Summary:A warrior of Asgard happens upon the Vampire Queen of New York. Weapons are drawn, blood is drawn, and digits are shared. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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Over Staten Island, a rather unusual sight can be seen… well, maybe not so unusual…
(It IS New York, after all…)
A warrior woman, clad in gleaming chainmail, riding a white winged horse. She looks a bit preoccupied, angling her horse in the general direction of Brooklyn. Her eyes occasionally glance downward, on the off chance there's any possible problems that a Valkyrie might be needed to break up… but what are the odds of that?
There is a sound of scuffling, very LOUD scuffling, from the small unofficial park (someone's work at re-purposing an empty lot into a small park, complete with concrete walkway between the grass. A rather muscle-bound guy rolls out into the sidewalk near the street. He gets up, looking back with a look of cold fear, then runs like all the demons of Hell.
Dani does see that happening, and guides her horse down towards that spot, looking a bit curious. She was a bit high up to hear the scuffle, but sees the result nonetheless. Brightwind descends, landing with a bit of a clatter as his hooves hit the pavement lightly. After he's down, the Valkyrie dismounts, one hand resting on the hilt of her blade.
The scene seems almost tranquil. Two women are at the north side of the park, a women with flame-red hear and wearing Goth clothing is walking towards a woman wearing a long leather coat over what looks like a leather/PVC bodysuit. The redhead looks glassy-eyed as she stop before the raven-haired woman, then slowly tilts her head to one side, exposing the soft throat.
The woman with the long black hair seems to tremble, then moves forward, her red lips parting to reveal gleaming fangs…
They sink into the neck of the redhead, who gasps, eyes going wide…then closing to half-lidded lassitude. The redhead moans softly, huskily…
Dani blinks in surprise as, well, she's never fought the undead before, but she's seen enough movies to recognize what she's seeing. Her blade comes out quickly enough, gleaming in the dim light of the park as she shouts, "HEY!" Because… well, big guy fleeing scene, and now a vampire… if it's consentual she'll apologize later. Right now, she's advancing towards the pair, sword in hand.
At first, she doesn't see the Valkyrie advancing on her. She is too busy counting down.
15…14…
She looks up and spots Dani advancing, sword in hand. She blinks, then her left hand, the one not supporting the girl lifts, palm towards Dani, fingers cupped except for the index finger, pointed skyward.
The universal symbol of "Wait." As if she is going to talk with her mouth fulll…
Dani blinks at that, as… that wasn't something she was expecting. And well, truth be told, trying to swing her blade at a vampire with a victim in the way would be problematic, at best. So she waits a little bit, murmuring, "IF she dies, you're gonna follow her pretty fast." Dani's eyes narrow, as she waits for an opening more than an explanation…
The woman fishes in the pocket of her long coat, and then something else odd.
She pulls out a gauze pad, unwrapping it deftly with her left hand. As her mouth parts from the girl's throat, she presses the pad against her neck.
The redhead looks raptly into the dark woman's eyes. "…MORE…" she breathes.
"The vampire says sternly, "We talked about this. One pint, NO MORE. Keep asking, and I won't even give you the time of day. There are HEALTH concerns."
The redhead sighs, regretfully, then turns and sees Dani, her eyes going wide. "MISTRESS! Who is this?"
The other woman sighs. "Not sure yet. But you. Keep that pad on your neck for the next five minutes. Now go."
The redhead nods and retreats to the left of Dani and Michelle, but keeping the pad on her neck.
"Now, then…are you planning on putting that sword somewhere?"
Dani smirks, and sheaths the blade right back in the scabbard, "Apparently just back where it belongs. I don't enforce laws regarding necking in public spaces. Even if it is a bit more… literal than most." She eyes the redhead, "Nice outfit, by the way."
Then she looks back towards the vampire, "Saw the big guy running out of here, and figured I'd land to see if anything was up. And, well… most residents of Niflheim aren't quite so… concerned about health." Putting it tactfully, as she still looks a bit warily at the vampire.
"Nilfheim? Good God, I'm going to have to use GOOGLE again, aren't I?" She sighs heavily. "You must be one of those Asgardians, I suppose. The sword, the armor, the flying horse? Not very subtle." She looks to the departing redhead. "I SUPPOSE you want an explanation for all this. Well, let us be civil, at least, and open with introductions." She bows slightly. "Dr. Michelle Morbius, Ph.D., Nobel laureate in biochemistry."
