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HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Caleb Eli Segal ~Mod~ on January 26, 2019 at 17:40

Caleb knew, logically, that planes were safe despite the fact that it didn't make a lot of sense how tossing a metal tube full of people into the air could work. Ava had explained the science of it to him once how every piece of an airplane was constructed to make it aerodynamically sound, but Caleb was the exact opposite of his scientifically nerdy fiancée. He preferred to imagine that magic made planes fly. Yet, that didn’t explain why sometimes, rarely, they crashed or disappeared into the depths of the Indian ocean. Gone forever, never to be seen again. Sometimes, taking people with them. It had just been one Google images search. Keyword: airplane. Harmless enough, right? Caleb sighed, thumbing through the images of plane after plane until a picture from a newscast of a United States Air Force rescue pilot flashed into his screen. The noise of the people in the bar faded out as he clicked on the hyper-link. A video began playing almost instantly.

“There has been little to speak of in the case of Ava Jacobs, the pilot who went missing while trying to shuttle people away from a tropical storm in the Indian Ocean.” A picture of Ava in uniform loaded next to the reporter and Caleb’s heart skipped a beat. He loved that picture. It was from her enlistment. She had hated it because she wasn't smiling. Her father had passed away only a month ago at that point. Nevertheless, he was proud she followed her dream. “The plane is still missing, despite the fact that a thorough search has been made of the two hundred miles in every direction. Her status is still missing in action and we are sending out prayers and love --”

Caleb locked his phone, taking in as much air as he could, despite that it felt the room was getting smaller. It was early to be in a bar and odd because he wasn’t much of a drinker, but right now, the urge to change that was strong.

“You alright, mate?” The bartender’s accent was Australian, which made Caleb wonder how he ended up serving drinks at an out of the way nightclub in Colorado.

“Fine.” Caleb nodded and tucked the cellphone into his jacket.

“Did you know her? That girl?” The bartender rubbed a wet rag over some shot glasses. “For a minute there it looked like you might pass out.”

Caleb said nothing. He wasn't interested in telling his story to a stranger. He'd done enough of that. Merde. Est-ce que j'apprendrai un jour à cacher ce que je pense? Will I ever learn to hide what I’m thinking?

“Can I get you anything? Or do you just need some quiet? If so, I’d recommend the fireplace. I did a lot of good thinking over there in my pre-drinking days.” The other man shrugged and pointed to the back corner of the room, where the was a small collection of books and a warm blaze. “It’ll get a bit louder in here before long.”

“Do you have a Pinot gris?” Caleb said softly.

A nod was his only answer.

Before long, the young Frenchman found himself sitting in front of a warm fire, with a copy of Moby Dick in his hands and not counting the hours that passed. The bartender was right, soon enough, more people shuffled into the place and the music got louder. Caleb remained immersed in treachery on the high seas and a decent American draft of his favorite wine. It wasn’t until a young lady addressed him from the chair across the small library that he looked up from his book. He turned the ear of the page down, not wishing to seem rude. “Je suis Caleb. It is not as if I own a monopoly on quiet chairs." He smirked. "Feel free.”

NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Svetlana Vasilyev on January 28, 2019 at 1:44

Svetlana glanced to the title of the book that the man seemed to have been lost in just seconds before the Nephilim approached him, giving an appreciate smile at his taste in authors. Though Svetlana had spent nearly her whole life either in captivity being abused and tortured, or hiding, and looking over her shoulder the few times she wasn't hiding, there had been a few points of her life where she'd been able to do things as normal as read, and when she did, Moby Dick was one of the authors who set her mind at ease.

Svet found him charming the moment he spoke, was it the accent? His striking features? She didn't quite know, since she herself spoke a thick Russian accent, and wasn't someone wasn't immune to different accents/languages. Perhaps it was the fact that he looked a little broken and some what damaged. Chuckling, she pulled a chair out from the small round wooden table sitting closest to the fire place, sitting her drink in front of her before sitting herself down. "You certainly have the right idea, though it's odd to see someone come to a bar and bury themselves in a book. Must have a lot on your mind" she expressed, only eyeing him from the corner of her eyes as the females up front bickering over a beer belly'd man had her pretty distracted and amused.

