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Post by Krepta on Jul 7, 2011 13:22:30 GMT -5
As Krepta stepped gingerly from Maurice's arms, he spoke once more, and what he said made her go suddenly silent. She looked at him quietly for a moment, then offered a small smile before turning and heading toward the entrance to Denny's. "Thank you, Maurice. That means more to me than you could ever know." 'You're a good person,' wasn't something Krepta often heard these days, and she had long ago resolved to do what she believed in no matter what other people though of her. She realized faintly though, that she did care what Maurice thought of her, and it was important to her that what he thought was good.
Sentiments aside though, she couldn't go walking into Denny's dressed in a fur coat, and as much as she loathed to expose herself so readily, it was human time. And so, with a heavy sigh, she took another step forward and began to swell rapidly in size. Sleek black fur melted swiftly away to the soft pink of human skin, in another step, and with one more, paws, ears, whiskers and tail were gone, to be replaced by a head of coppery brown hair and the first faint signs of clothing. By the time she had reached to the door, she was fully human and glancing over her shoulder at Maurice to make sure he was following. "Thanks for this too," she told him. Her belly would thank her more, especially since she was quickly beginning to shed the new weight she had put on after she had settled in her old home a little more. It wouldn't be long until one could see her ribs again. All part of the deal unfortunately.
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Wolfy T. Twisted
Rookie
"...and then she stabbed me. I don't even know."
Posts: 33
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Post by Wolfy T. Twisted on Jul 7, 2011 14:01:12 GMT -5
"I just say what I know." Maurice grinned lopsidedly and shoved his hands in his pockets. Instantly he regretted it as his injured arm brushed his side. Aaghglghl. He looked away when she shifted because it just felt like the polite thing to do and then shouldered the door open. "Order whatever you want. Don't go bein' all bashful either, I know you're hungry. I can hear your guts."
He ached to help her out, but providing crappy Denny's food was all he felt he could do beyond putting her up at his own place for a few days. To him, she looked like she needed a good night's sleep. He thought about offering once they were seated. He didn't know how quickly she needed to get back to her base.
He wondered just how different this New York was from the one he would have reached had he driven. Maurice accepted the Multiverse a little better than most. He understood that there were other Maurices and Kreptas out at other Denny's with minute details changed. Perhaps that Krepta's eyes were blue or that Maurice had taken French in college for a semester instead of trig. Or maybe they were sentient gym socks.
Don't mind him, he's just spacing out over here.
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Post by Krepta on Jul 7, 2011 21:12:52 GMT -5
Krepta chuckled and followed him to a seat. "You may regret that," she said jokingly with a grin. "I can eat a lot." And she certainly could. While she didn't have to say, eat enough for a dragon in her human form, she did usually eat more than the usual human being if she could. It took of energy to shapeshift after all, and she was part dragon. You would think that being part reptile would have granted her a slower metabolism, but no, all that fire-making wasn't free. Either way, she was starved.The smell of cooking food in the nearby kitchen was enough to drive her nearly wild! She would have to come back and raid the kitchen when it was closed-- see if she couldn't find some less perishable foods, and maybe Lobo would eat some sausages or something. He wanted cigars too. As if that was going to happen! She couldn't stand those things. If he wanted he could smoke the sausages.
"Thanks Maurice, for everything. For dinner, for being a good friend-- for everything." She smiled faintly and self-consciously brushed off her shirt. She didn't belong in a restaurant... she looked like an utter wreck. They'd just have to deal with her though. She could care less if they all stuck up their noses at her. "It really means a lot to me."
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Wolfy T. Twisted
Rookie
"...and then she stabbed me. I don't even know."
Posts: 33
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Post by Wolfy T. Twisted on Jul 7, 2011 23:33:07 GMT -5
"Nope!" he challenged her. He wouldn't regret it. He wouldn't flinch when Krepta ordered and if anyone gave them the stink-eye for looking less than presentable, he'd unashamedly show them his mouthful of steak knives. City people! So rude!
