Harry liked working in the bookstore. It suited him, surrounded by the shelves of literature. It wasn't like he'd ever done something like this before. He'd been an administrator back home. But he liked it here. It was peaceful in his mind.

Of course, working in a bookstore wasn't exactly conducive to Harry getting paid. He might have joked with Sawyer about it, but here he was with his own pile sitting on the front counter. Yes, looked like he might be in trouble. But he didn't mind, this time. This was the sort of trouble that he liked.

Faith is settling in.  Like she told Wes, it's not exactly a cozy jail cell but the village isn't that bad once she's allowed herself to get a little used to it.  Plus she's the type to roll with the punches and so she's not going to let it get her down too much. 

So she's walking near the park despite it being dark outside because it's not like she's worried about getting hurt or anything.  She's rather comfortable with the dark after all, probably more so than being outside in the middle of the day.  She didn't know if there were vampires around here but it doesn't much matter.  She's wandering around because she doesn't want to be inside anymore.

Feel free to bump into her in or around the park.

Desire was bored. It hadn't seen Justine in a while, despite the skulking it had been doing, and it was slowly running out of interesting people. The park had not been working out nearly as well as one would have hoped. Admittedly, being a bar tender was a waste of its powers too. Especially with such restrictions on its abilities while it was there. Desire was beginning to think maybe a little bit of play would be worth the trouble Draco could rain down on it.

Or that trouble might be a good reason for a little bit of play. The distinction was hard to make. Either way, a bit of messing in Hidden Frank's was becoming more and more appealing the longer Desire worked there.

Shaking that off for another time, Desire stalked away from the shop is had been lurking by. Hands tucked into its pockets and body slanted backwards slightly, it glided through the streets looking for someone - anyone - amusing.

John hummed as he walked. Things could be worse. There were things, and people, to keep him entertained here. He had a roof and good food and an entertaining job. River was well again, and in fact, he was on his way to the museum to see her.

See, he had to think these things, or he'd go stark raving mad. Every day he thought about Stildyne. Every day he thought about getting out of here, returning to a place where he could travel as he wished, the Gonebeyond, as Stildyne had called it. He missed the man, a bit desperately if he let it linger in his mind for too long.

But in this moment, he wasn't bad.

Sway packed it in after her shift at the waffle house, heading down to the garage to play bitch for Dom.  She'd complain, but ... why?  It wasn't as if she minded the work.  Hell, she was happier puttering about doing grunt work down there than she was anywhere else.  Now with the two jobs at least she was at least fully distracted again, lessening the time she had to think about ridiculous memories that she didn't need or want to give any thought to.  Though there she was, thinking that, so how much good was it doing her, really?  Well, at least she didn't have idle hands.

The blond strode into the garage with the air of someone who owned the place, though that was less her thinking she did and more of a habit.  After all, it felt like home.  Screw home being where the heart is.  Home was where the ladies were at.

When the teenage human had come to him to ask for permission to go out on a date with Renesmee, Edward suddenly realized that Charlie had in fact been quite lenient as far as Bella was concerned; Edward wasn't inclined to give permission at all.

Unfortunately, it wasn't generally considered polite to draw and quarter a teenage boy for being, well, a teenage boy and so Edward gritted his permission for the boy to take his daughter on a date, provided he was nothing but courteous and had her home early. He would be, considering Edward had bared his teeth and the boy went pale.

He'd decided to work out his frustrations in verse, claiming a table at the cafe as his own private sanctum as he scribbled furiously.

Oh, but he seethed. The nerve of this boy.

He walked like a man on a mission. And he was only it was no mission the Resistance had cooked up for him. It was Derek's own to clear his head. He had just passed by McKay's to check on John and make sure he was still okay especially after Kate's news and that talk he had with Kyle. Satisfied he was all right, Derek had told him where he was going, giving a small wave and a peek through the glass as he left the front of the repair shop.

He was headed toward the shooting range after he had already gone on his run and to the gym to let out a little bit of tension but still with too much energy. That and to think. Always was pretty good at thinking when he was releasing a bit of aggression. Don't ask him why. Just was.

As soon as he was inside, Derek grabbed for those plastic goggles and the ear muffs and checked his clip if it was full. He aimed at the target and fired in quick succession, and each one hit it right smack in the middle. Good for one who hadn't been in here a while.

Allison had gone back to carrying her gun after running into the man who looked like Gabriel but wasn't. When she came in from work, she put it back into her drawer and started to wash her hands, getting the dirt from under her nails. When that was finally done, she could pull her hair up off her neck with a band and feed Bernie.

