Tales of Volwick City - Prayer for a Dream

Volwick city.

The time of the day is morning... when some of its souls rise from slumber to begin a new day and others retreat back to their dwellings to court a diurnal sleep.

By mere appearances, this city is as common as they go. Completely ordinary without much big attractions to it. A gathering of souls trying to carve their lives on this shared ground and make the best of it.

Mayor Janet Phillips, a Democrat by heart, labors in city hall, balancing budgets and her time to make it to numerous events and her young daughter\'s play at 1 o clock. Catholic Father Christopher Armas opens the doors to his Church in the Mid South of town, welcoming the earliest comers of his flock to the house of the Lord. A woman leaves a club where she works in a fit of giggles, more than a bit tipsy as she squints her eyes against the rising sun and then hums a merry tune on her way home. A highschool class is filled with yawns and the sound of people texting under their desks as the most boring and oblivious math teacher in town begins his unending lecture. The local crime syndicate buries a man near the river, a man who didn\'t deserve what happened to him and at the same time invited such fate upon himself.

And yet, just beneath the surface, there lurks a hidden world, going through its motions in sync with the life going on in plain sight. A troll living under one of the town\'s bridges raises from its hiding place in the mud and muck... snatching the sleeping form of the poor unfortunates that are forced to sleep around his lair for shelter. A wealthy vampire socialite retires to her underground chambers to sleep away the day under the close guard of her thralls. An ancient omyouji monk in his grand Japanese style state tends to his garden while reciting mantras under his breath. And so on, thousands upon thousands of spirits... some beneficial and some maleficent wander the streets, bestowing luck, ill fortune, reassurance and nightmares upon the lives inhabiting Volwick. For one with the \'sight\', one who knows what to look for, the air is filled with such supernatural beings...

It is not the grandest of places, this city... but lurking just under the surface there is wonder and adventure if you know where to look for. Specially now, after the event of a few days ago when the sky was lit up with magic stronger than it has been openly seen for generations... not only in Volwick City, but likely, the whole country.

Somewhere along the bank of the Volwick River, a figure straightened up with a quiet sigh and looked out over the sluggish flow of the river, murky in the grey light of dawn. She turned to her companion and raised her hands, signing quickly; a quick head-shake confirmed her worries, and she let out a disappointed huff before picking her way across the dead brown grass to her partner.

"Nothing at all...?" Aewyn murmured, leaning in close to Lucerna's subtly pointed ear. "Was a long shot." She sighed again and turned to look at the brightening eastern sky.

"We're getting closer, though," Lucerna said, putting her hands in the pockets of her blazer. A native Californian would have said that neither of them was dressed for the morning chill, but they paid it no notice. "We'll just have to keep looking."

"There will be others," Aewyn said, frowning. Lucerna put her hand on Aewyn's forearm, then took her hand, lacing their fingers together. The auburn-haired woman grudgingly returned Lucerna's smile, then turned to the concrete barrier at the edge of the riverbank. "Let's go, before someone takes notice."

edited 4th Feb '15 8:32:11 PM by RedSavant

Volwick City Graveyard

Not a lot of people had reasons to be in a graveyard at this time of day, especially those that weren't in one for a burial. Or maybe, if you looked at it a certain way, a lot of folks had good a reason to be there. Cristoph Kowalski couldn't help but think to himself as he made his way between the headstones. The Revenant Detective hummed a jaunty tune as he came across where he needed to be, a newspaper slung under his arm and a hand on his revolver, in case things went south. He stopped in front of the grave, reading "Dawn Francine Mc Dowry" and waited patiently for something to happen. "C'mon, don't disappoint me."

Volwick City Bank

A young woman with brilliant red hair in a business suit and glasses road her way down to the Bank on her bike, stopping short at the entrance before dismounting and locking it on a rack. She let out a long sigh, which some passerby might find themselves seeing a small amount of flames exiting her mouth as she did so. Of course that was silly. No one could breath fire. Well, unless your were one of those odd street performers.

Ash entered the bank with formality as she went in to start her work day. "Just another boring day... I would have thought something more interesting would be happening, what with the recent burst of magic a few nights ago... Oh well..."

Volwick City Graveyard

Cristoph would most likely find himself feeling like someone was staring at him, which of course something was. A thin black cat with a belled collar around its neck, which rang ever so faintly as the cat weaved between the gravestones, keeping an eye on the stranger that had just shown up.

Volwick City Graveyard

Meticulously manicured and painted fingernails, sullied by years of decay and being stuck underground, clawed up out of the dirty, arms eventually pulling up for freedom, and blonde head sticking out. Dawn squinted her once-beautiful blue eyes as she moaned and groaned.

