v.

Going inside is… inadvisable. Overhang shelter it is.

Image: As the human trio stay dry, Addison keeps a stick pointed at Kay Lin, forcing her to stand in the rain as she talks.

Firstly: Yes, Kay Lin is a vampire; but for the record, she’s not rabid. She was, she says, trying to get Sequitur to return to the group when they were attacked. Before then, she was just at the party to socialize, and tagged along to help.

Addison has doubts. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

Image: Kay Lin, who’s been holding her hands up in surrender, looks at Addison.

Glances down at the sharp end of the stick.

Looks back up, shrugs. Y’know.

Image: Addison’s not happy about that but pulls back.
Gary’s turn for questions:

So is Kay Lin just, like, a regular human but immortal? Can she shapeshift? Does she know anything about those rabbit-monsters? How about the letter-writer? Also, garlic, yay or nay? And—

Image: Joce jabs him with her elbow. Kay Lin’s amused.

Regular human: more or less. Shapeshifting: no. Rabbits: hell if she knows. Letter-writer: a name she’s heard before, but she’s never seen its bearer. There are some parts of the castle she’s never managed to enter.

“Why not?” Gary asks. “What’s so wrong with going in, anyway?”

But Kay Lin just shakes her head. Same thing she said before—dangerous to mortals. No elaboration.

Image: A quiet uncertainty falls over the three.
Image: Noise.
Image: Gary swipes the stick from Addison, grumbling as he storms off.

“So sick of these god-foresaken….”

Image: Addison calls after him.

Now where is he going?!

But Gary can’t stand around in the rain all night. He’s just gonna poke it a little through the gate! “Besides…”

Image: Gary wields the stick all heroic.

“Those things killed our friends.”

Image: And off he goes.
Image: Joce and Addison exchange a look. Uneasy.

He’s not just gonna poke it, is he.

Image: Without another word, they follow.
next †