[Jon's lips twist in irritation. He's just recording what he's seeing. That's hardly something a lunatic would do! But he just holds up his recorder while the women speak, eyeing him and it with increasing wariness.]
If they even have anything like that here. Let's start with a map. Maybe there's a tourist information area somewhere? I want to see just how many spirals this place has. And I do need to offer some audio commentary. There's no point recording, otherwise.
Okay, sure, but it's...really obvious you're recording stuff and people are going to find it weird.
[ You know. Just Normal People Things.
Ava walks with him down the next street, to where there's a library and what looks like a bus terminal. It's there that there's a map of the bus route but nothing more concrete than that. There don't seem to be many spirals...
...except, very notably, the center of the city that leads to a park and a few high rises circling it. Weird. ]
This isn't saying much. No full-fledged map with locales on it. I'm sure there's got to be one somewhere around here, though. Maybe the library? Or city hall? ...Oh, the library's probably closed. So there's gotta be somewhere people go. Maybe there's an app we can download?
[He looks at the map they've pulled off the terminal, but that just advertises something for the bus schedule on your phone. Not that useful. The tape recorder hisses softly once more as his eyes light on a restaurant across from them. The sign is a fancy-looking cursive and reads 'Canteen and Eatery.'
[ Ava's attention is drawn to the hiss of static, then to Jon, and then up to the sign across the street. The way he says it is concerning. She reaches out, putting a hand on his shoulder. ]
Wait.
[ Just a moment.
Her eyes are drawn to a trio heading into the restaurant, dressed nicely. This might end up being tricky. With a sigh, she straightens up and tries to look at least mildly presentable. Jon seems pretty set on it, though. ]
All right, let's take a look.
[ Across the street, to the door, where Ava's already on the lookout for a side-door entrance for workers if they can't get in. But they're allowed through the doors, where the waiter gives them just a bit of an odd look for their appearance, but asks if they're expecting a party or if it will just be the two of them. And then, on answer, takes them back to a private room.
...In fact, everything here looks private, though there is elated laughter coming from a few of the rooms as they pass. Trays and trays of food are being brought out. Some have bite-sized portions, others do not, some trays are beautifully portioned, like a piece of art. Everything looks decadent and expensive.
[Jon tries to keep his muttering into his tape recorder a little lower this time, at least, naming off the restaurant as they go and noting that there's something odd about it. Sensibly, he stops talking when they get to the door, and doesn't resume until they're seated and drink menus are placed in front of them.]
It seems to be an extremely upscale establishment. Suspiciously decadent, I'd say for a place that titles itself a canteen. There's something here. I can just about feel out the shape of it. Something off. Maybe in the food? Could be magic.
[ Though silent all the way to the back room they're taken to, Ava's gaze is cautiously everywhere. Initially, she switches to Auspex, using it while Jon walks slightly behind her, but the moment he starts to enter her periphery, she has to look away. She doesn't want to get a good look at him when they're in the middle of a restaurant, even if the curiosity's been nagging at her for weeks.
He'll probably just look like he does in the dreams. But she wants to know.
When they come back to the room, she glances up and around, looking for cameras and finding none. Clientele discretion and plausible deniability, maybe, if something's nefarious here. ]
Be careful what you choose to eat and drink. Likely things are spiked.
[ But if they want information, they might have to make some bad decisions. When the waiter comes back, she orders a martini and a water. Her gaze is still on the menu, looking for anything suspicious enough to--
...Wait.
Ava frowns, looking at the menu better. There are three sides to it, broken up into the types of delicacies. Again, a lot of finger-food potions. And then there are things for 'the adventurous'. And a special that, curiously, has no name. The finest cut, cooked to your tastes, served in a specialty red sauce mixed with white wine. ]
I'm going to get the special and one of these...other things.
[He can't actually eat anything, but he can drink, at least. Jon orders a bottle of the cheapest Rosé on the menu because apparently they don't sell by the glass, and he's decided he probably shouldn't have martinis for a while after the binge with Hawke. A wine is safer.
Probably.
He describes the menu in detail as he's looking it over, reading out names and descriptions and scoffing at the price of everything.]
I'll get one of the meat and cheese boards. That should give us a selection of what they might be serving. Is your bracelet charged up that would actually let you... eat any of this? I can't.
[He supposes they can always trying to squirrel some of it away for testing, though.]
I have a feeling we're not going to be able to take anything home.
[ It's not because the place is sketchy, but she gets the distinct feeling it's like one of those fancy places she's heard of where you eat what's on the plate and you can't take any home. Too good for doggy bags, that sort of deal. Though, she has to wonder if the plates are even that large. Some places like this just serve tiny portions so there's no need to take anything home.
