Maxwell glances around "it has to be here somewhere..." he murmers to himself before spotting Erik "Oh .. Erik right? hey there"
Erik looks up as he hears his name. "Oh, hey. Max? Have a seat." He gestures to the empty seat at his table.
Erik raises an eyebrow. "A pen, huh? I haven't seen one," he comments, then shrugs. "Just . . . having a cup of coffee."
"Yea.. i've had that pen all the way through Iraq, the even picked it up for me when I nearly got blown up" He says out loud "So, were you here with Laurel?" he asks finally sitting down at the table with Erik.
"Yeah . . ." Erik replies. "You just missed her. So, you two grew up together, huh?"
"well, not our whole lives but pretty much since the first day I had hear we were thick as thieves.." he looks off towards the night sky "Is she walking home or driving?" a slight bit of concern upon his face.
Erik nods, then glances at Max. "Were you two . . . together?"
"yea... we were. But life and fate sorta bitch slapped the hell out of our relationship. So your two are together, thats kosher." He glances again out towards the night "you think its a good idea for her to be out by herself? I mean it gets pretty rough out here at night.."
Erik nods. "Well, that makes this sort of awkward, doesn't it?" He asks, chuckling, Then he glances toward where she left earlier. "More than you know, man. Really rough, but I think she needs some time to herself, to cool down a bit."
"Look, I can understand the whole Ex thing, mad mojo there and all. I'm not going to lie, I still think she's groovy and if she wasn't with you I'd be going after her. But you see there is a key phrase in the sentance, and thats "if she wasn't with you", so don't worry." he hrms and leans foreward in a hushed tone. "look, I don't know what the status quo is around here but last night she and I were jumped by a group of those freaks."
Erik quirks an eyebrow. "Which ones? Gangbangers? Laurel can handle them easy. She's not as fragile as she was when you knew her."
"gangbangers? no... these guys... they dusted. There were at least five or so of them. I know she's the slayer. She took out four of them. I think it would be a good idea to give her a little back up."
"Oh, vampires," Erik comments absently, then looks sharply at Maxwell. "Alright, you know the basics, at least. What's your gig?"
"I'm a Marine, you steak them, you remove thier head, don't know about that holy water stuff and never saw them in daylight so i know that one has to be at least partially tru." Maxwell adds
"It's true," Erik says. "Stake them or take their heads. Fire and sunlight works, and holy water is like acid to them. Now, what are you really, because I've never met a pussy Marine who could do anything to a vampire except piss himself and run in fear."
Maxwell's face hardens slightly at the insult. "look, lets just get out there and i'll show you what a true Marine looks like, not some Navy pansy wannabes." he says coldly before adding "Except for those seals... those guys are crazy..."
Erik laughs and stands. "Alright, let's go see what my tax dollars are paying for." He slaps Max on the back. "You're alright, man."
Maxwell nods and steps back, his foot bumping against something. Looking down he spots something and picks it up. "Hey, its my pen!" He pockets the item and nods to Erik "alright, I imagine you might know where to look first?"
You paged Laurel with 'were ready'.
Laurel pages: Yay! Copy/paste the log to me?
"Vamp hunting 101, man," Erik replies. "To the graveyards."
"You know? Am I being unreasonable? Getting angry at my boyfriend because he's defending some girl who sent a demon hunter after me?" No, she's not musing to herself, but to a motley crew of almost a dozen vampires. Laurel's got a bigass sword in one hand and a large pointy stake in another as she looks around her, definitely surrounded. She sighs softly as she oomphs at a couple of the punches, getting her square in the chest, but she retaliates with a stake in the heart of one and a nice homerun decap action with another.
Okay, so there are now ten vampires in the cemetary this evening with the annoyed and ranting Slayer. "I mean seriously.." she says, spitting out a bit of her own blood on the ground. "I'm not being unreasonable, am I? It's not like I'm being jealous or anything. I just dont like people trying to kill me.." she justifies it all completely.
