MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Jul 29, 2021 19:29:11 GMT
’Do not trust, child.’
The voice had crooned out in time with the sweep of the brush through her hair. Perched cross-legged on the end of her great-grandmother’s bed last thing at night. The same ritual every night, stories dripping from those lined lips about what had been. Nightmares silently gripping her afterwards, the six year old’s mind not yet ready for the images of men left bleeding in the streets, of a great-uncle torn to pieces on a battlefield in some part of the world she couldn’t even pronounce. The rhythm of the brush had done nothing more to soothe her than those creaking footsteps of her great-grandmother in the dark, or that hissed voice.
’Do not trust, in the end they will all turn on you. Family, blood, they are the only things. For blood we will take them down.’
For the blood lost, even if it wasn’t entirely her own.
Curled in one corner of the Coffee Bean Mab had watched others come and go. Little girls clutching at their mothers’ hands out on the street. One too small for even that in here. Mab glanced towards her again, dimples flashing as she offered the woman a friendly smile. A child without poison dripped into her ear. Unlikely to grow up with the pressure for revenge crushing her down until the room for her own thoughts was just a tiny cell inside. The her who wanted to break out still rattling at those bars. Only one had the key though and she was not offering it up.
Not until the vampire was dead and that could not happen yet. Not until he was free.
Thanks to whoever had him hidden away in the pit at the centre of Whitmore, she couldn’t do that herself. Something had intervened, holding her at bay like an invisible wall had been thrown up around the entire place. Oh what stories had must have spun them to make sure that the past he had steeped in blood couldn’t come back to haunt him.
Mab rolled her head against the back of the chair, crossed legs leaving one foot bobbing in the air as she glanced down into the cup of coffee propped on her thigh. If only it were that simple to keep the walls thrown up around someone like that. The family might have tumbled from their once lofty spot but they weren’t gone, while her great grandmother lived there would always be someone reaching for him in that dark. If she could manage it then perhaps the old woman would lose her grip finally and the light would finally spill into the gloomy halls of the house again, a pall lifted.
With their help she would do it.
Lips curled again as she watched the young man emerge from behind the counter, headed for that woman and child with another cup in her hand. It was bad for the young mother, too much caffeine sure to find its way into the infant but that wasn’t her place to argue, what did she know about babies anyway. Her great-grandmother had made certain that her chance for that had ended in blood.
Leaning forward in the chair, Mab flagged him down with her cup. That flash of white in the air, a sign of innocence that hadn’t existed for the Meraviglias or Carmellos for years. ”Hi, it’s Tobi right? Sorry, I overheard earlier when I was ordering, I’m good with names and … it’s Parker? Tobi Parker?” She leaned in a little closer, her eyes rolling up to his face, with that smile going feral enough around the edges to flash her teeth. ”How about you get me another coffee, Tobi, and we talk about ways to rid you of a little … brotherly problem.” Too many years had been spent beating around bushes. Allowing herself to think that perhaps there was room for something before her great-grandmother had taken her pound of flesh. Foolish. This was all she could do, point blank, blunt, a warning in her eyes that it shouldn’t be run from.
