I wouldn't have to explain what happened to my sister to Ash. But I'm happy you responded, and in all actuality made my night better, even if the next night I learn we are to just be friends, you've done enough for me that I'd rather just have you in my life than not." He squeezed Sam's hand while he explained all of that.

"Anyway, enough of me rambling," he chuckled, feeling sentimental but happy. No longer stressed about what happened that night, and while still worried for Remi, it wasn't at the forefront of his emotions, "You have a song request for me to sing? If I didn't come here in a panic and knew you wanted a song at some point I would have brought one of my more portable instruments like my guitar or violin. Luckily my voice stands well enough without backing music. Maybe the next time we hang out I can bring something with me, but for now, I'll just use my voice."

11

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: February 29, 2020, 08:45:40 PM »

He found himself looking back at Sam as he was spoken to, smiling again as Sam chuckled, calmed from his anger of remembering Jake, listening to Sam's thoughts about how Ben and Kerr would take Remi's situation. He felt a slight twinge of embarrassment, remembering how he reacted to Sam and Remi showing affection in front of him for the first time and remembering just who he ran into and what they did.

"That's a good question, I've had mostly only professional interactions with Ben and only seen Kerr in passing so I can't really tell you." He said with a playful shrug and smile. Listening to Sam speak again and when Sam moved to face him better, he did something similar as well, still allowing Sam to hold his hand still, and fidget with it. The coolness on both sides of his hand felt nice. He shook his head at the end of Sam's questioning.

"I told you, I'd stay as long as you need me to," he said leaning his head against the couch, he felt relaxed and comfortable, "I'm not afraid to go home, if you didn't need me, I honestly probably would have run off back home as soon as I possibly could have. I'm glad I hadn't though, you've even made me feel a little better, and I can only hope I'm doing the same for you. I am afraid to go back to the cliffsides or beach. I've never been great with large bodies of water anyway, but the sound of it can be calming. I can't go back to that anymore, and it's mildly frustrating. But if I am overstaying my welcome, please let me know. I still feel guilty for this," he looked at his lap, "I'm actually kind of amazed you wanted me to stay rather than seeking someone else out to keep you company in this, I'm happy for it, but also amazed about it." He said allowing himself to be a little vulnerable in front of Sam. It was a rough night, but he found himself thankful for Sam in this moment. It gave him some comfort that he hadn't expected to find by being not alone. He didn't like showing his weaknesses, his vulnerability to others, but tonight thus far has showed him that sometimes, it wasn't so bad to.

12

Lycoris Moon / Lycoris Moon Description

« on: February 28, 2020, 11:59:21 PM »

Outside in Front

It’s in a two story smaller home near the Brazilian District in an area with generally low property value.The home itself seems well taken care of from both the outside and the inside and seems to be one of the nicer properties in that area, although people with memories from before Morgan’s move in to the neighborhood would claim that it it didn’t used to be that way, but someone seemed to put in a lot of effort into restoring what was there, but they claim that it seems like a one person to very small group job as they don’t remember seeing any construction equipment, but over the course of a few years or so, the home seemed to become nicer and nicer into what it is today. If asked about the home and it’s condition, Kae will say that it was mostly the work of her and Morgan, and it's still a Work in Progress.

Above the door was a hand painted sign attached to the home that said “Lycoris Moon Fortune and Wares.” with a grey crescent moon painted behind the black lettering, and the Y in Lycoris, painted out to be a Lycoris flower. In a bay window on the left side of the home, if the shop is open, two LED signs can be seen lit up. One that says "Psychic" and the other that says "Open". If closed, neither sign is lit and the door will be locked.

Receptionist/Waiting Area

Upon walking in it’s clear it is a smaller home, you can see into the kitchen straight ahead and a door on the opposite of the kitchen wall. There is a wall from the right that goes in about 3/4ths of the width of the entire home that makes up the other wall to the kitchen itself. To the right was a staircase going upstairs, with that entrance up against the wall with the front door. On that same side on the wall that intersects with the kitchen wall is a doorway, labeled “Staff Only” and blocking both that staircase and doorway was a long Desk that went from wall to wall. It has a locking opening panel across from the staff only door to allow people to get from in front or behind the desk. The desk itself either seems custom made, or home made. The floors were either hardwood or a decent laminate of a warm wood color. The walls were painted an off-white cream color, and felt very warm and inviting.

