Closed RP Magic & Monsters

This RP is currently closed.
Todd ordered the all-star special with chocolate chips on the waffle, which wasn’t going to be enough by his standards, but when he heard Mary’s order he had no doubt when it came to leftovers. She could surprise him, obviously – he didn’t look like he could eat that much, either – but he had a good instinct for that.

Mary had been paying attention to him, too. She remembered the Malibu, and seemed annoyed that he’d even think otherwise. Good. He picked up his coffee and put it to his mouth, closing his eyes to enjoy a long dreg as she listed her next few –

"Three! I think you're a monster who eats people."

Normally, he’d be immune to that, if a little suspicious. Unfortunately, he hadn’t slept in over a day, and it came from so far out of the blue. He hadn’t done anything. He gagged, and swallowed down the wrong pipe. For all his immunity to gag reflex, Todd was not immune to almost drowning himself with what was glorified motor oil, no matter how magical that oil could be in curing exhaustion. He choked harder when she said vampire, although she might notice the tone changed. By the time he actually caught his breath, he was in tears, but thanks to the vampire comment, he was able to salvage the situation, because he was ending on a wheezy kind of laugh between big inhales.

He grabbed a napkin, wiping around his mouth and nose and the collar of his shirt as he coughed out a few more chuckles and shook his head.

“It’s two truths and a lie, not a maybe and two wild guesses.”His voice was a little raw, and he took another, more controlled drink of coffee to finish settling whatever had gone wrong in his throat. “And, fuck, there’s better ways of finding out if I’m a vampire, aren’t there? What even gave you that idea?”
 
Mary nearly snorted her own coffee at Todd's reaction, the shock evidenced on her face as he laughed and answered her. Looking left to right, Mary noted he didn't deny being a vampire either! She had never seen him in the daytime, had she? Wait, no, there was that one time, but he was wearing the fucking hat! That could block out the sunlight! And maybe he had one SPF 100, like the vampires in BLADE!

Snatching up a spoon as Todd recomposed himself, Mary leaned across the table and got a little too close to Todd as she held up the stainless steel silverware. Putting her face right beside his, she used the spoon to cast the pair's reflection. As close as she was now, the scent of coffee, white tea and cigarettes would be even stronger. There'd be a hint of something else as well, something so small it might've been missed the first time. It was a repulsive, foul scent, most closely resembling a pile of dead cicadas baking in the summer sun.

Looking in the spoon, Mary confirmed she saw his reflection and pulled away from him and back to her seat. Sighing, she responded to his question, "Fuck you! No vampire just admits to bein' a vampire! You's out at all times of the night, you can shapeshift, what else can do that? Vampires, that's what! And I did two truths and a lie, not that other thing you's said, whatever it was. I will eat everythin' I ordered, and I do- er, did think you's a vampire!"

Waving her hand in the air and breaking the seal on her orange juice, she calmed down a bit. Speaking a little quieter, though the waffle house employees really weren't listening to them, Mary continued, "I was tryin' to trip you's up with the devil thing. Ain't a devil, it's a demon. Now, what are you? Do you's drink people's bloods? Do ya gotta preferred blood flavor?" Mary might've confirmed Todd wasn't a vampire, but there were many other shapeshifters that drank blood! Like- well... Mary couldn't remember any off the top of her head. But if she had her monster manual she was certain she could find one!
 
The look on Mary’s face told him everything. The kid really believed he was a vampire. That was nuts.

Okay. Maybe not nuts, given she was right insofar as he ate people, but it was nuts that she picked vampire as an explanation rather than turning toward the growing metahuman population. Then again, she was pretty sure she got magic powers from a demon, so it was clear she wasn’t going to just let science explain things. Not that science could explain things like him, as far as he could tell.

So he endured her test of the reflection with patience. Apparently she’d almost changed her mind about it, or was doing a bad job of lying about changing her mind. More likely the second, because her next question made him wrinkle his nose. He’d actually thought about that before. He’d come to a definitive conclusion, too, and started to let it tumble out before he could think.