"I just wish I could do more for you. You and April pulled me out of a rough spot. I might never be the vampire Ven seems to want me to be, but I think I do alright." He could have done a whole lot worse. Like instead of giving that man in the car a nasty concussion, he could have just taken his head clean off. He thought about that darkly to himself and scrunched up a napkin in one hand. "I owe you!"
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Post by Krepta on Jul 8, 2011 20:59:58 GMT -5
Krepta chuckled and scanned the menu shyly. She wasn't used to people buying things for her-- well, aside from Sol and her uncle, and occasionally Viro took her out for pizza, but that all had been a very long time ago. She had been a kid now-- she wasn't a kid anymore. She didn't expect-- well, she didn't expect much from anybody, really. "I didn't do anything Maurice," she said with a small smile, "You're stronger than you think. You pulled yourself outta that hole." She settled on the largest breakfast dish she could find-- it had steak tips in it-- she loved steak tips. "Anyhow, Ven wouldn't be harassing you if he didn't think you had potential. Ven's a creeper like that. I... I think he genuinely cares about you though." She didn't like Ven, but... he was good for Maurice and she knew it.
She eyed him for a moment quietly. There was potential there, and she knew it too. Ven was a frightening man, but he was no fool. He knew what he was doing. And in this time of desperation, she might just have to follow his lead. "There is something you can do to help though, if you're willing to take the risk..." she started slowly. "There's something happening to the dragons... Something bad. Innocent people are getting hurt, and someone else is causing it. I don't know how or why, but something is summoning creatures of Faerie here and driving them mad. I have a few leads, but I'm on my own at the moment... I haven't been able to sleep lately because I have to keep watch. If you wanted to stay... I could keep an eye out for you in the daytime, and you could keep watch at night..." It was entirely up to him though, and she wasn't sure he'd even accept. There was more to it than that though-- Krepta was lonely, and Maurice was the only friendly face she had seen in well... a couple of years, really. "That's why I'm here, by the way. What ever it is that's doing this dragged me here too. I can't get home." Not that she necessarily wanted to though.
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Wolfy T. Twisted
Rookie
"...and then she stabbed me. I don't even know."
Posts: 33
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Post by Wolfy T. Twisted on Jul 11, 2011 14:57:39 GMT -5
"I distinctly remember you picking me up." Maurice grinned and lifted a claw.
As Krepta spoke, his grin faded away. He listened and tried to imagine the things she told him. If dragons were going crazy in these big cities, it wasn't going to stay off the news for very long, no matter how many people they had on watch. Unless they pulled some fancy Men in Black memory wiping.
"Well what d'you mean by say? I go back to work in a week." Perhaps, while Krepta slept in the day, he could do his sight-seeing at night after all and keep an extra eye open for Faerie shenanigans. It sounded scary, but Krepta was his friend. And it wasn't like she was asking him to play Batman. The girl needed sleep. You died if you didn't get enough sleep. "What do I do if I see anything?"
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Post by Krepta on Jul 16, 2011 11:50:24 GMT -5
Krepta sighed a bit. She tended to forget that Maurice was an ordinary guys. Ordinary guys didn't give up life and limb to save the world. Ordinary guys didn't take off work to fight dragons. She wished she could make it clear to Maurice that every hero was once an 'ordinary guy', it was the fact that, unlike everyone else, they could do something that set them apart. Or perhaps it was that they would do something. She herself would love to just up and quit. To get a job, settle down, marry, have kids, and forget about this life and its horrors. If she did that though, people would die. She did what she did so that they could live their lives. Maybe someday, when the world was a better place, she would too. Meanwhile, she was just an ordinary person doing extraordinary things because she was stubborn enough to put her foot down and tell the evil of the world to take a hike. She knew that sense of goodness was there in Maurice, she just wished that he could see what she saw. "I guess it depends on the situation," she said at last. "For the time being, I think, don't engage. Come find me and I'll take it on." She had confidence in Maurices raw abilities, but they lacked the training that went along with them. Maybe if Maurice went the right way, someday along the line he could take on a dragon by himself, but today was not this day. "I don't know how to break them out of it yet-- or if I even can, but the least I can do is restrain them and keep them safe and comfortable. Maybe I can get the Justice League to pick them up. I spoke to a member, so it's understood-- at least, I hope it is-- that they're sentient beings and that this isn't their faults. There's a telepath on board." She shuddered minutely. "Maybe he can help them. Doctor Fate maybe too. If there's even a Doctor Fate in this dimension. I don't know. Everything is so... different, but so much is the same too. I'm having a little trouble adjusting, I think." And then, thank god, the food came. Food, glorious food. She knew Maurice wouldn't care and she set right to stuffing her face. The warm, buttery pancakes drove home immediately just how hungry she had been and she closed her eyes in sheer bliss. Who knew someone could appreciate a humble pancake so much. They were damn good pancakes though.