On the desk itself, sits a 15.6” Chromebook, an office style phone, a printer, two business card holders, one with Morgan’s fortune teller business, and one for Kae’s soaps. Then what seems to be the most expensive thing on the desk is a Square Register set up with a receipt printer. No scanner as items are manually chosen. The cash drawer itself seemed to be locked away in a compartment built into the desk itself underneath the Register area. The Drawer itself never seems to hold more than $50 at a time, and usually holds less than that. If extra change is needed, Kae will go into the Staff Only door behind the desk to get what change is needed. The Staff Only door leads to another set of stairs that go down.

On the wall with the front door there was a bay window on the side of the waiting area. Two LED faux Neon signs hung in it. One that said “Psychic” and the other that said “Open” and they were only illuminated during the times they were open. On the window shelf itself sat some succulents and some magazines for others to peruse. A well loved sectional couch that about 5 people could comfortably sit on sat in the corner between the wall to the front of the house and the wall to the left, with the longer side of the couch running under the bay window. A well loved rectangular coffee table was in front of the couch, also with magazines on top of it, and a few coasters to place drinks on.

The rest of the left wall leading to the kitchen had shelving installed with various vials of perfume (including tester vials), small glass containers of reed diffusing oil, Pictures of jewelry with a price sticker on the picture for the piece, and various ceramic dishes of all sorts of colors, some with sets. A sign sat between the shelving and the couch, explaining prices.

Vial of perfume - $5
Reed Diffusing set - $15, Only Reeds - $5, Only Oil - $7, Oil and Reeds only - $10
Jewelry has Price on Image
Dinner Plates - $10, Salad Plates - $7, Bowls - $7, Mugs - $5
Sets of 1 each - $25, Sets of 4 each - $80
Will remake/make more of a Ceramic Design that has been sold here in the past or on sale now, just ask front desk.
We do have a Layaway option. A down payment on an item will hold the item for you until you fully pay it off. Once it is fully paid off, you'll be given the item. If you don't make a payment in 6 months, it is considered abandoned and will go back on sale. No refunds given for Layaway Items if abandoned.

Kitchen

A sign next to the kitchen entrance on the side without the shelves says “Please enter, grab a drink and some snacks. Make yourself at home!”

In the kitchen itself, it is small, but carries over the warm color scheme from the receptionist and waiting area. It was large enough for maybe one person to cook while another passed by if they needed to, and with the counters and cabinets was more hallway-like than room-like. The door that was across from the kitchen entrance into the reading room, and looking down at the end of the hallway like kitchen was another door, one labeled as “Bathroom”.

On the part of the counter closest to the reading room was a Keurig Mini and a reusable water bottle sat to the left of it the most close to the door. On the right hand side of it sat several labeled metal tins. Several were for different blends of tea, one for hot choco, one specifically for chai powder, one for matcha powder, and one for ground coffee. Behind the metal tins, tapped to the wall was a note saying “If you want your tea leaves read, do not use the reusable pods. Just put a scoop of tea in your cup and use the Keurig for hot water only.”

There was a plastic container next to the metal tins labeled sugar with a note attached to the sugar container saying “If you need Milk, it is in the door of the fridge.” In front of the plastic sugar container was about 5 reusable Keurig pods with a box of little pod filters next to them. Then directly next to them was a couple of mug holders filled with various owl shaped ceramic mugs. The rest of the counter space was filled with various baked goods such as cookies, muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls, and other nice treats of both sweet and savory. Only the Stovetop was clear of any snacks, and had a microwave that sat on top of it during business hours.

If looking in the cabinets attached to the walls above everything, there were mostly various ingredients to make food with. In the cabinets that held the countertops, were mostly bakeware and appliances such as a toaster and blender. In the fridge was more food making ingredients, and in the door of the fridge for use was milk, half and half, heavy cream, and almond milk. In the back of the bottom shelf in the fridge itself, was a sealed cardboard box, but thats the only thing that stood out to those not in the know. For Vampires, if they pulled it forward, they would find the cardboard box actually had no back, and held a Styrofoam box, that usually had a couple of blood bags in it.

