Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 15, 2008 21:31:36 GMT -5
Cold rain poured down over the Emerald City; Seattle, Washington. It over looked the Puget Sound. At that moment a flight was coming in; aboard was Drask Darkfang. He was an explorer and naturalist, returning home after an expedition from the Congo. Drask had survived so many close calls, so many near deaths, the only thing that scared him in all his life was coming home. Home for him was an empty apartment, it seemed so blank, boring, Drask had never been one for city life. In his mind Seattle was a dark place, with nothing to offer anybody; just a rainy, cloudy city. Drask forced his thoughts away from homecoming, and payed more attention to what was going on. The plane would be landing in about twenty minutes. "Alright, folks. We're approaching Seattle now. Everyone please fasten your seatbelts and fold the trays back into their upright position." Drask leaned his seat back up and buckled up, after shoving his I-pod back into the black case he straightened up slightly. Never in a million years would Drask willingly live in Seattle for more than four days. The plane began it's rumbling decent into Seatac airport. Drask stared out the window as they landed, watching the all to familiar sights of the large Seatac airport. Fifteen minutes later, everyone began leaving the plane. Drask picked up his back pack from the overhead compartments and slowly made his own way out. As he entered the airport he glanced around, the food court was just a little ways down, and Drask saw they had finally put in a Subway. Another bad thing about Seattle, fastfood wasn't around every corner like it was in the south. Seemingly unnoticed, he made his way through the crowd, heading toward that Subway. He sat down in a booth on the far side of the room, and flipped out his Blackjack, glancing down the messages; none were new, except one from his half brother, Vrelt. And his call was simply to rub in the fact that the Seahawks lost to the Packers. That was his most recent call and it was almost five months ago. Drask let out a sigh, then he came over to the counter, and placed his order for a turkey sub. Taking his sandwich back to the booth, Drask half heartedly began eating. Glancing again at his cell phone he noticed a new message, from three minutes ago. He didn't recognize the number but he listened to the message anyway: "Hello Drask. This is Jeff Meldrum with the North American Anthropological Society, I'm calling to ask you a favor. Last week in Alaska, two rangers were investigating sightings of a rouge bear. Yesterday, they were found, dead. Both of them were ripped apart, not like a bear attack at all. We need some people with your experience to come take a look at what's left of the bodies. I'm offering you twenty thousand dollars up front to come up here. And another two thousand every day you spend in Alaska. We need some good trackers and guys like you to help us out here. If you're interested, call me back. Here's my number, call back soon." Drask couldn't believe his ears; twenty thousand! This guy must be really desperate. For a moment Drask thought it was some kind of fraud, but then he remembered Jeff, and that was him speaking. Jeff was always serious when something happened in Alaska. Pondering over his options, Drask made up his mind; he was going to Alaska. He needed the money. Drask doubted there was anything out of the ordinary about the attack; they happened all the time, Timothy Treadwell for example, was killed and eaten by a grizzly up there. He stood and slung his pack over his shoulder, threw away the rapper of his turkey sub, and left the Subway. Drask walked slowly toward the luggage claim to pick up his suitcase. Dread filled his mind as he thought of Seattle, how he wanted to leave this place. Taking his luggage, Drask came to the main lobby, and stepped outside into the pouring rain. "Taxi!" He then whistled loudly and a taxi pulled over, Drask slung his stuff into the trunk and jumped into the bright yellow car. A rat wearing a turban was driving, "Were to, sir?" "South Ninth and Tenth." The taxi drove off, heading toward Drask's destination. A sense of darkness crept over Drask; he forgot how much he hated this place. Out of the whole of Seattle, one place was nice to visit; a small bar and pizza joint called Anthony's. Drask actually looked forward to arriving there.
OOC: Well, how's it sound so far? PM me if you have any comments on my story. It's based after a show I watched the other day, called Rouge Nature, and off of the thrillers like I Am Legend, and Alien.
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carabadgermum
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Post by carabadgermum on May 16, 2008 17:40:33 GMT -5
Anthony's had practically been Penny's home away from home from the time she had come to Seattle to further her education. She had to work her way through school some how and the best pizza place in town seemed like the best deal. It was because of her faithful service to the restaurant for the past 4 years, 2 of which she wasn't even allowed to serve drinks, that the rest of the staff of the establishment had decided to throw her a huge graduation bash. They asked her over and over what her plans were for the future. Penny didn't know what to tell them. She had considered going on to do her post-graduate work but something still seemed unsettled. For one thing one of her favorite restaurant customers hadn't shown up to her party. She had been hoping to see him before she left. Not as if there had ever been anything between them but it seemed a shame to leave Seattle possibly forever without getting to say goodbye to Drask Darkfang.
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Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 16, 2008 20:17:01 GMT -5
The taxi ride was an uneventful half hour, longer than normal, considering the traffic on Friday. Nothing had changed, except for a couple new buildings in the still expanding city. Seattle had Starbucks coffee around every corner, it lacked typical fast food joints, Drask noticed at least three new coffee places along the road. A sudden thought crept up on him; it was Penny's graduation today, he forgot all about it. At least he was headed to where she worked, and he brought her something from the Congo. Drask looked at his watch, it was seven o'clock, and it was starting to get dark, not much time to see her before he headed on to Alaska. But just enough to drop by for a minute. To bad he didn't have long to stay, even if he hated Seattle, he did have a couple friends here that made it worth while to visit. The taxi pulled over to a stop, right at the start of the block. Drask paid the driver, and got out, then grabbed his stuff from the trunk. Seconds later he was drenched as the cab driver gassed the taxi, throwing rain water everywhere. Drask sighed, perfect day to get soaked. At least his blackjack was waterproofed, and his i-pod. Taking swift strides down the sidewalk, he made his way to Anthony's, the sign said closed, but he came in anyway. Drask stood just inside the door for a moment, then set down his suitcase and pack before stepping fully into the pizza joint.
