singillatim | Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man

Jessica decided to live half and half with the towns, mainly because of the job she gave herself as. With people learning of new supplies to Lakeside, somebody needs the unpleasant job of taking things from Lakeside to Milton and back again. It was the kind of job she just volunteered herself to do, lacking any ambition or idea to do anything else. When she gone to Milton to deliver her packages, she stayed at the Community Center. The next night she will spend her time checking on people to see if they have anything they want delivered to Lakeside as she return home. The few days later she will return to Milton and repeat.

Community Center

Jessica didn’t have much to do in the Center. She can’t cook meals because cooking dead flesh was honestly the worst and made it pretty clear she can’t handle it. But when she wasn’t busy with her job she helped cleaning up the place. It was boring shit, boring than Bon Temps, but it gave her something to do. Sometimes she mulled over things, about home, about here, and what to do about it. And one day, a thought occurred to her and she spoke out loud, without thinking of a reply: “There wouldn’t be a library in this town, would it?”

Around Town

The goddamn fog was the biggest pain the ass for her. While being dead meant she wasn’t as breathless as the others were, it was still strong enough to make her weak and feel like she was too close to fire. Absolutely maddening.

Still, this was the job she basically forced herself to do, so she’s doing it even if the weather sucked ass. It’s why she’s knocking on a random door. Another downside: she really needed a post office. Now she’s sympathizing all the mailmen that come to her home, back when she was alive and a complete brat.

When the door opens, Jessica perks up with a smile. “Hey! I’m heading over to Lakeside tonight, so if there’s any things you want delivered over there I’ll be happy to help.”

Wildcard

[ pick whichever and whatever, as long as it’s sundown! ]

Peter really hasn't settled so much as found a place to sleep that was out of the way and could give him the space to think. During the day, he goes out, walks around, does what he can to acclimate but his thoughts tend to creep in at night, making it a little dangerous for him to go out, distracted as he was.

So, he tucks himself away in a random home and reads a book that he's found around. It's burned, missing pages and not all that good but it gives him something to do.

Until...he hears a knock. First time that's happened. Peter gets to his feet and goes to the door, pausing. Then, he laughs at himself because a person eating monster wouldn't knock. He opens it.

"Oh, hey." He's seen her around, he thinks, but hadn't expected an offer like that. "Lakeside at night?"

“Yeah, I know, it’s weird,” Jessica said with an embarrassed laugh. In hindsight, she should have try to set up a post office somewhere instead of knocking on stranger’s doors like a lunatic. God, she’s so dumb. Still, she plunges on. “In the middle of nowhere, there’s not much of way of jobs that can be all nighters. But I can’t go out during the day, so I’m just making the best I can get.”

"Hey, no judging on my part."

Maybe some people are night owls. That's what he assumes when she says she can't go out during the day before he thinks about it a little more closely.

"Sun allergy?"

Jessica bark out a laugh. “Oh, you have no idea. I burn up so badly.”

She’s not one to hide her vampirism. Back home vampires been out of the coffin for years now. But here is not home and she’s still a little shy on revealing it. But she does plan to come out…eventually.

“Maybe I should make a post office?” She said, tentatively. “I’m kinda pulling things out out of my ass here. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

"Hey, you and me both."

They were in the same boat there. He laughs a little and then steps aside.

"Did you want to come inside for a second instead of standing out here? No use in just haunting the doorstep."

Jessica paused for a moment, recognizing an invitation. “Sure,” she said with a small smile. “I guess I can hang out for a bit.”

Inside the home seemed like any other house here: rustic and clearly used. She wondered what happened to the people who first built this house. “How long have you been here?”

"Uh, not too long. Like at all. Still getting used to this place. Still waking up and not realizing that I'm not where I was."

His nightmares had been mostly quiet for a few weeks now but he knows that they're bound to return sooner rather than later. He shuts he door behind her.

"I'm Peter. Did I say that already? If I did, sorry."

“Yeah, it’s the same with me. I wake up and wonder why it’s so cold in Louisiana until I remember where I am.”

Her nightmares was always on the monster came into town. She will never ever forget the terror she felt when the sky turned green.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t say my name. I’m Jessica.”