If you do not leave your cup in the sink, and are not getting tea leaves read, Kae will eventually collect the mug from you when you’re done, and wash it. She does periodically get up and clean out the sink after a few customers have come though. She will instantly clean up after a Vampire however.

Public Bathroom

In the bathroom on the end of the kitchen, was a half bath with only a toilet and a counter opposite of it with a sink in it. A large mirror did sit above the sink, with a hand towel hanging from a bar by the light switch and the toilet paper on . The cabinet under this sink is locked with a lock and key, but mostly just holds toilet paper, hand towels, and sealed bars of soap that Kae made. The soap in use sat next to the faucet on a wooden soap holder that allowed the water to drain. On the bottom corner of the mirror was a note covered in tape to protect it from any water that said “If you like the soap, please ask Kae about them or take a business card at the front desk.”

Reading Room

Inside the reading room it is fairly dark. The light is controlled by a dimmer switch, the ceiling is painted black, and the walls are covered in black velvet curtains. Under those curtains was soundproofing foam attached to every square inch of the walls. In the middle sat a square table like desk, with two chairs. One that faced the door you entered, where Morgan sits, and one that faces the opposite wall, where you sit. He has some curtains on a slider, where he can slide them out of the way to open the door for you and then slide them back over. There was another set of sliders that sits on the wall behind Morgan as well.

The desk seemed either custom or hand built, much like the one in the receptionist area. It was square in shape, and large enough for him to do whatever kind of reading he needed to. On it sat a tablecloth of sorts, that seemed hand embroidered with all sorts of symbols and circled inside of a larger circle. It was his reading cloth and it was unlike any other that someone could just buy, it was either very clearly made by him or for him. Also on top of the table off to the side was a small ceramic plate with small bits of leftover wax that hadn't been fully scraped away, but was overall dark grey in color, with a design that seems to be an owl or other bird in a tree as a shadow in black, but was sometimes hard to tell depending on what leftover wax sat on it. The Desk has a fully open middle so both parties and pull right up to the edge, and there are locked drawers on either side that Morgan can access, where all of his tools are usually held.

Upstairs

This area is not really open to the General Public but is open to special meetings and deals. At the top of the stairs there were 3 doors. When looking down the hallway, there were two smaller rooms on the left and what seemed like a large room on the right. The first door on the left is the meeting room where he brings guests. The second door on the left is a private full bathroom, and the Door on the right is Kae's room.

Meeting Room

Where Morgan takes guests if they have things to discuss that isn’t part of his fortune telling business. It has a table and a few chairs surrounding it. On one of the walls is a large rectangle section painted with chalkboard paint, with chalk that sits on the table.

Outside Backyard

It’s fenced in with a tall fence, and has a greenhouse in it. He keeps the greenhouse unlocked in case of break ins, but it’s were he grows his tea leaves, spices, herbs, and other plants that either he or Kae may find use of. There is no drugs in it, so anyone who goes in looking for weed or other such things are usually disappointed.

Private Areas

The room behind the reading room is a small room that most people would use as some form of a storage area, but it’s actually Morgan’s bedroom. It’s just large enough for a bed, nightstand, and dresser and is all he needs. He also likes it for how close he is to the shop area in case of an unexpected important meeting or any possible break ins or anything else unexpected to come up.

Kae's room is the largest private room in the home. She keeps it private even from Morgan.

The Staff Only Door leads to a finished basement, which was the most work that Morgan and Kae put into the home over time and the last thing they've been able to fully update. Going downstairs leads to a second kitchen set up and laundry area, and 3 other separate small rooms. The smallest of the rooms is used for drying tea blends and herbs, the medium room used for restoring jewelry, and the larger of the rooms to mix scent related things for Kae.

