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Johanna has elected to spend the night after that little mattress-shopping episode getting very drunk and seeing if there's any available ladies in this town. There seems to be exactly one bar not frequented by demons (she's not prejudiced, but she'd rather not land a mantis-woman for a one-night stand), so she stops in for a pint.
Her search is unsuccessful; there's a couple of gay teen witch-girls, but she's not keen on sleeping with someone who could be her grandniece, and anyway they seem less than interested in her slightly dusty charms. She gets miserably drunk, sobers up miserably with a whispered invocation, and makes her miserable way home.
...She spots someone lurking, out the corner of her eye. She knows from lurking, it was a whole unit in Watcher training. That is a vampiric lurk. Recalling last night's incident, she decides to investigate. From her purse, she retrieves an unobtrusive spraycan of sanctified Mace, and she strolls very casually into the occupied alleyway.
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bishopric
bishopric
She tosses over a glossy, uneven sphere of obsidian on a golden chain. "There's that for you, and I'm off. Thanks for your cooperation, you've been a lovely audience, five of five."
burning-gold
"Yeah, nice being threatened by you," he says agreeably, catching the sphere and tucking it into a pocket.
bishopric
Johanna puts her bag back over her shoulder and backs away cheerfully, only putting the can at her side at ten feet away. She then strolls out of the alley resolving to figure out what in God's green hell is going on in this town. And to ask Chris about those magic lessons. She has a feeling she might need some quick-twitch firepower.
rockdove
Elsewhere in town, Ari is out patrolling. Well, mostly he's walking around while yawning and drinking from a fuckoff-sized cup of coffee. He's been targeted by three separate packs of demons who thought he'd make an easy mark while he was off his game, who very quickly decided that being tired does not make Ari fight slow so much as it makes him fight mean. There are some very unhappy piles of primary-colored giblets in the back alleys of Sunnydale tonight.
Goddamn Mark, being excessively cute and great and throwing him off his sleep schedule. Or, glorious wonderful Mark, but also goddamn Mark.
rockdove
"Ma-" Ari begins, before a jaw-crackingly enormous yawn rips free from his mouth. "Mark. Hi! What's up?"
unmarred
"You look fucking exhausted, is that my fault? Also that bitter middle-aged woman from the mattress shop is interrogating stray vampires about us, thought you should know."
rockdove
"Eh, wouldn't say it's your fault. My fault for going to sleep at a human hour due to you being excessively great, really. Also, that's not good, but... who? All I really remember from the mattress shop is mattresses and kissing."
unmarred
"Were you not paying any attention to your surroundings? She kept glaring at us for unclear reasons, which I initially assumed were related to me climbing all over you in public, but then just now I overheard someone threatening a vampire and it was her. Neither of them seemed to have a clue who I was, which isn't surprising, but he told her you're a half-demon and that you've been threatening the local vampires to get them to quit eating people, and she gave him a pendant that makes shadows cooperative - or at least that's what she claimed it did - and left. Oh, and her pet theory seems to be that I've hypnotized you somehow with my psychic vampire powers. Do I have psychic vampire powers? I haven't noticed any."
rockdove
"I pay attention to my surroundings when I'm on patrol. I've got a good reaction time, if a Par'tak had leapt at us from behind a bedframe I'd've had it halfway through the floor before it could do anything. And that's some pretty basic information, really; saying 'half-demon' is like saying 'mammal'. Vampires have been known to have psychic powers, but there's only a handful of recorded cases less than a millennium old. So, possible, but unlikely."
unmarred
"Good. I would be very upset if all this turned out to be because of psychic vampire powers."
rockdove
"Aw." That merits a kiss. The kiss turns into a yawn halfway in, but it's the thought that counts. "I don't think they happen unconsciously, anyway. And this whole thing definitely doesn't ring of mindfuckery, Sally can confirm this is totally in character."
unmarred
"Oh good." Kiss! "So should I find out what the hell's going on with that woman?"
rockdove
"Yyyyyyeah. If she can casually pay people with shadow artifacts, and she's suspicious of us, and she's confident enough to interrogate stray vampires... Best to keep an eye on her, I think."
rockdove
"I'd offer to take you along on the rest of patrol, but that's how I got into this mess in the first place. So... kisses and then stalking?"
unmarred
"Fiiiiine..."
He gives Ari one more kiss, and then vanishes into the night. He is very good at vanishing, is Mark.
He gives Ari one more kiss, and then vanishes into the night. He is very good at vanishing, is Mark.
bishopric
Johanna makes her contemplative way back to her fairly nice Council-supplied apartment. Unlike Ari, she's always aware of her surroundings. It's a Watcher thing.
unmarred
Not aware enough, however. And easy enough to catch up to.
So now he knows where she lives. Pity he'd have a hard time breaking in. That may be the single most annoying fact about vampirehood; even the sunlight problem doesn't constrain where he can go, just when.
So now he knows where she lives. Pity he'd have a hard time breaking in. That may be the single most annoying fact about vampirehood; even the sunlight problem doesn't constrain where he can go, just when.
bishopric
Johanna is fond of this particular annoying fact! It's quite helpful, in her line of work.
She considers calling Chris about... magic. She'd probably be asleep by now, being a normal person. Disappointing. Entirely for professional reasons, of course. Extremely professional.
She tips her head backwards with an inarticulate noise of frustration. Good God, she needs to get laid.
She considers calling Chris about... magic. She'd probably be asleep by now, being a normal person. Disappointing. Entirely for professional reasons, of course. Extremely professional.
She tips her head backwards with an inarticulate noise of frustration. Good God, she needs to get laid.
unmarred
Mark is unaware of the broader context, but he thinks perhaps the mystery woman is having personal troubles of some kind. Well, she can keep 'em. Now, can he locate her name in a building directory of some kind? Why yes! Yes he can. For whatever good that will do him. This whole century is annoying. On any civilized planet he'd already be reading her bank statements.
bishopric
Bank statements perhaps no, but he can very likely find out a few things. Notably, she's from England; her background is somewhat foggy even considering the primitive recordkeeping; and she moved into her apartment very recently. Very, very recently.
On the same day that he was summoned into this world.
On the same day that he was summoned into this world.