goin' down the only road I've ever known

[onsock]

ROAD TRIP MEME!

How To: 1. Post with your character and the usual information in the subject line and/or comment box. Be sure to include preferences! 2. Others tag you, and will you look at that, you're now on a road trip together! For some reason. 3. Optionally, roll from 1-16 to get your scenario. 4. Have fun and be excellent to each other. 1: LOST You should have made a "left toin at Albuquerque," or maybe you've been holding the map upside down this whole time! Whatever it is, you're hopelessly LOST. Will you make it back on the path to your destination, or will you find a new adventure? Try not to open any hatches. 2: Tourist Trap Okay, you're all for seeing the sights, but World's Biggest Doorstopper? World's Smallest Chicken? World's Noisiest Whistle? Do we really have to stop here, too? 3: Car Trouble Maybe you got a flat tire. Maybe your engine's stalled. Or maybe you just overestimated how far you could get on a half tank of gas. Either way, you're broke down on the side of the road and the nearest station is miles away; either fix it yourself or you better get behind it and push! 4: Bad Weather Driving in the rain? No problem. Driving in torrential downpours or a blinding blizzard? Big problem! Better find a way to get out of the storm fast! 5: When Ya Gotta Go... Didn't I tell you to go before we left? Well, even if you did, maybe you shouldn't have had that 44 ounce Super Big Gulp, because there's not another rest stop for miles. Maybe you can find an empty bottle in the back... 6: Road Delays Stuck in traffic? Stuck at road construction? Stuck in a funeral procession? Bridge out? Whatever it is, it's blocking your way. Do you wait patiently, or maybe find your own way around it? 7: Smokey and the Bandit Oh no, those blue lights behind you can't be good. Maybe you should just pull over and accept your speeding ticket like a decent citizen. Or, maybe you should floor it. High speed chase anyone? 8: Night Driving You decided to drive through the night, and now it's one AM and you're all out of coffee. Wake up a friend and make them help you stay awake; falling asleep at the wheel is dangerous! 9: Ghost Town Boy, this town sure is quiet. And... kind of creepy. Oh God, did something in those corn rows just move? I hear banjo music; CAN'T YOU DRIVE ANY FASTER?! 10: Roadkill Good going, you hit an animal. I sure hope you feel good about yourself. Now you've killed the poor- oh, it's still moving? What do we do now!? 10a: The I Know What You Did Last Summer Edition That animal you hit was a little more human than you care for... oh dear... 11: ROAD RAGE That jerk cut me off! How dare he!? I'll make him pay! Or maybe you cut off a less-than-friendly driver of your own, and now he's after you... 12: Carjacked Awww, that was a good lunch. ...Wait, I know this is where we parked... Dude, where's the car!?!? 13: Hitchhiking Who said you needed a car for a road trip? Stick that thumb out and catch a ride where you're going. Maybe you and a buddy are chillin' with the pigs in a trailer, or maybe that nice looking hitchhiker you picked up down the road is not as nice as you thought... 14: Fantasy Car Roads? Where you're going, you don't need roads. If you're in Doc's DeLorean, anyway. Or maybe the car is really Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Or KITT. Or the Batmobile. Or a Transformer! Whatever it is, this car is NOT normal. 15: Road Head Obligatory sex-in-the-car option. Pulling over is the better and safer idea but some people just can't stop... 16: Are We There Yet? Roller's choice! Pick your favorite option, or two, or three, or just roll with whatever feels right!

Comments

[svensk]

[Unless Marcus has any way to see auras, Rasmus will appear as a perfectly normal human.]

They've been driving for two days and night straight, only stopping to get gas, pick up food or something to drink or to use the loo. Despite of all that time spent in the same car, they've exchanged close to no information about themselves - their names, and that was about it. They've spoken a few words after that - where to drive, where to split up again. But most of the time has been spent in silence or with one of them trying to sleep.

Rasmus knows that the guy currently riding shotgun and apparently fast asleep has hunted vampires for a while now, but from what he could observe he's never picked up any ...spoils, so to speak. Quite formidable for a human, though. It's been a while since he's worked with someone like him. Not since the Inquisition, really.

Ah, those were the times...

He smells it before he sees it, and reaches out to turn off the radio that softly plays into the later afternoon to have a look around. The stench of ...smoke.

With a loud curse, the ghoul shoves the onset of panic out of the way and starts to think - ten minutes, he's been told. There was a sign just a minute ago announcing a town in two miles. Perhaps they can reach it in time before the car goes up in flames.

He speeds the car up and reaches over to shake Marcus away, hoping that that won't get him a violent reaction. "Wake up."

