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Nicole Reed

"So my name fails, since I'm a guy and all. It could be worse, hey? It could be like, 'Rumpelstiltskin' or something."

0 · 490 views · located in Paris

a character in “The Thaumaturges of New Year's Eve”, as played by Nieki

Description

Nicole Reed

Image

His name: Though his parents chose to name him Justin, his birth certificate was issued with the name Nicole due to a bureaucratic mix-up. His mother wanted to change it but his father found the name hilarious, so it stuck. His friends call him ‘Cole,’ normally. Or ‘Nicole’ when they feel like trolling.

Age: 24

Sex: Male

Colors: Brown and orange.

Height: 180 cm, or 5 feet 10 inches

Attire: Old sneakers, jeans, shirt, loose hoodie or jacket. Wears glasses; his eyesight is terrible without them.

Mood: Easygoing, light-hearted.

Mindset:

- If he were an animal, he would be a golden retriever: a playful companion, but a sucky guard dog. He doesn’t like hurting people. And he makes a big fuss at the sight of blood. Not such a great fighter, then.

- Likes to tease and (gently) poke fun at others. Hates getting angry.

- Easily moved; the type of person that cries with Disney films and the emotional parts of chick flicks.

- Rather naïve, so easily taken advantage of.

- Likes cute and cuddly things.

- Firmly rooted in the middle class, he thinks posh people are a tad stuck-up.

Frame of consciousness: Rather absent-minded. Likes fantasizing. This makes him prone to breaking and/or losing things, or messing up spells. Or locking himself out of his own home.

Powers: He summons creatures from his imagination into existence. Most of the time, though, he simply summons domestic, commonplace objects such as a kettle or a pair of slippers, for his own convenience. These creatures and objects are animated by his magic, but they aren’t really alive. They just seem to be.

He can also levitate very small, very light objects, such as a spoon or a toothbrush.

Weakness: All his summons have button eyes. (Because he thinks that's cute.) If attacked, they'll repair themselves, but the spell holding the magic together resides in these buttons. If just one button is destroyed or popped off, the summon will burst into a puff of smoke and vanish. Alternately, it'll vanish on its own after 20 min approx. Nicole can conjure up to five summons (each with a power level of 1/10), or one ‘strong’ one (power level 5/10). He is completely useless at hand-to-hand combat.

Companion: Cat.

Random stuff: He does make some pretty wicked pastries.

So begins...

Nicole Reed's Story

Setting

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Nieki
As he wrapped his hand around the familiar, stinging-cold handle of The Green Linnet's door (being careful not to let the metal touch his thickly bandaged index finger), Nicole Reed knew that he was late.

Not, like, too too too late. Not late like oh-my-gosh-Cole-you're-ridiculous-why'd-you-even-bother-showing-up-at-all, no. Just a little late.

He also knew that the very poshy lady waiting for him prolly wasn't super thrilled with his lack of etiquette.

But, as he pulled the door open and stepped inside, he gave a mental shrug. He also also knew that he would live and that she would forgive him someday.

A gust of frosty air followed him into the pub. A few disgruntled heads paused their chatter to turn his way. Or at least he thought that's what they were. His glasses were all fogged up from the chill outside, so all he could see was this blur of colour. Nicole rested the teddy bear he'd bought for Evette against the crook of his elbow and, both hands now freed, polished his glasses with the soft fabric of his shirt. He slipped them back on and the first thing that came into focus was a bunch of dudes and dudettes staring at him all mean-like.

"What?" he asked.

"The door, man," somebody said. "Close the door."

"Oh!" He pulled the door shut. Grinned apologetically. "Oops."

Some laughs, some indulgent smiles, the chatter picked up again. Man, that was totally not super embarrassing, nope, no siree... He glanced around the pub and kinda hoped Evette hadn't seen anything. Where was Evette, anyways? Standing on his tip-toes, he looked at all the happy, chatty peeps seated at the tables, and the somewhat less happy ones that had to stand 'cause there wasn't that much room in here at this time of year. More importantly, he searched for a certain blondie, and a Bearded Dragon perched on le blondie's shoulder. Should be pretty hard to miss, but...

Nowhere to be seen.

Which meant...

Nicole smirked to himself and pulled his ancient cellphone from his jeans' pocket (communication device by day, blunt weapon by night). He sifted through his contacts till he found her. 'Evette la Poshette.'

dood i totally got here first ;D ur laaaaaate lol! wut u gonna do bout it?

Message sent. Nicole grinned. Some part of him felt bad for trolling his favourite girl ever, but man, it was worth it. See, high-class people can't always be perfectly on time and rub their perfect high-class manners in yo face. Sometimes they're just as late as your average John Smith (your average Nicole Reed). There comes a time in life when all high-class people have to learn that.

((Derpy OOC note: Location should be The Green Linnet. Apologies!))

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Adantas
Evette and Charon had struck up one of their many debates about the technological advancement of recent years, it was one of their most feuded topics. Evette liked to believe that the advancements were a hindrance and that people were forgetting the ways of etiquette and proper communication, whilst Charon believed that the benefits of technology far outweighed their problems. Just as they were hitting their stride her phone buzzed inside her purse. She heard the lizard supress a chuckle - or at least what a chuckle sounded like coming from a bearded dragon - and gave him a look saying this doesn't prove anything. It was a stylish blackberry curve, just because she didn't agree with it doesn't mean that she couldn't afford a decent phone. Tapping a few buttons she opened the message from one certain and rather cheeky wizard. She wasn't overly concerned that he was late, it was actually expected, all she asked was that he apologised politely. Of course, she loved him to bits despite his brash behaviour and while he could be a bit... rough in terms of courteous manners truthfully she wouldn't change a thing, but she wouldn't let him know that.

