Helping Hands

[Elias Donovan]

The visit was less interesting than Elias thought it would be. The girls talked about their mutual ... whatever they were. Apparently their feelers were genetic. Elias couldn't say the same for himself.

He curled still-gloved around the lip of the counter, tapping them aimlessly. He wouldn't call himself claustrophobic, not when the company was tolerable, but was regretting following them here.

Ashavari seemed well. Even better, she'd found another woman like herself, although Elias still didn't fully comprehend what exactly that was.

While the women chit-chat, Elias blandly studied Aria. Truth be told, she looked like shit. She was pale and haggard, worn and weary in somewhat of the same way Elias was also burdened.

He leaned more heavily against the counter, letting his shoulders droop beneath the weight of an entire continent.

[Nox]

Aria and Ashavari exchanged words as Nox filled three sparkling clean glasses with water. It looked like these few glases had never been used. He grinned to himself, Aria was a loner and here he had brought two additional people into her circle of comfort. Whoops. He'd have to remember better next time. Not that he ran into damsel's in distress often. He wasn't in the habit of being hero. At least not if it meant it was against another person. He preferred monsters, he could kill a monster without prejudice.

Elias looked weary too, Lucas didn't look too great himself. Seemed everyone needed a good nights rest. And yet it's still early. He grinned to himself as he handed Ashavari a glass of water. He deliver Elias a glass next. Lucas already had a glass, though his glass looked slightly more used. Probably the only one Aria ever used. Poor kid.

Nox finished with his servant like duties stood before Aria's bed and looked at the penciled drawing she'd hung over it. It was exactly her tattoo. She must treasure it. The only other thing on her wall was an empty sheath for a sword, and an identical gun that sat at her back hung next to it. Her place was dismal. His wasn't much better, he'd never stayed in one place long enough to en mass things. Though that was going to change. Nox wanted paintings on the wall. He wanted pictures of his Mom and Dad and Aurora to float around on the walls and call them home. He wanted flowers and curtains that were clean and wouldn't stand by themselves if you took them off the rods. He wanted what most would say was simplicity in a house, but to him, it was posh. He wanted a home to call his own. He looked around at Aria's abode and decided she needed one too. A family, everyone needed family. He only had his sister left, and that was strangled.

Nox turned to Lucas and smiled. The man was special to Aria, and Aria was family. He liked that. Liked it very much. "So Lucas, what is it that you do?"
He tried not to sound too much like an over protective brother and he was thankful for the power he held, it kept Aria from prying into his head. He'd have to get used to that he supposed. He glanced over at Elias too. "You too, Elias, what do you do?"
Nox grinned they'd never believe what he did, what Aria did, but he would gladly share with these strange and monstrous folks. They deserved to know what lurked around the corners.

[Lucas]

Nox evidently felt that Aria and Asha's conversation was not his concern. He set about following Aria's 'orders' casually. Despite himself, Lucas smiled at that. It seemed that nothing put him off for long.

Elias just stood there watching, his only nod to the situation being leaning on the counter. Lucas shrugged as Nox got the drinks, clearly looking around at Aria's home. It was pretty spare. Simple. Not much in the way of homeyness. Though the picture he drew hung above her bed. It was all the more set off with being the only concession to anything other than work in the room. His eye fell on her drawer and he couldn't help a chuckle. Anything visible anyway.

He did like seeing it there, though. His eye returned to Aria. She looked beat. It had been a long night. He had forgotten in the rush of all these new people, but only an hour had passed since he'd spoken to Sonja, who'd been so protective of Mya. He really hoped they went to the shelter tonight. It was going to be freezing cold. He'd ask Valentin tomorrow. Maybe see if he could find them something more permanent.

Despite himself, he also thought about that house out in the country. He hoped Aria was right. The house full of people sort of answered the question for him. A bit at least, as his eye fell on Asha. A whole other universe than him.

He was interrupted from thought by Nox's question. Lucas pushed away the mood. "I own a tattoo shop."
He felt some pride as he nodded to the picture over Aria's head. "That's one of mine I did for Aria. It's good work. Enjoyable."
Despite himself he smiled as his eyes fell on Aria. "That's how I met Aria, actually. Wanted that for her arm."


He looked at Nox. "What about you?"
Suddenly it dawned on him and he felt stupid. This guy brought Aria someone like her. "You both work together?"

[Elias Donovan]

Nox was capable of normal conversation? Count Elias fooled.

"Thanks,"
he said when he took the water. He drank it all in one gulp and placed the glass aside. Apparently he was thirsty.

Lucas did tattoos, and when pointed out, he studied the drawing of one. Some kind of Celtic knot? It was rather interesting, and of course sparked Elias' imagination over whether he would go for anything like that. Despite his hair, eyeliner, clothes and pallor he really wasn't into body modifications. He had no piercings or body art. He hadn't avoided something like that. He simply hadn't considered it before. The permanence of it grated, though.

The unavoidable question included him, however. The guys might be surprised to learn the answer. "I'm a student."
One corner of his mouth twitched. The look on people's faces when he told them his major thoroughly amused him. "Marine Biology."


