Light of May ::: an original roleplay

Who: Brien, Hyemi, Lotti, Rowan
When: That is such an awesome question
Where: Tunnel of Lo-HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ;_;

Rowan's feet were freezing. She huffed irritably and tried to find a more comfortable position. She made to roll over, and promptly slid a few more inches down the incline. She was now up to her knees in water. ...the hell?

Rowan's eyes snapped open, and she still felt that heavy sensation. That was what had happened. She'd been at the dance, hating every second of it, and things had started to feel heavy. After that? Nothing. Where the hell was she? She could hardly see anything. The ground beneath her felt like some kind of metal. She was on an incline. She could hear water dripping. There was a light behind her, but it was small and flickering, and pointing the other way. Rowan looked around, and realized she wasn't alone. She couldn't tell who was with her, her eyes were still adjusting to the darkness. She took a deep breath and pushed up, trying to find flatter ground. "Um... hello?" Her voice echoed. This was bad. "Wake up. Somebody, wake up. We're in trouble."

Who: Valterri and Rowan
When: before school
Where: SOHS, hockey rink

Between work, school, and hockey practice Rowan was starting to forget what sleep was. She wasn't sure what sick bastard had decided hockey practices had to be before school, but she was still enjoying herself. She had enjoyed winning, too. That had been an entirely new sensation to her. She was feeling... strangely pleased with herself.

The school didn't really know what to do about Rowan being on the boy's hockey team. Mainly, what to do about the locker room situation. A lot of ideas had been tossed back and forth, and finally at last night's game they'd just decided Rowan was going to have to go get changed in the girl's bathroom. Practices were a little easier. At least then she could use the locker room reserved for the visiting team. Even if she did have it all to herself, she couldn't help but look around and make sure she was well and truly safe before stripping out of her hockey clothes. She was so used to hiding during gym so she wouldn't have to change to the other girls. Having a locker room to herself was certainly preferable, but still eerie.

Who: Eilidh and Rowan (and familiars, probs)
When: Midday
Where: Middle of nowhere, near the river

( Killer was not meant to live with thrifty humans. )

Who: Aiden, Emyli, and Rowan
When: Late afternoon
Where: Anywhere But Here

Rowan's first day at school as a repeat-senior was nowhere near as bad as she had thought it would be. Of course, it was still absolutely terrible, but she'd managed to get through it with no more permanent damage. There had been lots of jokes in the halls of course, and even more at gym, and at some point in the day someone had managed to fill her entire locker with dozens of boxes of bandaids and bandages of all kinds. That had been kind of a pain to clean up, but actually rather useful as well. It had meant to bother her, but those things did get pricey.

The rain was a massive pain in her ass. By the time she rode her bike from school to the bar she was absolutely drenched, and felt as if she would never be dry again. She was late for her shift, and she just knew she'd catch hell for that, but it couldn't be helped. She ditched her bike near the back dumpster and hurried in the back door, yanking her apron on over her head as she hurried to punch in. Then she hurried out to the bar.

She didn't have a single table. She skidded to a stop and looked around, blinking stupidly at the nothing that awaited her. The bar was never crowded, really - unless the demons were about, then the vigilante groups met here and sometimes she helped out with that. But she'd never come in and had not a single customer. She turned around to see who was working the bar. "Where is everyone?"

Who: Brian and Rowan
When: Late afternoon
Where: the Berry Bucket
NOTE: This scene was meant to be posted on the August 17th gameday, but we can't find our placeholder. Which probably means we forgot it. Sorry!

( I'm not crazy. )

Who: Rowan
When: Late morning/early afternoonish
Where: Her house

Rowan was finding herself in an odd state that day. Her mom had already left for work, and she had the house to herself. She didn’t have to work at the bar today, and… she had absolutely nothing to do. She was almost always busy. There was always something to be done. If not work related, something always needed doing at the house. And yet, because of the weather, she hadn’t been needed at the drive-in the past few nights. She was out of chores. She’d studied some, but was having trouble focusing. And in the time since that initial first spell, the power high had worn off. She hadn’t practiced blood magic again. She still kept going back and forth on the issue.