As she read the message she couldn't help but chuckle and shake her head. There were no denying that her powers were useful and oh so enjoyable. Charon sighed exasperated already. He wasn't Nicole's biggest fan by far and was often worn out by the young energetic man, although she knew that he also found his company entertaining. Evette didn't bother replying to his text, instead she put it away again and looked around for him. Her smile widened as she caught sight of him.

To everyone else nothing changed but for a certain somebody the crowds disappeared and it was almost as if the area where she was seated was spotlighted. She stood up, waiting expectantly for him to see. He may bump into a few people but as soon as he spotted her she would let the illusion drop so that he could come over to her direction safely. What she couldn't wait for was his expression.

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Nieki
And then all of a sudden everyone just disappeared. Just like that, they all like, vanished and Nicole had this crushing certainty that he was stuck in some horrible scary-movie scenario. He had taken a wrong turn and ended up in Le Ghost Town Café where all the customers are dead and when it's dark they hang out and just chill but if someone who's actually alive wanders in they all go invisible and slowly close in on him and oh gawd he was going to die and--

Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Wait.

There, by the fireplace... wasn't that Evette?

Man, the ghosts kidnapped her! was his first thought. Surprisingly, his instinct reaction was not to turn tail and run, as he normally might have because he couldn't fight to save his life. There was this urge to like beat up all the ghosts and rescue her and actually fight them off but he'd be like mortally wounded in the end and she'd say something sweet to him as he died in her arms (no blood, though) and then she'd scream Noooooo! all dramatically like Darth Vader while the screen slowly zooms out, and oh man that was really sad, it kinda made him want to cry and, like...

Hey.

Wasn't Evette an illusionist?

Oh.

Oh.

He only saw her a moment longer and then she smiled this cute playful smile at him and all the people reappeared. Nicole jumped, startled at all the loud talk again. More than anything, he felt like a total loser. She'd been here all along? And man she'd scared the freakin' stuffing out of him!

She... she trolled me! he thought. On his phone, he clicked the Write Message button again. Typed in the meanest, baddest thing he could think of:

dood u know what? u just lost The Game. ha!

Send.

He regretted nothing.

As he made his way over to her, though, gently pushing past little groups of chattering people, he couldn't help but smile. This type of exchange between them didn't feel uncomfortable or strange or unusual at all. Even though he'd last seen her... when? Ages ago! And all that time she'd got prettier every day. And then, finally, there she was in front of him... So elegant! It almost made him feel bad about his old sneakers and his old jeans and old shirt and old jacket and messy hair.

Almost but not really, lol. He couldn't imagine himself wearing fancy stuff.

Oh... she prolly wanted some kinda apology too. Like for the whole lateness thing. She was smiling but he knew she wanted it.

"I, ah..." Come on, man. You can do it. You got this. "Um..." Come on, come on, come on! "You know..."

Dude, I can't. Too proud, lol. I suck.

"I like... totally knew you were here," he finished. Not lamely at all.

Setting

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Adantas
Ah, sweet satisfaction. His expression was priceless. She felt almost giddy with glee at her little win. It was cheeky and suited their reunion perfectly. As she got a clear look at him it was no surprise that he was as scruffy as ever. Despite her best efforts to clean him up he was just perfectly comfortable as he was. With a last pleased and playful look on her face she vanished from Cole's view as the crowds formed again. He still had that boyish look about him, it was something about him that always made her relaxed around him.

She delicately sat down again and gave Charon a little stroke as she waited for Cole to make his way over to her.

"I have to admit I'm impressed. I especially loved that terrified look he had on his face." The golden reptile chortled. Just as she was about to reply her phone buzzed and she tentatively picked it up. What had Cole sent now? As she opened the text she raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow and rolled her eyes. Cole was still the same. It was like no time had passed between them, which Evette was especially pleased with since that had been a small little niggling worry inside her.

Her smile grew as he finally arrived. She rose again, her brown eyes sparkling as she waited expectantly. Cole stumbled over his words, she knows he's trying but it just makes it all the funnier. However, laughing would just be rude and improper after seeing each other again after so long and so she attempted to compose herself. As he finally managed to complete a sentence, Evette just couldn't hold her laugh any more. Charon, who had leapt off her shoulder and was resting on the head of the chair, was making scoffing noises. Simply thrilled to see Cole again she flung her arms around his neck and embraced him tenderly before moving back with her hands still on his shoulders.

"Oh Cole! It's great to see you again."

Setting

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March Character Portrait: The Narrator
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#, as written by Lerke
Suddenly the barkeeper rushed towards the two. He seemed a little traumatized of something he had just seen. 'S--s-someone just gave me an awful lot of money to give you two this...sorry, but I have to get back to work' he said and wandered back to the counter where five people simultaneously demanded fresh beer. On the table before them lay a mysterious piece of paper. The paper itself seemed to be very old, the ink on the other hand, did not.

It read

The setting changes from Paris to The Green Linnet

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Nieki
Evette laughed-- it was a lovely, tinkling laugh. And then she was hugging him.

