A new arrival

[tielle_mortevus]

Rubbing her throbbing head, Tielle slowly opens here eyes to find herself slumped against the wall of a dark alley. The last thing she remembered was being thrown into a dark portal while doing battle with Lillianus, a demoness driven mad with the lust for vengeance against her family. Letting out a groan, she dusted off her black silk dress, catching her balance against the wall as she tried to stand.

"Next time I'll have her head on a pike... but for now I have more pressing matters to attend to... namely figuring out where I am now..."

She winced in pain, a burning sensation searing her shoulder as a ray of sunlight broke through the shadows of the dark alley. She quickly pressed her body against the wall, doing her best to stay in the shadows. Noticing a small door to her left, she slipped inside.

She struggled to keep her balance as she entered what appeared to be a dimly lit cafe. Glad to be indoors and out of the sun, she took a seat at a small table in the corner of the room to rest her weary body, as well as figure out her next course of action.

Comments

[brother_alone]

"You alright over there?"

There's a young man letting himself in through a different door than the one Tielle seems to have come from. He's carrying a bag in one arm and heading for the stairs just outside the cafe's open area.

She's not someone Joshua has met before and he's been into this place a bunch on his delivery runs. He glances at the bag in his hand and then to Tielle. Oh well. Mrs. Wykowski can wait another minute for her delivery.

"Hey. Seriously. If you're hurt, speak up."

[tielle_mortevus]

She gives Joshua a weary stare. Brushing the hair from her eyes, she lets out a sigh.
"I'll... be fine... I just need some rest, and perhaps something to quench my thirst. It's just a bit too bright out for me."
She gave him a smirk, revealing a pair of shark fangs as she pulls out the chair beside her.
"I've found myself thrust into this place, and I'd care to get my bearings. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to assist me. I'm in no condition to go anywhere for the time being, some company might be nice.

[brother_alone]

"Bright out?"

Josh takes a peek out of the door he came in from but the generally banal and overcast Nexus is no different than any other day as far as he can tell, save for when whichever weather god or spirit of the moment decides to stop in and change things up on everyone (again).

"Hate to break it to you, but this isn't even that bad, comparatively. Are you some kinda NEET or something? A shut-in?" He sets the package down and approaches the young woman.

"There's vending machines all over. I'll grab you a bottle of water if you need one."

[tielle_mortevus]

She smiles, just wide enough to reveal a pair of sharp fangs.
"Well, my tolerance for the light might be a bit more sensitive than yours."
Noticing a parasol hanging from a nearby coat rack, she decides to commandeer it for herself, it is a necessity at this point, after all. Reaching down to her hip, she pulls out a small flask, taking a sip.
"While I appreciate the offer, I don't think water will do me much good. I should have enough here to last me a few days..."
She gently rattles her flask, a slight sloshing noise echoing from within.
"... but I'll have to make a more permanent arrangement soon. To do that, I'll at least need to know my way around this place. Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me a bit more..."

[brother_alone]

"I dunno. I'm Canadian so long winters and long nights come with the territory."

He's tense. Unbearably tense. There's something off here that's bothering Josh. He's never seen this toothy woman before. Is she real? Has he started hallucinating again? Or is she merely another newcomer to the Nexus? It's so hard to tell when he can't trust his own brain half of the time.

"...Okay." That's a bit weird. Water not going to help? She doesn't look like a functional alcoholic but then the benchmark he uses for that is himself so its a bit skewed there, too.

"Biggest thing to know is this place isn't stable." He rubs at the back of his neck then, glancing to the side. "Stuff changes. It's generally mostly the same, but stuff may be across the street and then around the corner the next time you go by."

That much he's sure isn't just him. Other people have talked about it too.

[tielle_mortevus]

She takes a sip of her flask, letting out a sigh as she slumped back in her chair.
"Interesting. So this place... changes? Curious."
Licking her lips, she leans forward a bit, swirling the contents of her flask.
"I may as well find a place to settle down. I don't think I'll be leaving this place any time soon. Any idea where one would go to take up residence?"

[brother_alone]

"Most folks can find their way back pretty easily. But if you don't wanna then there's plenty of place where people can settle down. It's usually pretty safe, though you came at a weird time."

Josh rubs at the back of his neck, glancing back out toward the streets. There's still debris scattered about from the attack on the Nexus.

"The Anti-Violence field seems to be back in working order but it does seem like it can be broken sometimes."

[tielle_mortevus]

She gives a thoughtful sigh, looking out at the streets littered with rubble.
"Had I arrived sooner perhaps I'd have been able to help. Despite my appearance, I'm quite capable in combat if need be."

She takes another sip of her flask, dabbing a trickle of thick red liquid from her lips.
"This may seem a bit of an odd question, but you wouldn't happen to know where I could find blood would you? A local healer or some kind of storehouse for medicinal supplies?"

[brother_alone]

Josh is no fool when it comes to horror or the occult. It's practically his life for how much he's thrown himself into the genre of film and literature. So while Tielle's question doesn't take him by surprise the young man frowns all the same.

"Not odd, just wondering what brand of night walker you are. And whether or not you're real or I watched too much tv and started hallucinating a schoolgirl vampire. Because that would be new. Usually my crazy seeing things is more....grotesque...than you."

[tielle_mortevus]

She gives him a smirk, chuckling to herself.
"Oh I can assure you, I'm quite real. As for what brand of nightwalker, as you put it, I was a vampire lord back where I come from. While most of my kin were flagrant savages, engorging themselves with little restraint, I'm not one to make enemies, especially now in such unfamiliar territory. I'd rather find another way of getting what I need other than sinking my fangs into the neck of some poor sod."

[brother_alone]

"A lord? That's...pretty grandiose. Why not head back then, if you had so much going for you?"

Josh pulls up a chair and sits down next to the vampire as if this is a perfectly ordinary conversation to be having. And let's face it, for him it really is. At least this time he's having it with someone else and not the voices in his head.

"Couldn't you, I dunno, ask for donors? I mean, i'm sure there's a market for human blood here in the Nexus, you can buy a nuclear powered toaster at one of the kiosk stands in the market. But so long as it's given willingly should be a problem. People donate blood all the damn time."

[tielle_mortevus]

"Well, its not that I don't want to go back, it's just better off that I don't..."
She gives him a melancholy smirk, letting out a sigh.
"I suppose I could ask around for donors but I wouldn't even know where to begin. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to point me in the right direction, unless you happen to be interested in being one of those said donors..."
She gives him a smirk, leaning back in her chair.

[brother_alone]

"Yeah, my world's a lot better off without me, too."

That, at least, is an opinion he can sympathize with. It's not as though Joshua has no way to get back to his world. It's just that he hasn't sought those ways out. Being here...it's better for everyone back home. He thinks, anyway.

"Not interested, but also not squicked out by it. I've....seen worse." He runs his hand through his curly dark hair and sighs.

"I can show you where the market is, easily enough. Whenever you want to go."

[tielle_mortevus]

Slightly intrigued, she tilts her head.
"Seen worse? Perhaps you can regale me as to some of the things you've seen while we walk."
She gives the flask a light shake.
"I'd rather find a way to fill this sooner rather than later."

[brother_alone]

"Maybe some other time."

He shrugs out of his plaid button up as he talks though, leaving him in a black long sleeved shirt. The button up he drapes over the vampire's head as a sort of makeshift block from the sun. She can hold it up as she pleases really. He leads her back out into the Plaza.

"You're in the central point of this place now. Most folks come and go from here." He gestures to the myriad of doors in all shapes and sizes that can be seen all over the Plaza.