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Hari Neverwinter

0 · 328 views · located in Delegate Universe: Sequoia 2032

a character in “The Northern Delegates: Apocalypse”, as played by VitaminHeart

Description

Name: Hari Neverwinter

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Race: Nordic Werewolf

Relationship: Son of Kora Neverwinter and Grant Neverwinter
Brother of Hunter Neverwinter (Alive) and Half-brother of
Helena Neverwinter (Deceased)

Best friend of Chris Straight

Previous Titles:

Current title: Delegate Team Member, Sequoia


Abilities:

Berkserkrgang: Like his mother and his late sister, Hari has gotten the most famous inherited ability of his family, berserker strength. He can switch to a state where his athletic ability is vastly increased and he is incapable of feeling pain. As a result a berserkr in full battle is a terrifying sight to behold, and they can easily take down large numbers. However the accompanying rage a and bloodlust make its users much less capable of thinking tactically, and will generally simply lay into enemies madly.


Flaws:

-Much like his mother, Hari doesn't tend to think stuff through. He's not unintelligent, but doesn't tend to really engage his brain when he makes decisions, which can often lead him into trouble.

-Berserkrgangr drains a lot of energy from the user and reduces their physical capability afterwARD, leaving them vulnerable.

Description:

Hari is athletic enough, like most of his family, and werewolves in general, but is smaller and wirier than his older brother. His hair is paler than most of the Neverwinters, a sort of red-gold colour rather than the bright red of Kora. His eyes are a blue-grey sort of colour, though s common with berserkers they will flare red when his powers become active. Much like his mother he doesn't seem overly concerned with how he dresses, and tends to be quite practical.

Hari has no middle name, an odd little quirk, but Kora had never settled on one. She and Grant had always alternated. She'd chosen the first name of 'Helena' for their first child, and he'd chosen 'Alys' as the middle name. He'd chosen 'Hunter' for their eldest son, now she'd chosen 'Hari' and had no-one to ask about the middle name. So she left it off in a sign of optimism that he would not be gone long. Eighteen years later, Hari is still without one, though it's not a major problem.


Whilst Hari is unaware of it, on his birth, a demon nearly killed both him and his mother with its dark magic and both were saved by a pact made by his sister with the creature. This has left Hari with a faint, but troubling connection to something not quite of this world. Hari has never been sure what to make of it, but he's experienced terrible recurring nightmares for years. He doesn't tend to speak about it with his family but he has relayed them to Chris once in a while. It's gotten a bit worse in recent years and as a result Hari has some periodic insomnia, often finding himself wandering around the city in the small hours.


Training:

Hari is, primarily a hand to hand fighter. His aim isn't fantastic and his abilities lend themselves to getting up close with his enemies. For that though, Hari is extremely good at it. Kora was very strict about training him to defend himself, and as such he's an extremely strong and efficient fighter. Chances are if he can close the distance between himself and a specter, he can dispatch it.

History:
Hari was born the same day that things began to go wrong in the North. Well, things had been moving toward it for a long time, but it was the day that he was born that his dad left and the Reckoning commenced. They'd not even finalized his name before everything fell apart. The place he was born was attacked, many of the people murdered, including his elder sister, and the world fell apart. The only fortune this bestowed on the young Hari though was that he was too young to remember what had taken place.

As a result, his memories are of growing up in Sequoia. He was raised jointly, between Kora, Rei and Midnight, though Kora was always the one most protective of the kid. Having been too young to recall the events hat led upto this, Hari never quite understood her fear for this.

Personality:

Hari is, by and large a product of his environment. Someone who was raised in a rather grim reality who has taken it as the norm, and as such Hari might be seen as a little bit of a savage by old world standards. He knows all about how best to kill a specter or a bandit but he's less adept in the more sophisticated aspects of life. Like dealing with people.

Hari has been friends with Chris for about as long as he can remember. The two grew up together and have been getting into trouble jointly ever since both were old enough to walk and swallow small objects, however he's not so good at talking to people he hasn't known for years, especially when it comes to the opposite sex.

The young werewolf cares deeply for his mother, though he would be the first person to admit that Kora was insane and unreasonable. He's generally unfazed by his mother's moods and inconsistency, though he tends to deal with it by staying out of the house. If he has problems he wants to talk over he'd prefer to go to Claire Straight to get a slightly more....balanced opinion on the situation.

Hari tends to have a more positive views on his biological dad than Chris does on his, if indeed one of the people up there is his dad. Kora's told Hari plenty about Grant whilst growing up, including some of the stuff about his Casanova period of sleeping his way round the immortal world, and Hari's concluded that he kinda likes the sound of the guy, even if he's only ever met him briefly.

The other missing family member whom he knows a lot less about however is Helena. Kora's not been keen to talk about her eldest, and all he really came to know about her from his mom was that she was his half-sister, and that she was killed at the beginning of the blight, a little before her nineteeth birthday. Kora has deliberately avoided any details about the fate of Helena and Garrett, only that they were killed. Hari grew up to not be too suspicious of this, only to assume that his sister must have died in rather traumatic circumstances that have led Kora not to want to go into any detail about it to Hari, and though he feels like he could handle it, he knows better than to try and make his mother do anything she doesn't want to do. Once a Neverwinter is set on something it's near impossible to dissuade them from it. Anything else he has found out has been through conversations with Claire and Hunter, who were contemporaries of his sister, but he still feels vaguely sad about the idea that he would never get to know her.

He also knows very little about his mom's side of the family, aside from Magdalene. Wrapped up enough in the everyday issues of the world he has not really asked up til now.

So begins...

Hari Neverwinter's Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kato Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Kora Neverwinter
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The dark.

Blacker than any kind of darkness he could remember. Almost solid and tangible.

Cold, damp, still air and the sounds of water lapping against rock somewhere out in the deep.

A vast green eye, staring out of the depths.

And screaming. So much screaming.


"Hari what the hell?!"

"Huh, wha? I'm awake!"
The young man scrabbled up onto a sitting position at the table, pushing his red-gold hair from his face with one hand as he attempted to properly orient himself, discovering he had been lying face down at the kitchen table, half-eaten sandwich sat next to him. Whoops.

