B L O O D || IC

[turkoizdog]

"I tend to like cloudier weather." Astra said with a shrug. "Otherwise I have to slather on sunscreen, and that shit is nasty." Even without her vampirism to consider, she was a redhead, which meant that she burned easily. Right now it was warm enough, yet not too bright. Perfect, for her standards.

"That's right, full moon tonight." She said, when the girl mentioned the moon. She began to untie her odd posture, and then stood. "I love the way the sky looks at night. Though, it is sort of in my name. Astra." She introduced herself.

Astra shook her head when the girl apologized. "No, it's okay. I understand." she said. She giggled. "The tattoos must have thrown you off, huh? I've had that happen before." Astra always supposed she had a generic enough appearance, especially for a redhead. Pale skin, freckles, etcetera. But she also had tattoos snaking up from the small of her back and going down the top of her arm, halfway to her elbow. "I'm sort of used to people staring at them, to be honest." Astra wasn't sure if the girl was staring at her tattoos or not, since her eyes were closed while she was doing her yoga, but it was a safe bet that she was.

[ThisIsAngst]

Hafwan "Haffy" Vala :: College Librabry :: Myth & Lore

Haffy realized she'd left her headphones and iPod at home when she'd gotten about halfway to the campus. The witch had spent an indecisive five minutes pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, muttering angrily to herself. But in the end, she didn't feel like going back home and dealing with people, so she continued on her way to the library.

It was much better inside the library. It was dark, quiet, and nobody would really stare at her if she was buried in books about vampires and werewolves and whatever. If anyone asked, it was research for school. Obviously. Haffy paused at the return slot and slid in the books in before continuing onwards, deeper into the library.

Haffy knew the way to the mythology section by heart. She made her way down the rows, brushing by the handful of other students digging through the shelves. The witch had just turned the corner to her destination when her phone went off. It wasn't a call, thankfully, but the sound of a dragon roaring turned several heads as Haffy fumbled in her pants pocket for the phone. She flipped the switch to silence the device and gave the staring students a glare. "What? This hasn't ever happened to you?" she snapped. Several people turned away.

Haffy planted herself in front of the section on shapeshifters and ghosts and turned her attention to her phone to see what the accusing message had been.

It was an alert from her blog- someone had sent her an ask. Oh gods if this is- It was.

how can u find me wen im alredy theyre?? ? ? ?? ?

"You little tit," she snarled in frustration. It was times like this that made her wish she had halfway decent with technology. Couldn't people like hack phones and trace IP addresses and stuff?

[danime91]

Xander Lee :: Starbucks :: Chillin' out on the comfy couch

If there was a person more bored than Xander was right this very moment, he wanted to meet them. Then proceed to show them that rather, he was the most bored and thus deserved the distinction.

He was currently running his own pesonal werewolf and vampire identification program, which was tentatively dubbed SpookFinder (working title, patent pending). What the program did was hack into the servers and personnel files for nearby hospitals, businesses, and the like and A) search for any employees who tended to take sick days on days of the full moon, and B) search hospital records for patients who check in for anemia and low blood pressure. While it was not a foolproof method, it at least gave him an idea of who to start with when hunting werewolves, and at least indicated that there may be vampires in the area. However, even in a small town like this, the program took a while to fully run its course. In the meantime, there were other things he could try.

He began a general search for any websites originating from IP addresses near his geographic location. After all, if there was one thing that could be counted on, it was for the faceless hordes of Anonymous to be in the know about everything. It didn't take long before he discovered a blog site whose owner was quite... blatant about witchcraft and seemed to be trying to promote its beneficial uses. He would have just written it off as another wiccan hippie doing what wiccan hippies do best, which is be angry and irrational and flaunt their technology-shunning and animal-saving moral superiority. That and the popular image of witches did not invoke hipsters in skinny jeans ranting on blog sites. But then, this was the 21st century, and witches had to change with the times just like everyone else. He actually knew a witch down in San Diego. Lovely woman, she ran a consulting firm and had introduced him to her wife and adopted children. But that was beside the point. At the very least, if this person was just a fake, they at least had access to some very real information.

And from what he could gather, their knowledge was genuine. That, and from what he could gather from several other sites, the author was what could be considered a local attraction, a purveyor of magic love charms and other fine paraphernalia to be sold to gullible tourists. The IP address indicated that the mystery author lived somewhere in town, not too far from his current location.