The waiter comes back and Ava orders the special and "whatever you might recommend" from the adventurer's list, which earns her an approving nod. It's when the waiter leaves and closes the door that she takes her necklace off, biting down on her thumb to draw blood. The change is instantaneous, her skin going paler, her eyes seeming brighter. But it doesn't, really, make her look monstrous - if anything, the necklace makes her seem just slightly more plain. More normal. As a vampire, Ava looks more eye-catching, though neither more alluring or more attractive. Just someone you might want to look at, someone you might pay more attention to.
She presses her bloodied thumb to the jewel, coating it. ]
It was but...just to be safe, I'm gonna add a little more. If it's spiked, I'm still going to feel it. The problem with being like me, we can still be affected by things in our blood once we eat.
[ Like the drugs or nicotine in someone's system, or the alcohol. ]
[Jon's order receives a much less approving look. As does his general... everything. But their drinks are placed on the table and she uncorks the wine for him, trying to get him to sniff said cork and do a tasting. Jon just hurries her on with an irritated wave, telling her to pour it. If they're serving it here, it's probably fine. Probably.
Ava's explanation of the effects is mildly concerning.]
If you start to feel anything we probably ought to go. The wine seems... fine from what I can see.
[He eyes his glass suspiciously, takes a sniff, then a small sip.]
Hm! It's... good, as well.
[Time will tell if there's more than just alcohol in there.]
Maybe we should interrogate the waitress. Or some of the patrons...
[Clearly the ideal move in this case. Jon's eyes turn toward the door. He's hungry.]
But I'm sure it'd be fine if you felt anything, right? Relax. I don't plan to drink too much.
[ Enough to get an idea if something's up, at least. When the necklace's stone seems brighter in color, she puts it back on, and her appearance changes once again. She takes up the martini, sniffs, and then sips it. ]
Yeah, it's good. It's...actually better than most of the drinks I've had before.
[ Probably because it's top shelf, but she isn't so sure. Ava gives him a long look. ]
Why don't we wait, first? I'm not telling you no...but the minute you do that, you're going to raise some alarms, and then we're going to have to leave. But when the waitress comes back with food... Yeah, we can ask questions, maybe. Just can't be too long or she'll be missed.
[ So getting a proper Statement is probably out of the question, for the moment. ]
[He will not relax! Jon just frowns at her as she tastes her own drink, watching for some kind of violent reaction to the magic powering her crystal. It doesn't come, though, thankfully, and he takes another sip of his wine. Being told to wait is... sensible, he supposes.]
It doesn't need to be long.
[That... came out far more sinister than he'd actually meant it to. Jon sighs at himself and takes a longer sip of his wine.]
Right. You're right, of course. Private rooms for all of this, though. It's a bit odd, isn't it? The fact that they even let us in. I'd think a place like this would have reservations out to Christmas.
[ That earns another look, but it's one of concern, not one of consternation. ]
Please try not to. This is our first visit into this city and if they call the police, it's going to be our last, and then you won't Know anything beyond what you get here.
[ She doesn't even want to be encouraging, but if she can at least appeal to Jon's rationality, maybe that'll help? In either case, she leans back in her seat and considers. ]
It's...possible that they had open spaces. But you're right, it's... It's such a nice looking place and so upscale that I'd think that people would be lining out the doors every night. There has to be some kind of catch.
[ And something smells off about this place. Not necessarily unpleasant, but there's a smell in the air that she's smelled before and can't quite place. ]
I know. I... yes. I'll try. I have my knife. And presumably I'll be vomiting blood if I do anything.
[He doesn't particularly want to test Lilith's curse. Especially not with it likely to cause problems for Ava.]
We still- I still need to sort that out. [It's not her problem right now. It's his.] I don't suppose you have any books on curse-breaking, or something?
Maybe the food's actually awful. Or it's some sort of... Lotus Eater thing that all the locals know about? If you feel like you want to stay here forever, do mention.
[ God, that...really still upsets her, even if she swallows that down with another drink from her martini. Fucking witches. Fucking curses. Fucking Lilith. She needs to figure out how close she wants to get to all of that. ]
Look, I'm new to this whole witch...thing, and I probably need to build a repertoire of spells because no one fucking taught me anything, but I'll start looking. I'll try anything.
[ It's just going to cost a lot of blood. And not Jon's. ]
Oh, totally. Especially if we have less than four hours and I suddenly get it into my head to stay for good. [ She glances at the timer again. ] ...What do you think will happen? When it hits zero, I mean.
You don't need to- If you can just point me in a direction, I can sort it out.
[Maybe.]
Honestly? I'm hoping someone's just going to come collect us and take us back to the entrance. Or maybe we'll have some compulsion? I wonder if the Web could be involved.