And the figure who had addressed him was stood in the doorway from the hall, regarding him disapprovingly. A tall, red-haired woman with steely grey eyes and a pewter mjolnir hung around her neck. Kora Neverwinter, his mother. Who had, he slowly began to realize as he eyes the light peeking through the window, had discovered him oversleeping when he should be at training.

"You're late, dumbass." the woman announced, approaching the table.

Hari's eyes flickered over to the bandage tied haphazardly round her shoulder, visible above the neckline of the khaki green T-shirt she had on. Some fresh blood was seeping through it.
"Mom...are you okay?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
"...what happened?"

"I'll ask the questions here, Hari Neverwinter." Kora responded dismissively.
"What were you doing down here anyway?"

"Couldn't sleep." he muttered, vaguely recalling his late night foray round the house after waking up in a cold sweat, feeling like a gargoyle had been kneeling on his chest. He could still feel that same weird coldness lingering upon him now, but it wasn't something he really wanted to relay to his mother. Whilst he's never talked to her about the nightmares, he didn't really imagine she would entertain such fanciful things.

And, at this point, Kora probably would not. She had always put a big emphasis on training, and despaired whenever Hari didn't regard it with the upmost seriousness.
"You obviously could. You've shown that pretty well. Seriously, haven't you got any sense of time?"

"What?"

"Time, that thing that your contemporaries keep referring to with importance but you seem eternally oblivious to, that thing they have on clocks..."

Clocks. The image of a clock on a wall covered in messy marker swipes came into clarity in Kora's mind. A sharpie marker in the hand of a teenage girl with long, ginger hair and cherry red eyes gazing back with a sincere expression and ink coating her hands.

Kora abruptly stopped on her tirade, the irritability draining from her face and being replaced by something else, something Kora was always doing her best to hide, but that Hari caught sight of more than he'd admit.

"...just..get a move on okay? You know how important it is." she muttered, before turning and making her way upstairs, leaving the youngest Neverwinter a little....confused.

But then that was nothing new really.

Hari had know his mother for the eighteen years of his life, seen her more or less every single day, and yet there was still like a wall between the two of them, things that she seemed to feel that she had to hide. It was like living in a house with someone in a suit of armor sometimes. You could talk to the person, you could spend time with them, even wrap your arms around them and yet you still didn't see the person underneath. Had she been like that with his dad, Hari wondered, or had Kora changed? It was hard to imagine either of those, both someone so guarded ever marrying someone, or to think of Kora being open and loving...in the conventional way. Hari had never doubted how much his mother loved him, but it'd always felt like it wasn't something she really know how to express.

Still, he could ponder his weird family later. He needed to be somewhere.

The young werewolf hurriedly changed, pulling some appropriate training clothes. He was tall, much like the rest of his family, though not as muscular as his older brother. He was still growing into his height in some sense, and had a slightly awkward air about him, even if it was offset by the looks and the athletic form that most immortals inherently possessed. Hari attempted to pull his unruly hair into something vaguely resembling order, and jogged out of the door into the streets (or at least walkways) of Sequoia. It was a pleasant morning, the early sun finally beginning to warm the disturbing cold out of his blood.

However he'd only made it around three steps from the door when he was under attack.

A gibbering howl came from above and something hit his head and shoulders.
Tentacles wrapped round his neck.
Claws enwrapped in his hair.
Something hissing in his ear.

And then the shrill giggle of a teenage girl.

"Kat! Quit it!" Hari exclaimed, voice muffled as he staggered forwards blindly, a hissing and warbling Opto adhered his face.

After much flailing about the werewolf was able to pull the small summoning off and hold it at arm's length. The creature, a sort of strange vulpine thing with an enormous third eye in its forehead and tentacles blooming from its back, jabbered and grinned to show off its teeth, before he turned to regard the young woman sat on the barrier facing him, a parasol pulled up over her head and an impish grin on her face.

"You want to call off your..." Hari paused, trying to settle on an animal for the bizzare chimera, but he eventually just settled on.
"...thing."

"But Opto likes you." she giggled, though the request moved her to slip down from her perch and retrieve the thing, which scuttled up onto her shoulder and clung to her upper- arm, staring Hari down accusingly with its cyclopean eye.
"Besides, you got to be more alert. What it that'd been one of them, right? That's why you need to be on time to training."

"Hey, you're just as late as I am. What, teacher's pet Kato coming down to my level, how the mighty have fallen."

Kat smiled.
"Actually, got special dispensation as I've only just got back. They needed another person on some recon of Specter movements to the north so I said I'd go." she explained, as the two trainees, plus Opto began to walk over toward the arena.

"Damn, so I can't even behind Harold when I get bitched out...already had it from my mom already. Well, at least half a bitching out anyway. Then it got all weird. Not sure if I prefer angry mom or weirdly sad mom. Least angry mom is predictable..." Hari was half relaying things to Kat, half thinking aloud about the exchange in the kitchen.

The young hybrid turned her head back towards her friend, bright green eyes glimmering in the shade of the coloured parasol.
"I sympathize with your situation Hari, and I don't want to make it sound like a contest, but my mom grows tentacles and spikes when she's mad so...I'm not sure how qualifie I am to talk about what's weird."

"Yeah...you might have a point there..." he conceded.
Hari had know Kat's mother Rei for years, since raising the kids after the disaster had been something of a group effort, and whilst immortals had plenty of strange abilities hers were...pretty strange. And pretty creepy. He wasn't in a hurry to see them practised again. Kato's own, somewhat diluted variation upon fleshcraft was a lot more palatable. Getting pounced on by one of her little crmes against nature was, at worst, a bit annoying. Rei's variation looked like it might tear you in two.

The arena was already busy as the two made their way in, and not just with Delegate sessions. It appeared there were some competitive fights taking place. Well, at the very least it was some guy who'd just gotten his ass thoroughly kicked. Hari paused to look but was yanked along by Kato's slender hand grabbing his T-shirt and yanking him over.

"Look what the Kat dragged in!" the girl called as she approached the others.
"Hari's on the drag this morning. Don't be too mean to him. He's already gotten it from Kora and Opto."


----

Kora sat down on her bed in the house, having listened to Hari make his way out and shut the door. Once she was certain she was gone, the she-wolf pulled something from her pocket.