Twenty minutes after being back in her room, she closed the door behind herself to knock on Marcus's.

Gabriel was standing at the lake at dawn after not being able to sleep much the night before. It was too quiet, he needed the noise of the city to help him unwind. If he could hear a lone cricket chirping somewhere, it was absolutely too quiet. He missed his mother, too. Not the nagging or the eccentricities, but the way she talked to herself when she did her chores. He missed it when she'd hum to herself as she arranged her snow globes for the hundredth time.

At least he had his watches though. So many clocks and watches that he could fix and sell. Well, the selling part was still in the air because he'd never been good at that. But he could sit and fix watches all day long. For now though, he was simply feeding the ducks a loaf of bread. It was too early to start the day, but too late to try and go back to bed. Even though the quiet was calm, he would have felt better if taxi cabs were whizzing by.


((slow time,but I wanted to get this up!))

There was something of a routine that had settled for his little 'family.' Jason would get up and he and David would have breakfast. Then he'd take the boy to the shop with him, or Tim would be up by then and David would stay with him. Then Jason would go to work. He'd stock shelves, or see what else had come in.

He kind of liked it. At the very least, it sure beat selling cars for Buddy Garrity. That was the God's honest truth.

He had a box of packages of something called "Smarties" that he was finding room for on the shelf, humming under his breath.

Thomas was growing worried about Justine. She was obvious not happy about something, but he couldn't work it out. He knew that her emotions were more heightened than he'd felt for a while - it was a constant fight with his demon when he was around her.

He was terrified it was a return to what she was like before he met her, and this time, he couldn't do anything to help.

He sat at the cafe early in the morning, nursing a coffee, not even bothering to hide his concern.

Puttering. The Doctor was puttering. Well, if he was stuck, it was time to fix the TARDIS. Get rid of some of the niggly little shakes and rattles. Supposed to be piloted by six people, yes, but he was on his own, and getting shaken about was getting old.

Various wires were trailed about in the console role, and he was whistling happily to himself. This was more like it.

Things got said. Heated words, on a hot July day. But there were certain -- lines drawn. A date set, even. And then there was a corner of the park, four poles hammered into a square, rope stretched on those poles.

A ring.

OH SURE, you say. There's a dojo. There is. But that's a field of honor-- and a level playing field. A place of study and focus.

This is a brawler's ring for two very specific fighters.

Raphael is in one corner, clothes disdained and hands wrapped, weapons thrust into the earth by 'his' corner. In another, Rorschach, masked vigilante, in a trenchcoat, suit, mask, had and scarf... yes, in this heat. Guy must be nuts. (Goes without saying, doesn't it?)

Family knows. Maybe it rippled through friends -- but this is another set of human rules that Raph can grasp. No genital hits. No tail punches or pulls. No subshell attacks. No unmasking. No weapons. Everything else goes. Three falls that take more then a five count to rise from and you're down. Winner -- well, winner gets to shut the fuck up and take his pride. Loser gets to try again, another time, smarter for the experience, and that's all. Nobody's a punk in this ring -- they're in it because they know the other's stronger, and they want to test their own against it.

At least: THat's how it's supposed to go. With two crazies getting into a the ring for what equates to a sunset vigilante duel, who can say?


[This post is gathering style; the main action will be Raph vs Rorschach in the 'ring', and various folks can come, watch, place bets. Please message us on AIM if you want to do something like interefere, cause a distraction at a certain point, etc! ERT KEY + AlmostAMurder @ AIM, at your service!

PS: Rorschach is in full mask + gear. He is not ginger-hobo; he's in his 'working' clothes, for those curious. There seems to have been some confusion, here to correct it now!]

(moved from Hotel : Room 399 Greyson's arrival post)

Harvey had stayed at work as long as he possibly could have tonight.

He'd sent flowers to Barbara, and a dinosaur puzzle to David as a tangible apology for his behavior over the weekend.

Bruce was ... more difficult, of course. The things Harvey remembered saying and writing to Bruce were sufficiently embarrassing that Harv (usually a very thoughtful gift giver) had trouble imagining what he could possibly choose as a peace offering to Wayne.

Especially after Bruce had slung him over his shoulder and carried him back to the hotel to keep him from doing something really, really stupid in public.

I can't believe I tried to take HIS shirt off.

Without any better ideas, Harvey stood in front of Bruce's door in the Hotel, with nothing but an apology to offer.