Nicole blinked. A second later his surprise got replaced by this one thought: Man, how nice it was to get hugged so sweetly! There should be like a profession, Epic Hug Dispenser. Evette should teach it at some really posh, awesome college like Cambridge or something.

But that thought went away quickly too. Then there was just like this feeling, like this warmth. This rush of affection and man, he'd missed her and he really wanted to hug back. And then she trolled him again and pulled away before he could do that.

"Oh Cole!" she said, her warm dainty hands on his shoulders. "It's great to see you again."

Nicole grinned and opened his mouth to reply. And then, suddenly, somebody rushed up to them--oh! the barkeeper. Something was wrong with him, though... He was trying to keep it cool, Nicole could tell, but he seemed... stressed out.

"S--s-someone just gave me an awful lot of money to give you two this," he stammered. "Sorry, but I have to get back to work."

"What?" Nicole asked. "Wait, who--?"

But the little man was on his way back to the counter. And on the table, between him and Evette, there was a note.

Nicole frowned. This was weird. The barkeeper was a nice guy who didn't have such a hard time beating him at card games on quieter nights. Usually, he was chatty and... What had just happened?

He picked up the note. The paper was rough and starchy: old. He didn't feel any better about the whole thing after reading it. He felt...

Well, actually he felt kind of uneasy.

Pushing his glasses back up his nose, he glanced up at Evette and handed her the note.

The setting changes from The Green Linnet to Paris

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Adantas
Evette might have complained that they were rudely interrupted but by the clear distress that the bartender showed she completely dismissed it. In the pit of her stomach she felt a familiar twisting, a feeling she only felt when she knew something was wrong, very wrong. With eyebrows pinched together with worry she watched as Nicole read the paper. His eyes darted side to side and from his expression she knew it was no good. When he finally finished he said nothing, simply handing her the note. She gave him a fearful look, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Unfortunately, her curiosity got the better of her and she tentatively took the yellowing, ancient looking piece of paper.

Holding it, slightly shakily, with both hands, her features turned impassive. Her already straight posture went rigid as she absorbed the message. One hand went to her mouth to cover her shock. She couldn't speak, her mouth literally couldn't remember how to form words. This was worse than she could have ever imagined. She stood immobile simply staring at the wonky words. Charon finally spoke up.

"Eve..." He said with hushed worry. "Speak. What does the note say?"

Suddenly as if a switch had been flicked inside of her she became very animated.

"This note, there's more to it." She came around to the side of Cole so that he could have another look at it too. "See, how some letters are in capitals in the middle of sentences. I think it makes a word. There's a deeper message within it." Her usual calm and collected speech was like it was on fast forward. The worry induced adrenaline rushed through her, making her unable to stay still. She energetically pointed to each of the letters. "Look... Be-wa... Beware." Her jitteriness suddenly died as she realised what the rest of the words said. Barely louder than a whisper she read the rest of it. "He will rise and you will die..."

Silence.

She stepped away from where she had been leaning over Cole's shoulder, with slow and steady steps she walked over to the fireplace. Despite the warmth she felt cold inside. Turning around she faced her good friend once more. "What do we do?" She asked.

The setting changes from Paris to The Green Linnet

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Nieki
Beware. He will rise and you will die.

Nicole pieced the message together in his mind as Evette -- smart, smart lady -- pointed out the caps scattered in the poem with the tip of her finger.

In the pub it was still warm. People were singing along to some Frenchy tune from the sixties. But, inside their little invisibility bubble, they were both struck, all of a sudden, by a horrible chill.

"What do we do?" She asked him.

She'd walked over to the fireplace... so gravely it was unlike her. Nicole himself felt heavy too. Some part of him was kind of aware that he'd be reacting much, much differently if he were alone. If he'd got that letter-note-thing, all by himself, prolly he would've freaked out and... well, freaked out. But whatever or whoever was out to get him, was after Evette as well. Just that fact forced him to dig up some courage from some old dusty drawer in his brain. His stomach was knotted up and his palms were sweating. But Rational Mode was turned on.

"Hmm..." Okay. Absently resting his bandaged finger to his lips, he tried -- honestly gave it his all -- to put a decent answer together. Think, Nicole, think.

Think think think.

Right, so the note said 'You will die,' but the word 'Beware' was in there, too. So not a death threat, okay-- a warning. It was a warning from...

From...

"Eve, can I see the note again for a sec?" Following her to the fireplace, gently retrieving the paper from her fingers, he focused on that one line of fancy, squiggly handwriting at the bottom of the poem. The sender, most likely.

"Prieuré de Justice..." he thought aloud.

It... wasn't a name he'd ever heard before...? He was a lot more familiar with English than he was with French, so that first word he couldn't really...

"What's a 'prieuré', Eve?" he mumbled.

If she replied, though, he only half-heard. His brain was processing on its own now, and it was telling him "de Justice" sounded like it was some kind of organization. He was annoyed with himself for a second, for not knowing French NGOs better, and then--

Then the name struck him.

"Nadim!" he said. He waited for Evette's eyes to light up with recognition, but then realized she hadn't followed his train of thought. "Nadim Madjer, Evie. Remember how I told you I was a freelance writer for Parisvoice? Like I was all excited cause 'freelance writer' sounds really badass? Right, so Nadim Madjer writes for that zine too and like..." Gaaah. He wished he could download all his ideas into her mind at the same time. "He's really into his stuff, okay? He wants to write for the big papers, so it's like amazing top-notch research, he knows so many people he could be a mafia boss if he wanted. If anybody I know can tell us something about creepy French NGOs, it's him."