It wasn't technically true, given that he'd been expelled from the university and had yet to matriculate elsewhere. There was no point explaining all that, though. Surprisingly, something in him missed the consistency of the work. He liked his life in New Zealand, and damn his uncle for getting himself killed and ruining it.

He'd let Nox answer Lucas' question without adding onto it. He was only mildly interested in the answer anyway.

[Nox]

A tattoo shop. It had all made sense now. Why the picture hung on her wall? This was a guy who meant something to her, a lot by the looks of the lack of anything else personable in the apartment. Nox took a wild stab in the dark that Aria had gone into the store that sold bedding and bought the first thing that matched her price range. He didn't think she did that with her weapons. They were custom, he'd seen enough to know that. Though his memories of them all were still fuzzy. But it was all coming back now. Once and a while he'd be unable to fetch information or be completely surprised when he remembered it.

Nox now didn't have to ask Aria where her work had been done. Nox smiled lazily. "Seems you'll have an appointment in a few weeks then, since the one person I trust to recommend someone good, is well right here."
Nox had the drawing now, sitting on his bed side table, waiting for time to ask Aria, now he didn't have to.

Elias on the other hand Nox turned to with surprise. A student. But then again it shouldn't have surprised him. Everything about him screamed I don't have a job. Nox laughed inside at his own inner thoughts, everything about himself screamed punk with out a job. He grinned. "Like dolphins and giant whales who swallow men whole."
Jonah and the whale, hell even Pinocchio claimed fame with their whale tails. Nox chuckled to himself. Stupid jokes! "I don't think Moscow's the right joint for your career path. Too land locked."


Nox grinned madly at Lucas' question. So easy to manipulate the conversation where he wanted it to go. Though it wasn't a skill he was usually good at, but here was a man who was pretty near dating a woman who could tell him exactly how he felt. There was absolutely no envy in that thought. Nox knew Aria already felt what he did. He would have rolled his eyes at that thought, but in some ways it was comforting. To know she knew without ever having to say anything.

Nox sparred a glance for Aria, he questioned his answer, what did Lucas know? He knew about her, but how far could he go. Aria must have felt his question, she turned her head and looked Nox in the eyes with a nod. Nox let go a breathe he hadn't known he'd been holding. Damn girl made him all sorts of weird.

Nox took a swallow of the water in the brand new glass and smiled with great pleasure. He knew that he'd be laughed at, called a fake a fool, whatever, but when you say what he was about to say you get laughed at. He was game. "Yeah, we work together. We hunt monsters."

[Ashavari]

"I never knew my parents, actually."
Her only clear memory, and it was barely that, was of the single moment she'd felt her mother's love for her snap away. She had been afraid of her - that's what her uncle had said, and so he had taken Asha into his custody instead. Asha rarely thought that far back; most of her childhood memories centred around Ludakh and the monastery. She had loved the isolation of Leh, but never regretted her nomadic lifestyle. "But I think you're probably right."


She had no problem chatting about her past even with the ears of so many strangers to hear, but didn't elaborate under consideration that aside from Aria they probably had no interest in hearing the minutiae of her upbringing. It was for the same reason she didn't fire back more questions, though half the stuff Aria said cascaded about a thousand different curiosities. The other woman would feel that, she knew; just as Asha could sense Aria's fatigue and ripples of other, darker feelings she shied back from sensing. Instead she focused on Elias - though even he crept out a weariness that made it difficult to concentrate.

Actually, there was a whole lot of that suffocating the room. She took the glass of water from Nox and shifted to sit with it on the floor by the coffee table, so that Aria could sit on the sofa with Lucas if she chose. Asha was not tired herself, just weighed down by the sense of it in the others. Only Nox seemed boyant, but he was cut off from her senses. She was tempted to grab his wrist and explore that emptiness, even see if it was possible to break past, but refrained from being so intrusive. It was less worrying now that she sort of knew what it was, but no more comfortable to sense. Like being thrust in a foreign place while stuck in a blindfold.

There was a book on the table that she pulled over and flicked through while the conversation drifted to more mundane things. It was another way to try and focus beyond the nuances of every intruding feeling, not quite as useful as focusing on a single person, but she felt like she needed to create some distance. "Is that why you asked about sensing animals?"
she interjected to Elias's being a student of marine biology, still flicking through pages. She hadn't checked the title, but it seemed to be something or other about folklore. Or a fantastical bestial.

Then Nox continued by sharing his and Aria's occupation. It quickly became clear he'd led the conversation to a purpose. He was blocked from her, so she couldn't tell if he was making a joke, but Aria's calm suggested otherwise. Asha's head tilted to one side in consideration more than surprise. She closed the book carefully, finally read the title, then pushed it away and looked up. For once she tried to tamper down her emotions, aware Aria could read her in turn. Curiosity abounded, but it was more complicated than that. "Like... vigilantes?"