[He sets down his tape recorder to take a closer look at his wrist. He scratches at the numbers, but that doesn't actually do anything. On the extremely off chance, he takes a tentative lick of the back of his hand just as the door opens and Jon's cheese and meat board is brought in. Jon freezes, and the server stares at him for a long moment, then smiles.
"We do have a selection of sauces with your plate that should whet the palette for the lady's main course, sir. We can hang up one or both of your clothes, if you'd like to ensure they're kept tidy. I'm sure you'll both enjoy."
Jon feels his face going hot as he lowers his hand. Before he can say anything, the server sets down the board, winks, and is away.]
No. I want to help. Don't... I'm just frustrated it happened, okay? I'm allowed to be upset that someone hurt you.
[ And Jon seriously needs to learn that she meant what she said: just because she's still considering signing the contract doesn't mean she has second-thoughts about being his friend or helping him, and he's just going to need to deal with that.
The server comes in before she's able to give more, and the exchange is just...weird? Very weird. Borderline creepy. Take off one of their clothes? What--
Oh. Oh no. This city has things about sex too. Christ. ]
Well, you just found out what's wrong with this place.
[ Food is sexual in some sense. Which means whatever they eat probably has some kind of potent aphrodisiac attached to it. But she doesn't feel very strange, even with half of her drink gone. She doesn't feel very warm or particularly aroused.
[He doesn't have much of a defense to her concern, but trying to find the balance between pushing her away enough not to be influencing her and keeping her close enough to show that he doesn't just want to discard her is difficult. It's tiring trying to sort it out. It was easier when he didn't have to worry this much about the Eye taking an interest in her. He does extremes far better than he does sorting out the middle of the road.]
Oh, god.
[Jon knows he couldn't have it anyway, but he looks down at the board with intense suspicion. At least the drinks seem to be all right? He's not feeling anything just yet, not even much of an effect from the alcohol.]
That can't be it. I felt... there has to be more to it. There's something else wrong here.
Or maybe the Beholding thinks you'd be horrified, and so it's feeding off of that.
[ Look, it's not like the Eye doesn't appreciate Jon being the centerpiece of some terrifying masterpiece. Else, why hasn't it tried to protect him from all of these curses? Or from Ava? Just saying.
She manages a bit of a smile, smelling the food. The meat actually smells good and the cheese looks fine. Nothing stinky, nothing rotting. She grabs one of the little knives they've brought to cut a small slice and pop it into her mouth. She shrugs. ]
I mean... It tastes fine.
[ She tries a similarly small piece of one of the meats, eats it, and takes another sip of her martini. ]
Nothing yet, but I'll let you know. There likely is something but... I don't know if it'll completely fall in line with what you're thinking. You could always ask the waiter when they bring my food out.
[ She ordered the special to be mostly rare, to at least see what kind of meat it is. 'Prime cut' would usually mean beef but...it didn't clarify. Maybe it's horse or something completely bizarre. ]
[The look Jon gives her in return is absolutely scandalized. Then, he can't help looking upward with a mighty scowl. If the Beholding led him here just to be tormented, he swears to some other eldritch entity.]
That's not it. It would have just put that in my head like it did with Father Anderson's-
[He breaks off, wrinkling his nose. Just the memory of all of those sex dreams is enough to make him gulp the rest of his wine and refill the glass to try to wash it out of his head.]
Ugh... that had better not be it. Do you know how expensive all of this is going to be?
[And for food that's going to go mostly uneaten unless the 'special' is just impossible for Ava to resist.]
Maybe there's something in the kitchen... Did I tell you about the meat grinder Statement?
Oh my GOD, Jon, no-- I don't need to hear about that!
[ The last thing she wants to know is about Father Anderson's anything, whether it's about sex or dreams or who the fuck else knows. N o t h a n k y o u.
She scrubs at her face, reaching for her drink to finish it at this point. She'll stick with water, even if the burn of the alcohol is nice to try to sear the idea out of her thoughts. ]
I can pay. I have a good job and I don't mind. It's not like I pay for much these days, anyway.
[ Ava's slicing off more cheese when he talks about the meat grinder, and she pauses, giving him an odd look. ]
No, but considering this meal's already going to be weird, you might as well tell me.
That's not- I didn't mean you need to pay, Ava. I haven't been paying you. I'll get it and it was my idea.
[Sort of? He'd sort of just felt... compelled to come here. Or was it a hunch? He has trouble telling the difference between those two things these days. He sighs and turns off the tape recorder. They already have this at the Institute, and he doesn't need to record a highlights reel of it and waste the tape.]
The meat grinder, though. It was a Statement by Mikaele Salesa, a man who's appeared more than once throughout our Archives. He's deals in antiques. Many of them to do with the powers. Before that, he was working under Jurgen Leitner. A fool of a man who thought he could collect and protect all the books touched by the powers. Salesa left him long before his library was attacked and destroyed, the books scattered everywhere for innocent people to find. But this story begins on the sea...