13

Lycoris Moon / Lycoris Moon NPCs

« on: February 28, 2020, 05:47:21 PM »

Lycoris Moon NPCs

Kae
Looks to be in her 20s, dark golden blonde hair that goes down a little past her shoulders, and light blue eyes. Usually wears a long flowing skirt and a matching blouse.

Comes off as cheerful, helpful, and likes to make sure the clients feel comfortable while they wait. Even on the phone, she’ll wave to someone as they enter or exit the shop.

Her hobbies are making homemade crafts, particularly useful things such as Soap, Candles, Ceramics, and sometimes even wooden furniture. She does sell perfume and reed diffuser sets in the shop as well as some of her ceramic creations, but thats all. She does have a website where she does sell all of those things, including soap. If asked why she doesn't sell her soap in the shop, she'll mention something about Morgan not wanting his clientele to feel unclean by going to the shop or asking for his services.

Her candles are not for sale and she really doesn't mention anything about it unless someone asks her where Morgan gets his candles from. She will admit to it, but says they are not for sale and she works exclusively with him to come up with the proper scents. The other scented items she sells do not have the same scent as the candles, some of them are close but not exact, and thats on purpose.

She's been known to tidy up the shop in her downtime.

14

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: February 28, 2020, 08:26:04 AM »

He listened to Sam with a light smile on his face until that name was mentioned. Jake McCloud. His face seemed to almost have an angry undertone as his grip on Sam's hand lightly tightened as he listened to Sam's concern. He understood it, and if anything sided with Sam on how he felt. He wondered if Jake would interrupt Remi teaching him things, or even bothering Remi when busy, whether it be with Sam or just life in general.

"I'm glad Remi has a place to live, but, I more than understand your concerns. I really don't like Jake McCloud," he said with a very strong sense of conviction, and figured it would be best to tell Sam why, "he knew about the facility and all he did was send a vampire, someone who I find out was probably born as part of the generation before mine, someone less than 100 years old, to 'investigate' it." He used airquotes with his one free hand for investigate. Really he felt like nothing would have actually came of it if Drew wasn't lucky enough to have met him and befriended him. Well nothing more than Drew having been caught and killed for it anyway.

"The group of ancients that I ran into and helped, was Charon and his family. I can't imagine that the District Leaders don't talk to eachother, it would be fucking stupid if they didn't. Can't imagine what such a young vampire would have been meant to do in a place where they are altering humans and training them to kill supernatural beings, beyond meet his death. I know that Jake knew that because his investigator even said as such. Plus with said investigator having been my friend at the time, I'm sure Jake knew the details of abuse that I remembered and was able to talk about." He further explained, as he did distance himself from Drew after that. And plans to distance himself greatly. His anger at that whole situation was noticble in his tone, but he hadn't raised his voice one bit.

"I really hope Ben wins the election. If he doesn't then I really hope that Jake leaves Remi alone." He finished with as he ended up looking towards his knees at some point during the conversation. He didn't want to make it about him again, but it at least made sense to bring this up to at least help Sam understand that he really didn't trust Jake and understood why Sam was concerned about Remi's freedom, and also was concerned for it himself. Plus, he trusted Sam enough to let him know of this without concern of Sam telling anyone else. There was more to it than him working for Ben and he felt it important that Sam knew.

15

The Luminary / Re: Angel In His Pocket

« on: February 27, 2020, 09:35:21 AM »

How close Sam got to him was unexpected, part of him enjoyed it as it was nice to just be physically close to someone that he trusts, but it also hurt. He wanted more but knew he couldn't have it, although he did feel lucky to at least have Sam as a friend and felt comfortable calling him as such. He allowed himself to relax on the couch alongside Sam as he looked at him while he listened to what had happened. He smiled when Sam laughed, as it seemed like more of a good thing than bad, that Remi no longer had to deal with his mentor. When Sam had squeezed his hand he had lightly squeezed back almost in acknowledgement.

"And how is he finding his freedom?" He asked in a more light-hearted tone than he had all night thus far, in regards to Remi and the mentor. He was reminded of his own struggle with freedom thus far, and how he actually missed Hofflan and the structure that his oppressive ways had brought, and had hoped that Remi at least was dealing with his own freedom in a much better way.