[OOC: The thread with Harvey and Speirs comes first. Oh dear god, the festival of awkward ...]

Robert was up early. He had much to do. He had to make sure that Newt was healthy, and had to arrange child care for her while he was at work , but most important, he had to introduce her to her new family.

He also had to do what he could to help her feel safer and more secure, and with children and other young animals that meant food. Lots of it. So Robert was up making pancakes, letting the noises and the light, and the aroma wake Newt up gently.

Laura had been at the bakery every morning at four a.m., rolling dough and getting things ready for the day. Then she worked until close and by the third day she was exhausted. There was a help wanted sign in the window but it seemed that no one was really interested. So she was praying to every God she could think of. Three employees were all she needed. Someone to come in so that she could leave after getting the doughs ready, someone to work until close and someone to work while she was on maternity leave.

Currently, she was taking a break while the afternoon crowd slowed down, and she looked as tired as she felt as she rubbed her stomach and rolled her ankles. Maybe she could have done this years ago, but doing it now while pregnant was not as easy as she told Joslire it was.

((Of course there will be NPC's if no one applies, but I thought I'd open it up to new arrivals or other prospectives first!))

It had taken her a while to gain the courage to send Will a message telling him to meet her in the woods for training. It was hard for Rei to admit the need for help. But she had swallowed her pride and now Sailor Mars stood in a clearing in the middle of the woods. It was deep enough into the woods that she felt they would have enough anonymity and the clearing was large enough for them to manoeuvrer. Mars was nervous. She hadn't really used her powers in any grand sense of the word since the Joker and the Master. It was innate in her though, she would never forget it, but she worried her strength was wavering.

(ooc: Chronologically, all other threads will happen before the one with Will ^__^)

Since his friends had vanished, James had been spending more time out of doors. Not in the typical sort of way either. No, he spent his nights in the woods, in a form only a very few here knew. That of a stag.

Prongs. It had been his nickname, given to him by his friends, and for good reason. Here, at least, he could pretend they weren't gone. That they were in the woods somewhere, running with him.

A fantasy, yes, but a necessary one at times.

The weekend had proven to be more interesting than most with many of the village acting strangely. She had helped a few people throughout and only taken fever Sunday night before the inoculations were handed out. The quality of medical care in the village continued to impress and astound her. She only wished she could bring back some of the medication back with her. So many more lives could be saved.

She had received a message from Sergeant Guarnere concerning the weekend and while she was hesitant, she decided it was only right to assure the Sergeant that mistakes, however forward they were, were bound to happen when infected with such a contagion.

Sarah walked from the hotel to the Waffle place. She wore a simple brown dress with her hair neatly up and a hat that matched. She paused outside the Waffle Place, then stepped inside. It was early in the afternoon and she wondered if the soldier would be there. Hands folded in front of her, she looked around quietly.

(ooc: Either catch her on the street or at the Waffle Place)

{Backdated to this past weekend, because Stefan needs to run into his drunk brother kthx. ;p}

The world was turning once again, and Stefan could almost feel himself flying through space right along with it.

For all the pain, the icy finger of solitude and sorrow that Elena's death had brought into his life, the reality of holding her again outside a dream was almost too much to bear. He doubted if he could ever bring himself to release her again, to tear himself from breathing in her hair or nuzzling her throat to feel the warmth of skin, the flutter of her pulse. The smell of her blood was almost inconsequential in comparison to the joy of being with her again.

...almost.

He pushed the thought aside, tugging her a little closer as Damon left them, the shadows of his departure flying from his spirit as the rest of the group dragged them into their giddy solstice dance. For just a moment, he was holding Elena's hand and moving with a freedom, a joy that stole his reason. She was better than alive, she was blessedly human and she was there, clinging to his fingers as they spun and laughed.

For just a moment, in every way that mattered...he felt human again.

In that whirlwind, he shut his eyes and gave himself over to the freedom of movement until it carried him away...so far he felt their hands slip from his grip. Fumbling, he tried to catch them again but found no purchase. Only cool air met his fingers as he stopped and caught his balance. Stock still, arms still extended, he opened his eyes.

Warm afternoon sunshine met his gaze.

Wincing, he shielded his face and stumbled back a little, breathing deep as he tried to get his bearings. He could hear voices, smell humans and other creatures he couldn't identify. He could smell animals, human food, and fresh blood all around him.

And once he cleared his vision, he saw a quiet municipal park on a sunny afternoon where darkness once reigned...where Meredith and Bonnie and Elena should have been.

Elena. No...no, not again.

"ELENA!!"