[gloriapatri]

[ Okay! He can't see auras, so no. One last question; how do you kill vampires in VtM (and what are their weaknesses generally)? Stake through the heart? Fire? Garlic? Silver? Religious artifacts/holy water? I'll decide if he's a priest based on the answer. Thanks! ]


Being a hunter is generally a solitary thing. After all, who would voluntarily enter into such an occupation except the foolish and the brave? It's hardly a lucrative lot, especially given the hazards it invites. Not to mention the tendency to cut one's lifespan by half. Marcus has been at it longer than most. Possibly because he has been doing it for so long he hardly knows how to lead a normal life. When your eyes search out the creatures of the night for this long, it's hard to see the world any other way.

Dangers will always lurk behind every shadowy corner. Someone has to be there to hunt the hunters.

Sometimes, he picks up a stray. It's rare, but it happens. A temporary moment of human interaction that he'll use to get a few hours of sleep on the road. He's a lot more tired than he expected, which is why he would have slept though the smell of burning engine, if not for the jostle on his arm. His fingers are immediately gripping the man's wrist by reflex.

You really shouldn't touch a hunter while he sleeps.

His eyes crack open. He gives a 'hmph' and releases him.

"Engine's burning," Marcus says with a frown. "How many more miles to town?"

[svensk]

[Essentially, the only thing that reliably kills a vampire is sunlight. They're deadly afraid of fire and sunlight (if they lose the willpower roll, they'll flee). Religious artefacts can work as weapons if the wielder has True Faith. Stakes will just put them into a supernatural sleep - you need to then drag them outside so the sun will do the rest when it rises. I'd say VtM vampires' main weakness is that they need to sleep during the day, so they are very vulnerable then, and sunlight is very damaging even in small portions - they even get sunburn from the amount reflected by a full moon.]

"Two. One and a half, now."

He pulls his hand back once it is released, fleetingly wondering how much it might bruise. Hopefully there will be time to grab the bags out of the trunk, he should have some first aid stuff in one of them. Even if this feels worse right now because he's on edge already, he would hate to have left behind his bags. There are some items in them that he is rather fond of.

"We should have ...nine minutes left before it really catches on fire."

[gloriapatri]

[ ooc: Apologies for the lateness! And thanks, noted. I'll say he does have true faith, though it might have wavered at some point in time.. ]

"That's enough time to get us in town," Marcus says, withdrawing his hand and reflexively checking his coat for the weapons he keeps under there. It's a foolhardy thing to fall asleep without being armed to the teeth. You never know when you might need to kill something, and you're the most vulnerable to attack when you're unconscious.

Having a partner helps, but it's been a long while since Marcus has had anyone in that regard.

He tugs at his collar button to loosen it. It's actually a regular shirt, and not his priest's collar. He gets less attention if he wears civilian clothes. Anyway, it's not like what he does is quite official, anymore.

"You had a few moves, back there." Maybe he's impressed, a little.

[reunite]

"Well, I've been at it for a while. Picked up some things along the road, from various sources."

He switches his hands on the steering wheel once his wrist is released, reaching over to the unlocks to make sure that the doors are open despite the engine being on - hopefully, they won't have to jump out of a burning car, but if, he'd rather be certain that the doors are open. He could rip one out, probably, but A. attention to his strength that is unwelcome and unneeded and B. things that aren't necessary...

"You weren't half bad, either. How long have you been doing this?

...As soon as I stop the car, I need you to jump out of the door and grab everything that is in the trunk. Just get it out of there and put it a few metres away on the street, and I'll be with you a few seconds later." He doesn't want to risk to open the trunk while he's still driving, and pushing the button will take a few seconds, as will peeling himself out of the seat.

At least he can undo the safety belt already.

[gloriapatri]

"Forty-one years," he says flatly. And yes, he started very young, barely a teenager. It all began when he was taken in by the church as an orphan. It just so happened that the parish was run by a vampire hunter ...

Everyone has their own stories. Usually, they're not very happy ones. Marcus doesn't mind hearing about them, but he doesn't press for details unless people volunteer them.

He arches his eyebrow with some amusement at the request.

"You do know that the car isn't going to explode because of a little engine fire, right?"

[reunite]

"Not bad." That's impressive. He always assumed that the average hunter's life span was ten years, if they were intelligent.

One kilometre... they will likely have time to spare, but he'd rather not risk anything.

"I do, but I'm not inclined to try and get things out of a burning car. They get too hot for me to handle." To hot for anyone to handle, or at least he hasn't observed anything different so far. "And I'd rather not lose equipment that I can't replace right now."

[gloriapatri]

Not a lot of hunters survive as long as he has. And truth be told, he's probably coming up on retirement age pretty soon. But there's always something that keeps dragging him back out there. It's partly to do with his own stubbornness.