The photo was wearing out at the corners because she'd stuffed it in her pocket and taken it out so many times. She had a sort of lingering dread that she'd end up tearing it or getting water on it or something that'd ruin it. She didn't want to lose it. She didn't want to forget what they looked like. Grant, because she missed him every day even though she kept telling herself she'd see him again one day....and the one of their once-happy little family that she was never going to see again.

She ran her thumb over the picture of the small, pretty little red-eyed girl smiling in the photo, her dad's arm round her and a stuffed animal the crook of her other arm, even though she was clearly much too old for toys.

"Lena..." Kora murmured, a name she'd not talked about in years. A name she'd always been scared to talk about with anyone else there, because all of them knew what she had done. And that was hard.

Nearly everyone she knew had lost people when it had happened, in one way or another they had all lost someone who was part of their lives, and quietly everyone still lamented a happy family life that would never have again, that had been taken away from them in such a cruel and unforseen way.

But...what is the person you missed was the reason for everyone else's pain? It felt like almost a guilty thing to want someone around when you knew the awful things they had done...but it was so hard to reconcile the idea of her goofy, shy, compassionate daughter with the monster she had turned into. No matter how many times Kora thought back on it there was nothing about Helena that suggested that to her. There was just no way the girl who'd taken to leaving bread out for the mice in the kitchen Kora had spent all winter trying to kill because she didn't like to think of them starving could have turned into...that. She didn't understand, and that made it so much more difficult.

She'd never seen Helena as a spirit or anything, and yet it was her ghost that still haunted her, this question that never had an answer.
"Why Lena?" she asked the smiling girl in the photo.
"Why did you go and do that?"

The picture offered nothing, of course. Kora sighed and stuffed it in the pocket of her jeans before she rose to her feet.

You couldn't just stand and lament what was gone. You had to keep going. Of course you did. Regardless of these things. And Kora was tough. Sometimes she needed to tell herself that so she remembered, but it was still true. She was tough and the past was over and nothing would ever bring her back, and she just had to suck it up and deal with it.

And possibly find something to punch. Yeah, now she just some of wanted to punch something.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Katherine Helling Character Portrait: Brady Helling Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Hunter James Neverwinter
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Katherine made her way through the walkways of Sequoia with quite a lot of care. The city was bustling and Katherine was never allowed to walk around when there were so many strangers about. Her hoodie was pulled up to cover her face and she took care not to bump into anyone as she made her way to Orenā€™s labs.

She opened the door and entered, closing it promptly behind her. It wasnā€™t often she was in Orenā€™s lab, this was Annitaā€™s thing, not hers. Katherine looked briefly at all the sciency stuff lining the walls. Man this place was creepy, she couldnā€™t comprehend what Annita saw in all this. Finally she spotted Oren who startled her train of thought into the mental soundness of those that liked taking apart dead things only to put them back together and shove them in smelly jars.

ā€œHi Orenā€¦ So youā€™re probably wondering why Iā€™m here, because you know, Iā€™m never here. Honestly this place creeps me outā€¦ so obviously thatā€™s not why I am here.ā€
Kathy said fumbling to form thoughts.

ā€œI uhā€¦ Iā€™m worried about my grandma. Sheā€™s been getting all these headaches recently, which you know I chalked up to her not eating or sleeping. I mean you know her and all, not eating or sleeping is normal for her.ā€
Kathy explained.

ā€œBut I was in training with her this morning and she did something weird, like checked out or something. I mean she was just staring off into space, like daydreaming. Which is weird because Iā€™ve never seen her lose focus like that. She came out it pretty quick and was her normal self but then I went to change and when I was about to leave the locker rooms, she was doing it again. Claire showed up and Midnight snapped out of it but then Claire bugged out when she touched her and said she was freezing cold, which is totally not normal.ā€
Kathy said quickly trying to get it all out.

ā€œAnd then Midnight voluntarily took a sick day and Claire covered for her. I know Iā€™m probably freaking out over nothing and this is no big deal but Iā€™ve never seen my grandma take a sick day. Itā€™s a little concerning knowing she would show up to work half dead. Itā€™s probably some mental thing fromā€¦ everything thatā€™s happenedā€¦ and I know thatā€™s not your department but youā€™re one of her closest friends and I would really like to know from a physical standpoint, if sheā€™s going to suddenly keel over at the breakfast table. So do you think itā€™s possible for you to pay her a visit sometime in the near future or check her out if she comes to visit? Just to make sure thereā€™s nothing serious happening. And Iā€™ll uhā€¦ make sure none of the teens are putting acid in her coffee.ā€
Kathy said chuckling nervously.
ā€œWhich they totally wouldnā€™t do for the record.ā€

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hunter looked over and chuckled at the two late arrivals.
ā€œWell, well, wellā€¦ Look who decided to grace us with his presence?ā€
Hunter said laughing.

ā€œTake five everyone.ā€
Hunter said going over to his brother and putting him in a playful headlock.

ā€œSleeping beauty here, needed his rest.ā€
Hunter joked fluffing up his little brotherā€™s hair.

ā€œYou know, Dad was never on time for training, or anything else for that matter. He told me that one time Midnight dragged him out of bed for training, dragged him all the way down to the arena at the old HQ, only to find out that he was still fast asleep. You come from a long line of unpunctual people. We traded it for our good looks.ā€
Hunter joked giving the kid a wink and letting him go.

Hunter got some water and sat down on the bench for a second.
ā€œHey Hari, you think after training we can take a walk? Thereā€™s something I want to talk to you about. And before you start freaking out, you didnā€™t do anything wrong, it has to do with me actually.ā€

ā€œOoooā€¦ I bet I know what thatā€™s aboutā€
Came Bradyā€™s voice in their heads.

ā€œShut up Brady, donā€™t you say a fucking word!ā€
Hunter yelled pointing at Brady accusingly.

ā€œI donā€™t say anything, remember?ā€
Brady mentally replied with a chuckle.

ā€œVery funny, back to work everyone!ā€
Hunter yelled shaking his head.

ā€œThat means you too sleeping beauty.ā€
Hunter said to his brother clamping his shoulder and shoving him towards the rest of the group.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Katherine Helling Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Oren Kovalenko Character Portrait: Hunter James Neverwinter
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Hari gave a yell ad his older brother grabbed him in a headlock, and made a token attempt at escaping, though he was well aware that there wasn't much chance of him actually breaking Hunter's grip, even when they were just messing around.
"Well I'm later than you are, and much better looking so... theory checks out." he responded with a grin when his brother relinquished the hold.

