Eternal City RP

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☆ Identity Crisis (Caleb & Eleanora)

After living in Evermore for two years, Caleb could finally find his way home in the dark, which was useful seeing as he often left his studio at in the early hours of the morning, just before morning arrived in the sky. The city crossed a hub between tranquility and turbulence around 4 am. It was only in those wee hours that many creatures cared to come out of the shadows, both human and other alike. He'd learned from Giselle how to keep himself safe, but there were also others around the city who helped clean the streets of the worst crime. Many of them wore masks to protect their identity in day-to-day life and despite his gratitude for their help in keeping the human sector of Evermore free of rogue werewolves and disingenuous valkyrie, Caleb never expected to meet one face to face.There seemed to be some honor bound code between these masked individuals and citizens like himself. It kept them anonymous and him at arms length from any danger.
He had never been the type to rush head first into a fight without thinking, especially considering that by trade he was a painter, certainly not a soldier. His job was to help recreate the light and beauty that teetered on edge during the night in the city.
Only two weeks ago, during an evening seminar on the development of art in the community where he was speaking, a band of armed robbers had blasted down the front doors of city hall, demanding that everyone give up their valuables.
The ones he carried weren't obvious: a silver ring with twisted diamonds and rubies, which had belonged to his mother, now hung from a chain around his neck.However, the raiders were clearly professional and had an eye for detail. The light reflecting just so off the silver chain on his neck reflected in the visors that protected the captain's eyes.
Under the point of a gun, he'd refused to hand it over.
Perhaps, Caleb was a fool. Standing still at 4:05 in front of City Hall and feeling the absence of the stolen jewelry felt foolish. He should be in bed, at home, asleep.
It was just a ring, wasn't it? The emotion attached to the small physical object was only temporary.
Relationships, despite as he knew they ended, didn't seem like they should be temporary to him. It was hard enough to see the good in everyday life. When certain people brought it back, shouldn't they stay?
Sounds of a ruckus in the back alley drew him away from his thoughts. He would never be out on the front line, but neither would he be able to hesitate when it came to helping someone else who was -- like the Scarlett Archer. She was easy to recognise, in costume, at least, and it helped that it hadn't been Caleb's first encounter. The light from a nearby street lamp just barely illuminated two figures making an exchange. One was tiny and clothed in red and the other was tall, muscular, and wore black down to the ski mask. Every instinct told Caleb to walk, as quickly as he could, home; yet, curiosity beckoned him closer to hear what was being said. However, no words were exchanged before the large man took the slim figure of the younger woman by the throat, pulled her an arrow from her own quiver, and stuck it firmly against her chest.
The threat was obvious even to him, but unarmed, he could do nothing. Caleb could only watch as the giant of a man dropped the masked stranger into the street, and snapped her arm in two in a single crack. As he left, the alley's former darkness dissipated into the normal shadow of night.
The young woman wasn't moving.
Careful that he wasn't seen, Caleb picked up her and carried her back to his apartment a block away. The least he could do was make sure she made it through until morning.

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DhampirPermalink Reply by ✓ Eleanora Riley Nordstroem on April 4, 2020 at 21:03

She had headed into the room from before and hesitantly taken the mask off and climbed into the bed. She laid on her back for a while looking up at the ceiling, the lights weren’t on so she couldn’t see anything there but she was just processing her thoughts more than anything. She was reminded of the fact that what she did to protect the city took a big toll on her both physically and mentally, it wasn’t easy to shoulder the weight of the world so to speak and sometimes she questioned why she did it.

But then she remembered all the people who had been protected by her actions, criminals put away before they can hurt anyone or seriously damage their lives and that made it worth it. Caleb had told her tonight that he thought this city was worth fighting for and he was right, it was. But that didn’t make it any less exhausting to do so. She was hoping for sleep and it did come, but it was in pieces, periods where she would doze in and out of it between her mind overworking itself and her body reminding her she had broken a bone. As a Dhampir, you could quite literally feel the healing process doing its thing and it wasn’t the most comfortable feeling to sleep on.

Still, she was glad her body would have likely recovered enough that she could go home tomorrow and get out of Caleb’s hair. He was kind, she had told him that much but that didn’t mean she wanted to impose on his life or make him feel responsible for her. She also wanted to find a way to thank him for making sure that she survived the night. After several hours of restlessness, she had finally gotten up from the bed, putting the mask back on her face before she headed into the kitchen for a glass of water.

She sleepily blinked a few times when she spotted him standing around in the kitchen and she nodded when he asked if she was having trouble sleeping “Not anything new really, my mind likes to go into overdrive a lot” she yawned sleepily and edged closer to the island “What about you? Are you worried about something?” he seemed like the calm type but she had to wonder if that was a front.