Also, she seemed to be in the midst of a flame war with some petty troll. The repartee was inane at best, and he could not understand why the author did not simply block the troll. Certainly she seemed offended enough to snipe back at him, which was possibly the worst way to handle it. Amusingly, he noticed that the latest comment, posted mere minutes ago, originated in this very coffee shop. He glanced around and noted that there were few other people with laptops open, but one caught his eye, mostly because the person seemed to be privately amused at something on his laptop screen. Also because he was dressed like an insufferable hipster. Clearly a wannabe hipster, since he was in here. Worse than real hipsters, in a way.

how can u find me wen im alredy theyre?? ? ? ?? ?

Xander smiled. He was a firm believer in Internet vigilantism, and trolls were a breed that he could not condone, whether it was the type that lived under bridges, under mountains, or under the cess pits of the Internet. One of the huge benefits of being a hacker was that if he ever was unfortunate to come across one of the latter kind, he could very easily follow up on any threat to track them down and do grievous bodily harm to their person. And he made use if this skill, more times than he'd like to admit. The looks on the faces of trolls when he knocked on the door in full Hunter regalia and calmly asked if ButtSecks89 lived there was beyond priceless. He decided he'd try giving this troll a little taste of his own brand of trolling. He began lovingly crafting his reply.

You know, my friend, if I were you, I'd best be careful about making that particular challenge. You never know when somebody can well and fully answer it. Especially if I dressed like a bleedin' hipster with stupid-looking glasses and more scarves than exist in all of Afghanistan, as you apparently do.

Just for kicks, he attached a snapshot of the person's face as he drank coffee, courtesy of the troll's own laptop's built-in webcam. He was very careful to keep his face absolutely straight. It wouldn't do to give up the jig to soon. He continued to pretend to listen to his music while occasionally typing away, looking for all the world like he was not eagerly watching the guy's face out of the corner of his eye, waiting...

[gizmo]

Reina Mendoza :: The Park

So the girl’s name was Astra. “That means ‘star’ doesn’t it?” she asked without really thinking. The only reason she knew, was because her uncle had always had a thing for stars and constellations. There was a huge telescope in the backyard of his cabin, that she’d helped him build when she was ten. The thought reminded her of the unread texts from her uncle. “I’m a bit nocturnal myself,” she responded when Astra said she liked the night sky. Reina was secretly amused by the bad pun and her own private joke. Just like terrible werewolf movies, she enjoyed stupid little ironies.

Astra was friendly enough, and wasn’t offended by the wolf girl watching her. She was grateful really. There were enough impatient assholes at her work to last her three lifetimes. If felt like forever since she’d talked to someone that wasn’t a complete ass. Or maybe she just pissed people off sometimes. She wasn’t sure.

“I’ve seen stranger things than a few tattoos, believe me,” Reina replied with a short laugh. “Although it’s true that tattoos aren’t common in a town like this. I’ve seen a few idiots every now and then with the names of exes, or things they thought were amazing when they were drunk.” Unfortunately, Reina could count herself amongst both of those groups. It was one of her less than brilliant moments in life. She wondered if it being only half of her ex’s name made it only half as stupid. Probably fucking not. “Yours look pretty good though.” Coupled with the odd scent, it was another thing that stood out about the girl. Again, it struck her as something other than human. Just what was it?

[Rose]

It rained earlier. Bones could tell that with his face pressed into the grass, bent down on elbows and knees with his ass in the air. He closed his eyes and breathed in, pressing his nose into the trampled blades. The scent of wet earth wafted up from where the grass roots scrounged for water, full and crisp now from the recent downpour. A groundhog was down there somewhere, harboring three young in its stinky little den. Off to his left, a dog was throwing up last night's dinner that never made it to the table. Pizza and wings. What a waste. And to his right, a woman with too much perfume was stomping in his direction. Bones could tell all that with his nose.

"Do you even have a dog?" The woman screeched over him as she reached his side. Bones put his ear to the dirt instead of his nose so he could gaze up at her, bright green eyes narrowing in distaste.

"Aint no sign anywhere says I need me a dog to play in the dog park," he grumbled, sitting up as a particularly heavyset lab came tromping over. He opened his arms wide, catching the creature as it barreled into him and knock him flat on his back, legs sprawled out awkwardly in the air. The lab covered Bones' face with wet licks that smelled like he'd been eating something dead. Bones shoved the dog away and climbed to his feet, giving the woman two long middle fingers before hopping the fence. He'd have to find his fun elsewhere.