The setting changes from The Green Linnet to Paris

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Adantas
Like small little people the fire seemed to dance erotically. Jumping this way and that, twirling and crackling. It was rather mesmerising but at the same time with the message they had just received it also seemed sharp and dangerous. As she stared he mind was ticking over at what all of this could mean.

He will rise... Who will rise? There was a haunting sense of familiarity. Could it be? All those years ago when she had encountered that awful child... There was no way that Evette could forget her name. As much as Evette believed that their was good in everyone and that people deserved a second chance, there was no denying that that girl was evil. Elisabeth, whatever was going on she had a sinking feeling that Elisabeth was a part of it.

Evette's train of thought had clearly taken a very different turn than Nicole's. He had focused on who the letter had come from. Broken from her disturbing trance with the fire and her dark thoughts regarding Elisabeth, Evette turned back to see Nicole concentrating very hard and Charon frozen like a statue with his head held high on the cushion of the chair. He looked the gravest of them all. She walked over to him and gently picked him up, he only made a grunt but otherwise allowed her to place him back on her shoulder.

From behind her she heard Nicole ask her offhandedly what a prieuré was. She still had her back to him as she was busy tending to charon but automatically she replied.

"It's like a monestry, a sort of religious group."

Unexpectedly he exclaimed a rather odd word. It was all rather sudden and strange that he caused her to jump slightly, she was already quite tense so that definitely did not help. She swung around her golden hair swishing almost furiously. But she had more of a sense of confusion than anger.

Delicate eyebrow raised she questioned him, thankfully he went on to explain. His words were rushed and slightly disjointed, she could see how he desperately wanted her to follow his thinking. Eventually she got his gist and made on large silent O with her mouth. So if they find this Nadim, they could find where this Prieuré de Justice is. She felt a swell of pride for Cole.

"Right, so find this Nadim and hopefully find the Prieuré de Justice." She paused for a moment, concern riddling her features. "Cole, I also have a bad feeling that I may know who may be a part of this strange rising. There was this incident many years ago with this very disturbing young lady. I won't bore you with details but as much as I hate to say, she is definitely on a dark path and somehow I think she may be connected in this all." It was very improper to wring your fingers but since this was such a distressing night Evette found it somewhat soothing. Especially since it might involve Elisabeth.

The setting changes from Paris to The Green Linnet

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Nieki
"There was this incident many years ago with this very disturbing young lady," Evette said. Now, Nicole was no Nobel Prize winner, but he had this funny feeling that when she added "I won't bore you with details," she was actually saying, "The whole thing was pretty nasty, so you're better off not knowing."

Especially because of that "dark path" detail. And because this disturbing lassie could be involved in some evil plot to kill him and Evie.

And it was true, lol... Better off not knowing. Not a fan of nasty stuff. Did not want to know.

In fact, this whole thing, he would so opt out if he could. As he took his cell phone out of his pocket again, he had this huge, overwhelming urge to call the cops. Give the note to them. Somehow convince them that this wasn't some hoax or some teenage prank or something. Leave it up to them to fix it, then head over to his flat and like sell a bunch of stuff on ebay and buy two tickets - did Charon count as pet or passenger? Anyway, two tickets to the States for the earliest flight tomorrow. Evette and Nicole safely tucked out of harm's way, four thousand awesome miles away from this whole shebang, in good ol' America. Let the cops fix it. They're the pros here. Yeah.

But...

But he hadn't forgotten, Evette was magical. Nicole was magical. Whoever was 'rising' soon had targeted them, like, them specifically. So that must mean 'he' must be magical too. He and... and that evil lady Evette was thinking of.

Nicole wasn't a powerful wizard. But there were wizards who were, and normal people didn't stand a chance against them.

The truth was, he was a coward. Fact true and proven. Ask any of his friends, he couldn't sit through the first twenty minutes of The Ring. But he wasn't sending any cop to his death tonight, lol. You'd have to be a total scumbag to do that. So he sighed, scrolled through his contacts' list. There he was - Nadim.

Hey, dude. Listen, I gotta talk to you ASAP. You at home?

Send message. Man, where had the leetspeak gone. He sighed again. In his head he'd had a very different plan for how tonight was supposed to turn out. He looked at Evette.

"Well, if that girl's up to no-good, I guess we'll find out eventually, hey?" He tried to sound all casual-like, he smiled for her. Nothing terrible had happened yet, he didn't want her getting all worried. He wanted to make some lame joke. "I texted Nadim. I think we should meet up with him like, right now. But you don't have to if crummy apartments gross you out."

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March
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#, as written by Adantas
That warming smile, he was trying so hard to be brave and that just made her even prouder. He was such a great guy that if anything happened to him she wouldn't know what to do. This whole mess, for lack of a better word, while it somewhat terrified her also made her feel as if she really had to put her foot down. Evette was stubborn at the best of times and now she was feeling rather bull-headed. She wanted to charge head first at whoever dared threaten them. But that simply wasn't the way to do it, they were smarter than that, more cautious than that. But, it meant that Evette was prepared to do whatever it took to protect the people she cared about, especially sweet Nicole.

