Fledging (open)

[Forsyth (DELETED 6007)]

Too long. Maybe years, months. No longer could Forsyth keep track of how long he’s been here, nor wondering around mindlessly. There’s been a void since his sire, and first love, Aliyah has vanished. Then his mentor, his friend Dhalia, they all keep vanishing. Or maybe it’s just him.. he doesn’t know how to stay put, or to reach out to anyone. That was him, he kept to himself half the time.

The streets seemed emptied, compared to where he was raised in New York, busy with people walking to and from, cars buzzing by and horns filling the air. Here, it was just him and his thoughts that caused commotion.

He’s spent a good time in the forest, even if warned on how dangerous it could be. But since his turning due to a wolf attack, he felt the need to be there, to figure out if there was a meaning to him wandering there when a human to be found and changed to who he is. And the curses, they still made him curious, why they were stowed upon him, and how. He had so many questions that have never been answered...

Cause it was just him.

He paused in his steps and took a seat in a bench, hands in his coat pocket. He fidgeted with a trinket in his pocket, a necklace of his mother’s he always had. It kept him sane, even though no longer could he see his family due to what he was, who he is now. He was homesick, most would say, and he wouldn’t deny it. This life was complicated and different. There was no stop of hunger, or the rage to hurt. He’s gotten most under control, but he needed more mentoring.

But who, how. And why would anyone be willing to help such a lost...not soul, he felt like he didn’t have one anymore.

[Every]

// outfit

It was still something that she wasn’t used to, seeing the face of Mercy Devereux staring back at her in the reflection of mirrors and windows. The sight of the body that she’d taken over had been added to the growing list of things Every Andras that had dubbed completely ******* annoying as she went through her day to day routine. In comparison to the two females, it hadn’t been too difficult to find herself changing Mercy’s life in manners that made others suspicious. According to Fate, the twin that she’d taken over had been a lonely bonds broker with a bit of a cruel streak - it wasn’t that far off from the shadow’s preference to keep to herself. For those that needed her, she was only a telepathic message or email away. After the last time she’d lost her phone, Every had decided it was better not to carry the device around with her anyway; it was charged and kept in her office at Malevolent Machinery in Veil Towers.

She bounced between her office, the now closed Apparition - as for all purposes for the moment, Every Leighton was finally, legally deceased - as she gutted the building, River Rock and The Labyrinth regularly. Sometimes, it was to search for other clues or to find passages like the one that had lead her to the key. Occasionally, she found them - only to find herself in what looked to be old catacombs. It wouldn’t be difficult for the shadow to admit that even before she’d learned what lived in the lower levels, it had fascinated a part of her. When she wasn’t doing her own thing, she was checking in on those she’d pulled together to work on a few projects. And it was during a few of those projects that her relationship with Caligrace had become deeper and shifted into a better mentor/mentee position. The two had been set upon a familiar situation brought by Freyja, there had been anger and tears shed, screaming without sound as they stood in the ashes of whom they used to be.

As Every tucked her hands into the pockets of her black jeans, the shadow frowned. It had been that deeper connection that brought her out of her office that evening. She’d gotten a message from Caligrace stating that she’d gotten lost - in the town of Harper Rock, for the ditzy redhead it had become a regular occurrence. In the back of her mind, she felt a tug as she shifted her attention from her current surroundings into the mind of her wraith. Zachary had been looking around River Rock. “No such luck.” He commented, not expecting a response as she broke the connection without difficulty. The crunch of ice underneath her boots cancelled out the noise from her mind as she headed towards the irish pub. It had been the third one she’d checked so far, after Caligrace had mentioned she’d gotten lost where a lot of drunk people were.

“At least in a town where people have abandoned, there’s not too many options.”She murmured as she closed her eyes and eye spied her friend. “Looks about right.” Every thought, trying to recall the decor as it was.

[Caligrace]

Just stay where you are.

A simple command - and one that she had thought she’d been able to obey. Now, though, as her gaze swept across the thinning crowd, she realized she looked rather ridiculous standing on the side of the road, hands tucked deep into the pockets of her oversized leather jacket. More than once she had caught a lingering eye, their gaze curious - some expectant - all intoxicated. It was a sight she was used to, running the businesses that she did. It didn’t make her skin crawl any less, however. Knowing that she needed to keep up appearances, the small redhead bounced from one heel to the next, as if trying to bring heat into her chilled bones. Every few seconds, she would remove her hands from her pockets and blow into them for that little extra effect before they would disappear back into the safety of her jacket.

Any second now, she thought as she finally stopped bouncing, only to toe at the pavement with her heel. It wasn’t unlike her to get lost - for all of her intelligence and her sharp memory, she still couldn’t find her way out of a paper-bag - and that was with GPS. Freyja had always said it was because her brain was trying to retain too much information, that something was bound to slip through the cracks. There was a note of truth to it, but she was far from convinced. She had always been directionally challenged and becoming a vampire had done nothing to change that. Humming a sound of annoyance, she swept a hand through her hair, the red curls flowing easily between pale fingers as she watched the remaining crown vanish.

This was the time the city started to rest, the humans tucked safe and content in their homes. A few would linger on the streets, some of the lonlier crowd would hop from bar to bar, but for the most part - it would be silent. It was that silence she needed, that moment where there was no one but her and her thoughts, no other emotion threatening to weave into her heart. It was that silence that she didn’t get. As the last man rounded the corner, she still felt it, a sensation she was beginning to understand all too well. While she couldn’t put an exact name to the thrum of emotion, she knew that she wasn’t alone - just as she somehow knew it wasn’t Every.

“Come on, now, girl. You’re quicker than this,” she muttered, sinking deeper into the warmth of her jacket as she tried to ignore the melancholic tether that begged to be followed.