Light of May ::: an original roleplay

Who: Jason and John Cantley (NPC).
Where: The Cantley household, Harlow, England.
When: Saturday 3rd February 2001. A little after 1am.

When the door slammed it shook the whole house. Outside in the hall a picture frame rattled against the wall. Jason wasn’t asleep anyway and even if he had been that would have woken him long before the loud shout of his name up the stairs, a slurred boom of a voice that filled the whole house and probably bled through the walls to those of the neighbours. For several long seconds Jason sat there, still fully dressed with no intention of changing into anything else any time soon, waiting to hear what John Cantley would say or do next.

A fist hit the wall. Another shout, this one laden with fractured and improvised curses that made little sense but that didn’t detract from the intention behind them. John Cantley was angry, it didn’t even matter why, and he wanted everyone to know about it. He wanted his son to know about it. Wanted his son to come downstairs and face it. Feel it.

All too well Jason remembered sitting in that hospital under the glaring lights, holding his tongue while the nurses and the doctors examined him and gave him knowing looks, powerless to do anything against a man who denied any involvement in his son’s so-called accident. With stark clarity Jason remembered the agony of the fractured jaw, the dislocated shoulder, how he’d tried so hard to keep from sounding any pain when they’d wrenched the joint back into place. He’d bitten his tongue so hard he’d tasted blood but hadn’t said a word otherwise. A combination of fear and resignation had kept him quiet then, he hadn’t wanted to make things worse. ( As if they could get any worse. )

Who: Harrison.
Where: Harrison’s apartment.
When: Friday October 16th 2009. Very early morning, around 3am.

To say that Harrison was having trouble sleeping with all of this going on would have been an understatement. Ever since everyone had -- so it seemed -- gotten their memories back after the collapse of whatever magic had removed them in the first place he had been unable to sit still long enough to rest, let alone sleep. It wasn’t that he’d tried, he had of course, but when his mind was going a mile a minute over all the possibilities it wasn’t something he was able to achieve and so he’d taken to being an almost constant presence on his part of the site. The questions were flooding in after he’d made it known that something out of the ordinary had happened, that he’d not only been witness to it but actually felt it himself, and people were fascinated enough that a lot of them entered into hours-long conversations with him via the forums.

With his empty coffee cup in hand -- not quite empty, in all honesty, and he was careful not to accidentally tip the dregs onto the floor as he carried it -- he made his way from the lounge area towards the adjacent kitchen, swiping his other hand over his face as he went. It was as he was trying to get a crick out of his neck that he caught sight of something lying on the mat on the inside of the front door, something that must have come through recently but without making too much in the way of noise. He would have heard it otherwise. Wouldn’t he?

Stretching out he set the mug down on the edge of the counter just inside the kitchen and then approached the envelope that had come through his letterbox. It was cautiously but curiously that he did so, dark eyes lifting to the door itself periodically as if he expected someone on the other side to knock at any moment. ( They didn’t. )

Who: Esmeralda and handful of NPCs
Where: Glen Cove, New York
when: Mid-May 2009
Warnings: Magical violence, racism.

( Hell was not full of fire, nor ice like some theorized. )

Who: Harrison.
Where: The Court; his new apartment.
When: October 10th 2009. Evening.

Making a mental note to himself to send a text to his mother, at least, as soon as he had everything urgent squared away Harrison shrugged the big bag back onto his shoulder properly and used his heel to kick the door shut behind him, hearing the jamb catch with a resounding click. Glancing back over his shoulder he saw the lock and the chain he could slide across if needs be, all things his mother would want to know about because she had always been a worrier, constantly checking up on him or asking this or that about his welfare or state of being, whether it be at college or while he was on the road travelling to what might very well end up being his new permanent residence. For now it was long-term enough that he had thought it responsible -- and therefore the right choice -- to secure an apartment and actually have a lease and a rent agreement with a landlord instead of a grumpy questionable guy behind a desk in an office at the end of a row of rooms that had likely seen all kinds of unseemly activities over the years.

The smell was better here, if nothing else. Okay it was a little stuffy, it needed airing out, but he could get started on that tomorrow when he didn’t have boxes and bags littered all over the place and an excited kind of energy that went hand in hand with being in a new place with so much to learn and discover.