“Blood doesn’t–” he stopped abruptly, then scowled at Mary. He took a long drink of the coffee, feeling the heat run down into his chest, then sighed and tried again. “I don’t imagine that blood from different people would taste any different, any more than two raw eggs taste different, or raw beef from two different cows. I imagine that any difference might be circumstantial, like diet and lifestyle, same as with anything else that dies so it can be eaten, and that it wouldn’t matter raw, anyway.”

The edge in his voice wasn’t so much angry as tired. He’d be a lot better at this after a few hours of sleep, but there was no rest for the wicked, so here he was at a Waffle House at four in the morning with a warlock, talking about different flavors of blood in order to avoid actually addressing her question. Mostly because he didn’t want to think too hard about it.

Although, in a small part, he avoided it because he didn’t want to admit that he didn’t know the answer.
 
"Blood doesn't" Todd had started to say before drinking the coffee and composing himself, two things that certainly only fueled Mary's vampire filled thoughts. 'What if he's onena them sexy vampires- ohmygawd does he sparkle in the light? That'd be so dumb! I'd never let him live it down! He'd better not think of me as his Bella, I'm def not a Bella. I'm more of aauuuhh, I-D-K, Alice, if anyone.' Her mind raced, she barely paid attention to anything Todd really said.

But Mary did pay attention to what Todd didn't say, he didn't say his favorite blood type. That meant he had one. That meant he was definitively a vampire- but what kind? Not a Malkavian, he had too much of his mind. Definitely not Nosferatu, way too human. Maybe a Tzimisce...? Maybe. Their food was still cooking, so Mary decided to move the conversation around.

"Alright, let's say, for the sake of an argument, that you's ain't a vampire. What EX-cactly is you? And, like, why ain't you's usin' your abilities to, I don't know, not work at a mechanic shop? You could be a model ya know? Changin' you's eyes an' shit, could be anything, anyone. Why- this?"
 
This was getting nowhere. Mary clearly hadn’t been listening to his little tirade about hypotheticals.

“For the sake of argument, if I am not a normal metahuman –” he made sure to emphasize that “– and if I am not a vampire, and anything from here on out is if you are right and I do eat people – to which I am not admitting – then given that you’re a warlock, you might know more than I do. But I want you to remember that if anything about this comes back around, I’m not admitting to anything, and if anybody does find out about this and comes after me for it, I’m going to hunt and eat you without a second thought.”

He wasn’t sure if all that made sense, but he felt like the implied threat at the end there was the right touch. He wanted everything on the table at once. He did have some ideas about what he was in relation to folklore, but nothing fit quite right, and none of them were related to vampires. He figured if Mary wanted to take a crack at it, there wasn’t any harm. Anybody who heard her say ‘warlock’ was going to assume she was a whackjob, anyway.

“So. Assuming all of that. I… don’t know what I am. What I can do, I’m pretty familiar with. But I have no clue what I am. We’ll call it magic because why not. And magic has rules. And, same as knowing what I can do, I know what the rules are for mine.” He didn’t play video games, but he had read some books, and watched some TV. Magic always had rules in fiction. “Magic that would come from… eating people would have rules related to eating people, right? For example. If I ate people, and it was at all related to the ability I have to shapeshift, then the rule might be: ‘you can only use what you take.’ Same as the rules of eating normal food. If I can only turn into people I've taken, then it's not all that good for me to be showing that face everywhere, is it?”

He sighed, and he could smell the food that wasn’t done cooking yet. This felt really stupid, but he really didn’t have anything better to do right now, so he took another drink of coffee and pressed on.

“And I’m no warlock, but from what I’ve read, magic is always balanced. Magic gives the best results if you mix good and bad stuff. Eating people is what most would consider bad stuff. Fixing things, like cars, seems like it would be good stuff.”

It was a lot more complicated than his sense of balance when it came to cars, but hey, he was leaning into the mystical mumbo jumbo angle, so he had to make all his answers fit somehow. He had a feeling she could fill in the gaps.
 
Mary folded her hands together and rested her chin on the backs of her fingers, listening far more intently now. Todd had given up on the double-speak and opted to, almost, directly tell Mary the exact answers to what she wanted to know. That was fantastic!