One of the vampires looks at another and hrmms for a few moments, muttering softly. "How come Slayers think we're psychologists or counselors. We're just hungry and want to eat them.." And the others growl and nod in agreement.
This is the cemetery of the poor. Some graves have ordinary tombstones, others are the government issue for veterans, yet others are just plain ceramics or in some cases just a wooden cross, slowly rotting in the dry. desert heat. One thing that connects them all is that they're all more or less homemade, and very personal.
There's also a noticeable difference between the graves in the old area of the cemetery, and those in the new. The old, over-grown, forgotten and neglected ones are shaded by huge, twisted, ancient trees that have grown and flourished here, ever since the oasis formed. Mold and mildew obscure the names and dates on the rough stones. The new graves, closer to the rickety, creaky gates? They're more often than not well-attended and cleared, and some are practically littered with little offerings of flowers, candles, and gifts.
Maxwell walks side by side with Erik, looking about the poorly kept cemetary. He's looking for one thing in particular, well one person in particular. "So" he whispers to Erik "you go to these places often?"
You paged Laurel with 'erik knew where to find laurel, max "didn't"'.
From afar, Laurel ahhhs and nodnods
"Nearly every night," Erik replies to Maxwell. "Comes with the gig." Suddenly he stops, his keen senses alerting him to the fight in the vicinity. He breaks into a run and yells as soon as he comes into view of the fight. Without missing a step, he raises the small axe in his hand and throws it straight at one of the vampires threatening his girl. He doesn't stop to watch the axe hit its target, slamming into the vampire's torso, but keeps running and attempts to tackle one of the others, who proves too nimble for him
"I mean really...I am so not being unreasonable!" she says as she wrinkles her nose and starts whirling the rather large sword around her trying to keep the vampires at bay. It's monologue time, and damnit, she's going to rant. That's part of the whole Slayer-vampire dynamic afterall, right? "I mean, it's so unfair, having a robot stalker that he gets mad about and I cant be mad about his robot stalker. I swear, it's a fucking robot conspiracy.." she grumps a little as she let's out a melodramatic sigh.
And that's when the sound of an axe whooshing through the air can be heard until there's a loud grunt for one of the vampires. There's a small axe stuck in his back as he curses under his breath. Erik tries to slam one on the ground but he was stepping to the side just in time. That definitely catches the vampires' attention though.
"This bitch is nuts.." one of the growls as he heads towards Maxwell, trying to punch him square in the jaw. Meanwhile, the one who missed the slamtackle tries to reciprocate the action, growling towards Erik the entire time..
Maxwell sqaures off against the vamp who attempted to punch him, he spins and drops attempting to sweep the vamps feet off of underneath him, but misses, his foot clipping the vamps. Not to be discouraged he then pushes off with his hands mule kicking at the vamps knees, again he misses, feeling his foot brush past the vamp.
Erik seems to be in as much of a mood as Laurel, and is obviously enjoying the chance to take out his aggression on some vampires. He lunges for the one he'd already wounded, grabbing it by the neck with powerful hands and twisting. With a sickening crack, the head comes completely off the vampire's body, and both collapse into dust. Erik growls, satisfied, while his axe thuds to the ground.
It's only then does she notice that there are two new comers here, especially when one of the vampires become dust. "Erik? Maxwell?" she asks, slightly distracted as she stops swinging her sword, leaving herself completely open. Two vampires pounce and start punching her, one in the face and one in the jaw. "Ow! That hurt!" she grumps as she stumbles back a bit, wincing a little in pain before she looks around at those towards her. "Fucking A.." she grumps, rushing towards the two as she stabs one cleanly in the heart causing it to just dust while trying to stake the other. And she misses. She cries out in frustration before doing it again, and this time it's a hit and then there were seven.
The other vampires look towards the Slayer with a bit of surprise. "Um..I dont wanna mess with the PMSing chick.." another of them says running and rushing towards Erik. And another follows. The two go into some anime-esque cry as they both look to be the formerly chubby otakus. "Gaijin Double Punch!" they cry out, trying to slam their fist together into Erik's chest, for he presents a big target afterall.