"Nice to meet you."

He nods, stepping further into the beat up house. It's dark and there's not a lot of furniture but he does offer her a chair that he'd found.

"I'm from New York. Never been down to Louisana but I've heard there's good seafood. And, uh, that it's hot."

He doesn't know a lot about the place, it seems.

Jessica can’t help but laugh. “Oh. Hot doesn’t even cover it. I heard it being described as someone soaking a towel in hot water and slapping it on your lungs. It’s ain’t the heat that kills ya, it’s the humidity.”

She tugs on a strand of dirty red hair. “Still, from the Big Apple? That’s a girl’s dream, especially if she’s from the middle of nowhere, Louisana.”

"Yeah, it's...well, it's definitely big. Lots to do, lots of people, lots of chances to get run into when you're just trying to take a walk."

There was always someone out at night in New York.

"It's the city that never sleeps for a reason. But I would recommend sleep. It's kind of needed to deal with some of the people there."

Randvi is sitting by the fire reading her book when she hears a knock at the door. A surprising number of people in Milton prefer to operate at night, even in this fog.

The young woman at the door is doing a good turn, though. Randvi herself is avoiding courier work until the fog clears.

“I have some of Heartman’s talismans, if you’d like to bring those. Come in for a moment while I get them, you must be frozen.”

“Talismans?”

Jessica only knows of them as the gimmicky voodoo stuff people in New Orleans sell to tourists. She entered, quietly acknowledging the invitation.

“So, uh, where in Lakeside you want to put the talismans at? Or delivered to whom, I should ask.”

“There is a creature here that hunts us,” Randvi says, pulling the door closed behind her guest. “It has killed five of us in the past four months. Methuselah says that the people of this land had a warding talisman against it, and I have been helping Heartman to craft them.”

She gestures to a stone charm hanging among her other beads. It features a diamond shape inside a broken circle, the break bisected by a line of dried blood.

“There is an office located near the cabins. That may be the best location for access. We do not know whether this creature ventures to Lakeside, but I would rather not find out through reports of more deaths.”

“Oh yeah, the Darkwalker, that’s what it’s called?” Hard to forget. “I know it killed some people living in the church. I saw the sky go green and everything that night.”

Jessica observed the charm closely. “I guess it’s better than nothing. I been to the office in Lakeside. I know where it is.”

Although…

“Are you gonna give these talismans to every house, by any chance?”

“The moon disappeared. I have never seen anything like that.” She had never felt anything like that either, the terror.

“I hope to have more than one for every home eventually, but they do take time to construct. I don't think I have enough yet. Did you have an idea?”

“Well, there’s a forge and a whole lot of stuff in Lakeside,” Jessica pointed out. “I don’t know what it takes to make these things, but there are a ton of tools that can make the process easier. There’s a girl named Ruby who is basically living there right now. Last I saw before coming here she’s trying to get the forge working.”

Lakeside is God’s gift as far as Jessica is concerned. Mainly for her, as she knew having a starving vampire as a roommate would be disastrous for Milton, so able to claim free real estate in Lakeside was a big sigh of relief.

“Oh, yes. Ruby the young huntress.” Randvi had attended her whimsical little party when she had still been living in Milton. “I don't know whether she works with stone, but she could certainly be a help to us if she does.”

“Well, she seems to know what she’s doing,” Jessica mentioned off hand. “And a lot of the equipment there look like they can work with stone as well as steel. Maybe if you write down instructions, I can send them over to her and see what she can make?”

Jessica can’t do much lately. She can’t hunt worth anything and she hated to tend to dead bodies. She knows a little of sewing but not by much. So far this gig she made up seem to be the only thing that give her some purpose around here.

“Or I can try my hand at them, if you want.”

“This is a situation where I don't think it is possible for too many people to be working on a project.” The Darkwalker is the biggest threat they currently face.

“I would recommend visiting Heartman before you leave for Lakeside. He can show you the technique he uses.”

Edited (Wording) 2024-05-08 05:17 (UTC)

Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man

MILTON

Around Town

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Around town

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