Despite everything she couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Which kind of turned into a half smothered cough. It really wasn't appropriate to be laughing at such dire times! They were being threatened for goodness sake! Although, she had to admit that the idea of going to a rather dirty apartment wasn't the greatest for a reunion with Cole after so many years. But if it meant that they could take a step closer to discovering who was rising, then she would travel to the darkest depths of the world with Nicole.

"Oh Cole, why on earth wouldn't I come with you? I may be a bit uptight sometimes but I'm not averse to getting my hands dirty, especially now since this could be life or death." She scrunched her nose at the last part, as terrifying as it had been moments ago and it still slightly pinched her stomach, it just felt awfully surreal.

Surreal... It was odd, she was a wizard, someone powerful enough to manipulate what people saw. How was that not surreal already? Either way the initial freak out was dying down, nothing bad had happened so better to be proactive and figure out as much as they could beforehand.

"So my dear," She looped her arm through his, "Lead the way?"

The setting changes from The Green Linnet to The Catacombes

Setting

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March Character Portrait: The Narrator
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#, as written by Lerke
The cold got so intense, that it crept into the bones of Marie-Louise. She stopped with her artwork and started to work out a little in order to keep herself warm. Something whispered in the dark - and - it came closer. 'Who's there?' Marie-Louise said, turning around hastily holding up her flashlight with one hand, searching for a soda bottle with the other. 'No! I brought tea in a flask this time. It's too cold to be around things that can be turned into useful weapons! Oh, but I still have my tear gas gun.' She crouched in order to reach her bag when suddenly some kind of ektoplasma pulled open her eyes and entered her body.

For a while she didn't move, she lay on the ground as if dead. Then she gulped and seemed to be pretty normal again. Looking around, looking in her bag, looking on the floor, at the ceiling, at her hair and hands...pretty normal. 'I'm a girl' she said in a depreciative tone, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. 'Great.' she snorted, 'a painting chick with a useless gun and...well at least there's paint. And I have blood. It's all going to be - well, nothing less but excellent.' She marched through the gutter, following her instincts.

She saw the world in a different light now. People had a different 'color' than trees, or animals, or wizards. When she opened up a drain cover on Victoria Street, lifting it with one hand, she already perceived them them from afar, just exiting the Green Linnet, two wizards, a man and a woman, shining as gold.
'Look, who's walking down the streets like the world is a safe place,' she murmured.

The setting changes from The Catacombes to Paris

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Calypso Character Portrait: Elizabeth Ballister Character Portrait: Alberto de Iturbide Character Portrait: Lord Millipede the Terrible (Short: The Lord)
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#, as written by Lenyx
Image

Elizabeth sat up straight in her chair, her eyes wide before giggling. “Well it has been some time since I heard from him...” But she then frowned at remembering his threat to strip her of her powers. That was not fair to her! It was not her fault! “Lord Millipede! Who is this Lord of Dreams?” Elizabeth demanded.

She had not noticed another person in her room, but she caught sight of him backing in to a dark corner. “Oh! Hello there! I'm sorry!” Elizabeth giggled. “Scared? Me?”

She got up from her table and walked over to the man. “My name is Eli—Oh! It's you! Mister... Mister..” Elizabeth had forgotten his name, but waved a dismissive hand. “Anyways we have a meeting right? Yes.. Yes we do...”

She turned back, walking to her table and crystal ball. Sitting down she stared in to the crystal ball muttering between 'Lord of Dreams'.

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Calypso spied a couple as she looked around her surroundings, but nearby was also a sleeping dog...

'They will keep me safe...' The kitten thought to herself. So slowly she crept out towards them but just as she got out from under the cart... She could hear growling above her... Tilting her head back she could see the muzzle of the dog above her head. She dashed down the street, finally crashing right in to a human's leg.

Scared and shivering, Calypso began mewling. “Don't let the scary doggy get me please!” She whimpered up at the man... Then she realized who the man was and began gently climbing up his leg. “Master Cole! Master Cole!

Her eyes were wide and watery. “I-I'm so sorry! I was curious, I was just exploring and then I got tossed out and couldn't get back in and there was this big scary doggy chasing me...” Calypso clung to her master's leg, she was safe now, very safe. “And... And then I got lost and then I saw you walking down the street, but I didn't know it was you but another doggy is chasing me and.. And... Oh Master Cole I'm so scared!

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March Character Portrait: Calypso
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#, as written by Nieki
"So my dear," Evette looped her arm through his, "Lead the way?"

Okay, so this was totally the wrong way to react to her touch, but Nicole felt his face heating up at the gesture. No idea why, lol, it was awesome and reassuring and so refined and ladylike he suddenly he felt like he was some classy superhero-gentleman like Bruce Wayne or something, rather than a small-time English teacher that barely made enough to pay the bills and pamper the kitty.

At any rate, the point was: blushing. Blushing! Blushing like a schoolgirl. Gosh darn.

"Uh --" Dude, embarrassing! Cover it up! Cover it up! He quickly turned away and did the first thing he could think of to hide his face. He -- well, he plucked a Kleenex from his pants' pocket and blew his nose.

Gaah. Nicole! What is wrong with you? The voice inside his head was facepalming. This is Evette, man! Evette freaking March! She doesn't do improper! And honestly he had no idea what was wrong with blowing one's nose in front of someone, but there must be something, like some secret French etiquette code that forbid it, because it really didn't seem that classy. Turning to Eve again he smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry - I - I felt like I was about to sneeze and, uh --" Obviously the blush came back with a vengeance. "Yeah."