He paused as Hunter asked him a question he'd not really been expecting.
"Yeah, sure, I got time."

He'd talked about going along to help Chris out with the shop by carrying some deliveries over, but he could always make time for his brother. Besides, he was pretty curious about what it was that required his attention. At least he was sure it wasn't some extension on the weird lecture he'd gotten from mom before that, not that he'd really imagine Hunter doing that in the first place. Of his existing family members, his mother, his brother, and his cousin, Hunter was perhaps the least likely to chew him out over stuff. He was a cheerful kind of guy, which was a nice contrast to Kor, who seemed to waver between bad-tempered and sad and bad tempered.


"Besides, I've already worked it out, I assume it's that you're finally coming out so you and Chris can elope together." he called, before taking off at a run so neither his brother nor his friend could easily punch him for that.

----

Oren's primary laboratory sat out of the way of most of the more heavily used areas of the treetop city. Miss Kovalenko preferred to be out of the way most of the time, despite her own importance within the city. Oren had never really been interested in a place n the council, preferring to be left to her research, but that by no means meant that the old scientist lacked influence. She just liked that influence to take place out of the public gaze.

That was why, even as the director of the science division, Oren still spent much of her time in her own laboratory, conducting solitary research.

The lights within were low, the edges lost in murk, though some of the gaslights indicated the edges of rows of jars, and the edges of twisted organic shapes suspended in formaldehyde inside.

Sat on the desk on one side was the skull of a specter, lines marked across it in pencil and numbers set in, indicating the best areas to impact in order to dispatch one.

The whole room seemed to stand as some grisly monument to death, and it was possibly understandable as to why people tended to stay out of it even without the added concern of the woman who worked inside it, and she herself was more than a little...intimidating.

Oren Dariya Kovalenko. Human turned vampiric contract killer turned scientist turned delegate turned head of department. The sort of meandering career path you only really could manage if you had lived to be over a hundred years of age. Though, of course, at a glance the woman didn't look a lot beyond her late twenties. Angular and severe-looking, with a gaze that seemed to hold beyond the normal level of intensity, Oren could unsettle people fairly easily, without even snapping her sharp, predatory fangs out to their full length or visibly consuming the blood her kind ended up living on. Her vampirism, something that in another time had left a trail of bodies through Europe, was now incidental for the most part.

Now she was primarily a woman of science. Though she was other things too. She was an unlikely friend to the werewolf queen f Sequoia. She was also kind of a bitch.

"You're doing a great job at persuading me to do you a favour, Helling." the vampress remarked disdainfully, turning to regard Kathy as she walked in from the corridor.

The woman slowly removed the thick gloves she'd been wearing and pulled on some woollen, fingerless ones, replacing her white labcoat with her dark blue duster as she listened to what Kathy had to say. By all accounts she looked completely disinterested, but anyone that knew Oren would be aware that this was no indication of anything. Eventually she finished what she was doing a turned to regard the young woman.

"Well Katherine, you know as well as I do that trying to get Midnight to share is like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone, so don't think I'll promise anything. However if it would make you feel any better I will call round there to 'drop off some reports' and talk to her if I can. If I see any physical signs she's about to keel over I'll drag her stubborn ass to Art myself." she remarked, which was possibly as much of a display of concern as you were likely to get from her.

Oren as Midnight were close in a way, and had been even before Midnight had saved her life, possibly down to a sort of mutual darkness the two possessed. Oren's was just more outwardly obvious. It meant though that thwy could discuss matter they might hesitate to talk about with others, and that was, Oren suspected, why Kathy was here asking her, and not Art, who usually handled medical matters.

-"I'll head over there now then." she stated, picking up a number of things she'd been intending to drop off before then to better justify her visit and heading for the door.
-"We've already established the rule that everyone has to stay alive and healthy, she needn't think she's immune either."

That was probably a joke.

Probably.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kato Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Oren Kovalenko
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Hari and Kato had paused to take a look at what was going on as Chris was called over, possibly more out of the excuse to take a break than actual interest regarding what was going on, but regarding the unusual interactions between Midnight, him, and one of the human fighters, was enough to summon up some speculation.

"You think it's happening and Midnight's gonna let humans in?" the young werewolf mused, taking a gulp of water as he bitterly regretted not having anything to drink prior to starting training.

"Either that or she's got a much sicker sense of humour than I ever really appreciated if she's pairing him up with our favourite little racist." Kato chuckled, walking over and gathering up Opto into her arms, who'd been skittering around the training ground making a nuisance of itself.

"Does it count as racist if you're different species? Speciesist?" Hari suggested.
"Well, either way you know Chris is going to make his life a living hell."

The two turned as the young man approached them, having finished his exchange.
"Hey Chris, what's going on, Midnight giving you a chew toy or something?" the youngest Neverwinter asked, smirking a little. He didn't really have any problem with humans personally, though admittedly fifty generations of Neverwinter perceived superiority was a hard trend to completely break out of.It had been a relatively recent reform on the immortal timeline, maybe five hundred years previous that had had the norse weres like the Neverwinter family agree to stop taking humans as thralls, so superiority had been very much an ongoing trend with the family.

----

Oren went out in daylight only when she had to. She was pretty sure she would not be a fan of it even if she were not one of the nosferatu, but that obviously made it rather more of a practical concern. While her nature was...antisocial to say the least, Oren's presence wasn't a rare one in Midnight's home, even if it wasn't the most cheery kind.

She walked straight in, keeping with the ongoing tradition that seemed to have lasted since the old HQ, of simply walking into people's homes without asking. Something that had, so she'd heard, led to some rather awkward situations in years gone by.

"Midnight! It's Oren. I have some things to drop off. Also I think your granddaughter si worried about you because she actually talked to me to day. In my lab. As in she went there of her own volition. Obviously this must be some kind of emergency."