"A-AAAAARGHHHGH!" She panted, finally free and crying out loudly. She was wearing a filthy cheerleading outfit. Her skin was deathly pale. She looked up at Christoph wide-eyed and completely terrified.

It was the blaring of car horns that told Mary it was morning. Given her condition, she had to black out the windows to her room, which left it always in a pitch black state. Luckily the impatient drivers of Volwick were always there to let her know when the city was waking from the night before. She grabbed a wrist watch with a broken strap from her night stand to conform the time, then sat on her bed in a daze. Her flock kept all sorts of unusual hours, and while she was happy to accommodate them, it did mean closing her doors at four in the morning then opening them again at sun rise. She sat there half asleep for a good five minutes, every now and again yawning and rubbing her eyes, before getting up to say her morning prayers and prepare for the day.

After she got dress, she stared at the empty habit in the mirror and adjusted it to make sure everything was straight. Having no reflection did put a damper on making one's self presentable. While she wasn't so concerned about being pretty anymore, she did hate the idea of giving nuns a bad name by looking like a slob. The nuns she knew had such a warm and gentle look about them, they made you feel safe and welcomed with their mere presence. As far as Mary knew though, she could look like some insane hobo in costume. Her pale skin, fangs, and self cut hair did little to boost her confidence. Not liking this train of thought, she gave the mirror a big smile to pick up her mood, even if the mirror didn't smile back.

She made her way to the kitchen. The rest of the house was much lighter since she did not cover the rest of the windows in the building. It made the place much more inviting, though it did make it so she had to watch her step though out the day. When she arrived in the kitchen, she poured a bag of sheep's blood into a sauce pan and began heating it up, stirring it with a thermometer until the thing read 98 degrees. She added a packet of splenda then enjoyed her breakfast alone. She could see the blue sky from the safety of the shadows of her home. She loved such beautiful days, though they came with a certain melancholy to her. Father Armas must be starting his sermons across town. A part of Mary would love to attend, but she had her on flock to attend to. She wasn't sure if anyone was coming this morning, but she had to be there for them in case they did.

Graveyard

"Morning Princess!" Cristoph said with a grin on his face as he lowered a hand down to her. "Welcome back to the land of the living, I'm Cristoph Kowalski, and will answer ANY questions you have."

Oliver's Apartment

Oliver woke up feeling like he had just been run over by a stampede. Everything hurt - mostly around the chest/stomach - making it very difficult to get out of bed. So poor Oliver was left to let his eyes wander around his bedroom. Well, 'bedroom' was a poor choice, since it was just one room (save for the bathroom), but he was in too much pain to figure that part out. Eventually his eyes trailed to his bedside table, on it a small stack of bills. Nervously curious, Oliver managed enough strength to pull himself up and crawl to the edge of his mattress. There was a small, hasty note placed on top of the small sum of money.

Thanks for the help! ~K.K.

More confused than ever the battered human dragged himself from the edge of his bed onto the floor and began his slow trudge towards what was called 'the kitchen'.

In some deep, unexplored recess of Oliver's mind lay another individual, a wraith that went by the name of Kalister Kire when he was still alive. He watched the world through the human's eyes when he was up and about, unable to force his will over the oblivious person's brain. He saw the note he himself wrote through Oliver, and the memory of last night welled up inside of his disembodied soul, blocking out all other stimuli. That particular night Kire had decided for a joyful strut down the road to a nearby bar. He had entertained the patrons with a rousing game of "Who-Can-Hit-Me-The-Hardest?" and won, pocketing the measly amount left over. After that he tried to do a bit of parkour with bad results, stumbling into some sort of mugging and getting mugged in the process. Of course, Kire was not one to lose easily, and quickly dispatched the thief before making a hasty retreat to Oliver's abode yet again.

Kire chuckled softly to himself, making Oliver wonder why his brain felt like it itched.

Sonoran Desert National Monument, Outside of Phoenix

Maria put her arm in her grandmother's as they walked down the nature trail. She had been surprised that her abuela had been up for a stroll, old as she was. However, her grandmother had told her that they had always gone to see the spring wildflowers together, and she wasn't going to up give up the tradition while she was still alive.