Dani arches a brow, "Okay, I think I read about you in the news… something about studying genetic disease…" She smirks, "I see the Norns are filled to the brim with irony." Even though she definitely looks Asgardian, her accent seems to be classic Western Americana, probably from the Rockies. "You can call me Dani, if you like. And here's a freebie, Niflheim is the land of the dead, where draugr and all manner of nasty undead live." She doesn't look like she quite trusts Morbius, but well… girl doesn't seem entranced and the vampire is explaining things, so.
Morbius nods, listening intently. "'Nasty Undead.' Well, let me disabuse you of any misconceptions. Primarily the ones I've had to deal with in the past few weeks." She ticks them off on the fingers with the pronounced claws. "One, I do drink blood, but killing people is counter-productive. Most of the time. Yes, I have an aversion to the sun, but it's not going to turn me into a charcoal briquette. No, I do not make other vampires, but that may be only because of my procedures. I do cast a shadow and a reflection, running water and garlic don't bother me at all, and holy symbol only remind me I haven't been to church in AGES."
Dani hrms, "Okay, fair enough. And I guess she's… um, girlfriend?" A faint blush touches her cheeks, "I mean, I'm not going to judge on outfits dressed like this, but…" She ahems, and relaxes slightly, "Definitely a bit of a weird twist for my evening, I'll be the first to admit that."
Morbius sighs. "I'm NOT proud of THAT, by the way. Meet someone in a dark bar, trounce some meathead who is playacting as vampire royalty…I went into a VAMPIRE club, of COURSE…and suddenly I have this girl who wants to be my 'ghoul,' or my slave of some kind." She groans. "Suddenly i'm the Vampire Queen of New York. The upside is, there is enough blood to drink without killing some poor deluded girl who thinks I'm going to make her live forever…the downside is, I am living a double life and trying to keep them from overlapping."
Dani actually laughs at that, "See, if you had a winged horse, you just have to offer them a ride…" Her eyes glint a bit, then she chuckles, "I can see where that gets complicated. But well, it's all consentual and no one is getting hurt… maybe a little self-deluded, but not actually hurt." Well, at least they're consenting to be nibbled on, so that's… something.
Morbius begins pacing. "I didn't PLAN this, that's for sure. I…USED to suffer from a genetic disease. ALAD-deficiency porphyria. I had a dim future to look forward to, and thought I had a solution. I was desperate. When you look it up and realize what I had to look forward to, you'd be desperate, too. So…when the seizures began…I rolled the dice. In some ways, it worked. In others…" She rubs her face. "I'm not dead, or undead. I'm…something else entirely. There are some interesting symptoms. Apparently my body cannot support bacterial life. I have the cleanest mouth in the Western Hemisphere."
Dani actually moves over once Morbius starts pacing, sitting down on a bench and watching the not-quite-vampire, "Okay, that IS interesting, I have to admit. Almost sounds like a mutation of some sort, which… well, I can relate to that. Not being a proper Asgardian and all that." At least she didn't comment about the angst just yet, but then as a mutant she has no room to talk, really…
Michelle stops and looks. "You're not an Asgardian? Then how the devil did you get all…well, all THAT?" she points to the armor and sword and horse. "If you got that at an estate sale, then New York City is MUCH more interesting than I thought."
Dani laughs, "No, not even the Waynes are that loaded. Five years ago, I was living with my grandfather in Colorado and then, well, through a rather weird series of events, I ended up in Asgard." She smiles slightly, "I found Brightwind, and he chose me to be a Valkyrie, so… here I am." She gestures, "Just came back to Midg… er, New York a few months ago, I had some catching up to do." Which, well, makes sense, as she doesn't look that old, really.
"Waynes? Oh, yes. Wayne Enterprises actually provided some of my grant money." She sits down on the bench, looking not very much like the Vampire Queen of New York. "Which I'm now using to try and reverse my condition while still avoiding a resurgence of the porphyria. I've had…limited success. I have a serum which totally subverts my outward…qualities…so I look completely human. But the more I use it, the less effective it becomes, and the change…HURTS."
Dani nods, "I can only imagine…" She chuckles, "Though you do make a pretty good Vampire Queen, honestly. But I do hope you can figure out a way to reverse it… if only because no one should be stuck the way you are, right now." She tilts her head a bit, regarding Morbius with a wry expression, "If I thought magic would help… though, hrm, have you tried that?"
