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Post by Alexander Schwarz on Dec 14, 2011 0:09:32 GMT -5
Pulling into the park, Alexander guided the old van into space and slid out of the vehicle, shutting the door with a loud crack that echoed in the early morning quiet of the park. Still working out the specifics of his current living arrangement, the circles were dark beneath his cool grey eyes and he stifled a yawn as he stalked his way toward the nearest trailhead. It was barely after dawn, so he didn't really expect to meet anybody on the trail--at least on the foreward journey--which was nice because he really wasn't in the mood for...social interaction with anyone. Except maybe a ghost. He hadn't met one of those before. It might be interesting. Might help...take his mind off things.
And he certainly had a lot of things on his mind. Rolling his shoulders, he winced at the pull on the purplish knot on his right shoulderblade. A souvenir of his warm welcome into the city. How kind of those simpletons who worshiped a god called THE SYSTEM. Really...he would have to remember to show his appreciation the next time he reported to his cage for the full moon. Already he could feel the pull of the Mother's call...but it was not so strong as to cause any concern to those around him. So long as he did not dwell overlong on the mountain of concerns that plagued him, he didn't foresee any trouble. Of course, that was still providing nobody was stupid enough to get into his way.
Growling softly, he gritted his teeth and took off at a fast run, the wind smoothing away the tension from his face as it played with his short dark brown locks and whispered garbled secrets into his ears as he rushed headlong down the trail. Or at least...he liked to think that the sound the wind made was like a voice whispering to him in a language he either had no hope of understanding, or at a volume so low even his most heightened sense of hearing could not perceive. Perhaps the wind was the voices of ghosts too weak to make themselves heard properly. Silly childish thoughts, to be sure, but if Brinker was one such voice on the wind...didn't he owe it to the man to try?
Skidding to a stop suddenly, he put his foot in the crook of a low branch, his fingers tangling in the dark laces of his running shoes as he blinked hard, his vision suddenly blurry. Alexi realized he was panting from the run and stomped his foot down on the ground hard as he folded his arms across his chest in anger. What was it about Brinker that made him so...so frustratingly emotional? "Unacceptable," he hissed through clenched teeth as he scanned the trees with flinty eyes as if the mangled corpse of the man who had been his friend in life might suddenly emerge from behind a tree to pester him, his entire body tensing as the warm wind played in the branches of the canopy far above him.
"I'LL NOT HAVE IT, BRINKER!" Alexi called out, tipping his head back to the sky as he howled out his proclamation, several sleepy birds suddenly springing into the air with startled cries. "I'LL NOT HAVE IT, D'YOU HEAR ME?!" he added, stomping his foot in anger again, not caring how strange he might look screaming in the middle of a trail. "Not even from you, my friend," Alexi added softly as he paused in his tirade, fully expecting a response. Samuel Brinker was the first, and currently only, man Alexander had actually killed. It marked a miscalculation in judgement he was determined never to repeat. Perhaps it was just the stress of being on his third day without a solid night's sleep, but right now the idea of ghosts haunting his steps and taunting him with their curses from the Beyond was making him more than a little uneasy. He would not admit Fear, not for something so silly as the hint of a dead man. But it nagged at him, nonetheless. |
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Post by ELIZA RACHEL HEILBRONNER on Dec 16, 2011 15:06:16 GMT -5
“Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.” The ghost girl mumbled the Robert Frost poem to herself, her soft, alto voice mingling with the rustling of branches. The willowy cherries swayed with the light breeze that had appeared in the last hour or so. Eliza sat, her knees pulled to her chest, in the middle of the field, watching the fireflies moving between the trees, apparently unaware of her presence. Most were unaware of her- the soft-spoken colonial girl that had been flitting right under their noses for the past two-hundred and eighteen years. That was something she hated- he invisibility. She wasn’t actually invisible; humans could see her perfectly fine. Most just treated her like she was nonexistent. They didn’t want to see her. She wasn’t real to them. “Just a trick of the light…” She whispered to herself. Suddenly, off in the distance, she heard somebody yelling, and then an odd howl erupted. She couldn’t make out what the person was saying, but the screams tempted her. She stood, and started in their direction, wanting to see what was happening. After a few minuets of silent walking, Eliza arrived at the tree line. She spotted a beat up old van, but nobody was near by. She looked up and down the trial. North was the exit; surely they hadn’t gone that way. That left south. She started down the wide, dirt path, once again mumbling Robert Frost to herself. When she’d gotten through the second verse of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” she halted. There was a young man standing there, one leg hooked in the nook of a tree. He appeared just as beat up as his van, and had a wild air about him. “Oh, my…” She mumbled softly.[/center] Word Count: 338
Note: You summoned a Ghost?