She nodded at his 'threat,' an acknowledgment of agreement. It wasn't that she didn't believe him, but she didn't really feel too 'threatened.' She was far too interested! He explained what he thought, what he thought he was, and what he thought the rules were. It was a sound thread of logic, a good mindset for someone whose desires were a little unconventional. Honestly, with these facts being presented to her, Mary felt like she could finally relate to this guy. But she wouldn't interrupt him, not until he was completely finished.

Once Todd finalized his idea of balance, Mary started to grin. It wasn't the same grin as before, it was something else, something crossed between nasty and giddy. Giggling, Mary nodded and responded, "Now that-! That makes sense. Makes sense, yep. IF your idea of balance is correct. See, cause, what you's describing is alchemical magic, not warlock magic. Very different Toddy babe, very different, teeheheheee~"

Tapping the table, Mary decided it would be best to educate Todd on a few things, "Let's talk balance babe, assumin' you's got the right idea, you's closest to an alchemist. They's follow the 'Law of Equivalent Exchange.' You wantin' somethin'? You gotta give a lil' to get a lil'. Sounds to me that, if you's eatin' people, you's tryin' to put some good back in for the bad you's doin'... Unless, you's eatin' only bad people? Either way, do a lil' bad, do a lil' good. I get it, not bad. Not bad."

The food was nearly done, Mary could tell, so she stopped herself before she started speaking as the food began arriving. First waffles, then everything else. Mary waited very patiently, that smug little grin still plastered on her face, until she thanked the Hostess for the food and the other woman walked away. Looking back to Todd, Mary picked up her fork and spoke, "But that ain't how the world works babe. See, most people ain't like you's, they's like me..." If Todd wanted to know more, he'd need to ask. Mary didn't mind sharing, but she didn't mind keeping everything to herself either. So, quietly, she began eating.

For all her rough mannerisms, Mary did at least eat neatly.
 
He’d accidentally changed the subject to balance, it seemed. She was being a little bit patronizing about it, which gave him the impression that she didn’t get to be patronizing very often, so he let her. He let her go on about alchemists and exchanges. He definitely wasn’t going to comment on what kind of people he ate, and she wasn’t done by the time she got there, anyway.

He thanked the hostess for his food and accepted a new cup of coffee. He hardly noticed the way Mary was eating. Todd himself could eat politely, but he also ate like he’d never eaten before in his life. And the waffles were perfect, with just the right amount of chocolate chips. On the instinct scale, the exhaustion was suddenly second to the need to put the sugar into his system.

It was while chewing on a bite of waffle that he remembered they were having a conversation, and that she’d paused for him to ask something. He blinked at her, then remembered, finished chewing, and swallowed.

“Warlocks are… deal makers. Isn’t making a deal getting and giving? What did you call it? Equal exchange?” He waved a hand, not really to wave off her answer so much as to put his brain back on track. “The moral exchange is… whatever. I don’t know if it actually comes with the territory or if that’s just an instinct thing. Or a non-instinct thing. I’m– I think I gave you the wrong impression. The magic I have isn’t intentional. And I know there’s this exchange rate to what I do, but it’s more like… like calorie count, than karma.”

He gave up on the theoretically thing, since they were talking about magic like they belonged in a looney bin. He was just glad this was probably the average four-in-the-morning Waffle House conversation.

“I don’t think I’m like, a warlock, or an alchemist. If we’re going with theoretical magic, then… I’m not completely sure I count as human at this point at all.” He frowned, then decided to press on. Why not? It wasn’t a confession, it was more like playing pretend. Even if this was the most honest he’d been about this in a while.

Obsidian would be so jealous if he knew. That made up Todd’s mind, and he made a small satisfied noise around the next bit of waffle before he swallowed that and asked Mary outright, “How would you go about figuring out what kind of monster I could be?”
 
Mary ate quietly as Todd spoke, listening to him as he spoke through his thoughts. Though, she did giggle at his impression of Warlocks. But as he mentioned that he wasn't sure if he even counted as human, Mary's face sombered up a bit. It wasn't a sad look that came across her face, but a pensive one. Then Todd asked her what she thought.