Reminding himself to thank his parents once again for ensuring the apartment had the basics in terms of furniture like a couch and a bed he dumped the bag from his shoulder down onto the latter and drew his cell phone from his pocket so he could send that message. Lighting up the screen of his phone Harrison saw the emails and IMs waiting there from the site and a few forums he was a member of, queries and suggestions and challenges to theories. The usual. When he’d told his readers he was up and moving to Scarlet Oak, at least for the foreseeable future, they’d sent him a veritable flood of requests and ideas, things he should look into firsthand now that he was going to be on the ground and right in the thick of it.

( Harrison didn’t know where to start. )

Who: Emilia and Doran (NPC)
Where: UofM dormrooms
When: 1998 / 2000
Warning: Mentions of self-harm

( I realize the fault is mine, I'm getting everything that I deserve. )

Who: Kiley and Mason
When: Flashback to a few weeks before Christmas, 2008
Where: The streets of Scarlet Oak


( Santa, won't you bring me the one I really need? )

WHO | Katia and Nikita + NPCs
WHERE | Brothel in Russia
WHEN | Night, 1907
NOTES | Any dialogue in italics is spoken in Russian.
WARNINGS | Minimal violence, NSFW

( I've brought you gifts )

Who: Carter and Nora.
Where: Near Pentwater Lake, upstate.
When: October 1st 2009, very early morning.

When his phone had buzzed in his pocket to alert him to the message from one of his contacts Carter hadn’t long separated from Ash and Maya, the reunion unexpected but far from unwelcome. Knowing that he had trustworthy and capable allies out there in the form of two of the hunters from Omega was reassuring to say the least, Carter liked the idea of having them close by in case things got too much for him to handle. With Athena and Aiden in town as well his list of allies was growing ever longer and he couldn’t say that was a bad thing. His mother would have been happy to hear it, as well, but he wouldn’t tell her. It was better to leave her in the dark on that but keep up his regular contact, she didn’t need to know that there were people here who could watch his back. If anything happened it would just make things worse.

The drive upstate had been as swift as he could make it without breaking the speed limit and drawing undue attention towards himself, he had found a place to park his vehicle and slipped out into the deepening dark with his weapons secreted away on his frame, in holsters and sheaths. The creature he had been tipped off about wouldn’t hesitate to tear him into pieces if he got too close and so the weapon in his hand was far from small, far from subtle, a shotgun that would knock even the most resilient demon back on its ass if he pulled the trigger. Carter knew better than to let them press in too close but he also knew that you couldn’t prepare for every little thing. Demons and vampires both had a way of sneaking up on you, getting around behind you or in at the side, and he had the scars to show for it, close encounters he had survived. Just barely. It was as he moved quietly through the night and the shadows that danced across the dark that he thought back on those close calls, when he had almost lost an eye, when his back had been all but laid open, the feel of that shaft of metal as it had punched clean through the meat and muscle of his thigh like a hot knife through butter. Carter had spilt his fair share of blood over the years he had been active as a hunter. There was no telling how things would go tonight, if he would spill even more. If he was lucky it would just be the demon who bled but any hunter worth their salt knew not to make assumptions or let any kind of emotion, good or bad, cloud their judgement.

Something splintered off to the side, a crack of dry wood underfoot, quiet in the grand scheme of things but so loud in the sweeping silence that had until moments ago only been broken by the breeze through the leaves. Carter swung on the spot, bringing the weapon up as he did so, finding not a demon but a blonde woman. Even so he didn’t lower the shotgun, instead kept it levelled on her, waiting for her to explain herself.

WHO | Drina
WHERE | Maternity Shop in VA
WHEN | November 2008, morning

( I don’t want people to look at my baby and not tell if it’s a boy or a girl because of the outfit. )

WHO | Lida + NPCs
WHERE | Irving Household, England
WHEN | 1659

( My son needs me )

Who: Daniel and NPC'd church-goers
Where: Amazing Grace church, Scarlet Oak
When: Some time in the late 1800s
Warning: Sacrilege, violence, etc.