Acting was not really Oren's strong suit, and she suspected Midnight to be able to see through any kind of excuse she came up with, particularly because Oren was about as likely to engage in idle chatter without any point to it as as a dog was to start speaking english, so it seemed easier just to spit it out.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kato Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Oren Kovalenko Character Portrait: Reith
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Oren stood looking at a slide, her expression bearing the tinge of irritability she always got when she couldn't completely explain things away.

"You going batshit is certainly a possibility." she responded bitterly.
"Though things being as they are I can never totally rule out, what's the term? Ah yes, quantum fuckery. There may be quantum fuckery afoot as it always seems to follow you around everywhere like a hungry dog. And you know I have no experience regarding things when they stop making scientific sense. I would say go and talk to the Fox boy but he's pissed off to go find himself or whatever angsty bullshit was involved there. You would hardly be the first to start having strange visions of things."

Though admittedly they hadn't really worked out for people before, Oren thought. Last person in the Delegates to have weird visions ended up bringing about the apocalypse.

Rei, who'd been hanging around, both listening in and trying not to tough anything, looked over.
"So what do we do?"

"I have to finish some tests just to rule everything out. Midnight, if things change at all I'd appreciate you reporting it to me. Rei, I'd also appreciate if you kept an eye on things whilst you do...whatever the fuck it is you do when you're not ruining my possessions, since while Midnight is well aware of the difference between real and not now, we have no idea if it would stay that way and you should let me know if she starts claiming she's Napoleon or whatever. The last Delegate leader had enough batshit insanity to last a lifetime so let's make sure the current one stays in working order, clear?"

----

"So why have you been sucking so much lately?"

The question caused Hari to glance up from the sandwich he was eating and look over toward Kato.

With Annita and Chris taking care of some things to do with the newbie, the two were left more or less to themselves, and Hari had helped Kat sort through some of the recon gear before they'd decided to take their lunch break up in the canopy, trying not to drop anything onto those walking the streets below.

"I'm hurt Kato, hurt and betrayed." the young man responded with some theatrical offence.

"I'm basically your sister Neverwinter, I'm allowed to say that kind of thing. Long as it's with good intent behind it. Seriously why isn't your head in things lately? It's kinda embarrassing. You got a whole line of viking ancestors looking pissed at you. What exactly is the problem? "

"You're going to laugh at me if I tell you, so you can go to hell." Hari chuckled, well aware of her attitude when it came down to training. He was pretty sure a Specter could gnaw Kat's arm off and she'd still make training, and probably try and use the blood trail she was leaving to trip people in foot races.

"No, seriously. I promise I won't make fun of you. Not even a little bit. Even if it's funny."

Hari sighed.
"Look, it's stupid, but I've been having these dreams lately..."

He cast a glance over as Kat was trying desperately to stop herself from making a joke.

"...nightmares. Recurring ones. About darkness, and water, and screaming, and big green eyes....I dunno..it's hard to really explain why they're so bad it's just..."

Hari looked round to find that Kato had stopped smiling completely and was now watching him wide-eyed.

"...not just me then?" the young Neverwinter asked, and the girl slowly shook her head.

He wasn't, however sure if this made him feel better, or a lot worse.

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Character Portrait: Kato Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Hunter James Neverwinter
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Hunter finally got around to running into Hari who was not surprisingly with Kat.

"You two look like someone died."
Hunter said wedging his way in between the two kids.
"Cheer up now, I Hunter, the bringer of good news, have come to lift you out of this melancholy."

He wrapped his arms around the pair.
"For you Kit Kat, Midnight wants to see you at her house, something about ninjas and training. I dunno, I wasn't really listening but it sounded cool."
Hunter waited for Kat to bid her farewells and head on her way.
"And for you baby brother, I have news for you as well."

Hunter walked with his brother.
"Well not news exactly, more like I need your advice. Because you know as well as I do, I don't think things through enough."
Hunter said laughing.

"Now you can't tell anyone butā€¦"
Hunter trailed off thinking how to word it.
"I want to ask Di to marry me."
He said finally.

"Stupid idea? Yeahā€¦ That's what I thought. Good talk."
Hunter joked pretending to walk away.
"Ok tell me what you really think. I mean I've been wanting to do it for a while but I've always held off. I guess I was always hoping Dad would just show up or Lena would rise from the dead. I was always waiting for something because there's two pieces of me that are always missing and I didn't feel like she'd want me so incomplete. I sound stupid right?

God I miss themā€¦ You know funny enough I wouldn't be able to tell Dad ahead of time. He couldn't keep a secret to save his life first he would tell mom and then Lena and Garrett, Midnight, Shisou, Koda, and just about everyone else. He would be so excited he wouldn't be able to contain himself. Kind of like he was when he found out Mom was pregnant with you. I swear the guy could have touched the moon. Kora blamed him for getting her pregnant, and not just in the traditional sense. Amirah warned him that what you want most has a way of finding its way to you, and Dad, well he wanted you more than anything and low and behold, you showed up, in quite a grand entrance if I do say so myself. Us Neverwinters with our grand entrances, never a dull moment. Andā€¦ wow I'm off topicā€¦"
Hunter said not realizing how much he'd wanted to talk to someone about Dad and Lena recently.

"Sorry kid, sometimes I get lost in the past. It still feels like yesterday and sometimes I wake up and I'm terrified that I'm going to lose you or mom like we lost Dad and Lena. I'm trying hard to appreciate every moment because for some there's no more time. I mean what if I marry her and something happens to her? Or what if we have children? I mean I don't know, I'm scared. This is a huge decision, life altering Hari!

I had a dream a few nights ago, of Lyda, she told me to take a leap of faith, to close my eyes and jump in because that's what us Neverwinters are good at. I dunnoā€¦ maybe she's right. Maybe that's how this whole thing works. I love Di and I want to spend the rest of my life with her but do you think that's enough?"
Hunter asked looking over at his little brother. It was a lot to ask a kid to process and answer. Hari had this way about him though, something Dad could always do. Take an overly complicated situation somehow find an overly simple answer. It's like he stripped away all the bullshit until there was only the problem to which there was usually a simple answer. Hari reminded him of Dad in a lot of ways, but this trait was something Hunter cherished above all other ways Hari was like their father.

