The river (( Charlotte C and invite ))

[Robert Pratt]

He watched her as she fed in what seemed like a desperate and starving manner, taking the spirits one by one and consuming their.... essence. He could see her light brightening with every spirit she ate, and it made him smile to think he'd managed to help her feel stronger and happier. He was stuck where he was for now, completely drained of everything in coming here, finding her and summoning the spirits to her. Besides, he didn't want to be anywhere else anyways. He wanted to be here, with her, helping her through what he knew was going to be a difficult time. Then came the questions and he found out literally how little she knew. He let out a gentle sigh, wishing he could smack Killian right now, and then answered her.

"Ok, Tytonidae are hypocritical assholes. Simple as that really, and if you remember that - then everything else makes so much more sense."

He chuckled, though it was a bitter laugh tinged with sadness for the loss of the souls of those within that tree.

"They claim it's to protect the masquerade - all that they do - but that is rubbish. It's an excuse they use and nothing more, they simply enjoy the blood, the pain, the despair that they cause. But, you've been killed in their latest 'we hate 5th and anyone attached to 5th' campaign. They've after me too - but they won't get me. And..."

He chuckled.

"They claim they aren't even looking for me. Yet I've been tracked a few times by them and their minions.. But anyways, you're Killian's kid - that paints a target on you immediately. Just as my childre have targets on them and so on, and so forth. As for your house - there's a power you can use to go wherever you like. I have it, it's part of a shadow's key skills. So, you just use that, and then anywhere and everywhere is open to you."

He watched her, trying to guage how she was taking the information - though it was difficulat without a face to read.

[CharlotteC]

'Hypocritical assholes'. Those were everywhere, it seemed even in this city of the dead. She sighed and moved a little closer to Robert as he spoke. 'It would make sense', he said and sadly it did as he continued on to tell her the why's as to her targeting and untimely 'death' that sent her to this place. Charlie glanced around with that thought and instinctively moved even closer to the male speaking to her. Telling her things that she hadn't been told by her own sire.

No, Killian had just asked if she wanted to join, to help out, to hack things here and there. Then there was that stupid thing that had her end up getting shot and being caught in a bomb blast as well. Still he hadn't told her anything other than to stay in the van, and that was one thing that she wished she had done. She sighed yet again and finally spoke "So then I had multiple shadows coming into my home, attacking me, because I'm nothing more than Killian's kid. And I don't even know if I am that anymore. I haven't seen the man since he pulled me into that incident in some building around here." She said sadly and shook her head again.

"I just don't get it, if they want to preserve the masq, fine. Everyone needs a hobby. Killing their own kind though? Seems like all they want to do is help out the mortals they are trying to hide from. And then there is the fact that they still fear things being in the dark ages if I picked up anything from when Killian turned me. Things have changed, times have changed. I just wish assholes would change along with it." She said and then wrapped her arms around herself again. This place, it left her on edge and she didn't like that one bit.

"I hate this place... I just don't know what to do anymore." She said sadly as she looked around.

[Robert Pratt]

"Maybe"

He said in response to her having multiple shadows in her home.

"Or they may have summoned each other in. Or done a ritual to open your home to everyone and their dog. There's a lot of ways to get in to a house I'm afraid."

He watched as she shuffled a little closer to where he sat and smiled at her.

"You are Charlotte, you are your own person, and you can do anything you want to. You don't have to follow Killian in all he does, especially if he isn't telling you all the details of what's what. So it's up to you to decide what you want."

He looked her over, trying to guess how his words were affecting her.

"They kill their own kind because they see some of us as a threat to the masquerade. So to protect it, they kill us so we don't break it and expose them for the monsters they are. Where I've found, that if you do it in the right way, then the humans actually accept you for what you are. Not always, but you have to judge the situation and test the waters. It can be done. But yes, they are living in the dark ages and thinking that it will be the same as it supposedly was the last time. With the whole world rising up against them all at once and killing them off. For a start, that's so unbelieveable in itself in an age where there was no world wide web, phones, emails etc etc. There's a lot people believe that just stinks of BS to me."

He chuckled, bt it was tinged with sadness as he did.

