KACE CLARKE
Werewolf
untriggered
Posts: 98
Age:
30
Occupation:
Owner of the Diner
Status:
Single
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 6, 2024 20:04:23 GMT
|
Post by KACE CLARKE on Feb 28, 2024 22:07:53 GMT
Driving to work in the dark had probably been a dumb fucking idea. Creeping through the town with the pearly fingers of dawn only just curling over the horizon, doors of the car locked like that’d keep one of those things out. Scurrying from the curb to the door of the Diner, sweat pooling at the base of his spine as he scurried inside and locked that door behind him too. By the time his bread supplier was hammering on it his nerves had settled enough that he wasn’t peeing his pants at that first thunderclap of noise.
Kace glanced up again as he poured himself a mug of coffee – the dregs of the pot, dark and hopefully caffeinated enough that he’d be able to work right through to closing. Wire yourself tight enough and you didn’t feel the sparks when they started licking through you, leaving muscles and your brain twitching in their wake.
The place had started to fill up moments after he’d flipped the sign at 7.30. Most folks around here hadn’t realised enough of what was going on to see the wisdom in trying to barricade themselves at home. The rest were planting their heads in the sand, as though not acknowledging the ugly motherfucker in spurs and a duster would mean you weren’t gonna get the bullet between your eyes that’d transport you right out of here.
His lips curved into a smile a pair of their regulars slipped the check and a couple of bills down beside the cash register. The old lady was already tugging her husband towards the doors, as though by now she didn’t know that he was gonna hold back just long enough to add another ten to the bills already there – to share with the boys in the kitchen. Maybe it’d buy Dom and Mikey a beer at the end of the shift. He was gonna abstain for tonight, let some of this twitchiness go with an early night that wasn’t gonna be plagued by dreams that he was back in the train station, clawing at the walls to find some way back to the brother who had no fucking clue he’d clung to his shirt with a sticky hand as a toddler, desperate to go everywhere he had.
He poured a hefty shot of sugar into the cup and then nodded to the door as he slipped out from behind the counter. ”I’m gonna take ten. I’ll be right out in front.” In case.
Late winter sun pooled golden on the sidewalk. In a couple of hours it’d be down, but for now Kace planned to bask in it. The door was just slipping shut behind him when he saw someone approaching the tables that clustered along the sidewalk. He paused with the door bumping against his back, snagging a menu to hold up in their direction. ”You lookin’ for a table inside or out?” he asked, recognition not popping til he realised that same wash of sunlight was gilding the woman’s hair.
Damn. It looked like those things were losing their captives just as fast as they could scoop ‘em up. ”If you want a smoke, I’d say out here,” he drawled, his grin already growing as he squinted against the sun. Fuck those things, he hoped everybody they had locked up in there scurried out in the end, clawing their way out through the dark mouth of the tunnel he’d been too chickenshit to use, or pulled back here by the fishing line of the memories those people who loved them had of those shadowed figures that had almost entirely disappeared from their minds and hearts. ”When’d you get back?”
|
|
WINTER BEATON
Psychic
Posts: 72
Age:
22
Occupation:
Curator's Assistant
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
I’m part heaven and equal parts hell
Last seen Sept 20, 2024 17:10:30 GMT
|
Post by WINTER BEATON on Mar 4, 2024 14:42:42 GMT
It was hard to keep her mind from spinning out. Locked onto the idea that she had been abandoned in that fucking train station for months with only one person who could save her, but failed her. Winter had stopped giving Lex such a hard time about it though, forgiving him for not remembering her. It was obvious he had become too preoccupied with his new girlfriend to even think about Winter. It had been just the two of them until recently. Now this Hazel girl was a part of the mix and Winter wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Part of her was happy Lex had managed to bag himself a girlfriend (although she wasn’t sure how he’d done that), but then another part of her was jealous his time was now split between her and Hazel, with a large portion of it being allocated to Hazel. One thing was certain though. Winter needed to get her damn clothes back from Hazel. This girl was roaming around town with Winter’s favourite sweater on. She asked Lex to speak with her, but considering the clothes had yet to be returned she assumed he hadn’t. It was unnerving that the world just continued on without her. Even when she returned not a single person knew she’d been missing for months. When she walked back into the museum everything was pretty much the same, bar being a security guard down. Penny muttered something about her vampire boyfriend killing him. It seemed like a sore subject, so Winter didn’t probe too much. It wasn’t like her boss was going to open up to her anyway. Winter had managed to pull pieces of information from Penny about her history while they were trapped, but it was a painful process. But she knew there was no point wallowing in self pity for too long. If she allowed herself to do that more often than she would have drowned years ago. Winter had constantly reminded herself her life could be worse. It was pretty shitty growing up, but she clung onto the good bits. She had a roof over her head and was able to attend school everyday. Some of the kids in the trailer park didn’t bother dragging themselves out of bed to go school. Their parents were usually too spaced out to give a shit. Winter could have been one of them kids, it wasn’t like her dad knew what day it was. Winter left work and headed for the diner. The facilities in their hotel room were somewhat lacking which meant it was usually some kind of takeaway food for dinner. Sometimes she’d bring something back for Lex if she knew he’d be at home, otherwise he’d be inhaling candy. He was on track to developing diabetes by the time he hit thirty. Her order was already in mind by the time she reached the diner. She spotted a man stepping out of the building, but didn’t pay much attention until he handed her a menu, asking her where she’d like to sit. Winter broke into a warm smile as she recognised the man. Just like her Kace was one of the lucky ones to escape. It was depressing to think of all the people who were still stuck in there. “Hell no. It’s not for me.” Out of politeness she took the menu, her eyes scanning it for a second. Nothing new had been added. “A few months ago. My asshole half-brother managed to save me. Apparently he was immune to the whole memory erasing shit. You?” It was going to take a lot longer until Winter could relax, not worried those faceless fuckers were coming for her again. “You work here?” She lifted her head, nodding towards the diner behind them. KACE CLARKE |
|
KACE CLARKE
Werewolf
untriggered
Posts: 98
Age:
30
Occupation:
Owner of the Diner
Status:
Single
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 6, 2024 20:04:23 GMT
|
Post by KACE CLARKE on Mar 15, 2024 20:55:34 GMT
As a teenager therapy had always seemed like some sort of bullshit Hollywood woo-woo. Kamilla had probably thrown thousands of dollars at charlatans who’d promised nirvana. Women with hair down to their ankles, draped in silk scarves, turning up at the house with baskets full of crystals. Yoga gurus who swore they’d help clean her chakras. The professional kind had hovered around the edges, not as appealing as all that woo-woo shit, but they’d still been loss in that mess of hippy shit. Kace had found his own form of therapy – the sort that had worked – down on the beach. Sunsets, the crunch of sand and salt on his skin, the exhilaration of hitting the perfect wave and flying. Who needed their head shrunk when they had that?