Smooth, Cole. Real smooth.

We got ourselves a ladies' man here.

He cleared his throat. "Right! Lead the way. I can totally do that. It's, ah - it's like my middle name, hey? Nicole Lead-the-Way Reed, lol."

Did he actually say 'lol' aloud?

Man.

Why why why did he do this type of stuff when he got flustered?

- - - - - - - - - -

Aaaanyway! Stepping out into the cold air helped. Well, it helped and didn't help, at the same time. Rational Mode was, thankfully, turned back on, which was awesome. He also remembered some mysterious evil dude was out to get them, which was as un-awesome as un-awesome gets.

Even more un-awesome was that he now had like this sense of anxiety. It was a Jaws kind of feeling, like how your stomach clenches when you know the shark is just about to get someone. Or maybe it was more The Matrix, a someone-is-watching-you kind of feeling. Either way, he felt like someone was... stalking?

"Uh... Eves?" He said. Sounding brave like G.I. Joe, obviously. "Don't you, like..." Brave brave brave. "I mean, prolly I'm just being paranoid, but don't you feel something here is... kinda wrong?"

Thankful for the soft pressure of her dainty fingers on his arm, he looked around. He couldn't see much though, the evening was just normal and misty and -- oh, wait. No, that was his glasses. They'd fogged up again.

"Oh - hold on," he said. He stopped to polish them with the hem of his shirt. "Just - lemme real quick -"

Suddenly something bumped against his leg. Nicole jumped. Very, very nearly dropped his glasses.

“Don't let the scary doggy get me please!” A little voice said. Oh, he recognized that voice! The little patch of warmth clinging to his shin started climbing up his leg. "Master Cole! Master Cole!"

Definitely, definitely recognized it! He glanced down at the little creature, but saw only a blurry splotch of black. Quickly he put his glasses back on. "Calypso?" he said.

His kitten's adorable crimson eyes were wide and watery. “I-I'm so sorry! I was curious, I was just exploring and then I got tossed out and couldn't get back in and there was this big scary doggy chasing me.. And... And then I got lost and then I saw you walking down the street, but I didn't know it was you but another doggy is chasing me and.. And... Oh Master Cole I'm so scared!”

Nicole raised his eyebrows. Took everything in. Then he mentally smacked himself for being a dumbass and immediately picked her up. "Aw, my kitty-wibby!" He unzipped his jacket, pressed the kitten against his chest and pulled up the zipper again so that only her head was peeking out, level with his neck. He propped up the little quivering frame with his arm. "Why you gettin' yourself into trouble when it's this cold outside, baby? Are you crazy?"

Sure enough, here came the dog. Just your average street dog, barking and all, so brave it was bullying a kitten.

Now, Nicole's usual reaction to angry dogs was to stand very still, since as a kid he'd learned that they actually do outrun you, if you flee. But this time his kitty was very scared and it was le ugly mutt's fault. And that - well, that just...

Well. It made him mad.

He scowled. A quick glance left and right told him there was no one around, just Evette and him. He raised his other hand, the one that wasn't holding Calypso, toward the dog, palm open.

"Shoo!" he said. "Shoo! Go away! You jerk!"

His fingertips tingled while his magic did its work. On the sidewalk, right next to the dog appeared a scarecrow - as freaking scary as Nicole could imagine one. The mutt yelped and attacked it, but didn't accomplish much. As long as the scarecrow's button eyes were firmly stitched in place, it couldn't really get damaged, it'd just keep repairing itself.

Finally the dog gave up and ran off. Nicole exhaled. The scarecrow went poof and disappeared.

"Man." He pushed his glasses back up his nose. Planted a kiss on top of Calypso's head. "I hate hate hate getting angry, Evie. So much." He rolled his shoulders. So stiff. "Ow."

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March Character Portrait: Calypso
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#, as written by Adantas
Wait.

Was Nicole blushing? Surely not. Sweet, dear Nicole! What did that mean? A secretive smile hinted at her lips. It was an interesting scenario indeed, and while she didn't mind imagining what it meant it just simply wasn't in her nature or upbringing to truly over exaggerate the possibilities. All thoughts of anything else vanished when he went to blow his nose. She leaned that slightly forward and to the side. Not in that Eeew-get-away-from-me-you're-so-disgusting type of way, no, simply a are-you-getting-sick-should-I-be-concerned type of way.

"Cole? Are you getting sick?" She questioned gently, it wouldn't be a surprise this winter had a bite to it and the flu was going around. Cute as a button he looked at her and gave a sheepish smile. And oh, oh that blush! That crimson sheen that betrayed his cover up.

Evette wasn't oblivious to what that meant, but nor is she someone who thinks every action has some dramatic meaning and that it has to be dissected into tiny little pieces until you know which pore that drop of sweat came from and that it was there because of some god-knows-what reason! Judgement is simply not in her forte. Whatever was happening Eve didn't want to push or make anything more awkward she simply wanted him to be relaxed around her. She wouldn't mind courteous either but that's something else entirely.

"Nicole Lead-the-Way Reed..." She actually pondered it for a moment, disregarding his use of 'lol'. It was a term that she didn't particularly like, was it so difficult for people to actually laugh? These modern slang words were a serious crutch to the human language. "It has a certain ring to it. It could most definitely work for you." She bumped against him slightly and gave him a cheeky grin.