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HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Caleb Eli Segal ~Mod~ on April 8, 2020 at 21:15

Some of Caleb's quiet, reassuring nature was natural. It was part of who he was to counsel people and enjoy listening, but the rest of it was a shield. He found it easier to connect with other people than to sort through his own emotions, which were often confusing. Counseling had helped, but he still didn't have many people that he felt comfortable baring everything to, sometimes it was easier to slip a mask in place than risk the exhaustion of being rejected. Granted, he was usually pretty tired anyway, given the schedule that he'd been keeping.

The young man looked over at his guest with a wry smile. "I understand. I feel most awake at night. Sometimes it seems like everything I've ever done that was stupid comes back to haunt me when I try to close my eyes."

It was normal, he knew, to have regrets, but Caleb wasn't entirely sure how to get rid them. Most the time he just lived with the knowledge that the world was not quite right. "It's like a symphony of guilt and buried trauma. Beautiful, eh?"

He got up, stretched his legs, and reached for his water glass to refill. "Most the time, it's easier to wait until morning to sleep. For some reason, seeing the sun usually seems to calm down my subconscious."

There wasn't ever a time that he'd been a morning bird. Caleb had always been a night owl. The bad dreams had only extended those patterns by a few hours every night so that in his mid-twenties, he'd acquired a set of light purple circles under his eyes. He didn't mind them, though, and never bothered to try to cover them up.

"The adventures I have during the day usually make the struggles under the moon worth it." He shrugged, and set down his water glass. "But, I promise, I'm not a werewolf. Seeing as we're quarantined here for another day or so, do you have any favorite activities?"

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DhampirPermalink Reply by ✓ Eleanora Riley Nordstroem on April 10, 2020 at 12:31

Nora wasn’t really used to waking up in the night and having to face anyone so she tended to just distract herself for while until she felt tired again, she had to admit she was looking forward to getting home and curling up in her own bed. As kind as it was of Caleb to lend her his room for the night, there was nothing which ever compared to the comfort of your own home and bed. She wondered how long it would take to recover for an injury such as this because she wanted to get back out there and stop this guy who was terrorizing people and a broken arm wasn’t going to be enough to make her relent.

“Well, at least you manage to find sleep at some point” she spoke softly, watching him from across the room, even if it was in the morning, rest was important but she definitely understood struggles to sleep, she always had a lot going on in her life which caused stress and then when you added seeing the worst side of the city to that, it didn’t make it easy to sleep peacefully, when she did manage to get rest it was usually for short periods and plagued by nightmares.

“So that makes two of us for the insomnia club then” she joked with a shake of her head, touching against her mask gently and smiling slightly, it felt weird talking to someone while wearing this on her face, it was usually something she used to go out and take down bad people before heading home to return to her usual life. But today she was wearing it to protect her identity and to keep him safe, knowing who she was would only ever get him hurt because people might try to use him to draw her out.

When he asked her favorite activities she shrugged “I read a lot and I like playing cards, taking photos sometimes?” though she wasn’t especially good at it she did enjoy setting up and taking some photos with her DSLR “I watch more movies than I’d like to admit too” she laughed under her breath, so basically she liked doing hermit things, go figure.

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HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Caleb Eli Segal ~Mod~ on April 10, 2020 at 17:23

Caleb nodded. He himself enjoyed plenty of alone time. His camera was on the laddered bookshelf in the corner, and there was a collection of both old and animated films underneath the television, stacked under the screen, in alphabetical order. "I joined the insomnia club a long time ago," He chuckled, taking a warm sip of coffee. The warmth filtered through his bones and slowly woke him up. He was glad that he'd met Scarlet and it seemed like they had a lot in common. If it hadn't been necessary for them to stay strangers, perhaps, they could have even parted ways as unlikely friends. Whatever happened to the heroine of Evermore, he certainly did wish her well. The young man padded over to the cupboard and instead of pulling out his usual morning cereal, reached for a giant box of microwaveable popcorn and the largest mixing bowl he owned. "Well, seeing as you seem to be on the mend, how about we binge a few movies and call it a day?" It certainly seemed like an apt way to spend one inside his apartment. Most of the time, he did it alone, but for today, he would be happy to extend that invitation to his masked friend in red.

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DhampirPermalink Reply by ✓ Eleanora Riley Nordstroem on April 11, 2020 at 19:10

Today had been a day that caused her to reflect and when she went home she had the feeling that sometimes she would remember the night a random artist had taken her in on his own whim because she needed help. Nora never asked for help and yet she had found some sort of solace in Caleb, someone who was a stranger but yet decided that night that she was worth the risk. “I feel like we all do at one point or another, when things get complicated up here, sleep is the first thing to go” she tapped against her forehead gently and shook her head.

Seeing him setting up popcorn, she felt a strange sense of excitement because she hadn't had a proper movie day in a long time and while it was stupid o’clock in the morning, she was looking forward to just whiling away time while she watched silly movies. So that was exactly what they did “Sounds...perfect” she responded with a slow nod of her head. Of every experience she expected to have, this was far from what she saw coming but perhaps it was the one she needed. The one which reminded her that even in her worst moment, she may not be alone.