Muse: Mouth Stitches
Song: Bad Apple! Orchestra Edition |
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Post by Alexander Schwarz on Dec 16, 2011 22:23:01 GMT -5
Left alone in the forest with nothing but his panting, loud in the quiet forest, Alexander struggled to quiet himself, sighing as he ran a hand through his dark hair to smooth it. As he was going through the motions of one of his 'calming routines'--of which he had quite a few...his most often employed one being 'If something upsets you, count to ten'--he thought he heard a voice off in the distance reciting...poetry? Strange that there wasn't an accompanying sound of feet walking along the trail. Nor could he quite figure which way the voice was coming from, up or down the path, or in which direction it was heading.
Stepping away from the tree, he gave each direction a good hard stare seeing nothing but a flicker of sunlight through the trees though he thought the voice was growing louder. Jumping to attention as he heard a soft feminine voice, Alexander coughed politely to mask his vaguely startled reaction. Turning around, he smiled as he saw the young lady who had startled him; his 'trick of the light' from before.
"So do you often wander the forest reciting poetry, or am I just lucky today, I wonder?" [/color] His first ghost. How... exciting. But what did one actually do in the presence of these wandering souls? He supposed it would be impolite to offer his hand. Ghosts couldn't physically interact with you, after all, could they? That was something of an unpleasant thought to be sure. But interesting all the same. If ghosts could manipulate the world around them then it was possible they could--he broke of his own self-absorbed musings with a soft snarl, the left side of his upper lip curling upward for a moment before he smoothed out his face and bowed slightly at the waist. "I know little about how one greets a lady such as yourself,"[/color] he murmured, careful to keep his voice low though it was as warm as he could muster. Who knew the extent of THE SYSTEM and its blasted rules. For all he knew, communicating with spirits could be a punishable offense and he already felt overly chastised just for existing. "You may call me Alexander, if you wish."[/blockquote] |
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Post by ELIZA RACHEL HEILBRONNER on Dec 17, 2011 10:42:11 GMT -5
Eliza jumped slightly when the man turned and spoke to her. He can see me? She thought. He… He can see me!! Nobody had truly noticed her since 1793! She felt herself perk up immediately; she stood a little taller. When he mentioned the poetry, her face flushed pink with the memory of blood, a light smile flitting across her face.
This was perfect! Granted, the first person to notice her and not run screaming was a strange adult, but she was already dead, he couldn’t rape her or something. She gratefully returned his bow with a curtsy of her own. “Alexander.” She tested the name. t was nice, and seemingly fit the man’s appearance. “Well, Mr. Alexander, you may call me Eliza.” Her voice was still hinted with her colonial accent. Her German one was mostly gone, but it often returned when she was angry. “And I’ll have you know,” she smiled, “I don’t usually recite poetry. Now, what was that you were yelling about?” She asked innocently. Word Count: 163 :/
Note: Too Early T.T
Muse: Mouth Stitches!!! >.<
Song: None |
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Post by Alexander Schwarz on Dec 17, 2011 18:05:29 GMT -5
The corners of Alexander's mouth twitched slightly upwards as he watched the ghost girl straighten up her posture as a soft smile graced her own feminine features. Judging from her attire, he guessed she must have been some sort of early American? History not being his strong suit particularly, he had to shrug off his ignorance at her origins and settle for wondering about how long it had been since someone had actually acknowledged her. If she hadn't spoken, it was quite likely he himself would have drifted out of his bout of wallowing in memory and continued on his walk without noticing her at all. How...lonely it must be.