( Poison was slow and boring and they deserved to go through much worse if they were willing to trust him. )

WHO. Caelia, NPCs
WHERE. Germany
WHEN. June 2004

( Help! Please, somebody help! )

Who: Crowley and Sunny
Where: Crowley (and now Sunny's) house
When: Some August afternoon

It was a strange thing, having to rely on a man you hadn't seen regularly in a long time for the foreseeable future. Crowley didn't like it one bit; not just because he could hardly remember the last time he'd seen Uncle Sunny properly before this, but also because of the circumstances in which he would start seeing the man every single day now. It just wasn't right.

There wasn't much he could do, however, unless he wanted to start paying the bills and figuring things out on his own. For fear of ending up like his dad, Crowley really didn't. Didn't mean, again, he had to like it.

At the time they had settled upon Crowley went to sit in the living room, by the window where his mother used to sit when he was little and coming back from school. He would always see her there, give her a big grin then run to the door while she did the same on the other side. In recent years he did not run anymore, and his mother wasn't always there when he came back, but Crowley still looked at the window before pulling his house key out.

He still did it today.

When he saw his uncle approach Crowley had been putting a copy of the house key in a new keyring, ready to be handed to the man who would be his...guardian? Crowley wasn't sure that was the word. He was eighteen now, he doubted Sunny would be his "guardian". But he was going to be something. Crowley just had to find out what. After the doorbell rang, he stood on his feet and went to open it, immediately extending the hand holding the keyring in the other man's direction. "Before I forget." He said as a greeting. Crowley wouldn't have forgotten, he just wanted to get this over with.

WHO | Drina
WHERE | Her home in Virginia
WHEN | March 2009, evening

( It was so large that she began to wonder if this moon was just for her, a private beauty hovering in the night sky, just waiting for her to come out and appreciate it. )

WHO | Lida & NPCs
WHERE | New York
WHEN | Christmas Eve, 1970
WARNINGS | Some sexual themes, extreme violence, and triggers

( “You know they’ll grow to love you.”  )

Who: Arwen (and a few npcs)
When: Winter of 1998
Where: The Kavanagh house/a local theater

( So dreams were made and used and wasted... )

Who: Emilia and Neil (NPC)
Where: Kavanagh Household
When: 1983

( 'I have told you, Emilia! Time and time again that you can’t hear what I’m thinking. It isn’t you, it’s something else whispering in your ear.' )

Who: Fluffy and Nicci (and first appearance of Everclear, Fluffy's familiar!)
Where: a resort near Kewarra Beach, Australia
When: June 18, 2009

This was a damned amazing arrangement. Fluffy was most thankful to whomever had given Nicci this particular modelling job, and to Nicci for inviting her along to spend a week in Australia. The place was amazing, romantic even - though Fluffy never let that thought occupy her mind for long - and they had been partying pretty hard from the very second Nicci finished her shoot. There had been all kinds of beach parties, resort parties, intimate house parties...and Fluffy and Nicci had attended them all. Today, however, was a mellow kind of day. It was the kind that was only possible after a fucked up night out that left you too exhausted to do anything but just lie there for most of the next day. This was, in fact, what Fluffy and Nicci found themselves doing today. At some point going into the afternoon they had moved from the beachfront bungalow to the actual beach, which in their situation amounted to walking a few feet with towels under their arms. Fluffy's iPod was playing some rock & roll proper for chilling out to (and yes, such a thing did exist) and while Fluffy rolled herself a joint Nicci rested up from the previous night by her side. As it should be.

Fluffy licked the paper and finished rolling, then fumbled around her small pouch for a lighter. Giving the first few puffs, she rolled around and held her hand out to Nicci. "It's the stuff I got from the dude at the party last night." she explained. "I let him suckle on my nipples as he jacked off and he gave me a dimebag." To anyone who'd be listening, it would probably be amazing how matter-of-factly she had just said the previous words.

Who: Victoria (and NPCs)
Where: A monastery somewhere in the rural area around Paris
When: The night after Gabriel left (late 1880s?)
Warning: Vague unsettling imagery, displays of violence, suicidal thoughts, etc it’s a bingo

( I can't live if living is without you )

WHO | Gabby & Harper
WHERE | Funspot, roller rink
WHEN | Summer 2008

( Okay, so maybe it was a little childish that she invited her girlfriend to a six year old's birthday party, but Gabby had never skated before! )