[Cold green light illuminates the dark room, camera focusing on the Serrure's face. His skin is pale and too much blood is drying at one side of his throat, staining the neck and shoulder of his hoodie a rusty brown. In the strange light, his green eyes appear to almost glow.]

Hello there. Serrure here again.

[His voice is rough, as though his throat is dry. He is far more calm than he ought to be for all the banging that is going on somewhere off camera.]

Has anyone lost a vampire recently? Answers to the name Karl? Very bitey?

I appear to have found him. If he is yours, please collect him at the haunted warehouse in the Underground.

[The camera flashes up and over to walls and a door covered in scrolling runes that shed that cold green light, as though made from the light itself.]

Not sure what those are or how long they will hold. [The camera pans back to Serrure as a sharp crack sounds.] Not long, apparently. Help?

[OOC: Backdated to the 10th.]

Dear City,

I have something of a hypothetical dilemma, purely for the sake of discussion. Say one has been HYPOTHETICALLY beaten to a pulp by a child no older than eleven.  What would be an age-appropriate retaliation?  This obviously calls for some manner of revenge, but I suspect killing a child would be frowned upon by the populace-- not that I ever would kill a child, even in a completely fabricated situation with no bearing on reality. [Haha... ha... Yes.] Turning the other cheek is out of the question, as both cheeks are quite bruised (not literally).  What would you do if you were in my this hypothetical situation?

Yours,

Beaten and Bitter

[OOC: So Mindy beat up Rex during the Grab Bag Weekend :CCC  ALSO HI, I KNOW I'M SUPER BEHIND ON TAGS, I WILL GET TO THEM THIS EVENING WHEN I RETURN FROM WORK.  This muse just sort of got away from me for a while, but now he's back.]

If something has to be said anonymously, does it really need to be said at all?

Just a thought.

( filtered to the deities )
Anyone home?

I'd like to make a trade.

[The video starts with some serious jostling around, but it soon straightens out and Jack's face comes into view.]

Is this... This is the City, right?

[He looks disoriented, perhaps more so than could normally be expected from those freshly returned to the City, but that's hardly the most notable thing about his appearance. There's a massive bruise on the left side of his face that stretches from his jaw to the corner of his lip, which itself is split, swollen, and bloodied; there are other spots and spatters of blood on his face, but from the lack of any other visible wounds, there's no telling if it's his own. He also looks as though he hasn't slept in far too long, but the bags under his eyes are nothing compared to the rest of his face.]

This place is really what I think it is? Not just... [He swallows, glances down for a moment, and his expression hardens.] This isn't just Fontaine fucking with me again, putting more shit in my head? Or... [His eyes squeeze shut.] I don't know. I don't remember. I can't remember.

[After a pause, he opens his eyes again, trying not to look too distressed.]

Does anyone know where I live?

My Precious City,

I must come seeking advice from all of you on this day. There is something that had been troubling me for sometime and I fear that it is not likely to end so soon. While I am certain that I can push forward and still have great success, I must still see what words of wisdom you can offer for this little problem that I have come to face.

In this case, there is a woman, the most beautiful woman I have ever beheld. Once I was able to hold her in my arms but she has been stolen from me. I confess that my feelings for her are true and long for her to be at my side once more. However, this where the problem comes into being. For you see, there is one would wishes to keep the two of us parted. At times, I do not think he realizes what it is he is doing but I know that he does enjoy being an obstacle.

Could it be so wrong to love her in a way that causes me to want to return to her side? To bring her back into my waiting arms?

One would think that this would be a natural reaction. Yet, I doubt that he would agree. My precious, precious City, what should I do in this situation?

I humbly and patiently await your advice.

My Eternal Gratitude,
The Lover

[ooc: Honestly, he isn't even cursed. He's just enjoying this day.]

To the City at Large or to Whom It May Concern:

Perhaps I shouldn't rely on something like this--this secrecy and anonymity. It's bound to be another curse and we--myself included--are bound to regret it after the fact, but the compulsion to say something is entirely too strong. I have little hope of actually receiving any help, but I still find myself writing this letter.

There was happiness once in my life and in my house. It's over now. It's broken so completely that there is no hope of restoring it.

The secrets of my family that burden me are nearly more than anyone could bear. They are horrors of the darkest and basest kind. My father despises me, I know, and that's the beginning of it. So does my half-brother (whom I only some time ago learned was my half-brother--he despised me before all the same). I have enemies at every turn; every hand is against me.

I've no shortage of acquaintances, though I don't know how many I can call 'friends'. They're fond of wealth or danger or scandal and nothing more. I can use them and dispose of them as easily as my enemies use and dispose of those they come across--and I know this of myself. I have my reputation and it is amusing, but perhaps it proves that I am my father's son.

I fear for those who know me, because to draw too close to me is to fall into the same shadow that covers me. I fear for the well-being of my sister even though she isn't here. I know that shadow looms very near to her. I fear daily for the mind-- health of my servant-- someone very close to me. I don't know what I should do without him. I fear, at times, for myself, but that's inconsequential.

I fear even more for the world itself--my world, at least. Because if those enemies rise up, as I know they will, they mean not just to destroy me but to destroy the world as a whole, to bathe it in blood and cast it into darkness. They seek to rule over the wasteland that will remain--why, I don't know, but they seem to both want to rule and destroy the world all at once. And they will do so by any means necessary, whether it be money, power, science, or even superstition and black magic. And all this hangs over me day and night--the knowledge of it if not the threat of it; the threat of it if not the truth of it.

And, so far, I've been helpless to stop it. I've been chasing after a monster that I can only find by its shadow and I can't catch it any more than I can stop it.

What can I do?

Yours very sincerely,

~Driven Out of Paradise

[ooc: This is anon--as if Cain is ever really anonymous with this tl;dr and writing style. Please. He'll deny it, though, if you try to call him on it. Also, yeah, no filters because, idk, curses.]

 
[ Anonymous ]


Dear City,

For many months now, my housemates have refused to let me cook. I understand that they have their reasons for doing so but I still feel as if I'm shirking my responsibilities somehow. My housemates usually take turns in cooking; but I have been regularly passed over.

Is there any way I can possibly rectify this? I would like to have the honor of cooking for my friends as well. I enjoy being of service to the people around me.

Signed,
Anonymous.

PS, Today, I saw these mushrooms on sale at the market. I think they might go well with a meat stew I have in mind. It might even give it a lovely color. Has anyone had experience using them?