Akidlediveydoo, Wouldn't You? {Wilhelm}

[Aurora Snow]

It was an unusually warm pre-spring day in the city, and so Aurora thought it appropriate to have a small picnic by herself. She had brought her favourite red and white flannel blanket, and a wicker basket with a few snacks for herself. She sat, nestled up under the base of a large, prematurely floral tree, reading silently one of the trashy romance novels she'd checked out from the library.

Aurora glanced up occasionally as she saw people passing, growing more and more restless as she looked back to the pages of her book. She felt like getting up and walking around, but she didn't want to leave her stuff there where she sat. It'd be gone in minutes, even on a nice day like this. Especially on a nice day like this, actually.

She stood up, brushing some stray bits of grass from her dress, and began putting her things away. Aurora was wearing a light blue dress, almost a throw-back to the 50s, with a collar and a wide white belt. She had on white hoop earrings and sandals that matched, and her hair had been curled at the ends and was pulled back in a blue bow. She looked disgustingly adorable, actually.

She pulled the basket up with her hands, made some final adjustments to the blanket she'd wedged just barely inside of it - they never went back in like they did the first time - and began walking towards the street to put her things in her car. She turned back as she heard something behind her, and completely shoulder-checked someone else in the process.

"Ooh, I'm sorry!" she squeaked, turning back around quickly. "I didn't even see you there!"

[Wilhelm]

Wilhelm was still in awe of New York City. He had never really seen anything like it. The Holy Land was largely a desert, with short stunted vegetation. He had read about Central Park, and had finally decided to go and have a look. He was amazed at all the green vegetation around him. It slightly reminded him of the few memories he had of the English country side from his youth, but it was more amazing than the dreary landscape of that island. Infact  Wilhelm was so taken with his surroundings he didn't even notice he was on a collision course with a young lady.

As soon as their shoulders made contact, Wilhelm began stammering an apology and not really hearing the words being spoken to him.

"Oh...ah...uh. I'm terribly sorry, I did not mean to collide with you...this is my first time in this park and I was just too overwhelmed by my surroundings!"

Well, at least he hadn't knocked the poor girl down...

[Aurora Snow]

Aurora sniffed discretely, aware that she was smelling something awfully different from this human. He's not a human at all! she realized suddenly, and took a step back. As an Arctic fox, her bloodline was rare, and what Mr. Vulpes had said scared her - she didn't want to be someone's pet!

"Oh, it was my mistake," she stammered, eager to get away. He didn't seem evil, but you could just never tell! "I'll be on my way, sorry again," she said quickly. She was visibly shaken, as Aurora wasn't a champion at hiding her emotions like so many others in the city were. She did think it was odd that the vampire proclaimed this being his first visit to Central Park, but then again, it was probably a lie. They weren't the most trustworthy of creatures.

[Wilhelm]

Fear smacked Wilhelm like a slap to the face. This girl wasn't human....but why was she so scared? He meant her no harm, and had even apologized. What was she so afraid of? Her emotional state made her vulnerable enough for him to pick through her mind, even though his skills were rather undeveloped. She was worried about becoming someones.....pet? What was that all about? Hmmm, this was probably something that Wilhelm needed to find out about.

"Excuse me miss, wait a second please. I'm not what you think..well I am, but at the same time I'm not. I mean you no harm. In fact I feel that you probably know more about whats going on here than I do!"

He didn't want to just come right out and tell her he was reading her mind. But he did want to try and assuage her fears, and perhaps get her to stop and speak with him.

[Aurora Snow]

"But you're exactly what I think - know - you are," she exclaimed, taking another step back. She'd never had a vampire talk to her before, at least, not that she could recall. She was horrified that one would even try, what with there being so many people around! Aurora had no idea the reach of their power, of course - if she did, she'd never leave the house.

Still, she was so curious. She paused for a second, studying him quickly, big blue eyes flicking this way and that. It betrayed her skittish nature, but there was nothing she could do about that. She was what she was. "What do you mean, I know more about what's going on than you do?" she asked. "You been locked in a box?"

She hadn't actually expected him to have been.