"You'd think those two are fighting over gold aye?" she asked, flashing the male a wink before turning her glass up as it reach her lips, draining the harsh contents in one gulp and wincing as she sat the glass down gently, rather than making a loud thud, and fitting in with every other drunk who had that obnoxious habit of slamming their glasses down just to make a statement each time they took a shot. After waving a waiter over to her, Svet ordered herself another drink, whiskey of course. When the waiter hurried back over to the bartenders, Svetlana averted her gaze back to the male she now sat with "I'm sorry, rude of me. I'm Svetlana" she stated, being as cautious as she did any other time she met someone new, not saying her last name.

Svet then found herself glancing around, taking a mental note of every single person in this place, especially the ones to close to her. The male she sat with though, she didn't feel he was a danger, so she didn't over analyze him, but it was hard for the Nephilim not to feel as if every person around her was out to get her. It came along with spending her whole child hood and teenage years in the hands of those who lured her father out by keeping her hostage to do so, then beheading him right in front of the Nephilim only for her powers to then be enabled and find herself drowning in darkness as she slayed and killed every last one of them. Svetlana's sanity was gone, and she could only hope it wasn't noticeable in her features. She did at least try to keep her appearance as sleek and flawless as possible.

Grabbing her drink happily as it arrived, Svet sat the second one down in front of her, deciding she'd sip on it rather than diving right into this evening by getting drunk the moment she got here. "Ive not seen you around the city before, new here?" she asked curiously, since she co-owned a club with Dominic, and ran many by herself before that, it seems that if the male wasn't new she would have ran into him at some point or another, whether it be in a club setting or on the busy streets of Evermore due to all the outside work she'd also been buried in that came along with running and promoting clubs and bars.

HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Caleb Eli Segal ~Mod~ on March 10, 2019 at 20:13

Caleb had not liked to read as a child and it had been comic books that had first garnered his interest in actual books. The fact that they contained images made it a lot more like watching a film than reading a book, with the words and the images so delightfully interspersed. Moby Dick authored by Herman Melville was one of the first classics that he had read in a modernized comic form. The story reached out to him immediately. It was an old tale of men at sea chasing a beast, what more could a boy want; but, as he aged and found himself reading the book he had found himself sympathising for the poor whale who had scars on its back. After all, whales were isolated creatures who often only had one mate. As it turned out, the beloved sea captain that he had once looked up to was truly the villain in the tale and the great white whale was no monster. He thumbed through the pages, tonight, being his fifth read of the high speed chase. Granted, his own copy was in French, and reading it in English was an adventure all of its own.

Caleb paused, his thumb resting between the pages to sip his glass and survey the young lady who sat next to him. She was drinking whiskey and wore casual dress, but beyond that there wasn’t much he could tell at first glance. Svetlana was an interesting name, one he had never heard before. Ethnic, he thought. Russian...possibly. Caleb tilted his head, studying her features in the half light. They were a balance of striking and delicate, but it confused him that he couldn’t get a read on her. He was good at understanding others, even at first glance, at least -— what they presented to him. She seemed to shield. Normally, Caleb would have continued reading his book and minding his own business as was the way of his culture, but seeing as the young lady had started a conversation with him, he felt it was only appropriate to be at least socially appropriate. Caleb set the book down and leaned towards her, offering her a hand to shake. “I am new here. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Svetlana Vasilyev on March 28, 2019 at 21:17

As a child, the Nephilim couldn't really recount any normal memories, such as what her favorite books were, if she had happy parents, or if she was even happy herself. She'd barely made it to her teenage years when she was captured by the rogue species who wanted her father dead. She happened to be the only Vasilyev they could get their hands on during that time, and for years after that she laid on a concrete slab, being tortured with blades, waterboarding, her mind being manipulated into thinking she was swallowing fire. You name it, she went through it. And in the here and now, Svetlana didn't quite know what to do with herself, and her spare time. While she seemed to have her freedom, she wasn't really free if she was constantly still looking over her shoulder, waiting for the next attack was she?

