Conrad Roset
Closets…
Vesper hears some of the commotion, she can sense the heightened levels of anxiety in the house.
Into a closet she goes with her blanket, Mr. Pickles and one of the cats.
Emotes and Shark Girls
Hanna was detecting an odd scent in his room. It was unnerving him. No matter, he had to check his email. The wolf was happily surprised to find the hunter had written him back.
Then Hanna saw the emote.
And fell off the bed laughing.
As he shuffled to get himself straight he peered under the bed and saw a girl sleeping with one of the pets and a plush frog. He stared at her for a moment. Who was she? Where had she come from? Was she Miss Esu’s kid? She didn’t smell like Miss Esu…
Who…?
Before he could ask, the girl’s eye(s) flew open and she stared right back at him. After a few moments of the most awkward staring contest ever, the girl bolted from the room with the animals at her heels.
“What the fuck?”
Narnia
Pickles was safe…
Closets were safe…
Even at Esu’s she’d spent most of her time hiding with her stuffed frog. Under beds, tables, hiding her face in corners because if you couldn’t see them they couldn’t see you right?
Closets were the safest. Dark, warm, musty, people rarely went into closets in general, who’d look for her there?
She couldn’t remember why she was so scared all the time. But any loud noise, bark from an animal that startled her, sudden chill of wind or even if the house just got too quiet she’d be off like a silent shadow to hide.
She hadn’t even really spoken since she’d been rescued, only babbling occasionally to Mr. Pickles (her frog) in Gaelic.
She had to be quiet.
Quiet and Good and Safe.
The alien took Vesper’s hand and pulled, hauling the malnourished selkie on her shoulders. She would have tried to hold her bridal style, but she was simply too short against her. “Don’t make too much noise.” There were already vampires honing on on heartbeats, and werewolves, honing in on scents. The last thing they needed was more shrieking to draw in further attention.
She carefully made her way out the door, powerful ears waiting until the coast was mostly clear, before briskly making her way down the stairs of the apartment complex.Trying hard to obey Vesper couldn’t stop the little whines and even the occasional terrified kick that came out of her as she was jostled along over Esu’s shoulder. But she was very careful not to scream or fight. Esu was saving her, Esu would protect her and make everything okay again.
Esu had unfortunately forgot to pack her stickers. So she was stuck to her car, carefully hidden within protection and invisibility runes. She hated magic, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Once more, she made sure the coast was pretty much clear, blasting the few vampires that dared come her way. A simple ki blast from one hand left a nice little pile of dust.
She opened the passenger door of her SUV and pushed Vesper inside, stepping up to get her accommodated the buckled up. “It’s gonna be alright.” she couldn’t’ say that for the city, but she could for Vesper. She hurried around to her own side, and quickly sent a text to Falk, Vesper’s next closest friend. Scribbling a few extra protection runes on the car’s paint, and coughing up blood onto the pavement, she pulled herself in the driver’s seat.
It was time to go home.
The alien took Vesper’s hand and pulled, hauling the malnourished selkie on her shoulders. She would have tried to hold her bridal style, but she was simply too short against her. “Don’t make too much noise.” There were already vampires honing on on heartbeats, and werewolves, honing in on scents. The last thing they needed was more shrieking to draw in further attention.
She carefully made her way out the door, powerful ears waiting until the coast was mostly clear, before briskly making her way down the stairs of the apartment complex.
Trying hard to obey Vesper couldn’t stop the little whines and even the occasional terrified kick that came out of her as she was jostled along over Esu’s shoulder. But she was very careful not to scream or fight. Esu was saving her, Esu would protect her and make everything okay again.
Vesper flinched again from the sound, was it Conrad come back? Was he still angry? Oh of course he’d be angry the apartment was messy and she’d been really bad and he’d be so angry and would yell at her and maybe she’d be hurt again…
She pressed the good side of her face into her frog ignoring how the little fading bruise on her cheek hurt when she did that and rocked a little.
No… No not Conrad it was Esu. She remembered Esu, Esu had the animals and Esu was nice and gentle right? She didn’t sound angry?
“Tha… Tha mi… Tha mi dulich… Ist ist ist…” She babbled to herself and to Esu “Essu Esuu…” Calling out quietly she pushed back on the door with her foot letting it open a tiny crack so Vesper could check that it really was the Alien, as though if it was anything else she’d be able to continue hiding.
Esu’s eyes narrowed, and her head cocked to the side. Vesper’s speech was entirely lost to her, but she knew she heard her name. She kept still as Vesper cracked the door open to look, and forced her expression neutral. She wasn’t here to kill, she was here to rescue her. At her home, in the other city, Vesper would be safe. And Esu wouldn’t have to fight to keep her free will so hard.
“Come on out, I have to get you somewhere else.”
With a few huffs of breath to bolster her bravery Vesper pushed open the door a bit more and crawled out, kneeling to reach for Esu with the hand not holding onto her frog with a death grip.
“Ess… Ess…” She whined tears already leaking out of her good eye.
She was a mess, stinking of fear and a few days worth of sweat, still in the same clothes she’d worn before everything went to hell and she’d gone walking to find the other Conrad. Her face a mess of crusted tears, snot and even a little blood but nothing that a few days and a shower wouldn’t fix.