[He's dramatic sometimes, Ava, and he's watching her closely to see how she's taken that first bit.]
I don't mind paying, is my point. You have a business to run and people to see to in your home, right? I pay for clothes, these days, and the occasional small thing. Hawke...insists on paying for me because I want for very little and I think he wants to feel useful.
[ For little things, of course. Food when they order in, groceries if he's out with her, small things when she asks. But Ava doesn't eat much, steals some things, and never really asks for much besides his company. And she does have a good job, if morbid. She thinks Hawke would pay for more if she let him.
Ava's chasing her food and martini with water now, both to listen but also because that hunger is growing, not to the point of ravenous - and not specifically a hunger for blood, just for...food - and she thinks listening will keep her from being too fixated on it.
She listens, taking in the names. Has he mentioned them before? She feels like he's mentioned 'Leitner' before in passing, but never really indulged in who he was. ]
Books touched by...
[ Bad. That's really bad. ]
Sorry, sorry. One thing at a time. Go ahead, I'm listening.
[He'll have to tell her about Leitner's library later. Jon sips his wine periodically as he speaks, barely noticing as he refills for a third glass or the fact that he's getting increasingly verbal with his hands as he tips further into drunkenness.]
Most of Salesa's cargo finds its way around the world via ship. He's been a sailor most of his life now, or at least the life I've read about in the Statements. During one of his voyages when he was getting started out, he let the crew check his more... unusual cargo. He had the cook on the ship minding it for this particular voyage and he found that the man was taking increasingly long in his inspections. Finally, he went down to confront him when he'd taken an age and found Cook staring at an antique meat grinder. Salesa didn't know there was anything particular unusual about the meat grinder then, so he offered to sell to the man on the spot. A tidy deal, he though. Cook accepted and that was that as far as Salesa was concerned.
Almost immediately after that, Cook began serving portions of meat at the meal. Not unusual, really. A man might like to test his new 'toy.' But it kept going. Meat and meat and meat, far more than they should have had available in the stores on a voyage like this. He also noticed that Cook, himself was changed. He'd always been a meticulous man, but now there were small bloodstains on his clothes. Not something most would pay attention to on a ship, but enough that Salesa noticed. Cook had also started hiding his left arm. Always with a coat or something draped over it, even when it was too hot to warrant it. Salesa stopped eating the meat at the meals.
It went on, though. The quartermaster couldn't account for it in the stocks, so Salesa went snooping in the kitchen. He found the meat grinder there, perfect, polished, looking practically brand new. There was also a stock pot with rather suspicious-looking bones in it. He didn't have time for too close a look, though. So he came back when he knew Cook would be there...
[A pause for effect as much as to take another sip of wine.]
He broke into the kitchen, surprising the man. He found Cook's severed arm on the counter, the stump shoved deep into the meat grinder. He was grinding away with his free hand an ecstatic look on his face. It wasn't his own flesh coming through as mince, though. No. Cook was pulling a new arm out of the grinder's funnel. Slowly, painfully, blissfully.
Of course, Salesa grabbed the man, demanding answers. Cook panicked, tried to kill him, and Salesa dispatched the man. The crew threw him overboard, but Salesa kept the grinder, sold it to some Canadian who went missing a few years later. If that meat grinder or something like it found its way into the kitchens here... that might be why we've come here.
[ Jon has himself a devoted audience, as Ava slips into listening with rapt attention. The quality of Jon's voice, while dramatic, still falls into a strange cadence that almost seems...smoother when he talks, like he's memorized these things, like he has the Statement in front of him.
She's not fixed on it. But she's absorbing the information, sipping her water intermittently, mouth gone dry. She doesn't touch the meat, even if she's chipping away a little at a time with the cheese board.
When he comes to the end, she's gone pale. ]
Christ.
[ Ava drinks from her glass, finishing it, stomach roiling painfully with discomfort...and the gnawing hunger, which she dislikes even more now. ]
Maybe. You think maybe things like that are collecting in a world like this... Like sewage dump in a nexus? Your story reminds me of a nagaraja I met--
[ Oh. And her food's here now. Christ.
Ava looks even worse now, because the food smells really, really good. She's ordered it mostly rare so she can try to figure out what it is, and she gives it a good look when she realizes--
Well, it's not a sure thing. But she's pretty sure she knows that smell now. And the smell of the 'gravy' that's being poured. The waiter starts to leave. ]
Hey, uh, sorry-- Sorry. I don't get to know what the special is?
[ The waiter smiles. "It's our specialty for a reason! And it's not something we can just tell people--" ]
Oh, come on. [ She's staring right at him now, eyes on his. ] Tell me what it is.