___

Jack Frost was in a foul mood. The degrees had dropped like stones and instantly the skin rose on Evette's arms. The winter had never been something she disliked, she found it enchanting and refreshing, but stepping out now something felt wrong. Cole seemed to think so too as he voiced her thoughts. Her guard was already up and she nodded her head slowly. Instinct told her to make them invisible, cast the illusion so that no one would see them, but before she had the chance to something made Nicole jump. He had already let go of her arm but he did bump into her slightly.

Heart in throat and hand to chest to glanced down to see a small black kitten. The poor thing was shaking with fear, she just wanted to take it and store it away, keep it from the big scary world. Thankfully, Nicole was already picking the dear thing up and snuggling it. It was no puzzle to figure out that this sweet kitten was his companion. She wondered how that came to be. Her curiosity piqued as to his acquirement of the tiny cat. If Cole's middle name was Lead-the-Way then hers was Tack because she knew how to ask without being so brash and oblivious.

Then the barking came. It was feral and ferocious. Evette was not a wimp, she did not scare easily but death threats and beastly dogs are something that will put her hair on end. Without thinking her grip went to clutch Cole's bicep and she moved slightly behind him.

A deep grumble erupted from her shoulder, it was an unnecessary fright as it was simply Charon who had awoken and started this strange lizard growl.

"Brave Charon." Was all she could manage, her eyes never left the saliva dripping jaw and those yellowing canines. Evette only just registered Nicole shouting for the mutt to go away but she was still trying to get over her shock before she could do any use and actually make them disappear from the dogs sight.

Instead, a terrifying looking scarecrow came out of no-where, freaking the dog out. The only reason she didn't scream at it's appearance was one that it would definitely not be the most dignified of things to do and two that she noticed the button eyes. It was the only way that she knew it was Nicole's creation.

Eve expelled a large breath of air that she hadn't realised she had been holding as the dog finally fled. She was still clinging to Cole's arm and Charon had slunk into the crux of her arm for warmth and to try and comfort her. The incident with the dog had really tipped the scale again, she thought she had put a lid on her whole freak out about the death threat but in reality it was still close under the surface. With nerves on end the only thing that she could do to stop from breaking down was to straighten her spine and believe that everything was going to be alright.


"Man. I hate hate hate getting angry, Evie. So much. Ow." He sounded calm, tense but relatively calm. He made her so proud.

"Maybe so, but you acted with bravery. For that you are my hero and it seems this little ones too!" She bent forward, scrunching her nose and making cutesy sounds at the darling kitten. "It's a pleasure to meet you little one. Is your name Calypso? That's a lovely name." She cooed gently, while sneaking a quick glance up at Cole and giving him a playful smile. "Isn't Master Cole so brave to have saved us?"

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March Character Portrait: Calypso Character Portrait: Elizabeth Ballister Character Portrait: Alberto de Iturbide
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#, as written by Lenyx
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Elizabeth flinched and shielded her eyes as the rays from the outside world filtered in to the room. She sent a glare in Alberto's direction before getting up from her seat and went over to the piles of books she stacked off to the side of the room. The crystal ball was of no help without knowing what exactly she was searching for.

“Lord of Dreams.” She corrected him. “And finding him would be easier if we knew who or what we were looking for.”

Information... Need more information. Elizabeth thought to herself. She truly despised riddles and puzzles, unless of course, she was the one giving them. Sitting on the floor in front of the stacks of books Elizabeth started flipping through them. She had many books, varying from spells and potions to demons, as well as some coloring books. Whenever she was bored she would color the pictures of animals, covered in blood and as demonic looking as she could.

Elizabeth started singing 'Ring a Ring o'Roses' while she skimmed through the pages of the book in her lap.

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Calypso purred and nuzzled against her master, safe and warm at last. She looked up at the woman beside her master and gave her cute kitten smile.

“Caly for short!” Calypso loved receiving compliments and attention, it always made her feel loved and accepted. “And master Cole is the best! He always take really good care of me and protects me from the scary things.”

Stretching up, Calypso gently licked her master's chin, when her stomach growled. “Oh, pardon that... I'm hungry after my adventures...” If it was possible for felines to blush, this was certainly a time where Calypso would be. She felt quite embarrassed to meet someone knew, only to have her tummy make hunger noises.

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Character Portrait: Nicole Reed Character Portrait: Evette March Character Portrait: Calypso
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#, as written by Nieki
"Maybe so," Evette said, "but you acted with bravery. For that you are my hero it seems this little one's too."

"What - me?" Nicole blinked. "A... a hero?" He added that last part quietly, not sure if Evie had heard - he said it to himself.

Hero.

Hmm.

It wasn't exactly a word people had applied to Nicole millions and trillions of times. The last time musta been back in elementary school. When he had plucked up the guts to tell that kid Andy Rogers to stop calling little Tony a beaner and a wetback and all that shiz and got beaten up for it after the bell rang that day. Little Tony told his mom who told his dad who told his grandpa, so that Old Mr Gomez came to Nicole after school one afternoon. "You're a hero, m'hijo," he said. "Don't you let anybody tell you different."

And now hearing it again, he actually thought about it, what he just did. He had stood up to an angry dog. An angry dog, man. Without an owner. Or a leash. An angry dog that could've been like rabid or - or something - as far as he knew.