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TOBI PARKER
Warlock
Posts: 139
Age:
37
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Bad decisions make for the best memories
Last seen Oct 28, 2024 16:09:17 GMT
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Post by TOBI PARKER on Aug 1, 2021 17:09:51 GMT
The smell of coffee would cling to his skin even after showering. As though it had managed to worm its way under his skin and seep through his pore. Like it was part of him now. Tobi hated working at Coffee Bean and he hated coffee even more, but needs must. With little to not experience on his resume this was the only place willing to hire him. It was a toss up between here and the Mystic Grill. Some days he wished he had chosen the grill, and today was one of those days. The door had been swinging open non stop since they flipped the sign to open. Locals craved that coffee fix, which extended through to the early afternoon. But finally the customers had started to dwindle down giving Tobi the opportunity to relax a little. He simply wasn’t cut out for this hospitality life. His social meter was running dangerously low, growing bored of asking the same questions over and over. Seconds later the door flung open again. A woman and her child. Forcing that friendly smile on his face Tobi took the order, telling the woman he would bring her coffee over to her table. His dad didn’t yank him back from the other side to just pour coffee though. His aim was to get the conven back together and bring Kai down once and for all, but the plan seemed to have been put on hold by everyone. Meanwhile Kai was out there somewhere, enjoying his freedom. Freedom he didn’t deserve after killing his siblings. Tobi hadn’t been the same since he was brought back. Before he died he was passive and was quick to let things go, but all that had been replaced with the need to get revenge. Kai needed to pay for what he did and not just by being sent to some stupid prison world. He needed to die. He didn’t understand why it was taking his dad so long to formulate a plan to take on Kai. A locator spell would reveal his siblings whereabouts in seconds, but Tobi had been arguing this point with his dad for over a year now, until he was blue in the face. Why wasn’t his dad angry? Four of his children were murdered and the man was slow on taking action. It just added to the fury that was building inside of Tobi. The vengeance was eating away at him every single day, his mind struggling to focus on anything else. Smoking helped to put him at ease. After a few puffs all the worry and stress disappeared, allowing him to relax. After a few minutes he headed over to the woman with her coffee, “Here you go” He placed it down on the table with a thin smile on his lip. A quick nod from the woman, as acknowledgement. Soon as he moved away from the table he spotted another customer out the corner of his eye, flagging him down. With no hurry in his walk, he strolled over to the woman’s table, “Hey” The smile on his face faded when the stranger asked if he was Tobi Parker. It wasn’t someone he recognised, so immediately he was suspicious. “Yeah that’s me” The woman leaned forward, looking up at him. His heart dropped when she mentioned brotherly problem. His mind jumped to Kai straight away. He narrowed his eyes, clearly confused. “... Sure” Dragging the word out as he spoke, still trying to decide whether or not he knew this woman. He headed back to the counter, pouring the stranger another coffee, “I’m gonna take a break now while we’re a little quiet” He said to one of the employees as he slipped past, heading back towards the stranger. “So” Tobi took the seat opposite the woman, “Who are you? And how do you know about my brother?” MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
|
Post by MAB CARMELLO on Aug 1, 2021 18:59:23 GMT
The smell of coffee was one of those things that lingered everywhere. It could wake the near dead with a potent enough brew, thick enough to pour like tar, caffeinated enough that you might as well have just been chewing the beans at that point. It had dragged her from sleep enough at home, never the scent of bacon rising up the stairs, just the coffee her great-grandmother seemed to live on. Fresh beans ground, probably imbued with the bitterness the old woman wore wrapped around her like a shawl. Hard to tear through but seemingly beloved all the same. Especially here.
People had come and gone, clutching at their fix, while she’d watched Tobi go about his business. Head lolled back against her seat Mab had entertained herself with it until eventually he’d wandered close enough like a fly into the spider web. They were all like that eventually, her great-grandmother at least teaching her enough that the snatch and bite wasn’t as messy anymore. You did it often enough and you became smoother at it.
Settling that unease with a warm enough smile. Practically able to smell his suspicion in the air as that friendly smile he’d been wearing for the woman and her baby fell away with her questioning of his name. Oh Tobi, the warning whispered in her head in that low crooning voice dozens had heard before. The poor boy, not suspecting enough after all that had supposedly happened to the Gemini Coven.
Mab clucked her tongue, leaning heavier on the arm of the chain, elbow biting into that worn fabric. Hazel eyes narrowing faintly as the smile grew, Cheshire Cat bright. ”I thought it was. You know … small world and all.” One made smaller by her great-grandmother’s ramblings, old gnarled fingers still in so many pies, as if one of them would suddenly spill its contents and reveal just how she could finally lay her vendetta to rest. Not a single one of those old connections had managed it yet though. Yet being the operative word. ”Thanks, Tobi.” That smile still sweet as she watched him go.
The woman with the baby glanced her way, the baby following its mother’s glance as Mab waved her fingers at the child, puffing her cheeks out and crossing her eyes. The giggle filled the air, a little face still not set in stone lighting up. Had she ever been the same or had her great-grandmother’s hand already crushed that light out of her then? Mab’s lips pressed together as Tobi headed back, coffee cup in hand.