"And then the principal told me I couldn't wear my Green Man t-shirt to class, as the school banned all obtrusive expressions of religious faith — of course, the crosses half the pro-life club girls wear around their necks don't seem to count somehow — and besides, it was for my own good so that my classmates don't think I'm a devil-worshipper. I told her I'm a Catholic, not a pagan, and I don't believe in folk tales, I just think they're cool, but does she listen to me, no—" Maria had always found it easy to talk with her grandmother. Although one might think her abuela was an arch-traditionalist, given the religious paraphernalia in her home and her devotion to what Maria could only call superstitious practices, she was the one person in Maria's life who would actually listen to her, asking her questions and taking her for who she was. By contrast, her parents and her brothers might be more Americanized and 'modern', but Maria always had the sense they were the ones more concerned with her keeping up appearances.

"And what would you do if folk tales were true, Mari?" her grandmother asked her unexpectedly.

"I'd be the girl who solved the riddles, slayed the dragon, and saved the kingdom," Maria answered flippantly. "Oh, and wed the prince at well — but only if he would let me rule alongside him instead of expecting me to sit and simper like a proper lady."

"Hmm," her grandmother responded.

"Hmm what?" Maria said.

"You'd be a better woman than me in that case. I'd start out for adventure, find it scary, return home straightaway, marry the nice farmer two houses away, and raise a happy family. It might be boring, but I'd be content."

"That's lame," Maria answered.

Her grandmother smiled, her gray hair blowing in the wind. "Everyone thinks that at first. That's why I left home in my story. However, when someone runs across true power — it can change one's mind quickly. Not everyone is cut out for it, and most of us are happier with a quiet life."

"Well, not me," Maria said. Sometimes conversations with her grandmother veered into this strange area, where Maria couldn't tell what was mere fancy and what had a deeper meaning. She never had known much about her grandmother's time in Mexico, before she emigrated to the United States, and whenever she had asked, her grandmother had refused to answer. "All I want these days is to get out, and once I go to college next year, there's no way in hell I'm coming back."

"Hmm," her grandmother said once again, and then, on a totally different tangent, "Ooh, what a pretty flower! Be a good girl, pick it for me, Mari!"

Maria was just about to call her grandmother out for wanting to pick a flower in a national park, but then she turned and stared. It was indeed a beautiful flower — a brilliantly red one, of a type she had never seen before. She found herself entranced, despite herself. "Very well, abuela," she said, moving to clip the stem.

The red spread, and she was on fire.

Flames licked up from the petal, first nipping her fingers, then spreading up her arms faster than fire possibly could. Stop, drop, and roll echoed somewhere in her mind, but she was paralyzed. The heat was painful, but all she could think of was how beautiful it was. Dimly, she could see her grandmother shaking her head in the background, muttering, "Mari, Mari"...

Volwick University Dorm

MEE MEE MEE. The alarm was buzzing, waking Maria up so she could go to her first day of class. For a second, she forgot the snit she had been in yesterday, when she had seen the non-descript architecture of the college (she could have been studying somewhere with fake Gothic facades, and instead she got buildings that looked like corporate cube farms), listened to an orientation lecture which basically amounted to imploring the students to take some time out of their inevitable drinking sessions for their studies, and ate a limp and tasteless slab of beef for dinner in the cafeteria. She had indeed had the first half of that discussion with her grandmother a year ago — which was strange in itself, as she didn't tend to dream of the past — but the flower bursting into flame had been a pure invention. Although she had come to pay attention to her dreams, she couldn't think what this could mean, other than that she should probably avoid a walk in the arboretum any time soon.

Showering quickly, she got her books together, and headed out to her first class.

Volwick City Graveyard

The black cat finally made its way over to the two undead, just kind of hopping up onto a gravestone and looking at the two. This seemed rather interesting to the cat.

Honeybear Apartments

It was the first day of Frank's week off work. While a few people would use this time to go to another city or even country, Frank felt like staying in his hometown, just having some time to himself, Well, himself and another rat who wouldn't leave him alone.

That very rat was now climbing up him to reach his shoulder, then turning invisible. "So, judging by the fact you're in human form, you're about to go driving. Where are we going today?" asked the rat.

Frank headed towards a wall, which he knew was actually the apartment door. The disappointed Connie said "Aw, I haven't pulled of that in a while, I thought you wouldn't catch on."

With a grin, Frank responded "I know the layout of my own apartment, I honestly can't believe you think I'd fall for that."

Connie made the door visible again and then the two went outside. Going down to the basement level to get into Mark's car, Connie jumped off Mark's shoulder and sat on the passenger seat. Mark has wondered why Connie doesn't take the form of a human or maybe a dog so she'd get a good view from the windows, but it seemed being sitting in the passenger seat sufficed for her.

Mark started the car and drove onto the city streets...