It wasn't that Bones didn't have better things to do with himself than play with dogs and sniff the dirt. He wasn't some desperate sap who sought companionship in pets that didn't belong to him. It was just that damn moon creeping up on him. Every night before the full moon had his skin growing itchier and itchier. Like an addict, Bones twitched and growled and scratched as the desire to change sank deeper ad deeper into his head. Like instinct, like fucking starvation, the need to change into his wolf form clawed in his belly until he almost couldn't take it anymore. Bones could feel the moon tingling in his.... well, bones.

He needed something to do. He needed to get some energy out before night fell and things really got out of hand. The man ran his palms up the sides of his mohawk, straighting it back t its sharp point. Anti-freeze green eyes flicked around wildly at every noise, every strange scent, every-

"Hot girl," Bones drooled like an idiot who couldn't keep his thoughts from spilling out his lips. His gaze had settled onto a lovely yoga pose accompanied by- "Ohhh. Two girls."

This was exactly the kind of distraction he needed. Without any regard for personal space, Bones tromped over and made a show of drinking heavily from the waterfountain, wiping his forehead and panting like he'd just run a marathon.

"Oh hey there ladies," he drawled, speaking through his shirt as he lifted it over his head and tossed it onto the fountain. His baggy pants hung off his hips and displayed the topmost of his boxers, but that was less noticeable than how badly he wreaked of wet dog.

"Don't mind me, aint meanin' to interrupt. Just got done with a mighty hard jog. Can't go on much longer." Bones panted and put his hands on his hips, flashing a lopsided grin.

[Del]

Benjamin Toussaint :: Grocery Store :: Check-out

Dark eyes narrowed hawkishly at their subject's chiding response, and Benjamin found himself far more irritated than he'd been previously. He caught the lemon juice after one last lazy toss and squeezed slightly as his hand fell to his side. Deliciously venomous ideas filled his head, but he knew he could not act upon them; after all, he'd only just arrived in Dairy Falls, and he didn't have intentions to leaving anytime soon. Not until he got what he was after...

"So sorry," he replied in a tone dripping with sarcasm. He was just about to resume his inane toss-and-catch game with the bright plastic "faux-lemon" container when the van's blaring bass practically shattered the DairyMart windows as it drove by. The sound was unpleasant and grating to Benjamin's sensitive ears, and the all-too-familiar scowl resumed ownership of his brow. His gaze honed in on the van, reading the plates and trying to memorize them, though he had to admit the van itself would not be easily missed should he ever find it again. The world was better off without some people, and Benjamin had just found one who was begging to be removed. When his short companion addressed him again he was mildly surprised. "I believe it did," Ben answered smoothly. "Lucky for him he chose not to stop in here - or her, I suppose. The line moved."

Soraya Noorani :: Library :: Mythology and Lore

It was hard sifting through what was good and what was complete crap. There was so much lore surrounding witches, and yet not enough somehow. What was true and what was make-believe or just plain wrong seemed all mixed up, and while there were major similarities between most books and tomes, there were just as many major differences. She'd not been in the library for more than 30 minutes, and Soraya already wanted to give up and go get chicken strips at the student commons. But she knew deep fried, fatty deliciousness would get her nowhere writing this paper, so she continued on.

"Wytchs and Othyr Creatures of Hell" seemed ridiculous, while "A History Untold" was so boring she thought she needed a nap. The best she'd found thus far was "Werewolves, Vampires, and Witches Explored," yet the subjects were much broader than she'd hoped for...

"You little tit."

Soraya's head popped up and found a wired-looking red-head. There seemed to be no one but the two of them...

"Um... what?" Confused, Soraya couldn't tell if she was being spoken to or not; it certainly seemed so.

[ThisIsAngst]

Hafwan "Haffy" Vala :: College Librabry :: Myth & Lore

Haffy tore her gaze from her phone, face still drawn in a scowl. Another girl was staring at her in confusion and the witch realized that she'd probably heard that previous statement. "What?" Haffy snapped back, shoving the phone back into her pocket. To her, the best way to deal with the little incident was to act like it had never happened. As for the message... She'd answer that later. Let him sweat it out. Yeah. That'll show him.

She had every intention of ignoring the other girl, but it was so rare to see another person digging through the mythology section that she just had to ask. "...You got a paper or something?" That's what college kids did, wasn't it? Write stuff about stuff? Haffy pulled a slim brown book from the spot on changelings and began to flip through it. "I thought professors only let you write about boring stuff. Like math." (Nevermind that there weren't very many people that wrote about math.) The book was deemed useless; she shoved it back on the shelf and crouched down to dig through a lower shelf. Maybe there would be something in the general werebeast category.