[Wilhelm]

Locked in a box....well basically yes, Wilhelm had been. He still couldn't understand this girl's fears. He wasn't going to feed on her...in fact he wasn't even hungry. The whole "pet" concept was entirely beyond him, it wasn't something that he had ever heard of before.

"Um, why yes I have been "locked in a box" as you say. I have lived in a self imposed exile, since the time when I unfortunately contracted this condition until fairly recently when my "box" as it were, was destroyed. I promise you, I am not trying to deceive you, and in fact I would just simply like to ask you several questions...and just in case you are wondering...I know what you are, but it makes little difference to me, I only desire conversation...nothing more."

Maybe that would ease the girl's fears. But Wilhelm was still at a loss, but then again he had only been in the city a very, very short time. He had yet to learn all the rules and circumstances of this new world that he was living in.

[Aurora Snow]

Aurora stared blankly at him, and then looked around - for cameras, actually. She looked back to him, and tilted her head a little. "Okay... so say that I do believe you. What sort of self-imposed box were you in, and how was it destroyed? And why did you come here? And what do you need to know?" she asked, hitting him with a string of questions that all required answers right away. Aurora was a hasty sort of girl.

"And how do you know what I am? Have you met any others like me? I mean, not shifters, but like me? And if so, where are they, and can I meet them, too? Did you eat them?" So many questions. He'd unleashed the floodgates.

[Wilhelm]

The girls barrage of questions took Wilhelm a second to process. Perhaps it would have been wiser to just let her flee. He was slightly confused by some of what she was asking, but in all fairness, if he wanted to gain her trust and get HIS questions answered...he would have to answer hers.

"Yes a box of sorts, it was an ancient monastery in the Holy Land. I was turned during the Crusades, and taken to the monastery because I was thought to be demon possessed...in my blood lust I gorged myself on the blood of the monks there. The guilt still haunts me to this day, but it was overwhelming in those early days. So I locked myself away in the monastery, only feeding when I felt my grip on my reality and my self control slipping.

I stayed locked away until about a week or so ago, when escalating tensions in the Holy Land culminated with an explosive shell landing on the monastery ruins...basically destroying them. I came here because I saw New York on a television in a store front...and read about it in several novels...and it was the first place I thought of in my panic and I just showed up here. I just want to know why shifters are so afraid of vampires...I mean I know we are blood thirsty creatures, but...don't most learn to control it with age as I have?

As for the other shifter I met, she could be like you....if you are a horse. I can just tell you are not human and you are not a vampire, so that leaves just shifters correct? I can not tell what type of animal you can become. But why do you fear me so....I sincerely mean you no harm!"

Wilhelm hoped she would answer and not flee...this world was one that he was wholly unaccustomed to..

[Aurora Snow]

"Oh. So you're a monk, then?" she asked. She seemed to gloss over everything he'd said for random information. Monks weren't bad. "Are... you an evil monk? Or a good monk?" She took a step forward, and then seemed unsure, and stepped back again.

"I'm.." she trailed off. Ridley had said she was rare, and therefor very valuable to the right audience. She wasn't sure she could trust him. "I'm not a horse," she said finally. "I'm a shifter, but I can't tell you what. It's a secret." There, that would work. "And I'm scared because... well.. sometimes vampires will sell other vampires - and shifters... and even humans! As slaves! It's 2008, and people still have slaves! You'd think they'd know how to do things on their own, but I guess not." She sighed wistfully. Aurora seemed to have really missed the idea behind Midnight. Really.

[Wilhelm]

Well, he dressed like a Monk...but really was not. He just wore the clothes out of respect for the order he had destroyed. And because they were comfortable, and functional. A secret breed of shifter? That was odd to say the least, but Wilhelm wasn't going to pry, at least not with his voice. He tried to concentrate and dip into the girls mind, trying to get some sense of her animal form. But no, she was still to nervous but he did catch a brief glimpse of something sleek, elegant and white. Slavery...in America? What an awful notion, Wilhelm certainly had never heard of anything like that before!