Meanwhile, the one facing Maxwell, lets out a soft chuckle under his breath. "Mmm, you're a pansy.." he says before going into a Bruce Lee like stance. He makes the highpitched sounds before trying to sweep the marine off his feet.
The "Pansy" Marine hops over the leg sweep before he plants his size 11 shoe firmly into the bruce lee vamp before turning and introducing him the sole of his other shoe. The vamp gets knocked off his feet and thuds upon the ground not moving.
"Seriously? Gaijiji Double Punch?" Erik asks incredulously as he takes the 'Gaijin Double Punch' straight to the chest with only a mild wince. "Lemme show you the Catapult." He rushes foward with both arms outstretched, clamping the double-nerds in vise-like arms. With a roar of effort, he lifts them both in the air and -heaves-, sending them both through the air to land several yards away in a heap.
Not wanting to get hit again, Laurel harumphs as she owws still from the opening she left. "Mr Cross would be rolling in his grave if he saw that.." she murmurs under her breath as she starts twirling the sword around her once more, keeping the undead at bay. She's a little sloppy, her form isnt perfect, but it's enough to keep them away, though one does get sliced from being too overeager.
The Bruce Lee wannabe who landed on his back lets out a groan as he looks a bit dazed and confused. "That's not cool..I should be eating you now.." he grumps just a little, vamping out in front of Maxwell.
"Squeeeee!" the two fat otaku cry out as they land several yards away. They let out another harumph as they start charging towards Erik. "You will face our terrible powers! Gaijin Doublekick!" and they both jump up in unison to try hit Erik square in the chest once more.
Unceremoniously Maxwell drops down as he pulls out a pen from his back pocket. Upon closer inspection one might see that its manufactured out of rich mahogany. By the time Maxwell's knees touch the ground, he's slammed said writing utensil into the vamps heart, laying his ashes to rest.
Erik looks extremely unimpressed as the vampires climb up and charge at him. He takes the time to slip a stake from his belt and, with a quick flick of his wrist, sends it straight into the heart of the one on the left, who explodes into dust. Erik grins ferally, and roars an exhilarated challenge. "Bring it ON, BITCHES!!" He steps forward as the other one reaches him and slams one foot into the vamp's leg, tripping him up. A judiciously applied elbow slams the vampire to the ground. "And Grandpa said I'd never learn anything from WWF."
And that makes five vampires left. Tweedledumb and the four that surround the Slayer. Correction, three that surround the Slayer, as Laurel wrinkles her nose and slams a stake yet into another vampire's chest. She lets out a wry grin, seeming to enjoy herself as she parries a few more punches and the remaining three look towards the other two.
"How come there are so many hunters?!?!" one of them asks in a whiny tone.
"I just wanted an easy meal.." one grumps before he starts charging towards Maxwell trying to bring him down to the ground. He's tall and lanky, a teenager really and he bares his fangs while trying to bring down the marine.
"You two, take care of these..that man over there looks like a challenge." Out of all the vampires, he's the hulking brute. He's pretty much as big as Erik and starts grinning as he's dressed in leather. The only difference with his leather and Erik's is that..well there's a flap on his butt. He's that kind of bear. "Mmmm, handsome..how about taking on someone your own size?" he asks with a lecherous grin.
Maxwell takes a step back from the scrawny vamps attack before stepping foreward and twisting in a crescent ax kick. His heel clips the vamps nose with a loud shattering crack. Not losing momentum Maxwell spins around again connecting with the side of the vamps head this time.
Erik rolls his eyes at his new challenger. "Think you can do better than Tweedle-Dumbass?" He steps forward and braces a leg in front of the guy, using one arm to push him forward. The 'bear' is off-balance, until Erik slams his elbow into the vamp's back, sending him hard to the ground. He slides his other axe from his belt and swings it in a powerful, downward chop at the guy's neck, but just misses.