Nodding and swallowing, Mary spoke, "Well babe, first, Warlocks is deal makers yeah, but it ain't exactly an fair deal. I'ma get the better end, especially with my patron. Second, countin' calories, that's hilarious, needed to say that haha. And-! Finally!" Mary leaned back and clapped her hands together, quick and joyously as a smile spread across her features, "How I'd figure you? Eeeesaaay. First, gotta know whatcha eat. Whole peoples or just parts? Then, do certain parts do certain things? Like, livers, you's like livers and only livers? Tha's a Striga. Just blood? Vampire, usually. Then I gotta know, was you's born this way? Cursed? Curses are mmmhm, lot's a shit. Could be a Skinwalker-? No, you's probably notta skinwalker. They's much scarier than you's- oh, no offense."

Mary stopped for a minute, realizing she had been rambling instead of eating, and resumed eating. Her mind was twisting and turning, trying to fit 'eats people' and 'changes eye color' into a box together. It only made sense on the track of figuring out what he was if he could do more than just eye colors. The thought that Todd was just a meta never crossed her mind, he had to be a 'thing' in her mind.

Then, snapping her fingers, she spoke, "Oh! If you's willin' to offer up you's soul, I could ask my demon mommy?"
 
Todd immediately replied to the very generous offer to lose his soul with a, “No, thank you.”

He ate some more, making remarkably quick work of the waffle while Mary talked and moved on to the rest of the food. She looked thoughtful, even in her approval. She didn’t really lose the patronizing touch, but for some reason, that didn’t bother him. However, if he never had to hear her call her patron her ‘demon mommy’ again, it would be too soon.

She’d mentioned skinwalkers, which did align with one of his ideas, but didn’t quite fit. Unless the animal skin was a metaphorical thing, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. He’d never even heard of a striga before. The liver wasn’t his least favorite part, but the idea of living exclusively–

He cut that off, because that was too close to casual for his liking. Instead he answered her question.

“I eat everything. Bones and all. Exactly as is, exactly the way it sounds.” He didn’t take a bite immediately after that, letting the strip of bacon he’d been eating rest for a moment.

The other part was going to be…tricky. He thought about the way he could talk about it without actually talking about… anything. The playing pretend angle wasn’t going to help him with the very real memories, and he didn’t need to have a breakdown like the last time he was this tired and got going.

“I’m… almost sure it runs in my family. But nothing happened with me until later. I – didn’t get the urge until… presented with an opportunity. At fifteen. When I gave in later I realized that it’s… necessary, and addictive.” He shook his head. “So anyway. Unless it’s a family curse, I don’t think that’s it. Feels like it, though, let me tell ya.”
 
Mary shrugged at Todd's curt and immediate refusal to offer up his soul, his loss. Some people had an unusual attachment to their souls, but not Mary. She knew she was probably going to go to hell anyway, might as well be a hell she chose. 'Cicatrix's plane ain't a terrible place neither,' Mary thought, 'if you don't mind bugs.' Mary shivered, knowing better than to think of her patron's name in full.

Todd kept talking and that illuminated a few things for Mary. Flat-out stating that you ate all of a person, bones and all, might've elicited a more horrified reaction from someone else. Actually, Mary could understand that she really, really should have had a more emotional or freaked-out reaction. However, Mary felt nothing. It was as if she was hearing someone describe something as mundane as a tendency to sort their M&Ms by color before eating them.

Mary twisted her head away as Todd finished talking, her eyes wide. She looked out the window for a minute, tense as a board. A cicada chirped on the window before a massive wasp landed on it, stung it, and carried it away. As the cicada disappeared, Mary breathed deeply and relaxed her shoulders. Turning back toward Todd, she smiled and spoke. "Sorry, weird bug right? Aiight, so, that narrows it down a bit. Thinkin' it over, I've got, eeeh, mebbe three- no four, four things you's could be."

Arraigned a few cut up waffle bits on her plate, Mary pointed to each one of them as she spoke in order to emphasize her points, "One- least likely, cursed doppelganger. Most doppels don't eat people thou- so you's prob not that. Two- A changeling, your changin' fits this one but, again, the eatin' people, that'd be a curse. Three- Wendigo, monster tha' eats people, fits you mostly wit' the eatin' n' shit, but they's can't change shape. So that leaves my most likely idea."