Not that he was particularly one to talk. For much of his life he had been a lone wolf--though not entirely by choice, if he was being honest all the same. And still, he found the solitude not entirely strangling. But companionship had its merits. For instance, it had the ability to distract one from one's own thoughts. To have lived an eternity with nothing but the voices in your own head for company couldn't be healthy. But the girl before him seemed perfectly normal, curtsied, even, to return his bow like a normal young lady.
“Well, Mr. Alexander, you may call me Eliza.”
'Mr. Alexander.' Alexander winced at that. It made him sound...old somehow. But Eliza--"That's a pretty name," he said nodding his head politely as he heard her talk about how she didn't normally recite poetry, amused at her apparent need to defend herself from his 'accusation'. What was so terrible about poetry? If you had a head for it, it would probably be better to recite that then to dwell on the past--not that he was one to talk...again.
"Now, what was that you were yelling about?"
He stiffened as he heard that question, grey eyes hardening as he studied her face. Who was she to ask him that?! Who was this girl, no matter how dead or lonely or what-have-you, to pry into his personal thoughts? His fists balled at his sides for a moment before he growled softly and lowered his gaze, the smile completely gone from his face as he forced himself to relax. She honestly just looked curious...he had probably attracted her with his shouts. And who did she have to tell anyways? He doubted THE SYSTEM rounded up the ghosts periodically and demanded that they divulge of all the gossip they had acquired floating whimsically through the city--though it didn't sound like a half-bad idea, if he was thinking strategically. How better to survey the climate of the city toward their actions than to prey on the socially deprived souls of the dead who were stranded in the world of the living? A cruelty, but many things were in this world. And it wasn't as if THE SYSTEM wasn't already aware of that 'incident' with Brinker nor the majority of his feelings surrounding it.
Closing his eyes, he turned from the girl and aimed a punch at the tree, grunting softly at the pain though he welcomed it as a new sensation in the midst of his other jumbled thoughts.
The silver, it burned, but it would make him safe. After discovering that the legend was true, Samuel had been captivated by the idea of applying it in small doses to see if it would make a difference in the power of a transformed werewolf. He was positive that, if the appropriate level was reached, the infected Man would simply transform into a very hairy incarnation of himself, perhaps with a foul temper, but with none of the danger present that there was with a normal were. It had taken several months for him to scrounge up enough pure silver to begin the 'treatment' but they were finally ready. Alexander, always willing to help out his friend, had volunteered. But neither man had anticipated the amount of pain a nonlethal amount of silver would cause the werewolf.
Barely coherent, he could hear Samuel trying to reassure him through his screams of pain, the iron shackles around his wrists and legs a mere annoyance as he struggled against them compared to the feeling of the silver tacks as they were pressed into the muscles of his chest, joining a host of other bestial scars that crisscrossed his light skin.
"Just a moment more, Alexi, and I'll be done. Just a moment, my friend!"
The Mother was calling at the same time. He was stronger than the silver, but he could not defy the Mother for long. He remembered pleading with Samuel to leave him, to save himself...then everything was shifting.
Pain, screams, blood...his thoughts were a jumbled mess and though his brooding lasted mere moments, it felt far longer to Alexander as he wiped a bead of cool sweat from his brow as he cleared his throat, struggling to organize his mind.