[Aria]

Aria knew there was much more they both had questions about. curiosity ebbed through both of them. Aria wanted to know more. ugh more, but now was not the time. It was sad knowing that Ashavari hadn't know her family either. It was hard being what they were in a world that they felt everyone in and had very little connections to. Aria wondered if she had someone else. more questions for later.

Aria couldn't feel Nox. But she knew he was maneuvering the conversation. He wanted them to know something about what they did. Hunting monsters that included them. A warning perhaps. Did he care that much about strangers. So much for not playing hero. Lucas asked what he did. Aria smiled at his brief lapse and his own chagrin. But the look on Nox's face said he didn't know how far to go. Aria looked at him and he came right out and said it. no pretense. No apparent joke. Though it could sound like a joke, it did sound like one with the stupid grin on his face. Aria rolled her eyes at his exuberance.

Aria smiled at Ashavari's question. Vigilante maybe so. That's what the police called them. "Yes and no. I've been told our organization is more like a cult. I suppose we are both. Though there are people inside who want things to change."
Aria and Nox were some of those people for obvious reason. By all standards of the Atharim they were monsters. And Nox was one of the worst kinds.

Aria wasn't sure how much Lucas was ready for. If he was ready to know what Nox and apparently Elias was, though he had offered no proof or denial of Nox's claim. Warning them was probably a good thing but she'd let Nox guide things where he had intended them to go.

[Lucas]

Lucas found Elias' answer interesting. He'd never really studied any of the sciences. He wasn't exactly a good student when he even bothered to go, before he dropped out. Being high in a remedial class didn't win any genius awards. But as an artist he was always on the look out for natural designs he could incorporate into his work, whether stylized or more literal. He did admit he got bored with doing the same old dolphin on the lower back tattoo. If you were going to get something that permanent, make it count at least. Let it be something important.

To Elias "Interesting. I've never seen the ocean before. I can't even imagine all the stuff down there. It's another world."


He smiled at the recurrent theme that seemed to be his life. And as if in answer, Nox piped up an answer to his question. So they did work together. No. More than that. The both hunted monsters.

Aria gave a bit of an explanation. Lucas looked at her and Ashavari. "Ok. So I know Aria can sense emotion. And you can too?"
to Ashavari. His head swung to Nox. "So what's your special ability? You turn into The Hulk or something?"
He flicked an eye at Elias. Elias wasn't with them, clearly. He didn't seem to care much for Nox, which Lucas could understand even if he didn't share his feeling. Elias was like Nox.

God. Another world indeed. Still, he had to say it was interesting.

[Elias Donovan]

He hadn't expected Ashavari to have been listening. He leaned around the guys to answer. "Yes. Anyone that's ever had a pet can tell you animals have emotions. You're the sentient. You'd know the answer better than anyone else."
His eyes darted briefly to Aria and back again. The conversation wound on without him, but he was focused on Ashavari, even as talk turned to monsters. Good. He wasn't in the mood to explain his presence in Moscow.

Eli's look was skeptical. Their talking pulled his gaze from person to person like he might see brand of their cult on display. "Can't say I've run into many monsters. You two must be doing a good job."
He smirked, doubtful that was the case.

[Nox]

Nox laughed. He laughed so hard he almost fell over. Instead he folded himself on to the floor to sit and continued laughing. It hadn't been all that funny, but today was just one of those days. Aria looked like crap, she looked to be having a worse day. That was never a good thing.

Today was a day for superhero comic book jokes. Nox looked to Aria, she wasn't freaking out about the topic of conversation. So Nox grinned widely as he stopped laughing. "Why magic of course!"
As he said magic he wove a small orb of fire and air making a glowing floating orb just above his head. It light the room in a soft white light that almost made it daylight inside the tiny apartment. He watched Aria as he preformed his trick. She didn't react at all, she'd seen him wield fire and air and much more the night that they'd met in the tunnels.

Elias's statement about the monsters clearly brought ire to Aria, as she started to speak Nox interrupted. "You'd be surprised at how awful of a job we are doing."
His ever present grin grew even wider. "By Atharim standards, there is only one person in this room who is not considered a monster. Aria and Ashavari are Sentient. If I'm correct, Elias and I are what Aria calls godlings - reborn gods of past ages."
Nox shrugged. "We aren't all killing you, or our selves so we can't be doing too great of a job. And we have no intentions of killing anyone human."
Nox laid back on the floor and stared at the ceiling. The mirth and humor fled his voice, "We will be dead the moment that someone finds out what we are doing, and what we are. It's high treason. A bullet to the head will be a godsend if some of the more fanatical of them find out what we are doing."
Nox sat up with all seriousness. "Your secrets are safe with us. We won't tell anyone. But you have to be careful, the Atharim are everywhere. And most are fanatical zealots who will hunt you down, and kill you just for being alive."
It was such a sad statement. Nox leaned back on an elbow and surveyed their reactions. Even Lucas' for some reason his reaction seemed important, Aria hadn't taken her eyes off of Lucas and Nox knew that Aria had not told Lucas all of this yet. Crap, he hoped he hadn't ruined it for her.