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carabadgermum
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Post by carabadgermum on May 16, 2008 23:00:17 GMT -5
Perhaps they had gotten one too many drinks down the ferretmaid but somebody had convinced her to get up and do a karaoke number. It wasn't as if she couldn't sing. Penny really had quite a nice voice but she was generally shy about being on stage. The song was 'You Were Meant For Me' by Jewel and before Penny reached the first chorus she saw the door open. It was directly opposite the stage so it was impossible for her to miss. She smiled at him as he walked in and continued to sing.
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Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 16, 2008 23:17:32 GMT -5
Drask smiled back before taking a seat close to the edge of the room, sort of a nasty habit of his, always staying in the background and never out in the open, call it shyness, or whatever else. He was still pretty wet after getting splashed by that cab. Anthony's hasn't changed at all, he thought to himself, as he glanced around the restaurant. Then he finally turned his attention back to Penny as she sang. Drask didn't know she could sing that well, he decided he might even give it a shot; might be fun.
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carabadgermum
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Post by carabadgermum on May 16, 2008 23:25:14 GMT -5
As soon as the song was finished she ran down the stages steps and over to the table where Drask sat. She fell to her knees beside his chair grinning. "You made it! I thought you were in a rain forest somewhere." She couldn't disguise just how pleased she was to see him.
((there's a line in that song about taking a walk in the pouring rain))
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Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 16, 2008 23:32:54 GMT -5
Drask couldn't help but smile back, "I was. The Congo to be exact, just got out of the place yesterday. Let me tell you, I've been to the Amazon once, and it's nothing compared to this jungle, everything from chimps, gorillas, and a couple pretty big snakes, not to mention the humidity," He caught himself before he rambled on about the Congo, Drask was almost enthusiastic about these places he traveled to, especially the ones that stand out, like the Congo.
((Yeah, i think i heard that song before.))
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carabadgermum
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Post by carabadgermum on May 16, 2008 23:51:22 GMT -5
Somebeast called Penny's name from back up near the stage and she glanced around to look at them before smiling again at Drask. "I really do want to know all about it. You will tell me everything, won't you?" Then she stood, grabbed his paw and pulled him forward. "Come and join us."
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Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 17, 2008 0:07:39 GMT -5
Drask didn't do to well in front of people, but he came along with Penny anyway. Drawing up a bit of courage that he rarely displayed, except on an expedition, he changed his mind about wanting to sing; now he really didn't think he could. "Yeah, I'll tell you about it." Drask had poor people skills, but he didn't like to show it. Right now he was hoping they weren't going to ask him to get up on stage, because he certainly would have forgotten the words to any song he knew by heart five minutes ago.
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carabadgermum
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Post by carabadgermum on May 17, 2008 10:12:55 GMT -5
Sensing his hesitance, Penny whispered to him conspiratorially, "We won't make you sing if you don't want to. Well they might make you join in on 'for she's a jolly good ferret' or something like that, but they've got me a cake, and Tony's being very generous with food and drink."
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Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 17, 2008 20:34:18 GMT -5
Her words struck home with Drask; he wasn't going to act shy tonight, he was going to sing as well. He was never a coward in the field, so he had no reason to be one here either. "Actually, I will sing." Drask took in a deep breath, then he let go of his friend's paw, and approached the stage. Then he sung 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls. His singing surprised even him; he sounded much better than he expected, well it seemed Vrelt wasn't the only one who could excel at singing. Once the song was over he jumped down the stage and came back over to Penny, his eyes shining, "How was that?"
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carabadgermum
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Post by carabadgermum on May 17, 2008 23:11:32 GMT -5
"I thought it was . . ." she broke off not wanting to appear too excited. "very nice." she settled on after a moment but she was looking down as she said it and blushing slightly. "Did somebeast tell you that that is one of my all time favorite songs?"
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Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 17, 2008 23:31:34 GMT -5
"Yes. That's always been one of my favorites too. I loved the '90s, Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Creed, Matchbox 20, all some great bands." Drask realized he was again rambling on, then taking a second to think straight, he smiled, "I can see why it's one of your favorites though." A glance around the room took in that several others were staring at him, why they were looking he didn't know, maybe it had something to do with him being friends with Penny.
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carabadgermum
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Post by carabadgermum on May 18, 2008 21:26:48 GMT -5
Penny had also noticed the other beasts staring in their direction. It was after all her party and here she was being monopolized by one particular creature. As she thought about this she remembered the question that everyone of them seemed to be asking her. It was a question that Drask hadn't gotten around to asking yet so she answered it for him before he asked. "I'm flying to Phoenix tomorrow morning, already moved my stuff out of my dorm room." She hoped he understood what she meant by this: that she wouldn't be coming back to Seattle, that she might never see him again.
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Vrelt
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Post by Vrelt on May 18, 2008 21:48:36 GMT -5
"You're going back to Phoenix? Already?" A hint of sadness was in his voice as he spoke; if she was gone he would have no friends left in Seattle, except for his uncle, Travis Wolfe, and like Drask he was an explorer who traveled a lot, even more than Drask himself. Life without Penny would be unbearable, even crushing to him. Seattle suddenly seemed even more cold and dark in Drask's mind.
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