Straightening up, Mab turned away, leaving the mother to bend her head and babble in that way parents always seemed to at her child. No hissed words of retribution and hatred, just sweetness and light and that stuck in Mab’s throat. Her expression cracked at Tobi, the smile back but a cold glint to her eyes that was harder to push warmth into. Uncrossing her legs, she leaned forward to take the cup from him as he settled opposite her. Mab wrapped her hands around it for a moment, warmth biting into cold fingertips before she peeled one free to offer her hand. ”Mab Carmello. Straight down to business huh, Tobi?” Another light cluck of her tongue before she sipped at her coffee. No real censure to it, she’d never been one for dancing around the topic anyway.
Mab tilted her head, humming lightly as she chased the taste of the coffee from her upper lip with the tip of her tongue. She wasn’t about to show her entire hand at once but the kid needed the carrot to go biting for. It was the way the world worked, her world worked. ”My family know about a lot of things, including yours, Tobi. Did your parents think that locking Kai up was going to keep him away forever? Or were they just waiting long enough to get all of you back? I guess a united front against him is a thousand times better than two parents who couldn’t even stop their kids from being slaughtered in the first place.” An entire coven against one siphoner and they’d failed miserable. Her great-grandmother had spat at the entire idea, derision in the gesture. The Gemini coven had been weak but honestly, at a time like this they still had their uses.
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TOBI PARKER
Warlock
Posts: 139
Age:
37
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Bad decisions make for the best memories
Last seen Oct 28, 2024 16:09:17 GMT
|
Post by TOBI PARKER on Aug 20, 2021 21:14:02 GMT
The world was certainly small. Especially for the supernaturals. Tobi found that out when his parents uprooted them and moved them to Mystic Falls, but soon realised one of the reasons for their move was because the town was filled with magic. But this woman in front of him? He was sure he’d never seen her before. All familiar faces had been left behind in Portland. The parents too were worried someone would spot one of the fresh-faced Parker’s walking around and send them into a frenzy. As though the locals would toss them into a river to see who’d float. He had seen the newspaper clippings collected in the drawers, but Tobi rolled his eyes at the idea of it, telling his parent's people would have forgotten about them by now. It was 20 years ago and Tobi Parker was just a faded name on a headstone by now, with fresh flowers lying on the ground. Soon he stopped protesting the move when he realised the house was full of unpleasant memories. His parents had re-decorated and filled in the pool, but it didn’t change what happened. A single nod in response to the womans thank you. He watched on as the woman made faces at the baby across the room. Suspicion engraved into his features, solace that the pair were in public so no harm would come to him. He returned with her coffee, sliding into the chair opposite her, settling in as he did so. His demeanour remained cagey, as the woman introduced herself. The name rang no bells but he edged forward taking her hand for a light shake before letting go again. Retreating to his previous position, sinking back into the chair. Her words cut like a knife. Like a child picking a scab off a wound that had taken time to heal over. Mab was the one picking at the scab on Tobi’s problems. On purpose too. A sharp reminder that Kai was out of the prison world and that his parents failed to protect them in the first place. They were a united front previously, but one that didn’t expect to be taken down by their own flesh and blood. At least the others didn’t. Tobi had an inkling something bad was going to happen, and even shared his concerns with Samuel who simply brushed him off. Told him to stop smoking. He inhaled sharply as Mab spoke, sucking the air between his gritted teeth as his jaw clenched. “Who’d have thought a siphoner could have made his way out of a prison world?” The coven certainly didn’t, and they were still puzzled as to how Kai escaped. Time would tell. There was no way Kai had gone off somewhere to start a new life and put the past behind him. It was a grudge he’d be clinging onto tightly, as though it was his comfort blanket. No doubt his sibling would be showing his face in Mystic Falls soon, too proud to keep a low profile. Wanting to showcase his success in escaping from the prison world. Rubbing it in the face of their parents. The need to defend his parents was on the tip of his tongue. They weren’t there the evening their children were killed. They came home to find the house scattered with dead bodies. Two hanging, one beaten to death and another floating in the pool. “So, is there anything else I can help you with today or were just passing by and thought you’d pop in to rub a bit of salt in my wounds?” Salt that applied as a mountain after Tobi was brought back from the dead to be told Kai was free. MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Oct 2, 2021 17:42:04 GMT
Tragedy wasn’t contained to the supernatural world, there was misery everywhere without that added darkness that things could bring, but there was an added pall to it when you were caught up in it. It had settled over her family’s home before she’d even been born, layers of it swaddling her through her childhood, choking off any of the light that might have been found. There’d been no one allowed into the house to entertain the child – the principessa. Just that darkness looking back at her in her grandmother’s eyes. Joseph had been that light, the one she thought she might break the curse with – that she could’ve had this with. The grin she had had for the baby only lighting her up so far. Inside the pain and grief still consumed everything, sickeningly dragging her towards her grandmother’s fate.