[ He stops. Stares. He can't break away. "It's...rare meat. Very rare. Sourced from donors!" Ava's about to start literally digging into his mind if he doesn't give her a straight answer. Does he even know? ]
[It's all Jon manages to get out the server steps in with Ava's food. It does smell delicious. But after recounting Salesa's tale, that just makes the Archivist all the more suspicious. And as Ava uses her own brand of compelling. Jon's tape recorder clicks itself back on. Apparently this is important.]
What type of donors?
[The tape recorder hisses with static.
"Consensual. Entirely consensual donors. I can assure you we're not that sort of canteen."
Cannibals. These people just straight cannibals.]
Where are they, your willing donors?
[The man is struggling now under the weight of both Ava's Dominate and Jon's compelling power. "The-the... I don't know? I think the hospital? The charity shops?"]
Right.
[He's a little drunk, but that doesn't matter.]
Ava, we're going to hospital. Now.
[The server looks alarmed. "But your food!"]
Eat it yourself.
[He pulls out his wallet and puts down several hundred dollars. He'd sort of been planning to use that for Integra's 'signing bonus,' but here they are. He can get more.]
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 02:33 am (UTC)If they even have anything like that here. Let's start with a map. Maybe there's a tourist information area somewhere? I want to see just how many spirals this place has. And I do need to offer some audio commentary. There's no point recording, otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:46 am (UTC)[ You know. Just Normal People Things.
Ava walks with him down the next street, to where there's a library and what looks like a bus terminal. It's there that there's a map of the bus route but nothing more concrete than that. There don't seem to be many spirals...
...except, very notably, the center of the city that leads to a park and a few high rises circling it. Weird. ]
This isn't saying much. No full-fledged map with locales on it. I'm sure there's got to be one somewhere around here, though. Maybe the library? Or city hall? ...Oh, the library's probably closed. So there's gotta be somewhere people go. Maybe there's an app we can download?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:57 am (UTC)[He looks at the map they've pulled off the terminal, but that just advertises something for the bus schedule on your phone. Not that useful. The tape recorder hisses softly once more as his eyes light on a restaurant across from them. The sign is a fancy-looking cursive and reads 'Canteen and Eatery.'
The Archivist tilts his head.]
We should get something to eat.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 02:47 pm (UTC)Wait.
[ Just a moment.
Her eyes are drawn to a trio heading into the restaurant, dressed nicely. This might end up being tricky. With a sigh, she straightens up and tries to look at least mildly presentable. Jon seems pretty set on it, though. ]
All right, let's take a look.
[ Across the street, to the door, where Ava's already on the lookout for a side-door entrance for workers if they can't get in. But they're allowed through the doors, where the waiter gives them just a bit of an odd look for their appearance, but asks if they're expecting a party or if it will just be the two of them. And then, on answer, takes them back to a private room.
...In fact, everything here looks private, though there is elated laughter coming from a few of the rooms as they pass. Trays and trays of food are being brought out. Some have bite-sized portions, others do not, some trays are beautifully portioned, like a piece of art. Everything looks decadent and expensive.
There's also a lot of red meat. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 02:59 pm (UTC)It seems to be an extremely upscale establishment. Suspiciously decadent, I'd say for a place that titles itself a canteen. There's something here. I can just about feel out the shape of it. Something off. Maybe in the food? Could be magic.
[He looks up to Ava.]
Are you getting anything?
[He knows she has senses beyond his own.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:10 pm (UTC)He'll probably just look like he does in the dreams. But she wants to know.
When they come back to the room, she glances up and around, looking for cameras and finding none. Clientele discretion and plausible deniability, maybe, if something's nefarious here. ]
Be careful what you choose to eat and drink. Likely things are spiked.
[ But if they want information, they might have to make some bad decisions. When the waiter comes back, she orders a martini and a water. Her gaze is still on the menu, looking for anything suspicious enough to--
...Wait.
Ava frowns, looking at the menu better. There are three sides to it, broken up into the types of delicacies. Again, a lot of finger-food potions. And then there are things for 'the adventurous'. And a special that, curiously, has no name. The finest cut, cooked to your tastes, served in a specialty red sauce mixed with white wine. ]
I'm going to get the special and one of these...other things.
[ For the adventurous. Go hard, right? ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:20 pm (UTC)Probably.
He describes the menu in detail as he's looking it over, reading out names and descriptions and scoffing at the price of everything.]
I'll get one of the meat and cheese boards. That should give us a selection of what they might be serving. Is your bracelet charged up that would actually let you... eat any of this? I can't.
[He supposes they can always trying to squirrel some of it away for testing, though.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:30 pm (UTC)[ It's not because the place is sketchy, but she gets the distinct feeling it's like one of those fancy places she's heard of where you eat what's on the plate and you can't take any home. Too good for doggy bags, that sort of deal. Though, she has to wonder if the plates are even that large. Some places like this just serve tiny portions so there's no need to take anything home.
