come out come out wherever you are

[bitterchill]

Ari patrols most nights. He frequently whistles as he does so. He's on friendly terms with many of the people of the town, though some of them think he's a dangerous weirdo. (They're not wrong, but it's not very polite to say it outright like that.)

Vampires still come to Sunnydale. Because it's Sunnydale, and because vampires are idiots. The ones who live here already, though, have picked up a habit of either visiting the kosher butcher's or the bite shop, or moving to LA. Or having their heads ripped off by an excessively cheerful blonde half-Kal'shekk witch.

Speaking of the kosher butcher's, he pops his head into that alleyway. Maybe he'll see Mr. Ray, that nice vampire chap who comes by for some fresh cow's blood every Thursday. (Ari acts cheerfully oblivious to the fact that every vampire he knows is blind terrified of him. Some of them are alright when he keeps them from eating people; being unrepentantly amoral doesn't have to mean you're not a nice person.)

Comments

[unmarred]

"That sounds arguably even less fun than how I got here, and that's bloody saying something."

[bitterchill]

"Bonus points: My mom had just died. It was quite an affair. I'm doing well nowadays, though."

[unmarred]

"Yeah, you might have me beat. I showed up in a dark room full of ominously chanting people who wanted to present me to their false god as a ritual sacrifice, but I was wearing clothes and hadn't suffered any recent losses to speak of."

[bitterchill]

"Dark rooms full of ominous cultists are still unpleasant. Also, I included the fact I was naked less because it was traumatic and more because it was hilarious. And to make you think about me naked."

[unmarred]

"I imagine it was still inconvenient. But yes, well done, I am definitely thinking about you naked now."

[bitterchill]

"Hilariously inconvenient. And you can't see it, but in my head I'm doing a little victory dance now. Naked."

[unmarred]

"I can picture it very clearly."

[bitterchill]

"I'm glad! You have a usefully vivid imagination. Hopefully a generous one, too."

[unmarred]

"Is accurate an acceptable alternative?"

[bitterchill]

"Synonymous, in fact."

[unmarred]

He laughs.

[bitterchill]

Ari laughs with him. He's pretty sure this is the "what a charming human" laugh, not the "what an amusing joke" laugh. He'd go with the latter too, but he might feel impelled to defend his honor.

[unmarred]

It is, it is the what-a-charming-human laugh! Ari is a very charming human. At least to Mark.

[bitterchill]

Ari likes to think he's universally a charming human! A charming mostly-human, at least. Perhaps a mostly-charming mostly-human. Some proportion of charming to human, at least.

[unmarred]

A charming humanoid.

"So how frequent is it for people to be dropped or dragged into this world from some other one?"

[bitterchill]

"Oh, happens from time to time. Generally it's the other direction, though, some idiot reads aloud from the wrong book and gets sucked into some hell dimension or other. I was born here, so it was easier to send me back. Getting somebody into this world usually takes a convergence or a prophesy or something. Your cult may have been taking advantage of something of the sort, if what you're implying is you're from some other world."

[unmarred]

"In my home universe, it's the thirtieth century and there are neither demons nor magic. But apart from that, this Earth's history is recognizable. I can't think of a reason why they might have been aiming for me specifically, and they definitely seemed surprised at what they got, but maybe it wasn't that sort of prophecy-or-something."

[bitterchill]

"Sounds more like a convergence, then. Thirtieth century, nice! Do you have lasers? Robots? Clones?"

[unmarred]

"You have lasers," he points out. "And I'm not sure you don't have robots, although ours are probably better. I'll give you the third one as a legitimate future advancement, though. I'm a clone myself."

[bitterchill]

"Ooh, nice! There's probably a whole thing about respectful terminology and I just called you some horrible slur, didn't I. I mean no offense, I am a primitive barbarian etcetera. Do you know the person of whom you... are... of? And I meant laser guns! Or laser swords, I guess. And our most advanced robot, as far as I can tell, can climb stairs."

[unmarred]

"Technically no laser guns, although we have do plasma arcs, which are probably just as impressive. I've met him. It was a memorable occasion. Clone-progenitor relationships vary, but Miles considers me his brother."

[bitterchill]

"Plasma arcs sound cool. Also, awwww. Siblings are cute. Is he gonna wonder where you are, should I pester all my witchy friends about ways to return summoning victims to their native worlds?"

[unmarred]

"I'm sure he'll wonder where I am. So will the intelligence service he works for. They can go on wondering for the time being. I like Miles, but as of my summoning last week I wasn't sure I ever wanted to talk to him again. It's complicated."

[bitterchill]

"Your complicated clonebrother, the spy. Are you aware that you live an interesting life?"

[unmarred]

"You don't know the half of it."