"I'll get what I can," he says. Which means if it's between saving the equipment and not getting third degree burns, he's gonna go with the latter. Nothing personal.

"What've you got in there, anyway?"

[reunite]

"Various things - nothing that couldn't be replaced with some time and money, but if I can help it I would rather not lose it. First aid things, clothes, weapons, paperwork... My whole life, one might say."

At least his whole life on this continent. He has quite a lot of property that he ...looks after, officially, and in reality just inherited as the owner won't return for at least a couple of centuries longer, over in Europe. But none of that really holds any personal value to him.

Nor do the things in the trunk, but losing them would complicate things. It would suck to have to get a new fake passport so soon after he bought his last one.

sorry for the late.... ;;

[gloriapatri]

Carrying your whole life with you might sound freeing and uncomplicated, but Marcus knows there's always more to it than that. Detaching isn't something everyone can do, or indeed should do. People are, for the most part, social creatures after all. The church is the place where people come together. How ironic then, that it happens to be the reason why Marcus has been so solitary all his life.

He leans back in the seat and stares thoughtfully into the distance.

"And yet, you entrust some random bloke like me to rescue it," he says with amusement. Either the man trusts him that much, or it doesn't really mean a whole lot to him at the end of the day.

[reunite]

"Well, it's not like anyone else is around whom I could ask."

He shrugs. A few more seconds, and they'll be in town. A town that looks awfully derelict, now that they've gotten closer. All the buildings still stand, but either this is a very poor area or people just don't care about their buildings, or there aren't any anymore.

Great.

Not that they have other options.

"And we fought together, so you aren't completely random anymore." He grins, though with the tension it comes out a bit grim. "Only half random."

[gloriapatri]

No one else, that's for sure. This part of the country is pretty spaced out, which means no one around for miles and miles. And the folks you do encounter usually live in half abandoned little towns that have seen better days. They're coming up on one now. Marcus squints at it.

"I'll give you that. There's something about vanquishing vampires that brings people together," he says with his usual sort of dry humor.

Though really, it's somewhat true. You share a secret that no one else knows. And in this profession, the more people who have your back, the better.

"For a short while, in any case."

[reunite]

"Well, more often enough until death may us part.

Though you seem to be rather good at avoiding that part." Considering how old the other man is. "Okay, I'll stop in a moment now. Ready?"

They are rolling past the first houses now, and Ragnar pulls the car over.

[gloriapatri]

He gets a good chuckle out of that. Both for the ironic romanticism about the wording and the dark humor. Yeah, there's something deadly and stupid about being a hunter. Much like marriage, he supposes, but Marcus knows nothing about that.

"I hope you're not calling me old."

But he really is, comparatively speaking.​

"I'll rescue your things, like a proper hunter," he says with a smirk. As the car rolls to a stop, he opens the door.

[reunite]

"Isn't that a compliment in this line of work, though?"

He pulls the car to a stop at the side of the road, making sure to not break too hard so Marcus can get out safely, opens the trunk, and once he's shut down the engine grabs everything that is necessary to grab from the front of the car, chucking out on the pavement what can be thrown and shoving everything else into his pockets.

Once that's done, he'll get out of the car and come around, checking the time. They should have half a minute or so left now.

[gloriapatri]

"Ha."

You have to be tough to survive this long, that's for sure. Marcus steps out of the car and walks around to the back of the car. Honestly at this point in his life, if he dies by freak auto-explosion, that would be just as fine.

As it were, the car remains explosion-free, and he hoists out his bag and Rasmus's before taking a few steps away to the side.

[reunite]

The car doesn't explode, but it goes up in flames seconds after Marcus has taken a step aside.

Rasmus walks around it and then....

there is a faint whistling sound, a strange, unnerving ring in the listener's ears.

"Get AWAY FROM THE CAR!" The last words are shouted as Rasmus himself runs a few feet and ducks behind a tree.

Just in time for the car to actually explode. With quite some force.

Once it is over and he is sure that there will be no follow up explosions, the blond gets to his feet. "For fuck's sake, Killing, I will end you...

Marcus?"

[gloriapatri]

Well how about that. The fucking thing did explode. Marcus was a safe distance away by the time it went up in flames, so he's not injured when it actually goes boom. Still, one has to deal with the head-spinning and ear-ringing at least. Explosions aren't exactly on the same level has guns, after all.

Marcus rises from the mailbox that he'd dove under, dusting off his clothing from the dust and debris.

"Next time, I choose the vehicle," he says with a smirk.

[reunite]

"I'm not sure how much of a difference that will make.

My nephew," great-grandson, really, but let's not point that out because it would be a way too obvious sign that he's not human, "has a terrible sense of humour."

He sighs and goes to see if any of the things that they just got out of the trunk have survived the explosion.