The waiter comes back and Ava orders the special and "whatever you might recommend" from the adventurer's list, which earns her an approving nod. It's when the waiter leaves and closes the door that she takes her necklace off, biting down on her thumb to draw blood. The change is instantaneous, her skin going paler, her eyes seeming brighter. But it doesn't, really, make her look monstrous - if anything, the necklace makes her seem just slightly more plain. More normal. As a vampire, Ava looks more eye-catching, though neither more alluring or more attractive. Just someone you might want to look at, someone you might pay more attention to.
She presses her bloodied thumb to the jewel, coating it. ]
It was but...just to be safe, I'm gonna add a little more. If it's spiked, I'm still going to feel it. The problem with being like me, we can still be affected by things in our blood once we eat.
[ Like the drugs or nicotine in someone's system, or the alcohol. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:40 pm (UTC)Ava's explanation of the effects is mildly concerning.]
If you start to feel anything we probably ought to go. The wine seems... fine from what I can see.
[He eyes his glass suspiciously, takes a sniff, then a small sip.]
Hm! It's... good, as well.
[Time will tell if there's more than just alcohol in there.]
Maybe we should interrogate the waitress. Or some of the patrons...
[Clearly the ideal move in this case. Jon's eyes turn toward the door. He's hungry.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:48 pm (UTC)[ Enough to get an idea if something's up, at least. When the necklace's stone seems brighter in color, she puts it back on, and her appearance changes once again. She takes up the martini, sniffs, and then sips it. ]
Yeah, it's good. It's...actually better than most of the drinks I've had before.
[ Probably because it's top shelf, but she isn't so sure. Ava gives him a long look. ]
Why don't we wait, first? I'm not telling you no...but the minute you do that, you're going to raise some alarms, and then we're going to have to leave. But when the waitress comes back with food... Yeah, we can ask questions, maybe. Just can't be too long or she'll be missed.
[ So getting a proper Statement is probably out of the question, for the moment. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 04:01 pm (UTC)It doesn't need to be long.
[That... came out far more sinister than he'd actually meant it to. Jon sighs at himself and takes a longer sip of his wine.]
Right. You're right, of course. Private rooms for all of this, though. It's a bit odd, isn't it? The fact that they even let us in. I'd think a place like this would have reservations out to Christmas.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 04:15 pm (UTC)Please try not to. This is our first visit into this city and if they call the police, it's going to be our last, and then you won't Know anything beyond what you get here.
[ She doesn't even want to be encouraging, but if she can at least appeal to Jon's rationality, maybe that'll help? In either case, she leans back in her seat and considers. ]
It's...possible that they had open spaces. But you're right, it's... It's such a nice looking place and so upscale that I'd think that people would be lining out the doors every night. There has to be some kind of catch.
[ And something smells off about this place. Not necessarily unpleasant, but there's a smell in the air that she's smelled before and can't quite place. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 04:22 pm (UTC)[He doesn't particularly want to test Lilith's curse. Especially not with it likely to cause problems for Ava.]
We still- I still need to sort that out. [It's not her problem right now. It's his.] I don't suppose you have any books on curse-breaking, or something?
Maybe the food's actually awful. Or it's some sort of... Lotus Eater thing that all the locals know about? If you feel like you want to stay here forever, do mention.
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Date: 2019-09-02 05:08 pm (UTC)Great. Swell.
[ God, that...really still upsets her, even if she swallows that down with another drink from her martini. Fucking witches. Fucking curses. Fucking Lilith. She needs to figure out how close she wants to get to all of that. ]
Look, I'm new to this whole witch...thing, and I probably need to build a repertoire of spells because no one fucking taught me anything, but I'll start looking. I'll try anything.
[ It's just going to cost a lot of blood. And not Jon's. ]
Oh, totally. Especially if we have less than four hours and I suddenly get it into my head to stay for good. [ She glances at the timer again. ] ...What do you think will happen? When it hits zero, I mean.
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Date: 2019-09-02 06:15 pm (UTC)[Maybe.]
Honestly? I'm hoping someone's just going to come collect us and take us back to the entrance. Or maybe we'll have some compulsion? I wonder if the Web could be involved.
[He sets down his tape recorder to take a closer look at his wrist. He scratches at the numbers, but that doesn't actually do anything. On the extremely off chance, he takes a tentative lick of the back of his hand just as the door opens and Jon's cheese and meat board is brought in. Jon freezes, and the server stares at him for a long moment, then smiles.
"We do have a selection of sauces with your plate that should whet the palette for the lady's main course, sir. We can hang up one or both of your clothes, if you'd like to ensure they're kept tidy. I'm sure you'll both enjoy."