"Oh," he said. "Well, dang." That coulda turned out bad.

Evie was being all nice and cute to Calypso, just fillin' up his baby's love-o-meter. She looked up to glance at him playfully. Man, how'd he never notice before? Evette had a heart-stumbling smile. He knew because his heart actually did stumble on it. But that was okay because he covered it up like super subtly and just looked down at his kitty like she'd just done something super interesting and no one noticed anything.

Dude. Why'd this stuff keep happening? Just how long had Evette been his best girl? Whyyyy did his circulatory system have to go haywire over her now? He'd seen his fair share of chick flicks, he shipped Ron x Hermione and he was Team Edward and all, but with Evette all that type of stuff was just -- he'd never even thought of it seriously. Because, like. Evette was off-limits. Not that he'd never ever ever dated someone before, but Evette was the Friend. The Golden Friend. The Golden Friend with the Ugly Lizard Buddy. That type of friend you just don't date.

"Master Cole is the best!" Calypso was purring. "He always takes really good care of me and protects me from the scary things."

He felt the tiny warm raspy tongue of his kitten against his chin. He grinned at the familiar feeling, all to happy to snap out of his thoughts.

"Ah, well, it's Caly that takes care of me." He scratched the top of her head, all gentle-like. "She reminds me to do stuff like, eat, or sleep. Actually I woulda like died or something if I hadn't found her, or if she hadn't found me, or - yeah. See, it was one of those days and I'd sort of locked myself out of my house, and I had this really bad cold. By 4 am I was pretty sure it was like, full-on pneumonia, but then out of nowhere she--"

Calypso's stomach rumbled. "Oh, pardon that!" She mumbled.

She was no Indiana Jones, his kitty. If she went on adventures, her tummy growled.

"Oh!" Nicole said. "Right! Uh..." He turned to Evette for help. His thoughts were like, kitty hungry food where? He looked around, searching for some shop that may be open and sell stuff a kitten can actually...

Actually...

"Huh." His eyes narrowed on one of the shops nearby. It had this fancy crimson awning with gold lettering. Squinting at it, Nicole pushed his glasses up his nose. To make sure he was reading it right:

The Lord of Dreams

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#, as written by Adantas
There was more cooing while Cole seemed lost in thought for one reason or another and Evette was quite content to do so. She found the little companion to be profoundly adorable and it's baby speak only the more reason to go goo-goo eyes over her. The dear kitten really did seem to admire Cole, as she expected from a young companion. Unlike Charon who, was more like a grumpy teacher.

Charon had always been 'older', even when she had found him or he found her, all those years ago there had been a younger spark to him but he was forever old, and arguably wise. Even now, the stubborn lizard had moved onto her shoulder, making low grumbling sounds, that indicated he was thinking. He was constantly complaining about the enthusiasm of young'uns, but Evette secretly knew that he was simply jealous of their exuberance. Although, that didn't stop him from being intellectually bright.

Little Calypso definitely seemed to be quite the motivator for Cole. She had known he was a bit scatter-brained at times but she didn't realise to what degree. Especially that it took a companion to actually motivate him just for simple things. Either he was really that lonely, which made Evette feel even more guilty for their long absence of contact, or his mind was elsewhere, possibly on work.

Standing back up to normal height, her back had started to ache from leaning over at that angle, she chuckled at Cole. Before she could answer it was Charon that did.

"Foolish boy, your brain needs a good scrubbing. Maybe that way it'll clear all the dust that's gathered from lack of use."

Heat rose to Evette's cheeks, thankfully the blush wouldn't be too noticable since her cheeks where already pinched from the cold. But still, she was so embarrassed from Charons comment!

"Charon!" She exclaimed, disappointed that he would come out with such a thing, but having a strange feeling in her gut about his sudden rudeness. Absolutely Charon could be rude, but there was usually a difference in his tone. Something was up. Something was wrong, but they had felt that when they first stepped out of the Green Linnet. Whatever it was, it must be closer. "I apologise Cole, that was incredibly rude of Charon." She turned her head to give him a frown and a light pat, but when she saw his almost desolate eyes she stopped. Indeed, something very evil was close.

Charon was a sort of siphon to evil, it wasn't so much that he became evil, just that the darkness would touched him, making him rude. It was always a good indicator for Evette, and on a few occasions had saved her from a sticky situation.

At the same time that this was happening, little Calypso was hungry. Evette caught Cole's questioning look and despite her worry about Charon and what was out there she tried to keep calm. As for kitty food, she had absolutely no idea and believed she portrayed that with her very confused look.

Since Evette had not being very helpful, Cole had started looking around, pausing and making a cute little 'huh' sound. Curious she turned to where he was looking. And as soon as she was looking she saw it instantly.

The Lord of Dreams.

The odd thing was, Evette knew all the stores around here, this one had never been here before.

"That's odd..." She mumbled, trailing off in thought.

"Rotten weather, freezing my scales off. If you care for me at all you will get me inside." Growled Charon, uncharacteristically at her. This was definitely cause for alarm. As was this Lord of Dreams. It was familiar.

"Cole, I'm sorry, but I think we should go inside. It seems Charon is getting rather chilly, as am I to be honest." She glanced around, expecting to see some horrendous black shadow nearby, but nothing. It was certainly getting more spooky.