Welcome to Gaia! ::

The HQ was destroyed and the time is desperate. There is someone out there trying to hunt all Legends- not caring if they capture them dead or alive. Chandra and your Legend meet in secret in a pub to discuss action and potential strategies to save young and old Legends alike.

[Age: Teen. Anything else you need to know, ask in OOC brackets, XD.]

s**t. It would have to be a dark, smelly side street.

Avril grimaced at her fellow Legend's choice of scenery but couldn't deny it's practicality. No one in their right mind would look for two teenage girls here, special powers or no. Besides, she doubted a shoddy place like this would check IDs. It might not be a problem for Chandra, but the younger Legend seriously doubted she could pass for anything more than sixteen.

She checked her appearance one more time in a puddle of murky water near the entrance. She'd hid her close-cropped wild hair under a dingy grey baseball cap and wore baggy, unremarkable clothes. She'd even stolen- well, 'borrowed'- a bottle of Elwryn's cheap cologne to mask her normally floral scent.

Avril took a deep breath and descended the stairs, making certain to avoid the vomit and various other liquids spattered across the steps.

Bracing herself, she heaved open the big, poorly painted metal door. The hinges shrieked in protest and suddenly her senses were bombarded by a myriad of unpleasant odors. She wrinkled her nose and suppressed a sneeze.

Ugh, so this is where the smell was coming from?

Avril closed the door behind her carefully then turned to face the interior. Squinting through the haze of smoke, she made out a fair sized room with walls painted a dark, ugly green. Cheap looking pine tables dotted the floor and a long, dirty bar ran along the back wall. There were a number of patrons, each seedier than the last.

And at a table in the far back corner...Yes, a slender figure in a dark cloak. She strolled across the room, taking a roundabout route to the waiting Legend. She made sure to smile at the waitress as she passed. No need to seem rude.

With one last look around to see if anyone was watching, she sat down in the chair across from Chandra. She could only make out the Legend's unnerving yellow eyes staring out from the gloom of her cowl.

At the sight of a familiar face, however little they'd talked before, all the frustration from the weeks of hiding, of staying just under the radar, of sleepless nights and of cold fear burst into one sentence.

"Imma kill this rat b*****d, if it's th' last thing I do." Her voice shook and her violet eyes took on a kind of desperate gleam. She found herself unable to meet Chandra's gaze and instead glared down at the tabletop.

Shaking her head, she lowered her voice a bit.

"Is't safe to speak here?"

At Chandra's response, Avril did her best to visibly relax, shifting in her chair to find a more comfortable position. The normally energetic Legend found herself feeling rather drained in the presence of her companion, and ruefully attributed it to her lifeless and almost mechanical mannerisms. However, she trusted Chandra's instincts more so than many of the others she'd met in her time at the HQ. There was just something about her, something primal and predatory that was extremely useful - when you were on the right end.

Dangling her arm over the back of the chair, she paused for a moment and allowed herself to listen to the conversation that passed by on the weak breeze stirred up by the single ceiling fan. The wind carried nothing suspicious; a man's wife had left him for his best friend, someone else's mother died...Typical occasions that merited a long night of hard drinks. Avril focused her attention back on the matter at hand, mentally sifting through recent events to decide what was most urgent.

She inhaled deeply, ignoring the smell of cheap beer and old sweat. "The night after it happened," she began, choosing her words carefully, "I was out late."

"I couldn't shake th' feelin' that I'd been followed, so I took th' long way home, and it got dark fast." Yeah, she could remember that evening clearly. "I didn't want to lead him to..." She stopped herself just before saying her guardian's name, and thought better of it. "-To Da, so I's jumped somebody's fence, shimmy'n' up the drainpipe and into their attic. I waited for a few hours, but nothin' happened...I think I fell asleep." Absently she fiddled with the tablecloth.

"Next I know, it's mornin' 'n I hear somebody bangin' real loud-like on the front door. I tried to listen on the wind, but they were dead-quiet. Th' owner of the house musta opened it though, cause it stopped after a bit."

She closed her eyes, remembering. "It'us kinda creepy...I could hear th' owner just fine, but it was'us if he weren't talkin to nothin'...I couldn't hear him a'tall." Avril's expression grew grim.