She sat on the couch flicking TV channels (not a terribly involved process when you didn’t have cable), and let her mind drift to and fro, never settling on any subject. That was when the phone rang. Rowan didn’t think much of it – this time of day it was probably a solicitor or bill collector, either of which she could basically placate in her sleep. She reached for the phone without looking away from the TV, which was showing some real court show. Two women were arguing loudly over a salon bill, a lawsuit over an apparently truly hideous weave. Rowan rolled her eyes and muted the TV. It occurred to her that the show would probably be more entertaining this way. Almost forgetting the phone as her mind filled in the voices – “Giiirl, I can’t show up on 8 mile with hair that washed ashore during Katrina!” “Bitch, you look like a dead rat today, so what’s the damn difference?” - Rowan closed her eyes and spoke into the receiver. “Hello?”

( ...Daddy. )

Who: Brian and Rowan
When: Nighttime
Where: The Berry Bucket

The curfew being lifted had caused a boom in business, much to Rowan's chagrin. Twilight was still playing at the Berry Bucket, which meant tons of girls from school - always Rowan's worse nightmare. Now take said girls from school, and add in the fact that they'd been cooped up without their usual social time for far too long. Within ten minutes of arriving for her shift a few hours ago, Rowan had been: the target for a drive-by cup-throwing when she went to empty one of the garbage bins, had been pelted with gummy bears, asked if looney bins were anything like prisons in the don't drop the soap respect (with an added sigh of 'like father like daughter'), and told that her second attempt at her senior year would go just fine as long as she staged her suicide attempts in the fall and spring, to balance off last winter. By the time the other shift was ready to switch (Rowan refused to admit she was happy that Brian was scheduled to come in), she was filthy, and firmly back in her old routine of going through the motions that nothing at all was bothering her.

Get popcorn. Get insulted. Smile dumbly. Take their money. Lather, rinse, repeat. What a great fucking summer.

Who: Brian and Rowan
Where: The Berry Bucket
When: Evening

A job! Finally, a job! Brian was so excited by the prospect of earning some money, little as it was, since this was only a part-time, that if you really looked you could see a bounce in his step as he left his car and walked to the concession stand of the Berry Bucket. He also may or may not have been humming some upbeat song as he walked.

Well, you couldn't fault him for being glad to have found a job, as brief as it was, because he needed all the help he could get paying for his car. Giving up the car itself was, clearly, not an option. If you drove it, just once, you would understand. Plus, this job seemed easy enough, and Brian liked the notion that if he had time maybe he could even see one of the features some time. Also: free popcorn. Maybe. All good things, if he did things right and didn't get caught.

When he reached the concession stand, Brian was already grinning happily at whomever it was he'd be sharing his job title with, who was currently with her - he thought it was a she, considering the long-as-hell hair and all - back turned to him. "Hi!" He greeted, looking around excitedly as he clapped his hands together. Damn, was he excited.

Who: Rowan and her familiar, Killer
When: Mid-afternoon
Where: Rowan's house

When the demons came back, Rowan found herself in a rather strange situation. Her mother had initially wanted to go to a shelter - and then she got called in to work. The hospital was, predictably, under serious strain, and apparently they were calling in anyone they could. Rowan's mother worked in the cleaning staff, but apparently even that was important. So, she'd gone. It was kind of a scary thing, her mom going into the eye of the storm. It put Rowan in an odd situation. She wanted to fight it, and insist her mother stay. But if she did that, her mother would think it was because Rowan was scared for herself. So Rowan had put on a brave face, and insisted everything would be fine.

Now Rowan and Killer both were glued to the TV, watching the news coverage. Or, they were. Would have been. If the power hadn't gone out.

( This is bad, right? This is bad. )

Who: Oz and Rowan
Where: Football field
When: Evening

Waking up to the sun going down was a bit of a surprise. Wow, I didn't mean to sleep that long, Oz thought as he yawned and stretched out. Going home probably would have been a better call but hey, he had no problems whatsoever with relaxing on the field. No one had come by to bother him after all. Sitting up he rubbed at his eyes, feeling lonely for a moment as he realized that he was totally alone. Now what was it that he had meant to do that day? He had hung out with Madock and showed the puppy that he was still faster... oh! Rowan!

Grinning, Oz shifted and pulled his phone out of his shorts pocket and dialed before holding it up to his ear. "Roooooowan," he crooned when she answered, grinning like an idiot as he relaxed back down onto the ground. "How's my favorite outcast? Come play some football with me or something! I miss you so terribly you don't even understand, it's awful." He was trying not to laugh. Yeah, he wanted to hang out with her but he was exaggerating just the slightly. It was in his nature and Rowan should know that, or at least suspect like some girls never seemed to manage.