Volwick City Bank

Getting to the bank, Frank parked his car and Connie went back on his shoulder. The AT Ms seemed to be out of order so he entered the bank, after waiting in line long enough, Frank went up to a certain dragon-in-disguise, not that the wererat would know that.

Connie, oblivious as Frank, felt like being a little silly decided to stand on her two hindlegs, try to pull off the loser symbol with one of her front feet and pulled out her tongue for good measure, thinking the bank clerk couldn't see her. How wrong she was...

edited 6th Feb '15 6:02:42 AM by JustaUsername

The Magic Beans Coffee Shop

Taking command of a table by the window, Maria put down her latte and took out her homework. It had been hard enough to find a coffee shop in this town that wasn't a corporate franchise, but she had to admit, she liked this one well enough. Tucked in a side street, it had pleasantly quirky art on the walls and posters advertising a live music night on Tuesday — she might need to come back for that sometime.

Opening up her copy of the Iliad, she launched herself into the story of Troy. Her classmates had been about what she had expected — only slightly more curious than her high school peers — but she had enjoyed her professor, an older man with a long white beard and an obvious love for the material. If she just focused on her studies, she might be able to get through the next four years.

My social life is going to SUCK, though, she thought, as she glanced around the room. As corny as it was, she couldn't help wishing that she would run into some mysterious stranger who would show her into a magical world far removed from this run-down town and her one-step-up-from-a-community college. Like that would happen, she added mentally, bringing herself back to her work.

edited 7th Feb '15 11:02:21 AM by BokhuraBurnes

Volwick Graveyard

"Whatever it was... had to be big," Aewyn murmured, walking alongside Lucerna down the road. Volwick's largest graveyard stretched out to their right, solemn rows of grey stones lined up one after another; it was a silent morning here more than anywhere else, with the sun just barely high enough in the sky to start warming up the air. Aewyn took a greyish, leafy plant from her pocket and crushed one of the smaller leaves between her fingers. There was a visible spark, a little too blue to be static electricity. "See? Enough magic saved up for a year or two," she said, tucking the herb back into her cloak. At least the trip hadn't been a complete waste.

"At least we got something," Lucerna agreed, nodding. Then she paused, gently squeezing Aewyn's hand to halt her. At her mistress's questioning look, she stepped over to the wrought-iron fence, peering between the bars into the cemetery. "What's going on over there...?"

"Good question," Aewyn said grimly, watching a man in a suit reach down to a young woman sitting half-buried in the ground. Without warning, she slipped her hand free from Lucerna's and put her hands on the fence, climbing nimbly over it. As Lucerna followed quickly after, Aewyn stalked through the rows of headstones over to the man in the suit. It was quiet enough here and the cemetery isolated enough, and Aewyn grinned as she felt power flowing down her arm to coalesce into a small green fire in her palm. Still nowhere near enough, but it would serve its purpose. "Hey," she called, her voice barely reaching speaking volume. "Step back."

Physically, Kurt was diligently shelving books, pushing a cart down various aisles, locating where books slotted back into shelves, and putting them back. Interspersed with this was cleaning up after library patrons, who would either re-shelve their books wrongly, or just leave books lying on the tables without regard for putting them back. He moved with the efficient gestures born from long, long practice, his mind obviously elsewhere as he worked.

Mentally, he was slightly panicked over the recent event. Being woken up after a long shift to the feel of stronger magic that he'd ever felt before, or suspected he'd ever feel, on top of fire alarms going off because of the crude "magic detectors" he'd slotted into corners around his house burning hotly enough to set them off did not give him a good impression of the event. He hadn't spared much time to think about it, turning off the fire alarms before crashing back to bed, but as he had more time to think about it, as well as replaced the detectors, he'd gone over it more in his head, on top of being able to get a bit more information on the event - which is to say that there was none. Unknown, intensely powerful magical event goes off? Nothing good would come of that, he was sure.

It was at this point that he tripped over a book some asshole had left on the floor, side-tracking his train of thought. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he picked it up and checked where it went, marking that spot on his mental map of the library before putting the book on the card for later. There was a time and place for those kinds of thoughts, and now wasn't it.

Graveyard

"G-Gah!" Dawn jumped back, falling on her ass. She started up at Christoph, totally freaked out. "W-What's wrong with you?!...L-Like, what the hell is going on?!"

The Local Library

Renee was not what you call a morning person. She scheduled her classes in the afternoon specifically to put off getting up until 12, and she preferred spending her nights working on her fics than sleeping. Winter mornings were especially tough; getting up when it was cold and dark was not her idea of a good time.