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Character Portrait: Kato Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Hunter James Neverwinter
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With Hunter's arrival, and the news he brought with him, Kato was soon on her feet.
"Thank Hunt, I'll head down there now, see if I can catch her. Uh, Hari...we'll talk about this later, 'kay?" she called, before making her way down and heading for Midnight's place. Kat was always in a hurry to impress people, and she wasn't going to risk being late, but she did have some other people she wanted to talk to afterward about...this issue. Kathy. Or Annita. They both had powers relating to the...spooky side of things. Well, if there was a party going on she'd no doubt see Annita later...though possibly only in time to catch her dragging her latest conquest off somewhere a bit more private. Not that that bothered Kat, she'd been friends long enough to know Miss Night's attitude, but it was not exactly a good time to try and bring up a serious topic. That her and the Neverwinter boy seemed to be engaging in some kind of shared insanity.

Hari meanwhile remained sat next to his brother and listened. He had to admit he wasn't that shocked. Hunter and Di had been a thing as long as he had been around. They were off together all the time, and the werewolf woman had earned the envy and resentment of plenty of Hunter's groupies in the training ground, something that she never stopped finding funny.

"Have you talked to mom about it yet? No...actually that was a dumb question.."
As much as Hunter and Hari loved their mom, neither would ever claim she was exactly the kind of person to go to for advice on emotional issues. She seemed to work out all her feelings through means of taking the heads of Specters off with some sort of bladed weaponry. So he guessed he was going to have to try and give good advice all on his own.

"Hunt...you're my brother, and you mean loads to me.

Same with mom. I mean, don't get me wrong, she is crazy and sometimes reminds me of those old timey sideshow photos when they used to put bears in clothes, but I wouldn't change her or you for anything...

...but I guess I know I kinda missed out on...a big thing. Like, that the family hasn't been a whole one...for a long time. I never got the chance to meet dad...or Lena. I mean, maybe dad'll come home some day but...they got taken away before I ever got a chance to know them...
... but I've heard the stories you've told me about them. If...if they're the sort of people you say then...I don't think they'd want you to put your life on hold. I mean...stuff can change fast. Look at what happened to, like, the whole planet. Stuff changed in a day and now we live in the freakin' trees. It's not fair. That we lost them. Bad stuff happens...especially when you're a delegate...but we're tough, right? We've been brought up to be tough, and to get through it.

I think you gotta just...make the most of what you got when you got it. Not worry about what might happen. You can drive yourself crazy thinking about that. You should do what'll make you happy Hunt, cuz god knows we see enough sad nowadays."

He smiled.
"Besides, whilst you might like to play the protective boyfriend card, you know as well as I do that Di's tough as nails. She can kick my ass any day of the week. Think it'd take something pretty big to take her out. And you've some Conan the Barbarian shit going on. Combine your genes together...your kids'll probably be choking Specters with their bare hands by age three. Nothing's certain in life Hunt, but...don't not start stuff cuz you're scared it might end."


"On the downside though..." the young man smirked.
"Your little fanclub are going to lose the will to live when they know you're off the market for good. Gonna have to set up councilling for all the girls who can't trail round after you anymore convinced that you're going to dump Di and be with them forever. It'll be tragic, I tell you."

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Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter Character Portrait: Hunter James Neverwinter
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Hunter smiled as he was leaning on the railing of the bridge overlooking the arena.
"You're right, like usual."
Hunter said wrapping an arm around his brother and putting him in a headlock.

"When did you get so smart huh? That certainly doesn't run in the family but I guess it makes sense brains and brawn."
Hunter joked releasing his brother.

He laughed at his brother's last statement.
"Well they'll lose one Neverwinter but I'm sure there will be another one to swoop in and rescue those little birdies from their despair. In advance, you're welcome."

Hunter smiled at his brother.
"Thanks baby brother, for everything. You know if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here and I'll listen. I may not be as Guru as you but I've seen a lot of stuff in my years. You ever need anything don't hesitate."
He said giving his brother a playful push towards one of the bridges.

"Now you have a party to get to don't you? Someday when all this is over and we get technology back, I'll show you what a real party is like. I would join you but... I have a date with destiny. Well first I'll tell mom, because surprising her with emotional things like this is just not a good idea. You have fun tonight baby bro and don't get trashed and fall out of a tree."
Hunter said walking with his brother for a short distance before breaking off and heading towards his house. He was in a particularly good mood having things sorted out by his brother. He was right, Lena wouldn't want him to be a coward and shy away because of fear. His Dad wouldn't want him to give up on happiness. It was still hard though, Hunter always thought the first wedding of the younger generation would be Garrett and Lena's, then probably Aubrey and Selene followed by Jace and Claire, and then maybe him. But they were all gone now and only Claire and himself remained. Even so they would want him to be happy, and they would want him to live. They would want him to live as full of a life as he could for himself and in memory of them.

He heard the music in the distance and he smiled as he pushed open the door to his mother's house.
"Mom, you home?"
Hunter said peeking in the rooms of the small lodging.
"I need to talk to you about something potentially life changing."

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Character Portrait: Warren Slaton Character Portrait: Christopher Straight Character Portrait: Annita Night Character Portrait: Kato Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter
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With time ticking on and the party in full swing, everything was going surprisingly well. Chris had gravitated to Hari and was being the good wingman he was to help a friend out. Brady had disappeared with a couple girls from the pool ten minutes ago and probably wouldn't be seen again for a while, if again that night at all. Chris always did wonder where Brady got his uncanny ability to make girls falls head over heals for him. He was like a passive, silent cupid that was universally loved by women and equally hated by men. Annita of course was with Kat gushing over something or other and fending off the advances of intoxicated boys that thought they were way more smooth than they were. Then there was his very own wannabe, who seemed content to sit back, get drunk, and enjoy the dancers.

"Hey, I'm going to introduce Kat to the wannabe. Make sure you head over there sometime to meet him." Chris said giving Hari a pat on the back as he left to join Annita and Kat for a moment. "Hey Kit Kat." Chris greeted giving the girl a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Don't look so blue, it's a party." He said with a smile.

"Hey, come on and meet the wannabe. He's been moping in that spot all night and the only one that really has talked to him is Trevor, and we all know how Trevor is." Chris said taking Kat's arm.

"Ugh I swear that guy has more testosterone than actual fluids in his body. He's always looking for a fight, especially when he drinks." Ann chimed in flanking the other side of Kat and taking her other arm. "A fucking devil in the sack though." She added.