For the brief seconds that the male analyzed her, Svet found herself blushing, and shifting from side to side, afraid of him until he placed his book down, and expressed that he was actually new to the city. Something she didn't know whether to be relieved by, or alarmed by. Every time someone new crossed Svet's path, they turned out to be with those hunting her down to end her life. But, having senses of a supernatural had it's perks, and having the gift to tell whether someone was lying or not, also helped her ease more into her current surroundings. "The pleasure is all mine, Caleb. Sorry for interrupting your quiet time though, seems like you needed it" she stated, expressing her opinion due to the fact that he looked a little distraught, like he was somewhere else completely rather than this bar.

Reaching out, she took his hand gently shaking it. "So, Moby Dick huh? At least you have good taste; nowadays when people are reading, it's normally text's on their phones, or posts made on social media networks, very rare to see someone reading a book these days" she stated, chuckling before finishing off her first drink. Svetlana had never been easily manipulated, so when a voice barely even audible, interrupted her conversation with Caleb, she cleared her throat. She wasn't drunk, she hadn't even had but one glass. The voice continued though, he's not your friend, he'll be the next to attack you, you barely even made it through the last attack, you're pathetic. The Nephilim tried to dismiss it, because it was absurd, she felt like she was losing herself even more these days. She'd lost all sanity years ago though from what the Valkyr's, Therian's, and Phoenix's did to her.

Her eyes pooled up with tears and she tried her very best not to shed them in front of someone she'd only just met. Looking to Caleb, she sighed  "Im sorry, I don't know what's gotten into me..." she stated, emberassed by the suddenness of her emotions. "We could get out of here though, if you'd like. The weather seems nice enough to walk around the city, if you're one for walking that is" she stated, chuckling, before wiping her eyes. When Svet glanced around, after the voice inside her head began irritating her, it appeared as the the entire bar was laughing and point at her. "What the..." she started but after closing her eyes, and re-opening them, no one seemed to be laughing at all. Something was going on, and the Nephilim really didn't want to have a mental break right here in this bar. So with that, she hoped Caleb would wanna go for a walk or anything else beside sitting here.

HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Caleb Eli Segal ~Mod~ on April 8, 2019 at 16:31

The bartender had been right; the room was noisy and quickly growing in the number of patrons that flowed through the doors, found their way to the bar, and settled around the room. It was clearly a successful business venture, despite only being open for a few days. In some ways, he was relieved. With all of the people in the room, he could easily focus on his book and his drink and ignore the rest of the world for a few hours. However, this became quick to change when after a few minutes, a young woman took a seat beside him and made an attempt at conversation. Caleb wasn't really in the mood for small talk, but neither was he in the place to turn down the offer of friendship, either. There was no reason why he should suspect that this young woman was any different than those he'd met thus far. 

He set Moby Dick on the small table between them and proceeded to give her a summary of the story. It wasn't a difficult story to explain and his take on it was perhaps more animated than most as it was one of his favorites. However, about halfway through his synopsis, Caleb's voice trailed off when he noticed her eyes misting over. Despite that the tales of Captain Ahab were full of adventure, he'd never once heard of them moving someone to tears. Unsure what to do, Caleb reached to where a clean napkin sat with his untouched pastry and offered it to her. 

Despite that his own feelings had been mostly internal, Caleb empathized. It took a lot to make anyone cry in public. He'd almost reached that point several times in the last few months, but thankfully restrooms and cars had saved him from people asking too many questions. "Do not worry." He nodded. "I...it's okay."

He might not know what she was going through, but just like smiles, tears were universal. "Would you like to go outside? It's warm out tonight."

Truthfully, now that the louder crowd had entered the bar, he wouldn't mind leaving. 

NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Svetlana Vasilyev on May 12, 2019 at 3:28

Svetlana glanced over to the book he placed down, and while she had never been in a place in her life to do something as normal as read a book, she did know that Moby Dick seemed to only be read by people with an old soul. That was a term she could never explain, but she knew what it meant when she used it herself, as crazy as that sounded, and in her mind, having an old soul, wasn't a bad thing, in fact it was pretty nice, and rare at that. The male however, seemed to be disinterested in small talk and chit chat. She didn't blame him. Had this been the other way around, And someone had randomy approached Svetlana in the middle of her 'me time' she would have probably sent them away from her with hurt feelings. She was thankful, that not everyone was as bitter and angry as she was.

Svet snorted, unable to keep from laughing at the thought of how it probably seemed that his summary of Moby Dick was what she was crying over. If only, she thought to herself. She wished it had been over something that simple. That didn't mean that she actually knew why she was crying though, the reason she assumed she was crying, was because of a voice in her head, trying to make her believe that someone as nice as Caleb, was trying to hurt her, or that his intentions were to hurt her, and then out of no where, she'd saw the entire bar laughing at her hysterically and pointing her way. something you'd only see in a movie, but it was very real for Svetlana. However, it didn't happen at all, and she had no idea that she was hallucinating and her mind was being controlled by a darker force.

Svet grabbed the napkin being handed to her, giving him a faint smile, but she was appreciative even if her body language refused to express it. Svet just knew, she just knew without a doubt that the male was going to walk away from her silently, assuming she was bat shit crazy, when he took her by surprise when he offered to walk outside with her, and she could sense how uncomfortable the rowdy patrons of the bar had made him, so it was a win win for both of them. "Thanks Caleb" she said in response before standing to her feet, walking alongside the male until they reach the outside of the bar. Svet could only sigh in relief. The smell of cigar smoke had always made her nauseated, so to be away from just that, was a relief.

"Again, i'm really sorry. It probably makes for a crappy night to end up being the company to some crazy ass female crying her eyes out" she said before averting her gaze to look above them as the sky seemed to be full of stars, something she'd not seen in a long time now. "Its beautiful." she stated in the form of a whisper. It suddenly made sense why the Celestials she'd met so far, got sad when they looked up to the place they'd fallen from, she couldn't blame them for always seeing that as home, rather than the wicked place they'd fallen to, better known as Colorado, Evermore city.

"Seems like you have a story to tell." Svet blurted out, when she gazed b back to Caleb. "Sorry.. im known for blurting.. its a tragic habit" she added, shaking her head, blushing. She always called that tragic, because time and time again, it had proven to be the one thing that'd kept her from gaining friends. In most cases people were turned off by someone bluring things like that out, because it was usually considred as rude, or being nosy, so she could only hope thats not how she had just came off to him. "What i meant was, just looking in your eyes, tells a story it's self.. i see a lot of pain" she added, figuring that was way less intrrusive than her first statement, and it was perhaps a feeble attempt at getting to know him. Because in all honesty, Svetlana was in no place to turn down friendship either, she needed a friend or two. She missed Zephyr to death when he wasn't around, and most people seemed to have at least one or two friends in this city, but Svetlana.. she had no one when Zephyr was gone. All but her Therian best friend.

Dominic Howlett had became the universe to Svetlana, and if he hadn't been in her life, she would have gave up the will to fight ages ago, by letting those who hunted her, go ahead and finish her. Having Dominic and Zephyr in her life though, she'd gotten the motivation and will power to keep fighting for her life, usually alongside both of them. But, neither of them could be around all the time, and she didn't expect that, but it came with the downfall of Svetlana being alone, and terrified. "Sorry if I messed up your time.. It looked like you were pretty content reading that book" she finally finished before falling silent and gazing back up to the stars.

HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Caleb Eli Segal ~Mod~ on July 5, 2019 at 19:06

It was a quiet evening and Caleb had to admit that he preferred a walk outside to the bar, which was now growing rowdy with patrons and parties. He didn't mind the company, either. He'd only met a handful of people in Evermore and it never hurt to aid someone in the midst of their daily struggle. If anyone, he understood that emotions weren't easy to deal with and they could make perception difficult. It was only because of great practice and years of teaching himself to step away from them that prevented him from being in the same position as she was, right now. Granted, Caleb had never been good at letting himself cry, either alone, or in front of others. Despite the release tears could often bring, he couldn't ever deny the quickly following guilt-trip that would sometimes chase him.