Mab felt the bitterness burn in the pit of her stomach as Tobi returned and she looked away from that innocent child. The world would crush everybody in the end, the difference always being how far you managed to drag yourself back up afterwards. She curled her hands over the arms of the chair, nails working half moons into the fabric instead of into her own skin. There would be a break from it, the shackles shattered the moment she had someone get into that College and free the vampire. She would have the grimoire, the future Joseph had promised her slipping within her grasp again.
A moment of civility remained, although Tobi immediately began to wear away at it. No dance around the truth. Coffee. A seat. The truth. Mab didn’t dispense with it though, she was saccharin sweet now. Hands wrapped around the cup until she’d offered one to Tobi. Not afraid of her touch at least and she didn’t pump power in it to scare him. Kai Parker was the bane of his family’s life and she imagined if she could give Tobi a guarantee that his brother could be locked in the prison world permanently, he’d snatch her hand off. Mab’s lips curled further, dimples bristling. ”You’re gonna underestimate your brother after all that he did to you?” She clucked her tongue, shaking her head almost sadly at him. ”If you’re determined enough you’ll chew your way out of anywhere.” There was no proof that Kai had but the threat of it had been enough to have the Parkers wringing their hands.
Their parents had done their best to pick up the shattered parts of the Gemini coven. Preparing their next set of twins for the gift of one of them dying to make the other stronger. A process that left the bile rising in her own throat. If she hadn’t been a twin would her great-grandmother have tried the same? The likelihood of it left her gulping from her coffee, scalding yet or not. ”I’m not here just to put that sting back in your pride, Tobi. That’d be cruel.” She’d been taught by the cruellest to be that way if she chose but Mab knew that it would get her nowhere here.
She leaned forward slightly, green eyes narrowing as she gestured to Tobi with her cup. Dangle the carrot, wait for the boy to spring for it. She doubted that it would take much with the threat of his murderer brother hanging over his head. ”What would you do if you could guarantee Kai was in that prison world, that he’d never be able to break free from it?” Anything, she imagined, the same as she was doing to get Joseph free of his own prison. ”What would you be willing to do for me if I could guarantee it, Tobi?” Her voice a rasp at the end. No bullshit. No point in it. The end goal was all that mattered and that was Kai wherever the hell he was going to end up, Enzo St. John dead and Joseph back, far beyond the grip of Chiara Meraviglia.
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TOBI PARKER
Warlock
Posts: 139
Age:
37
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Bad decisions make for the best memories
Last seen Oct 28, 2024 16:09:17 GMT
|
Post by TOBI PARKER on Oct 23, 2021 11:07:12 GMT
Tobi had spent far too long on the other side being angry at his parents. Watching them as their life goes on as he was stuck on an invisible plane. Unable to speak to his parents, or even touch them. He’d tried many times before, but every single time his hand would simply travel through them. But he also watched the tears they shed over the death of their children. The sleepless nights, the nightmares, the crippling grief mixed in with guilt. He watched as Jo tried to move on, as best she could, throwing herself into her studies. Distracting herself from the harsh reality that her twin killed her siblings. In the end his parents turned their back on their ancestors to get their children back. That had to stand for something, but still he was struggling to forgive his parents for what happened. He knew he just needed some time to readjust to everything. It had been over 12 months now and slowly bridges were being built in the Parker family. A family that was once shattered was slowly making its way back together. Even Samuel had accepted everything was partly his fault and he’d been trying so hard to make amends with the others. Underestimate? “I’ve never underestimated Kai” He could see the trouble brewing behind his sibling’s eyes long before they were killed. He could tell his brother was about to snap, he just didn’t imagine it happening in such a brutal way. His father however didn’t see it. Dismissing Kai as the one without magic, as if magic was all you needed in the world. For Kai it was a carefully executed plan fuelled by anger and rejection. “I guess being locked away for 20 years would finally get to someone” His parents were baffled by Kai’s escape. It made no sense how a siphoner could escape a world created by magic. He cocked a brow as Mab explained she wasn’t here to sting his pride. He watched her intently, wanting to know exactly why she was sitting in front