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Wolfy T. Twisted
Rookie
"...and then she stabbed me. I don't even know."
Posts: 33
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Post by Wolfy T. Twisted on Jul 20, 2011 23:58:45 GMT -5
"Well...how do I find you? Do you got a phone? I think I can buy you a few day's sleep at least." Maurice could never be what this city called a Hero. He'd tried to be a Hero once upon a time and all it got him was screwed in the end. Never again.
He was content to watch Krepta enjoy herself without any worry of debt. If he couldn't be a Hero, he'd be a Friend. That was almost as good, right?
While Krepta ate, Maurice tugged his coat off and looked at his banged up arm. It still stung and he'd need to change the bandages soon. He hoped there weren't teeny bits of glass lodged deep in his arm somewhere. Could you get sick from that? Could a vampire? He wondered what that guy he clobbered was doing now. Probably getting his nose re-set. Hrmf.
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Post by Krepta on Jul 22, 2011 17:54:44 GMT -5
Krepta shook her head. "No, no phone I'm afraid. Not here at least. Not yet. I'm staying in... ah, a warehouse in Gotham. I wouldn't ask you to stay there, but... There's room if you want. I just need a few days rest." It was true. You could tell by looking at her that it had been a long time since she had had proper sleep. It was hard to tell in her dragon form, but the human Krepta's skin was paler than usual, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked sick. She eyed the arm and winced. That didn't look comfortable at all. "What did you say did that again," she asked, reaching out to gently touch the edge of the bandage. "I've got some medical supplies back in my back that I... picked up. I could probably get you patched up a little better than that." If there was one thing she had practice with, it was patching up wounds-- usually on herself. "At the very least we can get you some pain killers."
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Wolfy T. Twisted
Rookie
"...and then she stabbed me. I don't even know."
Posts: 33
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Post by Wolfy T. Twisted on Jul 22, 2011 22:33:54 GMT -5
Maurice thatched his fingers together. "But that don't answer my question...how do I find you if I'm wandering around Central Park and see a dragon flip a van or something?"
He didn't trust himself to sit on her warehouse roof in Gotham and look for 'badguys'. Knowing his twitchy streak, the first man who happened by and had the misfortune of looking like like Crane would end up strewn across a back-alley. The squishy little vampire held a mighty hate inside him.
"It'll heal up...but I wouldn't mind some pain killers." Maurice leaped awkwardly over her question to how it happened in the first place.
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Post by Krepta on Jul 27, 2011 21:17:50 GMT -5
Krepta grimaced. Oh, right. This could be a problem. She sat back and shook her head, brow furrowing. She, being where she was and in the state she was in, was lacking in money. Cellphone cost money. On top of that, cellphones could be tracked. She frowned deeply, thinking. "Well, I can't get a cellphone here... Too easy for people to find me, but..." she furrowed her brow again. "You can go home and back at will too. If I got you the money, could you pick me up a cellphone there? I don't think people here can track cellphones made in entirely different dimensions." She wasn't sure if she was in trouble yet for the supplies she had... procured, but she wasn't going to take any chances. Batman might be more lenient in terms of her situation-- he had always seemed to have a soft spot for the hard luck cases-- but that wasn't so much the same for the other heroes. Not to mention the mysterious entity that had brought her here in the first place. She nodded a bit at his acceptance of her help. It was good to see he was more willing to accept it these days. But when he didn't answer her second question she frowned. Slowly though, that frown turned into an amused smirk. "Maurice, what did you do," she prompted, trying not to laugh. One didn't get that kind of wound from an attack or a fight. You got that kind of wound by shoving your arm through windows. So he had likely either fallen into something and it was embarrassing, or he had done something he wasn't supposed to and put his arm through a window. She was curious now.