"But hey, once you're out of here - then we can meet up and have a proper chat about what you want to do. If Killian won't step up - I will. You're my family Charlotte!"

[CharlotteC]

Charlie nodded, though she didn't know if he could even make out that motion down here. She just had to hope that he did or ask if he needed the answer. "I know I don't have to follow him, but in a way, I guess I feel I owe it to him, I mean he did save me from being raped, and probably worse. He had also didn't kill me for ripping him off so I could get something to eat before leaving this place. That was of course, before he sired me and I was still human..." She said softly as she glanced around, the place seemed to always shift and change, and the way things moved and the blurs. It was disturbing to her and caused her to once again curl up on herself again, feeling the need to rub her arms, to warm herself.

As she tried to warm herself, she listened to what he had to say about the people that had sent her hear. They didn't want to be exposed for what they were, Monsters, but then she had to laugh, there were monsters, true monsters, in the human world as well, and she was sure that most of these people had to have heard about them unless they had been living under a rock. Men that blew up buildings because they had a grudge against the government, men that ate other men and women, men that raped, men that bound people then tortured and killed them. Those were true monsters, not because of what they were, but who they were, deep down in the heart of the person.

Sighing, she shook her head, they were the monsters, not her, not Robert, from what she could tell of the man, even though she couldn't see him as he really was. "Hell, they are monsters because of who they are, not what we all are. With TV and other media, books, all kinds of things not only showing that there are others that at least believe they are what we are, but they want to be what we are, for our power, for our immortality. They also accept us so much more willingly, like you said if done the right way. My thrall I barely have to control because I let him into the world I live in. I'm not a monster and he sees that. Granted I'm no princess, no angel either but I haven't taken the lives of anyone mortal unless I absolutely have no other choice, unless they force me to."

Even then she hated the idea that she had to kill, but it was her or them and she much preferred her own like to the lives of people that attacked her because they thought that she was a monster or because they thought that they could take her out. She sighed and then returned to what he had said earlier, about once she was out of here, meeting up again. "I would like to know exactly what the person I'm talking to looks like." She said with a soft laugh "And I know that I would like to talk more out side of this place..." she sighed and wrapped her arms around herself again, she really couldn't stand the way this place acted, the way it made her feel, like she was a small child, like she wasn't safe no matter what or who she was with. "I would like to have a family again..." she said softly, more to herself than to Robert, but still she stepped a little closer.

[Robert Pratt]

He could feel that familiar tug starting, and he knew he only had minutes left.

"Look. When you're out, come to the South West of the city. Train to Newborough and then almost directly south west. You will see a large cabin in the woods. That's the Sanctuary. If you come there and ask for Robert, you'll find me."

He could feel himself getting weaker in this place, his hold on the realm wavering as he began to flicker before her. Quickly, he summoned as many more spirits to her as he could, before it was too late.

"Stay safe Charlotte, I'll be here, waiting for you. So make sure to come back topside, find me. Find me Charlotte!"

And with that, he felt himself vanishing, the shadows rushing over his body before they became whole and solidified, his body returning to him again as he reformed. He sighed and wondered if he'd done enough for her. However, he felt like he had a thousand bugs crawling on and under his skin and in the recesses of his mind. As usual, he needed to go to the meditation room, to clear his mind and centre himself so that he didn't allow the darkness to take a hold of him as it had with so many of his kind.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie stood there for a moment after he disappeared, his words still echoing in her ears. She knew the station that he was talking about but she had rarely ventured passed the college. She hadn't though there was a reason too. After a moment, she sighed and looked at the last of the spirits that he had summoned for her and went about taking them into her. Once they were gone, once she had taken their essence into herself, she felt a bit better, but that didn't stay for long. This place didn't just creep her out, it down right terrified her.

Minutes, Hours, Days later... she couldn't tell. She just continued to wander through the dark world, the shadows freaking her out here and there, taking spirits when she could find them. A task that was harder than before because of how many others that had been sent in the practical genocide for no other reason than she was the childe of someone they hated with a passion. Still she would do her time and then she would make sure she never gave them a reason to send her back. Or at least try to.