of him talking about his brother. Reminding him that Kai got the upper hand once before, and he could do it again. His heart skipped a beat at the mere thought of it. The thought of being dead again. Lingering on the other side for the rest of time, but realistically there would be no way of getting back again. The parents used everything they had to get their children back, and if they were taken again that would be the end. The end of the Parker family and the coven, though the coven was in tatters anyway. All the members had fled once they realized they were the targets. Various members dropping left, right and center. It had to be Kai. Tobi didn’t look impressed by Mab’s offer. It was almost laughable. He shook his head gently, his messy curls bouncing off one another, “What makes you think that is possible? If my coven wasn’t able to make a prison world that could keep him secure then I’m sure as hell you can’t” He shuffled in his seat, leaning forward, “Tell me Mab… how do you plan on keeping Malachai Parker locked away forever?” If she was going to make fruitless offers then he wanted to know how she was planning on executing this great idea of hers. MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Nov 7, 2021 20:27:31 GMT
You were blind to family. It didn’t matter if they were the villains in your story, if you could see the crazy and danger in every look they gave you, every move they made, it still tore you apart when eventually they snapped. As a child she’d merely accepted that her mother was gone. She had been too young to consider what it must have been like in those last desperate moments as her mom had tried to rush towards freedom with her. Then Mab had tried it herself. Her heart racing fast enough in her throat to choke her as she’d tried to calmly pack up all that she needed from that house, footsteps ringing supposedly for the last time on those wooden floors scarred from her great-grandmother’s pacing year after year.
She wanted to raise her hand, to press it against her chest where the wound that had torn through her that night still bled. Scars littered its surface, her heart, but it wasn’t healed, wouldn’t be until Enzo St. John was dead and she had Joseph back. Mab knew her great-grandmother still wouldn’t let her go but at least with Joseph those last bitter, hopefully short, years of the woman’s life. If Joseph came back as he was.
Green eyes studied Tobi’s face, Mab’s lips curling faintly as he tried to split hairs with what she’d said. She tapped her fingers lightly against the fresh cup he’d brought her before one brow winged. His family had been decimated, half of the Parker children slaughtered. ”Oh Tobi,” she crooned. ”You all must have done for him to do to you what he did. Did any of you see it coming? Death standing over you with one cold hand…” Mab peeled fingers from the cup, tapping it lightly against her shoulder. Maybe they were watching for it now but she was willing to lay money on the fact that they would be doubtful of it. Her lips curled, pressed against the lip of the cup as she took a sip. ”Some might manage alone … you did on the other side after all, but if you’re already twisted and gnarled, maybe it just leaves you thirstier.” It had certainly left her great-grandmother that way. Hatred and frustration rising and rising until she felt like she could choke on what rolled off of the old woman.
None of them had evidence that Kai was the one out and causing trouble now but the thought of it would get her in the door. Mab narrowed her eyes, looking for those twitches of nerves in that intense expression. Oh, there, a flutter that she almost felt like a bird’s wing against her own skin. He believed, he saw his brother’s hand in the deaths cutting through the Gemini coven again. You saw enough and you started to believe no matter what.
Mab huffed out her amusement, resting her elbow on her knee as Tobi tried to shake it all off. Those curls that would drive some women crazy bouncing around that painfully young face. ”My family comes with its own power Tobi. Layers of it over what your family have already done, magic Kai’s never shared, it’ll stop him, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.” The Gemini coven might have lost some respect after the slaughter but they had held more of it than her own family. Chiara’s insanity had chipped away at it until they were only a handful of loyal followers left. ”My family have been practitioners for longer than any can remember. We have grimoires, years of practice of keeping people sealed away for their crimes. You help me and you get whatever you need from them. It’s tit for tat. You help me to spring somebody here…” She jabbed her finger towards the ground, meaning Mystic Falls. ”…and I slap so many spells on that world your brother will never be able to fight through them all.” Bars upon bars, leaving Kai Parker without a single window to moon through, dreaming that one day he would be free.