Jon feels his face going hot as he lowers his hand. Before he can say anything, the server sets down the board, winks, and is away.]
What... what just happened?
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Date: 2019-09-02 06:28 pm (UTC)[ And Jon seriously needs to learn that she meant what she said: just because she's still considering signing the contract doesn't mean she has second-thoughts about being his friend or helping him, and he's just going to need to deal with that.
The server comes in before she's able to give more, and the exchange is just...weird? Very weird. Borderline creepy. Take off one of their clothes? What--
Oh. Oh no. This city has things about sex too. Christ. ]
Well, you just found out what's wrong with this place.
[ Food is sexual in some sense. Which means whatever they eat probably has some kind of potent aphrodisiac attached to it. But she doesn't feel very strange, even with half of her drink gone. She doesn't feel very warm or particularly aroused.
...In fact, she just feels hungry. ]
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Date: 2019-09-02 07:34 pm (UTC)Oh, god.
[Jon knows he couldn't have it anyway, but he looks down at the board with intense suspicion. At least the drinks seem to be all right? He's not feeling anything just yet, not even much of an effect from the alcohol.]
That can't be it. I felt... there has to be more to it. There's something else wrong here.
[Or the Beholding is trolling him.]
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Date: 2019-09-02 07:54 pm (UTC)[ Look, it's not like the Eye doesn't appreciate Jon being the centerpiece of some terrifying masterpiece. Else, why hasn't it tried to protect him from all of these curses? Or from Ava? Just saying.
She manages a bit of a smile, smelling the food. The meat actually smells good and the cheese looks fine. Nothing stinky, nothing rotting. She grabs one of the little knives they've brought to cut a small slice and pop it into her mouth. She shrugs. ]
I mean... It tastes fine.
[ She tries a similarly small piece of one of the meats, eats it, and takes another sip of her martini. ]
Nothing yet, but I'll let you know. There likely is something but... I don't know if it'll completely fall in line with what you're thinking. You could always ask the waiter when they bring my food out.
[ She ordered the special to be mostly rare, to at least see what kind of meat it is. 'Prime cut' would usually mean beef but...it didn't clarify. Maybe it's horse or something completely bizarre. ]
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Date: 2019-09-02 08:01 pm (UTC)That's not it. It would have just put that in my head like it did with Father Anderson's-
[He breaks off, wrinkling his nose. Just the memory of all of those sex dreams is enough to make him gulp the rest of his wine and refill the glass to try to wash it out of his head.]
Ugh... that had better not be it. Do you know how expensive all of this is going to be?
[And for food that's going to go mostly uneaten unless the 'special' is just impossible for Ava to resist.]
Maybe there's something in the kitchen... Did I tell you about the meat grinder Statement?
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Date: 2019-09-02 11:46 pm (UTC)[ The last thing she wants to know is about Father Anderson's anything, whether it's about sex or dreams or who the fuck else knows. N o t h a n k y o u.
She scrubs at her face, reaching for her drink to finish it at this point. She'll stick with water, even if the burn of the alcohol is nice to try to sear the idea out of her thoughts. ]
I can pay. I have a good job and I don't mind. It's not like I pay for much these days, anyway.
[ Ava's slicing off more cheese when he talks about the meat grinder, and she pauses, giving him an odd look. ]
No, but considering this meal's already going to be weird, you might as well tell me.
[ It's not like she's expecting to eat much. ]
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Date: 2019-09-03 12:19 am (UTC)[Sort of? He'd sort of just felt... compelled to come here. Or was it a hunch? He has trouble telling the difference between those two things these days. He sighs and turns off the tape recorder. They already have this at the Institute, and he doesn't need to record a highlights reel of it and waste the tape.]
The meat grinder, though. It was a Statement by Mikaele Salesa, a man who's appeared more than once throughout our Archives. He's deals in antiques. Many of them to do with the powers. Before that, he was working under Jurgen Leitner. A fool of a man who thought he could collect and protect all the books touched by the powers. Salesa left him long before his library was attacked and destroyed, the books scattered everywhere for innocent people to find. But this story begins on the sea...
[He's dramatic sometimes, Ava, and he's watching her closely to see how she's taken that first bit.]
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Date: 2019-09-03 12:40 am (UTC)[ For little things, of course. Food when they order in, groceries if he's out with her, small things when she asks. But Ava doesn't eat much, steals some things, and never really asks for much besides his company. And she does have a good job, if morbid. She thinks Hawke would pay for more if she let him.
Ava's chasing her food and martini with water now, both to listen but also because that hunger is growing, not to the point of ravenous - and not specifically a hunger for blood, just for...food - and she thinks listening will keep her from being too fixated on it.