Mary pushed the waffle bits out of the way, leaving only one, "Ghūl-kin. Shapechangers, corpse-eaters, runs in the family, no curse. Fits real well if'n you's askin' me. Gets more powerful wit' age too! So you's got somethin' to look forward to!" And Mary, stabbing the waffle, seemed genuinely happy about the idea of Todd being more powerful.
 
Todd had been about to go back to his food when he felt a pause. Just a moment – a heartbeat where Mary’s breathing changed, where he could smell the adrenaline that came with pure fear. He looked up and followed her eyes, but there wasn’t anything out the window except the disappearing shape of a wasp, getting smaller in the dim orange light of the parking lot.

Todd didn’t mind wasps, or bugs at all, really, but Mary mentioned it, and he bookmarked the moment in his head before she started to talk again. At that point, he did dutifully pick up his fork and knife and got back to work on his plate, listening as well as a sleep deprived mechanic could under the circumstances. Doppelganger and Changeling rang a bell, but didn’t feel relevant. Wendigo – that one stuck, but only because it fit in with Todd’s own research. The last one…

“Ghouls, huh?” He picked at his eggs. “Can’t say I’ve heard a lot about them. I stopped reading when I saw that they’re more like zombies than living things, and I do know I’m not dead. And… more like vultures, than predators. I’ve never read about them shapeshifting, either.”

He bounced his knife between his fingers while he chewed, a habit he usually performed with a much bigger blade. He didn’t like the idea that his monster could get stronger as he aged. He’d spent the last seven years slowly wrestling it down, holding it so it didn’t start to push him into the hunt again. If it became stronger –

Or maybe the strength came from the person? The human side. Maybe when the human side and the monstrous one learned to work in tandem, they could do more. More damage, sure, but more good, to counteract it, as he’d learned. As he considered that thought, he looked out the window after the wasp, his mind’s eye turned inward, Mary’s momentary fear forgotten.
 
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Mary kept eating while Todd talked, nodding gently as he mused her suggestion. Tapping the fork on her plate, she swallowed and smiled, "Well you's luck you's got an expertized person such as myself! Ghūl-kin ain't undead, interestingly enough! They's related to Djinns, though they's ain't Djinns. They's also shapeshift! It fits, I think."

Then, Mary realized with a sigh, the food was gone. She had filled up and couldn't feasibly order more without pushing her luck too far. Setting down her fork, she rested in their booth and crossed her legs. Something about what Mary suggested had put Todd in a state of thinking deeply, wondering something. With her last few minutes, she supposed she might as well pick at that.

"Do you think you's a monster?" The question was asked with, perhaps, the most serious tone Mary had taken all morning. The door dinged right after Mary spoke and an older couple walked into the Waffle House. Mary didn't look away from Todd, her hazel eyes silently staring at the smartly dressed man to detect any change in body language.
 
“Yes.”

Todd answered the question without the hesitation he’d usually have, as he turned his eyes back to Mary. If he’d had more energy, he might’ve even tacked on a threat display, let his predator unfurl again for her to see it. But with the elderly couple, and the food, and the lack of aggression that currently sat between them, there was no reason for that.

He kept his voice down now, aware of how it could move in the room and controlling it to just their table. Just between them, a warlock and a – maybe-ghulkin. A monster. But it was Mary’s lack of fear that held his attention on her, cool and steady, non-threatening. His body only communicated how tired he was as he finished his hashbrowns, still not graceful about his eating, but taking more time to enjoy the food. After a few seconds of watching for a response, he asked the question that had moved to the forefront of his mind.

“Don’t you?”
 
Mary wasn't surprised by Todd's quick answer, though it disappointed her a little bit. She wanted to talk and express her opinions to someone who might understand them. When she spoke with her brothers, well, they loved her and she loved them, but they would never understand the struggles she dealt with. But Todd? Todd seemed like he might understand. Then, he asked the exact question Mary had been hoping for.

