West

The western part of the city is often home to the poorer residents. Here there is a grunginess that permeates the town from the graffiti on the once cleaned brick buildings to the broken and unmaintained architecture. Crime runs high within the western half of town, making it the home of supernatural gangs of illicit activities. Such activities are rarely reported, however, and most residents are distrustful of individual's of authorities, and often let the powerful supernatural beings sort things out amongst themselves. Be careful wandering the Western streets after the sun falls.

What You'll Find Here

Black Market
Cull & Pistol
Noah's Ark
Syn

hearts have gone cold


Posted on August 05, 2020 by Carolina Grace Bedford
West
so say you'll stay with me tonight
I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

The normalcy of their conversation was almost amusing, alone on the abandoned beach with the city in the grip of what some were beginning to call a pandemic, and yet Carolina found herself enjoying that ordinariness that her life so often seemed to lack. She had always been able to appreciate art, but it did not lessen the amazement she felt holding that bound book and the years of Alistair's work within it. It gave her a window into his life she did not expect, but as they discussed his schooling at the legendary university he had depicted in that detailed drawing she was pleased that he was willing to be open with her. Something that she could return, at least partly; there was no need to overshare all that had prevented her from academically being his rival. She had a sense that he knew she was holding back though, and that he was kind enough not to pry more than she was willing to offer spoke volumes. His soft response causing her lips to quirk ever so slightly even as her eyes swept out to the tempestuous scene before them.

As the wind picked up and reeled about them she knew the storm was almost upon them, only a matter of time before the clouds broke overhead and her stomach clenched at the thought of the thunder which would no doubt follow. It was going to be a long day for her, already thinking about the noise cancelling headphone stashed in her closet as she tucked her tousled hair behind her ear once more. The ironically peaceful conversation the pair was encompassed in was running out of time she knew and so she could not resist inquiring about being a hunter, curiosity very much a part of her even if it was cliché. It was something she knew admittedly little about despite them being the supposed biggest enemy to other supernatural beings, but she had learned recently that they were far from the only one.

Their eyes met once more even as his shoulders rolled in uncertainty. His answer one she had not expected, brows furrowing slightly on her expressive face as she realized two things. Firstly that he had not been a hunter very long by any means, it explained his status as errand boy at the Ark when they had first met. Secondly that this fate, while one that he had apparently chosen, had not been his idea. Rather it sounded like it had come down to being a hunter or dying and she did not fault him for wanting to live. Many more questions swirled in her mind as raucously as the ocean before them, and yet before she could find one she was willing to ask he turned the inquiry towards her.

Her pink lips pulled into a rueful smile as she appraised him for a moment. "I do now, or at least it doesn't bother me anymore. It wasn't really a choice at the time, but once I got past the pain of shifting and the Call of the Moon it wasn't so bad anymore." Life was full of trade-offs, just like the life of prep school and white picket fences she had run away from, and while the repercussions weren't always easy or enjoyable all she really wanted was that choice. "I guess we just have to make the best of what we've got." It was her turn to roll her slender shoulders ambiguously as she reached down to run her slender fingers across the cool sand that encompassed them. That perspective something of a mantra of hers ever since she left a privileged life to fend for herself.

Carolina Grace Bedford.
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