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]

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."

[bitterchill]

"I'm sure I don't. Did you live in space? Because space is cool, and living in space could make anyone more interesting."

[unmarred]

"No, I missed that one. But I was created for a substitution plot against Miles aimed ultimately at assassinating key members of his family and becoming emperor of his planet, that's got to count for something, right?"

[bitterchill]

"Sounds adventurous! Though probably not very pleasant. I'm glad you didn't assassinate your complicated clonebrother, that sounds even less pleasant."

[unmarred]

"Yeah. I wouldn't have liked it. And the man behind this plot also secretly meant for my coup to result in a long and bloody civil war ending ultimately in my assassination or public execution, which I wouldn't have liked either."

[bitterchill]

"Gah. You're well out of that, I think."

[unmarred]

"Yeah."

[bitterchill]

Ari continues walking. Idly, he counts the graveyards. Presumably Mark's crypt is in Danforth Cemetary IV, off at the far side of town. He wonders which crypt it is? Uncomfortable... Maybe the Ashworth mausoleum? That one's been empty ever since K'z'yx passed of chitin rot, and it was quite a mess for a while. Plus the windows face the sunrise, and you can board them up but you don't want to have to.

[unmarred]

So: an extended silence in which to contemplate his choices. Exactly what Mark didn't need.

[bitterchill]

Ari is blissfully oblivious! However, Mark may have noticed that he is always willing to prattle on about nothing in particular if prompted to do so. Ari is currently, for some reason, under the impression that Mark seems like the kind of "speak when you have something to say" person who is bored by idle chatter.

[unmarred]

After a minute or so, he comes out with, "So what sort of creature is a Kal'Shakk demon?"

[bitterchill]

"Very big, for one thing. Well, they look very big, actually they're sort of a fleshy oyster-thing in a massive rock suit. Peaceful society, for the most part, they live in cavern-palaces on their home plane and eat crystals. They have power over earth and stone, which I get a bit of-" he picks up a rock and, concentrating, turns it into a picture-perfect robin- "and human crosses get strength and toughness and that whole package. That's true of most half-demons, human blood plays very nicely with demonic."

[unmarred]

"Nice trick. Very pretty."