With the two vampires talking amongst themselves and having been left alone, Laurel becomes miffed. "Hey! I was ranting to you guys!" she grumps. She starts charging towards them, wrinkling her nose as she hops up and twists just a bit until she's between them to send the two apart with the splits in the air. Then there's the sound of a rip, her jeans are torn and she curses as she lands on the ground. "Damnit!" she says, looking to try to find the rip, and she turns, flashing panties as she twirls to both Erik and Maxwell. Yeah, there's a rip on her butt now.
Meanwhile, the vampire who was fighting Maxwell stumbles backjust a bit as he oomphs at the kick. "What are you? Fucking Ryu from Streetfighter?" he asks as he groans a little, as his nose is all messed up. He goes on a full defensive at this point, making a come hither motion towards the marine. "Bring it bitch.."
Finally, there's the 'bear'. "Jesuth Christ.." he says as he tumbles back and falls to the ground, snickering as he looks up towards Erik. "Ooooh..that hurts..it hurts good.." he says with a smarmy and cheeky grin. "I think I'll turn you into my Mr. Slave.." trying to get back up once more
Chuckling, Maxwell raises an eyebrow. "Ryu my ass.." he says he holds up his wooden pen "More like Scorpion" At which point he whips the pen into the chest of the vamp.
"Really?" Erik asks incredulously, looking at the leather-wearing vampire on the ground. "Let's see if this hurts as good!" He swings the axe in another powerful chop, this time aiming for a different target. He smiles ferally as the leg is severed completely and turns to bull-shoulder the other vamp back, causing him to hit the ground. Again. "Dude, just stay down until I get to you. Promise, I'll make it quick."
And at that point there's three left.The wooden pen slams through the vampire'sheart and falls to the ground afterwards. There's still the BDSM Bear vamp down, as he howls now that his leg was chopped off. "Son of a bitch!" he cries out in pain, laying there in a pool of his own blood as he slowly tries to get up.
Meanwhile, there's tweedledumb who was slammed onto the ground as he squirms a bit. "Hey! Get off me! Dont make me use my special attack!" he cries out, huffing and puffing under his breath. His eyes start to glow bright red..holy crap he might have a special attack!
Then, there's the lone vampire left. Laurel just watches for a few moments as that vampire decides to go for her and she just shakes his head. "Bad idea.." and so he looks around and tries to punch Maxwell square in the chest.
By this point, Erik stops trading banter and gets down to business. He reaches directly for the gimp vamp's neck as he scrambles off the ground. Erik lets out a powerful, animalistic rour and twists in a single, brutal movement that once more brings the head completely off the neck. "Oh, yeah!" Erik crows, as he turns back to face his last opponent, not even pausing to watch the gimp dust.
"see, now this... " he says as he twists his torso, slipping out of the way of the punch. "This would be Ryu." With that said Maxwell connects with a left hook before he drops slightly, his knees bending more before he springs into an uppercut connect once again with the vamp. He spins just for fun as he does and say "Shoryuken"
"Dork.." Laurel calls out, snickering softly towards the scene as she watches Maxwell with the double punch and even the slight twist at the end. She shakes her head as she rests against a tree, keeping an eye and a Slayer-sense out for other vampires.
Meanwhile, Mr. Slave vamp goes to an end, dusting and returning to the earth, which still leaves the hypnotic tweedledee. Helooks angry and pissed, his eyes glowing bright red. "You! You will suffer my wrath, gaijin!" he says pointing towards Erik angrily.
Even the vampire that Max is fighting looks over towards the fatso. "Uhoh...this is not good.." he says matter of factly. And he starts running, apparently, he doesnt want to be here.
Maxwell watches as his most recent target turns and begins to hightail it out of there. He Sprints after the vamp, scooping up his pen along the way. After a few steps the panicked vamp suddenly finds out that Maxwell had caught up. Unfortunately for the vamp he finds this out by the "stake" in his back.