Who: Whisper and Rowan (and Killer the familiar)
When: Morning
Where: Whisper's house

Rowan's mental high after using blood magic for the first time had quickly worn off around the time she stitched her arm up. Not because of the pain. But because she was quite certain that Whisper was going to kill her.

If she had known she'd end up injuring herself to the point of stitches, Rowan never would have attempted the spell the day before a modeling session. Alas, hindsight was better than foresight. In attempts to make up for the unsightly stitches on her arm, Rowan had set her alarm for an ungodly time, and spent hours painstakingly straightening her hair. And the thick curls had taken nearly four hours to straighten with clumsy, unexperienced hands. The result was kind of amazing - Rowan barely recognized herself in the mirror - but would it be enough to win over the vampire's good favor?

Dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a black tank-top, Rowan wore a white button-up shirt over to at least temporarily hide her wound. Killer was in her bag, just in case she needed the moral support. As Rowan rode her bike up Whisper's drive, she took a deep breath. "Courage, Kiddo," Killer urged. "You're a star in my eyes."

That made Rowan smile, and even feel a little better. She hit the kickstand and walked tall to Whisper's door, smoothing her clothing out before she rang the bell.

Who: Rowan (and her familiar)
When: Late afternoon
Where: Rowan's backyard

Rowan stacked empty pop cans on a rickety old lawn-chair in her backyard, her heart beating at a somewhat anxious rate. "Are you sure you're ready?" Killer asked. Her familiar sat in the grass near the backdoor, watching her set up. "You're nervous."

Row looked back at him over her shoulder, her long hair falling across the other one. "I'm only nervous because I know you'll share the backlash with me," she said, and it wasn't even completely a lie. "I wish you'd let me try the first time while you're out of range."

"Out of the question, kiddo," Killer replied. "What you're trying isn't enough to bring me serious harm. And you're not doing this alone." Rowan nodded, and after she finished stacking the cans, she walked across the yard to stand near Killer. The time had finally come. Her mother was at work – as were the neighbors. She was ready to attempt her first blood magic spell.

( No turning back now. )

Who: Renard and Rowan (and npc familiar awesomeness)
When: Morning
Where: Aeaea

Rowan now knew, for future reference, Killer did not approve of this rain business. Not that Rowan was particularly thrilled about it either. She actually quite liked the rain - but as a person who depended on a bike as primary means of transportation... it was a little uncomfortable. Having the morning off, she had wanted to check out the new magic shop, and riding a bike with a rabbit in your bag was difficult enough. By the time she reached the shop, she was soaked to the bone. And Killer wouldn't stop bitching.

"Are you somewhere dry yet? Can I come out now?"

"Not yet," Rowan murmured lightly, still feeling a little silly about talking aloud to an animal in public. She chained her bike and hurried inside, lightly shaking her arms as she took a look around. "'Kay."

( Finally, it's so nice, I'm so ha-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? )

Who: K-lee, Kikuya, Rowan, Whisper
When: 9:30 a.m.
Where: Whisper’s house

The previous day had left Whisper in quite a good mood, a feat that was hard to accomplish when she did not have Karine or another regular around for her attention-fixes. What she did have, though, was Ad Gustum and that was proving to be a very valuable place for someone like her. She was even humming a little tune as she flitted around her workroom, putting a few more touches on the designs she had finished specifically for today while allowing her assistant – who she had asked to come in and help her – to start work on something else entirely.

Of course, Whisper was completely ready for everyone to arrive an hour early. Fashionably late was something she understood only when she was the one who was going to be late. Not that she precisely expected her models to be on time… maybe Rowan. She seemed a little more skittish than the rest since she was new and still unsure of herself. Kikuya might be on time if only to show that she still knew how to be and this K-lee, well, Whisper had only worked with her the one time and she was not sure how she would be acting around the others. “Should be interesting,” Whisper murmured to herself as she settled into the couch nearest the door and waited for the three to arrive. She had told them all nine-thirty.

Who: Whisper and Rowan
When: 9am
Where: Whisper's home/office

Despite a few frantic hours of trying to find something that didn't look second-hand, Rowan did actually manage. Granted, her aunt had ended up buying her new jeans (which Rowan had promised a million times to pay her back, despite her aunt's refusal to take any money), and a slightly off-white sleeveless top she had crocheted when she was in the loony bin. Under the top she wore a fitted, flesh-colored long-sleeve top. There was no hope as far as shoes went, she had to stick with the same old tennis shoes she wore to work, but hopefully this would do.