Caleb shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his khakis and glanced up at the stars. They were a distance out from the main hub of the city and out here the lunar twinkles were much more obvious. He'd always liked stars. Their presence in a dark night so often lit a fire in his chest - one of hope and goodness that seemed to come from little else. 

He glanced over at the young woman who had followed him out of the bar. She had high cheekbones and short hair with a slender build and he half-wondered if she could use a good meal, for how thin she seemed.

"So," He bent down to pick up a smooth rock which was in the path. "A story?"

Caleb wasn't sure that his own was much worth speaking of - not to a stranger, but in some ways that made it almost easier than speaking to a friend. He felt less need to censor himself or worry about what someone else was thinking of his words. "I suppose mine starts in these parts with a good concussion. I like to explore...alone, and sometimes the weather takes me off guard."

Granted, he felt lucky that Argent had discovered him that day. The question he dreaded was what Caleb knew would come next.

Who was he running from? Where was he going? 

He bit his lip.

Right now, there wasn't an answer.

NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Svetlana Vasilyev on August 8, 2019 at 4:05

Svetlana partially felt ashamed, and embarrassed for how her emotions had spilled right into this man's lap. But, to her luck, he was by far the most humble person she had yet to meet. The Nephilim could sense he had a huge story of his own. Something in his eyes told her he was riddled in pain, but Svet wasn't the type to lunge into that sort of question if she didn't know the person well enough. She herself could admit that a walk under the stars was much nicer than a crowded bar, with sweaty drunk patrons partying drunkly. And, she'd never been safe enough to walk outside on a night as nice as this one, so she was thankful for his company, but also for the safety it gave her and allowed her to explore a little more than she was used too. 

Averting her gaze to where his own had landed, the Nephilim smiled. The sky was full of stars, and she couldn't be more content than she now felt, even if her red puffy eyes indicated otherwise. Svet didn't have many friends herself, she wasn't sure if this would turn into a friendship or be dismissed later on when they parted ways, but she wasn't against getting to know him. Svetlana's only reason for not having friends, was the simple fact that she feared once she got close enough to someone, they'd be taken from her, and she'd be forced to be reminded that her life was not her own. Dominic had been the only one she couldn't not be close to so far. She loved him to death, and had risked it with him. But Dom had fought the rogues right by her side, so it was safe to say they didn't have an ordinary friendship. Sometimes, you just had to be willing to fight beside the people you love. 

Svet stopped, but only for  a split second as Caleb bent down to pick up a smooth rock, and glanced to him with a faint smile, nodding. "Amuse me" she said in response, thankful he had offered that. Sometimes it was just a little harder to have a regular conversation, where you ended up pouring all your deep dark secrets to people who may not wanna hear them, or to people who couldn't give you the same in return, simply because they couldn't bare to talk about their own lives. It was sad, but very true. 

"I wish I could. There's so much of the city i haven't gotten to see yet, because i'm in danger any time I walk around outside of my house" she admitted, frowning slightly. "Maybe we could explore a few places tonight, It's a nice thought anyways" she stated, adding that last part, because she didn't expect him to walk her around the city and fulfill her dreams of seeing the place she was meant to call home. "The whether takes you off guard? What do you mean by that?" she questioned, but she was sure she was just being dense now. The whether, most nights, had been decent enough to walk anywhere you needed to go, but maybe he meant the whether caught him off guard with his thoughts and such. 

She wondered about this guy though. He did seem to have it pretty rough. Reading people was the Nephilim's specialty. Lately, it's how she'd been surviving the rogues who wanted her dead. "You seem to have so much on your mind.." she finally commented, hoping it wasn't rude of her. It was a window of opportunity that she'd been wanting to open for him. More or less saying that if he needed or wanted to talk, she was there. Stranger or not, Svetlana had a heart, and she could be a damn good listener to those who needed it. Working for the goverment, and the job she worked for the Nephilim's, being a counselor for the community, she had learned how to listen quite well.