"I respect your wish to keep your second form a secret. It is not my desire to do you harm or to frighten you. As I said, I am new to this city and do not yet fully know its ways. Please, I am very curious about this awful slave trade...you say Vampires can be sold by other Vampires...and that your kind can be sold, and even humans? What type of place engages in such an awful practice in this day and age? I can assure you that I appalled by the very notion of such a thing!"

Wilhelm hoped the girl would calm down and speak more plainly with him. He really needed to know these things, especially the part about vampires selling each other...how could he be sold if he did not have an owner?

[Aurora Snow]

Actually, vampires couldn't be sold by other vampires - as immortals, it was against Midnight's rules, but not everyone there tended to follow them. Aurora didn't know that, exactly, though. She just knew that people went in, and they didn't come back out.

After a moment, she moved forward about an inch. "I believe you. The place is bad. It's... I don't want to talk about it. I don't like to think about it. There's already enough going on that's wrong. Can you help me carry this to my car? It's heavy enough that it's starting to bother me," she said, pointing down at the basket.

Well, she was calm enough to ask for help with her food. That was something. Aurora was still flighty though - it was just her nature. Curious, but only getting close enough to paw at something before she ran and hid.

[Wilhelm]

Wilhelm frowned at her response. He realized that perhaps it was an unpleasant topic, but he still was curious. He reached down and grabbed her basket. It was much heavier than he would have thought for just this single person.

"I will certainly carry this for you. Where are you parked? And if you do not mind my asking, is there anything else that goes on in this city that I should be aware of? Any other unpleasant activities I would do best to avoid?"

Slavery was bad enough, could there possibly be anything worse going on in this city? Wilhelm half expected her to tell him that there were even assassins in the city that specialized in the killing of supernatural beings, but surely that was just his imagination running away with him.

[Aurora Snow]

"Well, no," she said. She wasn't really familiar with Bruja - despite the fact that her stepbrother was a member of Frost, the most brutal of the three rings. She didn't know about that, or a lot of other things that went on in the city. Midnight she was only familiar with because Mr. Vulpes in the mall had told her. She had motioned to her car and that was the direction they headed as she spoke. She opened the passenger side door of her 02 Accord and pushed the seat forward, allowing him room to put the basket down.

"I brought a lot of food with me," she explained. "I do that. I overpack. I always think of something else I might need. My mom says it's a trait I inherited from her. I'm not sure how you inherit a mannerism, but I guess," she said with a little sigh that said she'd heard the accusation of overpacking way, way too many times.

"I don't know of anything else, though. Maybe you should talk to Mr. Vulpes in the mall? He's pretty well-informed. He's nice, too," she added. She didn't think for a second that telling him to speak with Vulpes was perhaps a bad idea - luckily Wilhelm was a nice sort of vampire, but Aurora had exersiced poor judgement in the past.

[Wilhelm]

Judging from the weight of the basket, this girl had indeed over packed her lunch. But Wilhelm always preferred to err on the side of caution so he understood completely. Back when he was mortal, he seemed to recall that he had had quite the appetite himself.

" A Mr. Vulpes you say? Perhaps it would be in my best interest to speak with him. I have no idea what to think about some of these things you have told me, and I would rather not be associated with them simply because of my unfortunate nature. I did not exactly choose to be this way, and I do not want to be forced into any other circumstance I do not choose to be in. But I have let my manners lapse, I have not even introduced myself. I am Wilhelm...I am sure I had a family name, but it has been a while....and I am very pleased to have met you ma'am."

Well, Wilhelm was going to be busy searching out this Vulpes fellow. The mall....that must be one of those large indoor market places he had heard so much about. It would be interesting to make a trip there regardless.

[Aurora Snow]

"Aurora," she said, closing the door of the car. "Not ma'am, just Aurora. I'm just barely old enough to drink," she said with a giggle. She nodded as he spoke. "Yeah, so how old are you?" she asked, nosing around into his business. "And where are you going, now?"

She didn't really want to just leave him there. He smelled funny and he probably knew lots of stuff she didn't. Maybe she could tote him to the library. But still, a vampire... she needed to be cautious, even if he said he was nice. He could be lying. She narrowed her eyes a little, suspicious of him all over again. She needed a way to make sure he wasn't full of shit, but she didn't know how.