"I left," she continued whispering. "I high-tailed it outta there s'fast as I I could, and stuck to th' public places all day. It just didn't feel right, going home..." She looked up from the tablecloth then, meeting Chandra's gaze.

"Later that evening, I went back to the house...There was nothin' there. The front door was open. There was som' half-cooked breakfast out on th' table... It was as if the owner had disappeared all'o-the-sudden." She shook her head, trying to clear the vivid imagery.

"I 'aven't been home since - I dun want 'im to come home with me.I sleep somewhere different every night." Avril buried her face in her hands wearily.

"I can't help but wonder, what 'o th' others? Especially the little 'uns. Is't really such a good idea we be divided like this?" She let her hands fall to the counter and stared at them absently.

"This way, all we can do is run. None of us can take him on alone. Sure, with so many-" there was a short break as she caught herself almost saying, 'So many Legends,'"-of us, he can only be findin' us one at a time, which improves our chances a bit- if we wanna run forever. But wouldn't we be better off if we stood together, while most 'o us were still left?" She looked at Chandra almost pleadingly.

"Yeh musta realized that, or yeh wouldn't've bothered findin' me. And I can only assume, if yeh found me, you might know where everyone else'us been." She sat up straight in her chair and leaned forward across the table.

"All I know is," she said darkly, "at this rate, we're as good 'us gone."

Avril just stared a Chandra blankly for a moment. Someone was consulting her about tactics? She couldn't even stay awake for a whole show on the History channel!

Still, she rested her chin in her hands, elbows propped up on the edge of the dirty tablecloth, and tried to think of a place to stage their 'battle'. A place where we can't be ambushed or detected, she mused. She concluded that obviously the place'd have to be abandoned. Bystanders would only muck things up, and besides, she was a bit squeamish about letting innocents be victimized.

As she pondered their predicament, conversations continued to float past her lazily.

"-hope it clears up soon," grumbled an old and wizened sailor to his mate. "Else they'll never get 'ome."

"Wun'er why they closed that 'ol lighter on th' hill anyway. Sure'd be useful 'n this weather," his companion replied.

Avril's ears almost visibly perked. A deserted lighthouse? That'd be almost too perfect! The tower-like design of the building and its position would almost completely eradicate any chance of suprise attack from their mutual enemy. But how could she tell Chandra?

She drew the breeze a little closer to their table. The men's voices were amplified slightly, to just above a whisper.

"They says it's 'haunted'. Bollocks if yeh ask me. Why'd anyone give two shakes bout an ol' rig like that?" A clunk is heard as he carlessly drops his tankard to the tabletop, sloshing out a bit of his cheap liquor. "It's jes' a lighthouse, not a graveyard." His leather coat creaks as he makes a sign against evil.

"Beats me," his companion replied, taking a swig of whatever foul brew he'd chosen and setting it down in an equally heavy-handed fashion. "Bit 'o a creepy place if yeh ask me. An' too close to that mad Gambino's mansion."

Avril let go of the small waft and grinned, pleased with herself. "S'on a hill, from what I gather. Th' elevation would prevent anythin' unpleasant sneakin' up on us, an' th' rumors will likely drive away everyone else," she remarked candidly, spreading her hands out in a gesture of appeal.

The bar's heavy door screeches open, and a man enters with an air of carelessness about him. He saddles down at the bar in the seat closest to the entrance, drumming two fingers on the grungy bar top to signal his need of something.

"Whiskey," he requests. His voice is raw but nothing less than terrifying. The man closest to him purposely nudges his excessively large body aside until he faces away from the newcomer. The requested drink is slid down the bar, but the man doesn't yet notice. He searches over his shoulder the occupants's faces, their clothes, their hands. His own right hand is concealed within one of the deep pockets of his large, heavy black overcoat.

(( That's totally fine. <3 ))

Chandra followed Avril's gaze and her eyes narrowed immediately. She knew this man, this... Legend.

"Ink," she muttered almost involuntarily. Humans had the quaint notion that the Devil would come if you called his name, but Chandra had a feeling evil of that size had no need for an invitation.

"There is a window in the bathroom. Small and likely painted shut, but it might be persuaded to move. If we both go, he will cut us off before we can reach the bathroom door." Her eyes swept the bar, looking for the sort of opportunity which would slow him down. "I do not believe we will be assisted by luck here, one of us will need to be the distraction for the other."