Michelle raised an eyebrow. "Magic? Dear, I'm a SCIENTIST. I believe in the laws of the universe, of biology, of chemistry. I am familiar enough with magic to know that I am extremely leery of a force that turns those laws into HINTS." She stands up again. "It's bad enough I have to deal with people only PLAYING as supernatural forces. I have no interest in meeting MANY of them…"
Dani snickers, "Keep in mind you're talking to a woman who has an enchanted blade and rides a horse that, by what most people here understand about physics, would not be able to fly."
Brightwind snorts at that, looking a bit offended, as Dani continues, "There's forces out there you might not be able to understand, but could possibly help. Just throwing that out there. Besides, Bradbury said 'science sufficiently advanced would just appear as magic' right?"
Michelle nods after a moment, resolving to look up that quote. "Duly noted. But such forces are not to be trifled with, and nothing is free. Even biochemists understand that much." She sighs. "I will have to soldier on with my own research. I must exhaust all avenues known to be before venturing into the unknown. I do confess to operating from a position of relative safety. My…dietary needs…are being met. In the early days, I found myself feeding on those who had attacked me…apparently, a woman who is pale and is walking alone attracts dangerous people…and resorting to purchasing stores of blood about to expire from local banks, under the pretense of using it for research." She paused. "Well, technically, it WAS research…"
Dani nods, "Yeah, can see where that would be a problem." She chuckles, "But I mean, you are a vampire. And while there's definitely a karmic debt that's going to be owed… that'll probably happen regardless, you just see it in the open with magic." She gestures, then looks back at Morbius, "For what it's worth, I hope you find a cure."
Morbius nods. "As do I." She pauses. "I must say, this is not going as I expected. Most people run into the bizarre and unexpected, they do their best ot destroy it. I do not know what you have learned in Asgard, but I do appreciate the enlightenment you seem to have cultivated."
Dani chuckles, "Well, I may have played some roleplaying games before I got swooshed to Asgard." She blushes a little, "And if you say that to anyone else, I'll totally deny it. And possibly have my horse sit on you." She shrugs, "But yeah, I've seen trolls, frost and fire giants, winged horses, demons, draugr, and gods and goddesses… one biochemist that accidentally turned herself into a not-quite-vampire and drinks only a small bit from the consenting? Seems okay to me."
Morbius chuckles, which reveals she still has the fangs. Goes with the red eyes and the talons, apparently. "I suppose if you are to keep my secret, I must keep a few of yours. But I suspect I should read some of your 'role-playing game' source material to get a handle on this whole vampire society structure. I find myself at sea with many interactions."
Dani grins, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea, just to set their expectations properly. Though it definitely seems like you have a decent handle on winging it, from what I've seen." One brow arches, considering what Dani managed to interrupt.
Morbius shakes her head again. "Trying to simply sound like Bela Lugosi isn't going to make the grade. I need to know more." She pauses. "Maybe you can tell me about your experiences playing a make-believe vampire. It might help."
Dani hmmms, "Well, it's been a few years… let me think." She shakes her head, trying to recall, "I don't really remember too much, aside from the outfits. But I guess I could dig up some information, I think I still have the books… somewhere." She blushes again, thinking about what she did, and chuckling a little.
Morbius smiles a little wider. "I can give you the address of the lab i'm working at. We would have privacy…" She looks at BrightWind. "And it's lspacious enough that your companion would not be left outside."
Dani smiles, "Alright, that sounds like a good idea. I can see if I still have them, and bring them over." She chuckles, "I don't even know if they still make the game… I'm guessing they do, since…" She gestures towards Morbius' 'pet', "Still a pretty popular subculture, I guess."
"Blame Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer for this nonsense." Morbius sounds aggrieved. "The angsty vampire that bemoans its sad face right before it slaughters someone and wax poetic about death. My worry is that if I don't shelter some of these people, others will…and will treat them shamefully."
Dani nods, "Yeah, that's pretty true. You'd have to be careful about that, for certain." She arches a brow, "Definitely makes it a bit… weird, I guess."
Morbius laughs, a soft, playful laugh. "A woman who drinks blood to live is talking to a mutant who has spent her teenage life in Asgard. I think we left 'weird' back at the starting gate." She looks around. "I should probably give you my contact information if we are going to talk again." She takes out an iPhone, tapping the screen.
Dani grins, "Good idea. Ravens are good, but a touch unreliable, so…" She pulls out a Android phone, unlocking it as she chuckles, "Not exactly how I imagined this evening going…"
Morbius looks to Dani. "Well, perhaps we can ROLEPLAY the epic battle between the holy avenger of Asgard and the demon-spawned Vampire Queen of New York City. Listeners will be awestruck. Now, give me the Asgardian 'digits' and we can part on good terms."