Erik continues to grin as he moves in on Tweedledee. "Now, to keep my promise," he says, reaching out with inhumanly strong arms and pulling the vampire's head directly off, like his compatriots. Erik tosses the head over his shoulder, where it explodes into dust in mid-air. He turns to survey the battlefield. "Laurel! You alright, babe?"
And she looks up towards Erik, her brows raising before she nods. She's slightly bloodied and bruised. Her lip is slightly busted and it seems that a vamp bit her on the neck, though there's no more blood flowing from it. "I was sloppy.." she admits ruefully, sighing a little as she continues to lean against the tree. "You two all right?" Laurel asks, looking towards Max first since he's squishy.
"i'm fine" Maxwell replies as he's looked at. He slips his pen into his back pocket. "Lets get out of here before any more of those things decide to pop up." He adds as he looks about.
"Bah, that was a cakewalk," Erik replies, waving it off, and heading for Laurel. "We need to get you home." He looks her over with a concerned eye. "And get you a change of pants."
"You try taking more than a dozen by yourself for a bit.." Laurel says somewhat defensively as she sighs softly, wobbling a bit as she starts to get up from the tree. "Okay, that was not a good idea..just gimme a bit to get my bearings.." she says softly.
Maxwell continues to keep a lookout while Laurel gets up and Erik is concentrating on her. "So... does this happen much?" he asks glancing over his shoulder at the two of them "I mean .. are they that bad of a problem?"
"LIke fucking roaches," Erik confirms, moving to pick Laurel up in his arms. "Here, let me help. You bit off a little more than you could chew, baby."
"Hey..they started with twenty! I took care of a bunch.." she says with a slight huff before she lets out a little yelp as she's lifted up in Erik's arms. Laurel's pretty light, especially for someone with inhuman strength and she just sighs, resting her head against his shoulder as she rests her sword in her scabbard and holds onto it. "But still...thanks for coming..both of you.."
Maxwell nods with a smile before he begins walking out the way he and Erik came in. "There were Twenty of them?" he asks a bit surprised. "And this is completely normal?"
"Well, that's a fairly big group," Erik says, shifting to hold Laurel more comfortably and jogging to catch up with Max. "It's not unusual to hit that many in a night, but all at once isn't too common."
"Almost all were newly turned. They mentioned something about the Sisters of Melpominee..it seems that reality TV whore vampiress is getting ready to do something big.." Laurel says matter of factly though she continues to rest her head against Erik's chest, most definitely fatigued. "She went to a live taping of something and ate a bunch..the others were turned. Those were members of the studio audience.."
Maxwell continues to walk on. "Thank you for tuning in tonight, this show was filmed in front of an undead studio audience." He murmers and glances over his shoulder "Ok, now who are you talking about? Tv Whore Vimpiress?"
Erik snorts. "Had a run-in with her. She's slippery as fuck, and bright as a broken lightbulb."
"That's all I know, but I should hit the books and start checking through things. Trevor and I will be on research duty.." Laurel says firmly and resolutely as she sighs and takes a deep breath.
"Is there anything I could help out with?" Maxwell asks "wait... research duty? Like asking around about this Tv vamp chick?" he asks hoping not to sound like an idiot
Erik shrugs. "I'm just around to hit things and look sexy. Laurel, what's the latest on that front? Anything need hitting or sexiness?"
A soft chuckle escapes from her lips. "Lots of things always need hitting.." she says before looking over to Max. "And no..more like books. Lots of books..I dont want you asking around bout her..too dangerous."
"Books? Like the Idiot's guide on vampire slaying?" Maxwell asks playfully "No, but seriously, they have books on this stuff?" He hrms softly to himself.
Erik groans. "Books. I hate books. They're not even the kind with lots of pictures, unless you count woodcuts."
"Most of mine were destroyed in the fire that consumed my apartment, but I can ask Trevor to look hrough his collection. And yes..they do.." she says before sighing once more. She wrinkles her nose and continues resting against Erik, soon drifting off.
war
Neutral 
Depressed 