Riding her bike into northern Scarlet Oak had been a bit of a pain in the ass, considering she still had broken fingers and toes, but she managed. And damn near wished she hadn't when she got there. Oh Jesus. I should have brought Killer. With a deep breath, she carefully placed her bike by the door (who the hell was gonna steal it here?) and rang the bell.

Who: Rowan and Whisper
When: Around eleven a.m.
Where: Jo-Ann Fabric's

( Sunny days were extremely inconvenient, but Whisper had been alive for so long that they no longer stopped her from doing anything. )

Who: Freddie and Rowan, and a few four-legged visitors
When: Late morning
Where: U of M hospital

Rowan had showed up early to the hospital, and spent a better part of the morning there with Freddie. She would have been quite content to spend the entire day there with her friend, though there was the rather unfortunate matter of having to work the afternoon shift at the bar. Blarg. She was dreading it with each passing moment. As it was the bike ride to the hospital had been, at times, rather treacherous. People were driving with their heads up their asses, staring at all the animals, and once Rowan had almost hit a freaking gerbil with her bike.

Rowan looked up at the clock, trying to figure out how much time she had. "When are they going to let you out of here?" she asked, turning back to Freddie.

Who: Nate and Rowan
When: Evening
Where: Phoneland

Rowan had meant to call Nate the previous day, but one of her job applications had lead to a random 'great, you start now!' and being thrown face first into a dinner shift. It had rather sucked, and there was the possibility of having a repeat. Once she had a few minutes to herself in the house, she grabbed the phone to give him a call, crossing her fingers he was still willing.

Nate was at home when his phone rang, placing a small bandage over a cut in his abdomen. He didn't answer right away, since he'd rather not stand there bleeding while he was chatting to whoever it was decided to call. But he finished quickly and let his t-shirt fall down over the gauze before snatching his cell from his desk. Noting the number and name, Nate grinned a touch before he answered. "Hey, Rowan." He was wondering if she'd been planning to call him, and it felt immensely satisfying that she had.

( ...plans to bleed! )

Who: Rowan and Nate
When: Early evening
Where: Nevermore

It had proved to be an interesting day for Nate. Meeting Ezra had been a surprise, eating in a French restaurant an even bigger one, and now he was someone skilled to teach him beyond what his grandma thought he was ready for. All in exchange for some assistance... how could Nate refuse that? With his mind full of overcrowding thoughts, Nate drove to Nevermore and felt like the lack of cars meant that the shop might not be too terribly busy. He hated going into the place when it was full of curious, annoying people. Especially when it was full of giggling teenage girls who felt sure that they would open a book on vampires and find out that they did sparkle. Ugh. Still, he couldn't see people moving about inside from the window of his car, so he got out, locked his doors and headed into Nevermore, his hands in his pockets and his eyes avoiding any kind of contact with whoever else might be there.

Rowan had found a bit of money waiting for her in her bank account after all, so she decided to squeeze in a trip to Nevermore before her first shift at the Bucket. She'd been a regular at the store before she'd been sent away, and truthfully, she was hoping that maybe they would have hired someone knew. Someone she had never met before, someone who wouldn't report to Dorian that she was looking at the books on blood and black magic. Because she didn't think she had a snowball's chance in hell on avoiding some strong opinions on the matter if it went his way. Inside, she headed for her destination and did her best to look... inconspicuous. I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm not doing anything wrong... She just kept telling herself that as she sat in the aisle and flipped through a book, keeping the cover against her knees so no one could see. God, Row, grow up.

( This should be interesting. )

Who: Freddie and Row
When: Mid-late afternoon
Where: On the streets, yo

Rowan had filled out so many applications over the course of the day that her hand hurt and she was starting to go cross-eyed whenever she tried to read. A few had been promising though, and she still had her shift at the Bucket tonight. Once she finished up this street she was done. She came out of the diner she'd just tried, and tried to remember where the hell she had chained her bike. She was pretty sure the shape of the seat was permanently indented in her ass by now. She had half a mind to leave it there and walk. Things had been kind of easier in the freaking looney bin.

But at least now she was allowed to cut her food with a knife. 50/50.