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TOBI PARKER
Warlock
Posts: 139
Age:
37
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Bad decisions make for the best memories
Last seen Oct 28, 2024 16:09:17 GMT
|
Post by TOBI PARKER on Dec 1, 2021 11:31:09 GMT
Most people locked away would spend every waking second trying to find a way, so it shouldn’t have been any surprise that Kai did the same. Lonely and isolated from the world. It was almost saddening, but Tobi’s emotions just couldn’t reach that point. There’d never even been an apology after it happened, instead, his sibling was pissed he didn’t eliminate the whole family. There was no trace of regret in the psychopath. All the revenge lay in the hands of his parents now. They promised they would find Kai and lock him away, but Tobi would rather drive a knife through his stomach or drown him in a pool. Standing over his brother, holding his head under the water as his legs kicked back fighting for air as he hopeless swallowed the water. Burning on its way down, your body screaming out for oxygen. That is what Tobi wanted, but it was nothing more than a dream. Two wrongs don’t make a right, according to Jo. The betrayal must have cut deeper for her. Her own twin turning against her. It wasn’t everyday people killed their family, no matter how poor they’re treated. Most just pack their bags and leave. Start a new life in a city 100 miles from their hometown, maybe even pick up a new identity on the way. It was something that ticked away in the back of his mind. Cut himself from the coven and run free. He didn’t care about the spells and the ritual. Hell, he didn’t even care about the magic. “I saw it coming, but the others didn’t. I tried to warn them but it all seemed ludicrous at the time. He wasn’t always an unhinged piece of shit” As children Kai was relatively sweet, to the point the brothers even got along. As with all big families, there was some abrasion here and there, but overall the Parker’s were a solid family. Until Kai and Jo’s 16th birthday. “I had no choice but to manage on the other side. Just had to wait two long decades before my parents found a way to bring us back” Upon reflection, it didn’t even feel like two decades, but he remembers the loneliness. Being stuck somewhere no one can see you whilst you watch the world turn around you. “I guess it was naive of us to think he would stay put in the prison world” But now what? Apparently, Mab had a solution to his problem. A solution he didn’t necessarily believe but gave her the time of day to speak. It was either this or sink off behind the counter to tolerate locals. He eyed her carefully as she spoke, with an undertone of patronizing. She looked around the same age as him, if he didn’t die. Now, this was an offer he probably should have been running back to his family with, at least his parents, but they’d be quick to shut him down. Like this did last time. He sighed, easing back into the chair. Was he the naive one? Listening to this woman he’d just met in a coffee shop reel off stories about how she could keep Kai locked away, but the famous question sprung to his mind. What did he have to lose? His parents weren’t exactly doing anything, despite pretending they were. “Who do you need to find and why?” If he wasn’t going to help Mab he wanted to know everything about this other person MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Dec 31, 2021 18:30:09 GMT
Her great-grandmother’s rantings had slowly revealed something of what had happened on the night her mom had tried to steal away from her after Joseph’s death. The young woman’s desperation, the cackles that bit sharp as frostbite when her great-grandmother recalled how she’d fallen. Somehow more brutal than what had happened with Joseph. He hadn’t seen death coming, at least she hoped he hadn’t. Mab’s own fear had filled the hallway of the house as she’d been forced back inside, Joseph’s body going cold out in the car where he’d died alone, still full of the hope that somehow the two of them would get away. She’d almost begged her great-grandmother to just get it over and done with and kill her too, at least then there’d be a chance the two of them could be together in some afterlife but she was the principessa and her role in all of this wasn’t done yet.
The principessa had to earn her reward, the same way she was offering Tobi a way to get his. Free the vampire, deliver him back to New York for his well overdue death. She could watch if she liked, although Mab had no stomach for it, not much more for the coffee she held on to now, despite the gloss she was painting over it.
Tobi had undoubtedly heard plenty of what had happened to his family after his parents and sister – either/or, she didn’t really know the details and didn’t care to – had brought him back. His death, the other kids, all at the hands of a brother who’d been twisted up by his own family, the way she had. Perhaps her and Kai had more in common than all of the rest of them. Mab’s canines flashed in that bitter, empathetic grin. ”Unreal right? Your own flesh and blood doing that to you. Cutting you down, pushing you under.” Her lips pressed together at the mention of the other side. Joseph hadn’t been as they were, he was human. That meant he would’ve gone elsewhere and she could only hope it had been up, not down. ”You can’t feel sorry for him, he might not always have been crazy or evil, Tobi, but in the end look what he did to you all?” That sort of madness didn’t ease with time. Her great-grandmother was proof of that.