"What was that?" Chris asked looking around Kat at Ann. "Uh, nothing. Said he's been eyeing your honorary student ever since he met him at the bar. Everyone has been talking about him. You know that spells trouble and a half when Trevor has that look." Ann said giving an innocent smile to Chris until he disappeared again to the side of Kat. "Especially since Trevor's been looking for a way to make you pay for fucking his sister."

Chris thought about it for a moment. "What? Booze is payment in some cultures. But I guess we should at least keep an eye on him. I can't make the wannabe do all my work if he's dead." Chris reflected.

"Then you uh, better do something because the incredible hulk is headed right for him with those two Rent-A-Cunts. Which pretty much means he's a gonner." Ann said a little too chipper about the subject as she pointed at the train wreck unfolding. "Dibs on his corpse. He's medically valuable."

"You're super fucking weird; remind me why I fuck you again?" Chris asked rolling his eyes. "Because I'm flexible." Ann replied giggling.

"Yesā€¦ Yes you areā€¦" Chris said as a sly smile crossed his face and an idea popped in his mind. "Ok team, that wannabe is ours, not Hulk Hogan's over there. His group has given us enough bullshit in the past, and they're certainly not going to kill our human. If anyone is going to kill him, it'll be us. Let's show some support for our newest member and hopefully this escalates into some violence. Ready? Break!" Chris said laughing as they put their hands in and did the traditional football huddle break.

"Hari you're going to miss the fun!" Chris called over laughing as the three walked over to Warren. Thankfully, they arrived before Trevor and his Euro-trash made it through the crowd to Warren. Chris slid in next to Warren and wrapped an arm around the semi-intoxicated mortal. "Warren, this is Kat over there's Hari, you already know Ann. This is Warren. I just call him wannabe though; I'm pleased to report it's caught on nicely." Chris said pointing to the respective parties. "You still have to meet Brady. He's busy with some girls at the moment, but he sends his best."

Chris took a lengthy sip of his unmarked bottle of liquor as he waited for the immortals in question to approach. "Hey Trev, long time no see. Girls, looking perky as always." Chris greeted standing up between Warren and the group. "You come to meet our newest member?" Chris said motioning to Warren. Now this particular werewolf was large, he towered over Chris in height and weight class but that didn't bother him one bit.

"Doesn't look like much to me." Trevor replied steadying himself against the girls as a whirlwind of drug-induced hallucinations caused the room to spin and melt like someone was throwing cans of paint on everything. "I think he looks delicious, so kind of you to bring us a snack Chris." The vampress to the left said, running the tip of her tongue over her lips. "I think he looks like a pineapple. I miss pineappleā€¦ and kiwi, but mostly pineapple." The other vampire chimed in obviously already in her own little world. After an awkward moment of silence, the girl bounced off into the crowd leaving Trevor and the hostile vampress in front of the silent group.

"Ok, well that was fun. Now see you could try to eat him, but that won't go very well for you. He is neither a snack nor a tropical fruit. I suggest we all have a beer, get stoned and enjoy the party." Chris piped up pulling a bag of weed out of his pocket and shaking it dramatically. "Or if pills are your thing, I got just about everything you can chew, snort, inject, or pop. Pick your poison." Now see, werewolves leaned more towards things like alcohol, weed, and natural drugs while vampires got more heavily into man made substances. Chris had to cover a wide variety of preferences.

"For the love of god, no more drugs." Trevor exclaimed running his hands down his face as if it was melting. It felt like it was melting. "Whatever you put in the drinks has me tripping uphill. I don't even know what I'm doing over here. Where is here?" Trevor said forgetting the reason he was there in the first place as the drugs kicked in full tilt.

"You came over to congratulate Warren here on his new position." Chris suggested stepping out of the path between Trevor and Warren. "Oh man!" Trevor said relieved. He put his hand on Chris's shoulder and laughed at the crazy notion that had ran through his mind. "I'm so glad you told me that because for a second I thought I was over here to break his legs and then throw him over the railing to dispose of the body. Crazy right?" Trevor said with a goofy smile. "Nah, it was definitely not that." Chris said shaking his head and patting Trevor's hand which was surprisingly cold for a werewolf.

"No wonder it took them forever to walk across a room." Annita whispered behind her hand to Kat.

"Hey congratulations you." Trevor said pointing at Annita. Chris casually pushed Trevor's arm so he was correctly pointing at Warren. "Y-youā€¦ y-youā€¦ melted into the floor. Skills." He stammered. "Can I go sit down now?" He asked Chris as if he was a child that was way past their bedtime. Chris nodded and pointed to an unoccupied bench nearby. "Knock yourself out."

After Trevor and the girl left Chris stood there for a second wondering what just happened. He looked around the room realizing there were a lot of people in the same condition, a lot more than usual. "Weird."

"How could you spike the drinks like that Chris! I actually felt bad for the guy." Ann said sighing.

"I didn't spike the drinks, and even if I did it wouldn't be with psychedelics! That's a huge no no." Chris snapped continuing to look around the room to identify what everyone was drinking that was tainted.

The problem was not everyone had the same drink. "It's not in the drinks, it's in the cups." Chris concluded. That explains why I found the spare key to the supply closet on the ground outside my shop when I stopped in to check on it after Warren got here. Someone broke into my shop to take the spare supply closet key, went in and dosed the cups, locked it up, and then later accidentally dropped the key outside while they were trying to return it. That's a fuck ton of effort to get a bunch of teens high. Chris thought to himself. "I found a key to the supply closet outside the shop when I went to check on it after you got here. Had to make sure you didn't burn the place down, ya know? You must have spooked whoever it was and they dropped the key." Chris said to Warren. "You notice anyone?"

"That's a little too coordinated for my liking." Ann said sitting down next to Warren.

"Yeahā€¦ Party's over I think. Maybe we should just sober everyone up." Chris suggested.

Ann burst out laughing. "Why do you dick off so much in our medical classes? Our shots don't purge psychedelics like other drugs. Gotta just ride it out."

Chris held his hands out and the drink cups froze causing people to drop them from the sudden temperature drop. "I've pulled off some elaborate pranks in my day but never something like this." Chris said leaving for a moment to retrieve a few types of empty cups. "This is just fucking dangerous."