Sadly, her mother was the opposite, and so long as the young college student was still living under her roof, she'd do everything in her power to keep her daughter from becoming a nocturnal shut-in. "It's a nice day today, go out and go for a walk! And keep your laptop at home, you don't need that to enjoy the sun and the cool breeze!"

Bah. More or less forced out the door without any direction, Renee headed to the one place where she could have some peace and quiet away from other people: the library. Holed up in the young adults section, she flipped through a random manga picked off the shelf, grumbling over the torn pages and wishing there was some sort of law against library book desecration.

Volwick City Bank

"How might I help you, sir?" Ash would say, in a rather cheerful rehearsed voice, as her eyes told a different story. Connie would find fiery draconic slit pupils focusing, as if asking if she wanted to be flash fried.

Volwick City Graveyard

The cat looked around at the various people showing up, quite interested in the events.

City Graveyard - Mexican Standoff

Cristoph was annoyed, to say the least. This was probably another one of those punks who thought they were in a b-rated zombie movie and that they had to shoot this girl in the head. At least that's what he thought initially. When he turned around and saw the green flame however, his opinion on the matter took a quick change. "What." He said flatly as he stared at the woman with fire in her hands. Then the new zombie fell over on their ass and screeched at him. Oh thank god she's still got her mind. He thought to himself as he looked back at her. His hand on his gun he turned his eyes back at the green flame woman and stood straight from his hunched position. "So...can I help you?" He asked, moving back from her slightly.

Graveyard

"That..." Aewyn paused, then grimaced; she glanced quickly to Lucerna, who stepped warily up, putting herself between Aewyn and Cristoph. She leaned forward and whispered to her knight for a few seconds.

"Are you a necromancer?" Lucerna asked without preamble, brushing her coat open to show Cristoph that she was armed as well. "What do you want with that girl's body?"

Graveyard Standoff

"A nec-What?" Cristoph asked in disbelief. "What in hell makes you think I'm a necromancer?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I'm a detective who's got a few friends in the magical community, told me someone was going to rise today and who it was, so I headed over." He said, pulling out his badge and showing it to them. "What the hell are YOU two doing here is my question."

Graveyard

Lucerna raised an eyebrow, looking between the badge and Aewyn. The little mage snorted, clearly not buying it. "You'll forgive us for being suspicious of a man standing ready to welcome a new zombie into the world," she said, though she did take her hand slowly off her gun. Aewyn muttered something behind her, and Lucerna nodded, conceding the point. "In any case, we're nothing to worry about. Just some concerned citizens passing by."

edited 7th Feb '15 6:57:44 PM by RedSavant

Volwick City Bank

Connie picked up on Ash being able to see her. The angry, non-human eyes didn't scare her it in fact made it more amusing.

Frank picked up something bothering the Clerk (though not quite her eyes) and knew Connie was up to something. With his telepathic link to the fairy, he sent "Whatever you're doing Connie, stop it. This woman probably has to deal with enough stress in her job."

With a bitter look, Connie sent back "Fine..." She went back on all fours and just had a look around at random things in the bank.

With that dealt with, Frank wanted to apologize but it's hard to not make it awkward considering most people here wouldn't be able to see Connie. He gave off an apologetic look, hoping that would at least slightly make things up. "Sorry, I zoned out for a bit. Anyways, I need to withdraw $200." Frank drew out his debit card for identification and gave it to Ash.

Dawn just looked back and forth and them speaking, incredulously. She was completely baffled and definitely terrified. "M-Magical...Necro...Z-Zombie?" She slowly looked down at her hands. She saw how gross, pale and pasty they were. She didn't feel like herself. She didn't feel happy or vibrant. She felt dead.

"W-W-WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK?!" She held her head in her hands and started screaming and flailing loudly.

Graveyard Shouting Match

"Oh look, you scared her." Cristoph said flatly as he put away the newspaper, he'd drop the date bomb later. "I was going to break it to her slowly, but you went and messed that up now, didn't you?" He shot the two of them an unamused glare from over his shoulder as he crouched down and set a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, hey! Calm down, calm down, Dawn was it?"

Graveyard

"She's covered in grave dirt and just clawed her way out of a coffin," Aewyn muttered. "I'd hope she'd figure it out on her own... though maybe not, going off the outfit." She sighed, putting a hand to her throat for a moment before taking a small bottle from her pocket and having a sip. "Let's just go. None of our business if he wants to throw it in some dead teenager."

Lucerna patted Aewyn's shoulder, then turned back to Cristoph. "You understand our caution, at the very least. Nothing pleasant happens in graveyards, especially not as relates to our kind."