By now the old woman would’ve had Tobi dragged across the table with her power, pinned on the scarred boards of the floor until he agreed to help. Threats and violence, not so different to Kai’s madness, only she’d give you the chance to save yourself. Even if that chance was speck of dust small and almost impossible to snatch.
Shaking her hair back from her face, Mab sighed. Cooling his heels on the other side didn’t seem to have left Tobi reassured about his brother, he was a realist in part at least. The corner of her mouth lifted as she drew the cup up again and took a long sip. ”I imagine all your parents did was piss him off more. They tossed him aside once, they did it again to get rid of the thing that cost them the children they cared about.” It would cut deep in a way she felt her own wounds doing. Mab drew he cup back against her stomach slowly as though it would warm that cold part of herself.
The full story of her family’s downfall wasn’t supposed to be on the cards but she knew she had to reveal enough to convince Tobi to jump on board. He sighed at what she gave him at least, not entirely a naïve fool, tossing the question back at her. She was tempted to pat him on the cheek for the few smarts he revealed. ”A vampire,” she said simply, a hoarse edge to her voice. ”Your family had your brother to cut the heart out of it, mine had Lorenzo St. John. Enzo. My great-grandmother found him, made him a part of the family and when she trusted her son’s life to him Enzo failed her. Her son died and the vampire got to run away, untouched. Now my family would like to find him and you, Tobi, are key to that. You know what it’s like, don’t you? To have someone who did such things to you walking around out there. For the chance to keep Kai locked away for good would you help me find Enzo?” Oh, she knew exactly where he was of course but the Augustines were clever. They’d had their own people put up all sorts of magical fences around their facility to stop her getting in, but not them.
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TOBI PARKER
Warlock
Posts: 139
Age:
37
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Bad decisions make for the best memories
Last seen Oct 28, 2024 16:09:17 GMT
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Post by TOBI PARKER on Jan 8, 2022 22:12:43 GMT
Obviously, he didn’t feel sorry for Kai, but it was hard to just forget about the person he grew up with. His brother. He pressed his lips into a thin line as Mab spoke. Was she mocking him? It was difficult to tell beyond whatever front she was putting on for him. “Unreal” It was a different kind of betrayal when your sibling turned on you. Holding his head underwater until his lungs stopped fighting the urge to inhale, but there was no oxygen available. Only water. It was truly awful. Even thinking about it made his airways burn and his lungs constricted. Tobi had to remain himself; he was nowhere near open water. When he arrived at the family home in Mystic Falls the first thing he did was head to the back garden. He didn’t give a shit about who had the biggest bedroom or who he was sharing a bathroom with. All he needed to know was if there was a pool around the back. There was a sigh of relief when he saw nothing but grass and concrete. His dad rested a hand on his shoulder, with a sympathetic smile explaining they would never have a pool again. Time in the prison world had done nothing for Kai. Clearly, he was still a psychopath. Something Tobi worried could be passed through genes to him, or even his children. There had been no clear signs in Kai when they were growing up. People say psychopaths show traits from a young age. Killing animals and all that shit, but nothing from his sibling. Mab was preaching to the choir. Tobi knew his parents didn’t nothing but piss Kai off even more, but his voice went unheard in the family sometimes. Less so now. His dad would be furious with him for speaking to a stranger about their family drama. The same man who cloaked the family home to keep them hidden from the naked eye. At first, Tobi thought it was weird, but looking back it was his dad being protective. Keeping his family safe from the outside world, yet the danger lurked within. A vampire? The exact species they were told to watch out for and Mab’s story was just an example of how vicious they could be. He was the key to finding this vampire. Tobi almost laughed, she didn’t need to oversell the proposal to him. He wasn’t the key to shit, he knew that. Either way, it seemed she needed him more than he needed her. Yes, Kai was out there somewhere in the world. Wreaking havoc, but his parents were dealing with that, to use the term loosely. Tobi gave her a casual shrug, “Yeah sure” He glanced up at the clock. His break was over five minutes ago. Tobi looked back at Mab, “Just to be clear though I don’t trust you” He got to his feet, “I finish work at five. Meet me out front” He turned and shuffled back to the counter, where the delightful customers were awaiting. MAB CARMELLO |
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hope to see you in the discord! 