She listens, taking in the names. Has he mentioned them before? She feels like he's mentioned 'Leitner' before in passing, but never really indulged in who he was. ]
Books touched by...
[ Bad. That's really bad. ]
Sorry, sorry. One thing at a time. Go ahead, I'm listening.
cw: cannibalism, body horror
Date: 2019-09-03 02:19 am (UTC)Most of Salesa's cargo finds its way around the world via ship. He's been a sailor most of his life now, or at least the life I've read about in the Statements. During one of his voyages when he was getting started out, he let the crew check his more... unusual cargo. He had the cook on the ship minding it for this particular voyage and he found that the man was taking increasingly long in his inspections. Finally, he went down to confront him when he'd taken an age and found Cook staring at an antique meat grinder. Salesa didn't know there was anything particular unusual about the meat grinder then, so he offered to sell to the man on the spot. A tidy deal, he though. Cook accepted and that was that as far as Salesa was concerned.
Almost immediately after that, Cook began serving portions of meat at the meal. Not unusual, really. A man might like to test his new 'toy.' But it kept going. Meat and meat and meat, far more than they should have had available in the stores on a voyage like this. He also noticed that Cook, himself was changed. He'd always been a meticulous man, but now there were small bloodstains on his clothes. Not something most would pay attention to on a ship, but enough that Salesa noticed. Cook had also started hiding his left arm. Always with a coat or something draped over it, even when it was too hot to warrant it. Salesa stopped eating the meat at the meals.
It went on, though. The quartermaster couldn't account for it in the stocks, so Salesa went snooping in the kitchen. He found the meat grinder there, perfect, polished, looking practically brand new. There was also a stock pot with rather suspicious-looking bones in it. He didn't have time for too close a look, though. So he came back when he knew Cook would be there...
[A pause for effect as much as to take another sip of wine.]
He broke into the kitchen, surprising the man. He found Cook's severed arm on the counter, the stump shoved deep into the meat grinder. He was grinding away with his free hand an ecstatic look on his face. It wasn't his own flesh coming through as mince, though. No. Cook was pulling a new arm out of the grinder's funnel. Slowly, painfully, blissfully.
Of course, Salesa grabbed the man, demanding answers. Cook panicked, tried to kill him, and Salesa dispatched the man. The crew threw him overboard, but Salesa kept the grinder, sold it to some Canadian who went missing a few years later. If that meat grinder or something like it found its way into the kitchens here... that might be why we've come here.
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Date: 2019-09-03 02:57 am (UTC)She's not fixed on it. But she's absorbing the information, sipping her water intermittently, mouth gone dry. She doesn't touch the meat, even if she's chipping away a little at a time with the cheese board.
When he comes to the end, she's gone pale. ]
Christ.
[ Ava drinks from her glass, finishing it, stomach roiling painfully with discomfort...and the gnawing hunger, which she dislikes even more now. ]
Maybe. You think maybe things like that are collecting in a world like this... Like sewage dump in a nexus? Your story reminds me of a nagaraja I met--
[ Oh. And her food's here now. Christ.
Ava looks even worse now, because the food smells really, really good. She's ordered it mostly rare so she can try to figure out what it is, and she gives it a good look when she realizes--
Well, it's not a sure thing. But she's pretty sure she knows that smell now. And the smell of the 'gravy' that's being poured. The waiter starts to leave. ]
Hey, uh, sorry-- Sorry. I don't get to know what the special is?
[ The waiter smiles. "It's our specialty for a reason! And it's not something we can just tell people--" ]
Oh, come on. [ She's staring right at him now, eyes on his. ] Tell me what it is.
[ He stops. Stares. He can't break away. "It's...rare meat. Very rare. Sourced from donors!" Ava's about to start literally digging into his mind if he doesn't give her a straight answer. Does he even know? ]
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Date: 2019-09-03 05:17 am (UTC)[It's all Jon manages to get out the server steps in with Ava's food. It does smell delicious. But after recounting Salesa's tale, that just makes the Archivist all the more suspicious. And as Ava uses her own brand of compelling. Jon's tape recorder clicks itself back on. Apparently this is important.]
What type of donors?
[The tape recorder hisses with static.
"Consensual. Entirely consensual donors. I can assure you we're not that sort of canteen."
Cannibals. These people just straight cannibals.]
Where are they, your willing donors?
[The man is struggling now under the weight of both Ava's Dominate and Jon's compelling power. "The-the... I don't know? I think the hospital? The charity shops?"]
Right.
[He's a little drunk, but that doesn't matter.]
Ava, we're going to hospital. Now.
[The server looks alarmed. "But your food!"]
Eat it yourself.
[He pulls out his wallet and puts down several hundred dollars. He'd sort of been planning to use that for Integra's 'signing bonus,' but here they are. He can get more.]
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