"Ten," he said softly, mostly to himself as he turned his attentions back to her, calming ritual complete. "I was looking for an old friend. I thought he might've followed me here, but I got you instead!" His smile returned but there was none of the warmth present as there had been earlier. "Are there more of you out here in the woods, d'you know?" |
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Post by ELIZA RACHEL HEILBRONNER on Dec 18, 2011 12:28:16 GMT -5
“I was looking for an old friend. I thought he might've followed me here, but I got you instead! Are there more of you out here in the woods, d'you know?"
An old friend. He meant someone who had died. He was searching for a ghost. He’d found one, but not the right one. “I’m sorry, but, I’m not sure,” Eliza apologized. “I’m not really from around here. I live… Well, I can’t really say ‘live,’ but I reside in Philadelphia. I’m just here for the night.”
Why was she telling him all this? A stranger she just came across in the middle of the night. Because there’s something different about him, she told herself. But, what? She ran a small hand through her curly, reddish-brown hair, and pondered, before looking back at the man, Alexander. She quickly took into account the smile he gave her. It was forced, fake. Something was bothering him. Although she was curious as to what, Elsie avoided asking, not wanting to pry. “Is that all that brings you here this evening? She inquired. Word Count: 183
Note: Short :P Sorry
Muse: Curiosity
Song: Love is War
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Post by Alexander Schwarz on Dec 19, 2011 21:42:44 GMT -5
“No need to apologize. It would be quite foolish for him to have remained…let alone followed me anywhere. I was enough trouble for him Before.” The laugh that escaped between his lips was full of bitterness as he ran a hand through his dark hair, smoothing it back into its proper place. “So you live in the city?” Unlike the young ghost girl before him, Alexander found no issue with using the word ‘living’ to describe her current state. She was dead, yes, but she clearly wasn’t spending her eternity sleeping in some box or otherwise enjoying some Afterlife. In fact, Alexander was curious as to how much her current state of being truly differed from that of ‘The Living’. She was visible, to him anyways, and she was obviously clear-thinking and able to express herself. That was more than some people he had encountered had, but he decided it really wasn’t any of his business to pry. Not now anyways. “I’m new there myself. It is…busier than I am used to but I am settling in."
Alexander lowered his hand with a soft chuckle as he realized the girl and himself had been mirroring each other. "You have friends, do you? Family?" He winced as he heard how that sounded and put up his hands in a soothing gesture. "Entirely optional. I don't mean to pry. I'm just curious." If his questions were optional, perhaps hers would be too?
But wondering what he was up to in the wee hours was really a valid question. But what about her? What was she doing out here, hmm? He shook his head, scattering the cluster of thoughts that flashed warning signs of 'paranoia' as he replied, "Just looking to clear my head. Easier to do when it is not so close to the full moon, you understand?" Of course he did not expect her to, but it was a little test of sorts. If THE SYSTEM really was all interrelated, if they really did round up all the ghosts and interrogate them periodically, it seemed somewhat far-fetched to him that the idea of werewolves would be out of the question to a ghost.
Besides, he was curious to see how she would react to the news--if she managed to figure it out. |
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Post by ELIZA RACHEL HEILBRONNER on Dec 29, 2011 11:10:59 GMT -5
Eliza tried not to wince when the man mentioned family. None of them stayed behind, and if they did, they must have left quickly. She was the last to die of the Fever, so she would never be sure what became of them after they left. She remained silent at the question.
”Just looking to clear my head. Easier to do when it is not so close to the full moon, you understand?" As he spoke, it hit her. He’s a werewolf! It all fit together- The rugged appearance, his full moon comment, even the howl from before! Her mouth quickly widened into a smile. Another Supe!! “Completely.” She replied, nodding. “My goodness, I’ve never met another Supe before. At least, not that I know of.” Her accent became more prominent with her excitement. The o’s were drawn out slightly, along with the u’s. She disciplined herself not to start bouncing up and down like a child.
She knew there was something she liked about Alexander! Word Count: 198 Note: MY KEYBOARD IS WORKING!! :D and short post T.T Muse: Exciting Song: Little Talks
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