Leaning forward, she smiled, "I've met monsters, well acquainted with 'em. Seen 'em kill babies, ruin entire families, traumatize others to the point they think the only way out is to end it all. I've seen monsters cut deeper than any blade with a tongue, seen 'em self destruct an' drag everyone around them down to hell. If you's askin' me, humans are monsters. You and me, we ain't human. We's animals. We might lash an' bite an' strike at the world, but we's jus' tryin' to survive inna place ain't made for us. Unlike the monsters, we care for our own. I think that makes us better."

Stretching, Mary stood up and shouted at the Hostess, "He's got me!" and waved at Todd. She was making her way to the door, preferring the quiet and more private area outside to the Waffle House that had begun to fill. If Todd followed her, she wouldn't object, but this was also a good chance for him to go his separate way if he so desired.
 
Come on, she was just going to leave after saying that? No way. Both the predator in him – the survivalist that demanded control – and the person in him capable of curiosity felt the urge to pursue Mary together. He had to idly wonder if that was the intention, if it was some form of complicated mental trap, but he was also pretty sure that the paranoia was just sleep deprivation.

So he did a little mental math, downed the last of his coffee, and put his cash on the table before getting up to follow Mary out the door.

“Most people do care for their own, though,” he was already arguing when he came up on her heels. “And for strangers, too. Sure, nto everybody donates to starving people in Africa, but little things. They feed stray cats. Strangers offer their umbrella or hold the door for someone. There’s more than just surviving to living.”

He’d learned all that the hard way. It’d taken fear to really make it stick – fear and a friend’s blood – but it had. While there was and would always be part of him that understood what Mary was saying, he’d taken the time to see for himself what the real world was like. Maybe it did take more good to counteract one evil action, and maybe evil was easier, but that didn’t disqualify the people who were making their small-scale worlds better just by existing.
 
Mary laughed as Todd caught up to her, already arguing against her mindset. She swung her hips back and forth to a mental beat as Todd walked with her, grinning all the while. Shaking her head, she ticked her finger back and forth in the air to show her disagreement with her body language as much as her words. "Some of 'em do! Some do! Don't make 'em not monsters though. Them same 'people' you's talkin' about also abandon their own, kick cats, and slam doors in the faces of others jus' for havin' a different skin color. I ain't even sure 'most' of 'em take care of their own either. Some do, sure, but most? Not my experience."

She laughed again, a painful, cruel laugh from someone who only ever saw the wrong side of the hand of the world. Crooking her head back and twisting around, Mary remarked, "That said, calm down babe! You ran after me so fast- oh, you'll give a girl the wrong idea! Ha ha!" Turning around, Mary slammed straight into a street sign, hard. Falling on the ground, she held her face and laughed even harder through the pain, "That's- fuck! That's what I get! Ha ha!"

Without getting up, she laid there for a minute getting her bearings while continuing to speak to Todd, "Listen, babe, there are more animals out there than you'd think. This world is made for monsters, jus' look at who sits at the top, aiight? Ain't hard to see. So we's animals gotta take care of each other, you feel? Cause one day, the dynamic gonna flip, and we's gotta make sure the world's a better place for our feral children."
 
Todd listened to Mary, because really, that was all he could do while she talked like that. She was a broken kind of person. Something in her, the feral energy, the way she embraced her less human nature, reminded him of something in him that had gone dormant when he met Arlo, but he still felt itch and stir every now and again. People were cruel, people were mean, people were worse than animals.

He glanced up a second before she hit the sign. He watched her, not offering her help. He stuffed his hands into his pockets while waiting for her to get back up. “I feel, I guess.”

His head wasn’t in the right place for a prolonged moral debate with a ditzy magician, but he caught the drift of what she was saying, at least. Something about what she was saying was uncomfortable, and familiar. It reminded him of another meta he’d recently spoken to. Even more, it reminded him of that meta’s family. And it reminded him that what he was would’ve agreed with her, a long time ago.

But people changed. Any monster could change. Even if he couldn’t convince her, right now, every monster deserved the chance he’d gotten by luck. So, when she looked ready to get up, he’d offer his hand, but no sooner.