"Why aren't we bugging out like them?" Ann inquired counting out the number of people that were effected by the drug.

"Maybe because we use regular glasses instead of the disposable ones we make everyone else use. I don't believe in cups in general." Chris said swishing the liquor bottle in his hand. He checked out the cups and found the most popular type of cups had dried droplets in the bottom. "Well the cups made of glass are good, bottles probably are too, but the standard disposable drink cups are dosed. I mean, this happened before with the punch bowl but we just dumped it out when the first person started tweeking. And the kid that did it didn't put enough in to fuck people up like this. Most of the people here are laying on the floor babbling like fucking infants!" Chris growled knocking a drink cup out of someone's hand that was walking by. "You drink out of that yet?" Chris asked. When the guy shook his head and mentioned with a confused look that he just arrived, Chris instructed him to go around and pick up all the disposable drink cups and throw them away.

"We are so dead if someone jumps off a bridge." Ann pointed out. "Literally dead, Midnight will kill us."

"No shit, and with this many people if their trips turn bad this situation will get fucking out of control." Chris said.

Ann thought about it for a moment and then stood up with a smile on her face. "I got just the thing." She said as a blueish light sparked in her hands. Ann took the contaminated drink cup from Chris and stuck her hand in it to touch the dried drug in the bottom of the cup. The light changed from blue to red as it rose out of the cup and spread throughout the room bouncing from person to person in the club. One by one the people effected by the drug slowed down until they froze in place like perfect statues. A few people weren't effected by the spell and glanced around confused as the party came to a screeching halt. "Putting them to sleep would cause serious complications, so they're still awake but are paralyzed."

"At least they won't start a panic induced riot now." Chris said using his ability to pull everyone out of the pool before freezing it over entirely. "What a fucking disaster."

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Character Portrait: Warren Slaton Character Portrait: Christopher Straight Character Portrait: Annita Night Character Portrait: Kato Character Portrait: Hari Neverwinter
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Big parties were never a thing with Warren, or better put, he hadnā€™t been invited to any real big parties of this scale. This was his first, and to say that he was slightly intimidated would be an understatement. If it werenā€™t for the fact that he had somewhere to sit and a lot of liquid courage to consume, he may have taken off already. He knew he had been thinking this particular line a lot today, but heā€™d be more at home in the middle of a battle royal. The dancers were smiling at him as they worked the pole like an overly ambitious fire fighter. He finished off his beer and reached for another, realizing that he had downed quite a number already and Chris was probably going to make him pay for them in blood, sweat, and tears.

He hadnā€™t even noticed Chris and his crew until the man was sitting down right next to him. He looked over a bit slowly, rubbing his face a bit to get some more feeling into it as he set his beer down to prevent himself from looking more foolish than he probably already did. When Chris slid his arm around him, Warren visibly flinched from a mixture of pure combat reflex due to the manā€™s vampiric nature and also out of memory due to the whole ā€˜shooting at him to see if the armor worksā€™ thing. He brought with him the crazy and incredibly sexually active doctor and a couple others he hadnā€™t met yet. Chris, Annita, Kat and Hari...also someone else named Brady who was off doing something else apparently. If he passed his probation, these people would essentially become his extended family, bound in the blood and fire of combat or something to that effect. Granted, if they kept calling him Wannabe, he was going to end up fighting every single one of them at some point or another. He liked to think he was a patient guy, but there were limits. He gave a nod to Kat and Hari as his ā€˜Helloā€™. It wasnā€™t long after the little introductions that the bear of a wolf with his two arm tramps walked up to them, more than likely with the intention of showing Warren what his insides looked like. Before Trevor could get close, Chris stood between him and the rest of their little group. Protecting what was his to break? His new play toy? Whatever, Warren was grateful for it. He was a bit too inebriated to fight to his full potential and he didnā€™t want to waste the super detoxifier thing on what was obviously a testosterone juicing werewolf with a penchant for picking fights.

The one vampire girl was trying to be tough and bitchy, as was the classism in this particular place since he appeared to be the only human in the entire party. Warren resisted the temptation to scoff at her and her massive escort. Contrary to whatever these people thought, just because he was human didnā€™t mean he was necessarily scared of them. He was cautious, possibly a little more than what was warranted but one could never be more careful. Warren started tuning them out the moment the one vampire girl wandered off after rambling about fruits. Chris could handle them, meanwhile Warren kept watching the dancers but found his gaze wandering to the rest of the party. Something wasnā€™t right, people were slowing down and some were just falling to the floor and drooling like little babies. Warren looked back over at Chris and Trevor, who had just started to wander away. It appeared the entire party had somehow become...infected by whatever was going around save for their little group.

ā€œItā€™s not in the drinks, itā€™s in the cups.ā€ Chris stated, and Warren looked over at the bottles he had been scarfing down like no tomorrow. He had gotten lucky it seemed, with his preference for glass over plastic. Warren stood up from the couch, slapping himself lightly to get some adrenaline pumping through his system to help with the distillation of alcohol in his blood. ā€œYou notice anyone?ā€ Chris asked him, and Warren shook his head for a moment to clear his thoughts.

ā€œAh...well...Kathy was there and we talked and...uhhh...She ran into somebody on her way out. A Mr...Tombstone? Wait...no, Thompson. Mr. Thompson.ā€ Warren stated as the rest of them started questioning and wondering what was going on. The conversation seemed a little rapid to him as they sorted out what was happening. They determined the source of what appeared to be heavy duty hallucinogenics, and went to work trying to make sure that whoever hadnā€™t taken a drink out of them yet didnā€™t. Warren watched as Ann magically paralyzed nearly an entire room, and Warren immediately wanted to know a way to counteract that. With what personality he had been able to ascertain from her, he didnā€™t want to end up on the receiving end of some very embarrassing prank, although that seemed to be furthest from everyoneā€™s minds at the moment. Chris pulled everyone from the pool and froze it, and Warren was left standing around questioning if he should use his anti-intoxication drug or not.

ā€œWell whatā€™s theā€¦ā€ Warren snapped his fingers a couple times trying to come up with the proper word. ā€œPlan.ā€ Warren finally answered. ā€œDo we...tell someone? Iā€™m not entirely sure what to do hereā€¦ā€