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Wolfy T. Twisted
Rookie
"...and then she stabbed me. I don't even know."
Posts: 33
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Post by Wolfy T. Twisted on Jul 28, 2011 4:22:45 GMT -5
Maurice rubbed the side of his head. Though HE was okay at using his own phone despite the ungodly amount of butt-texts he'd sent to his friends by accident from falling off stuff, he'd had somebody else set it up for him.
"I wonder if I can find us some walkie-talkies...I think I probably could. They'd be perfect for just the week." They were simpler to use too. They had like...four buttons. Maurice suddenly imagined Krepta as a big red dragon talking into a tiny walkie-talkie in her clawed hands and snorted.
That snort turned into a cough when she brought up the how and when of his injury. His mouth became a grim wobbly line as he found something else to look at. "I was hit by a car. Again."
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Post by Krepta on Jul 29, 2011 20:49:49 GMT -5
Krepta nodded. "That might work," she said in agreement before cleaning the rest of the food off of her plate. "I don't think people can track walkie-talkies, and if they can, it's not easily." She tugged self consciously at her shirt again. "I really appreciate this." She gestured to the empty plate. "All of this, I mean. I was starving." Literally. When Maurice mentioned that he had been hit by a car, her eyebrows climbed up into her hairline. Again? She didn't remember the first time, but she wasn't surprised. Maurice seemed to be... accident prone. "Maurice, you've never been to a big city before, have you?" She shook her head, trying not to look too amused. "They will run you over here. Why do you think people cross in mobs?" Still, she was worried about her friend. The arm didn't look broken, but... "Did you at least tell the guy off," she asked, wondering at the same time if vampires even could break bones? Did they heal up straight away after if they did? What if the bone healed wrong? Did they have to rebreak it?
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Wolfy T. Twisted
Rookie
"...and then she stabbed me. I don't even know."
Posts: 33
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Post by Wolfy T. Twisted on Jul 29, 2011 21:39:58 GMT -5
Then the plan was set! Maurice would find them some walkie-talkies. He knew there'd be a Radio Shak or something of that sort around here. He smiled tiredly as she thanked him. "Think nothin' of it. I can't stand the thought of my friend goin' hungry."
The vampire puffed himself up a little. "Daggit Switch is a pretty big city! It takes up a whole island..." ISLAND, Maurice. Island. Those are small. "This guy just-- I don't even know." He dropped his chin into his hand. "Yeah, I kicked his bumper good. Anyway..."
Now that his friend wasn't going to turn inside out and he had a mission...Maurice guessed it was time to start part one of that mission. STEP ONE: Acquire cool radios. STEP TWO:...look for...rampaging dragons.
It didn't sound too complicated.
He stood. "You ready to go?"
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Post by Krepta on Jul 31, 2011 23:06:36 GMT -5
Krepta looked amused once again. Maurice had a lot to learn, despite being older and a vampire. It was kind of refreshing to be the knowledgeable one for once. Even if it was just over the fact that New York was far bigger and more dangerous than any old island. And that cars and drivers in New York might as well be rabid animals to avoid. "I'm ready when you are," she said with a smile, pushing her plate away from herself. "Before we reach Gotham though, I've got to make a quick stop." She grimaced. "It might be bloody, I'm just warning you. ...I need a cow." A few quick stops at some convenience stores were not going to feed both her and Lobo, and she was coming to realize that. She needed something bigger, and she was willing to bet that that meat-hook of his was good for more than just bounty hunting. She was going to make him boil that thing though... "I hope you don't mind." She knew Maurice could be a bit squeamish, but she wasn't sure how squeamish.
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