“And what if our children aren’t animals?”

His – well, that was another problem. She knew his would be, the same way he did. If he and Sam ever had… well. That wasn’t Mary’s problem. But she didn’t have any kind of guarantee, unless her demon could guarantee a bloodline of magic. And, if that didn’t work, there was another avenue, too. Even if he was just curious because of Ethan’s ‘family.’

“And your brothers? Are they like us?”
 
Mary laid there for a minute after Todd asked his questions, waiting and thinking. Then, her response formulated, she reached out for a helping hand up. To her pleasant surprise, it seemed Todd was waiting for that exact moment to reach out and help her up. Grinning, she remarked, "Babe~ I didn't know you cared~" Before turning into a fit of giggles.

Started back up on her walk, she answered Todd's actual questions, "I don' know, my brothers ain't like me, they's scared of Ci- er, the demon. Understandably! She's fuckin' terrifying when she pops up in ya dreams and does- things... But yeah, I don' know. My bros, my kids, if I ever have 'em, I'll just raise 'em to be animals like me I think. My brothers ain't like me, not the way you an' me's alike, but they's animals all the same..."

Mary thought a bit harder for a minute, then shrugged, "I dunno, maybe- maybe not 'everyone' is a monster or an animal, maybe's they's some inbetweens, but I ain't met 'em. Not yet. I'm still young! Got my whole life ahead of me! Ha ha! Can't tell how many times I heard that shit." Mary flipped her fingers to the sky, showing the clouds above a pair of rare birds as the sun started peaking through and rising. "Whadda 'bout you, Todd, that shit even really matter to you's? You's want kids, a fam, a life beyond this shit?"

And, for one of the only times during the whole night, Mary seemed to ask her last question with a bit of seriousness.
 
Todd picked up on the things that weren’t said in between giggles. Sure, Mary didn’t speak her patron’s name, but there were other things in there. Nothing that really made sense through the cloud. But her brothers were people, human people, not metas. So she couldn’t think all humans were complete monsters. And Mary was sick of being told to live up to her potential. Sick of being told all the things that bright-eyed hopeful young people believed.

Jaded. That was the word. She was younger than him, and played up the ditzy girl angle, but more jaded than he’d been at his worst.

Then she turned the question around, and he had to focus again. God, he was going to have to call in at Vik’s if this kept up. Then again, he might have to call in anyway.

“Probably not, no.” He shook his head. “Even if I didn’t think any kids I have would be like me, I– don’t think I’d make a very good parent. If my girlfriend agreed, maybe we could foster, but…”

But that assumed he and Sammy would last more than a few months. A different kind of weariness settled in with his exhaustion. Familiar resignation. He didn’t need to think about it, didn’t really have the mental words for it, but as his eyes turned to the sunrise, he wished there was a chance.

Instead of telling Mary that, he just shook his head again, with a sad, tired little smile.

“But kids are vulnerable. And I’m all teeth. It’s a bad idea from any angle. I’d give a limb for the chance to have a normal life like that, but it’s not on the cards for me, I don’t think.”
 
Mary listened to Todd, but more than that she watched him. He was in another world with his thoughts, that much was clear, even when he was talking to Mary. He spoke about his girlfriend, about whether or not he'd make a good dad, kids and fostering...

Too mushy, too serious, Mary needed to change the subject.

Then Todd said something and Mary just- "Todd! It's all teeth down there? That's horrifying! You's poor girlfriend! Must have to change the sheets every time!" Before bursting into laughter at her own terrible joke. Then skipping a little further down the street and a little closer to home, she added, "I like ya babe, but I can't relate to wantin' a normal life. I had a normal life, it fuckin' sucked! I wasn't born this way- I asked for it! I says to my demon mommy, gimme dat power! And WHAM!"

As if to illustrate, Mary popped a finger gun and whispered her words of incantation. A bolt of burgundy light flashed across the sky from Mary's fingertip, smelling like gasoline and burned flesh once more. It was definitively the same thing she did earlier. Blowing her fingertip as if it were a gun, she grinned and added, "I'm gonna get more powerful too. So powerful, the world's gonna know my name."
 
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