He’d been a fucking idiot. It hadn’t been until Kit had come back, broken and hurting, that he’d realised sometimes you needed someone else to tell you how to patch yourself up. Even if you’d come through something without a mark on you, there was shit buried beneath. Mental images carved deep enough into your brain that it took a whole nuclear arsenal of mind altering shit to burn it out, senses that were all out of whack, survivor’s guilt that was worse than all of it. Why you instead of the people who should’ve lived? That last was the worst and Kace had felt it cut deep when he’d gotten out of the train station.
Mikey might not’ve managed to find Kit, but he’d been out here trying for what’d felt like years before Kit had pulled him out of there all on his own. If he’d had the time to realise what was going on before he’d been drawn fully into Kit’s room he’d have made the same offer to Winter that Mikey had made to him. He hadn’t seen her around the station for a bit and had assumed she was out, but he would’ve made sure. Give me a name, let me find someone to get you out of there. It had been fucked that him remembering her out here probably wouldn’t have worked to get her out, Mikey remembering hadn’t done it for him. He’d still been stuck out here with no job cause he hadn’t been here to take him on in the first place.
Seeing Winter, Kace grinned at her. Looked like she hadn’t needed him to go rescuing her after all. Kace dipped his hand into his pocket for his pack of smokes. There was a spare pack of cigarettes in his office, a fucking carton of them at Frank’s place. Maybe he wouldn’t have them right there if shit went bad again, but having them close was reassuring somehow. ”Havin’ to go cold turkey didn’t cure me,” he murmured wryly. ”You mind if I light up now?” He wasn’t about to ruin her appetite by smoking if she wasn’t alright with it. They weren’t trapped anymore, the rules were different out here in the civilised world.
Instead of dragging out a chair, Kace leaned back against the wall of the building. The cigarette was held in one hand, his coffee in the other. He glanced down at the cup before he looked up at Winter and nodded. ”Before me I guess. I guessed someone had gotten you out of there.” He wouldn’t have put money on it being someone immune to all of that. Kace frowned at the thought before he shoved it away. There was enough weird shit going on in this town, he didn’t wanna get any deeper into it. ”My non-asshole brother,” he told her. ”Not immune, but someone jogged his memory in the end. I thought I was gonna be stuck in there forever.” Kit had braved those memories though, stepping into that world of pain again. Seeing him broken had fucking torn at him, but it’d brought him back.
That one door opening had gotten him back here. Mikey had his job back, he was getting up at dawn most days to open this place up. Kit’s relationship had crumbled again and he was watching his brother trying to drag himself out of that. In comparison running the Diner was a piece of cake. Kace tipped his head at the door, his grin back. ”I own the place. Bought it last year. I was gonna be staying in town a while, I figured it was this or sit around the house bored out of my mind. You comin’ in for dinner or was this an order and run?” Maybe it’d just been luck that he’d been out here when Winter had shown up. The universe might’ve been trying to prove it wasn’t so shitty after all.
|
|
WINTER BEATON
Psychic
Posts: 72
Age:
22
Occupation:
Curator's Assistant
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
I’m part heaven and equal parts hell
Last seen Sept 20, 2024 17:10:30 GMT
|
Post by WINTER BEATON on Mar 27, 2024 19:33:52 GMT
Winter thought she was some tough girl who could handle anything life threw at her. She’d been through the wringer throughout her childhood, but it never stopped her. When her dad died she didn’t sit in the living room, sobbing over his dead body. She called an ambulance, loaded the car and left before they arrived. Partly because she didn’t have any money to pay for the cost of an ambulance coming to the house and taking her dad to the hospital but also because there was no wallowing in a death that was well overdue. Her dad should have died years ago and she was surprised it took him so long to finally bid farewell. That didn’t mean she didn’t mourn her dad’s death. Even though he’d been an awful parent she was still sad to lose her only parent. However, the being taken by the riders had really fucked with her head. At first she kept her spirits high, quietly hoping Lex would come for her. Soon she started to lose faith though. The positivity in her was slowly fading away leaving behind someone who was terrified to accept she was trapped there. Penny sank down to that realisation about herself a lot quicker than Winter. She was too busy being the glass half full kind of girl. It’s the only way she’d survived her childhood. Yeah, things were pretty shitty at home but at least they had a roof over their head, albeit that roof sometimes leaked during heavy rain and she was running around the trailer trying to find buckets. Stepping back into the real world was challenging, but she knew she was actually alone when it came to that. Soon Penny followed and now it was clear Kit also made his way out. When she clocked Kace happiness soared inside of her because it meant those people weren’t necessarily trapped inside there forever. There was a way to be saved. Slowly she was becoming the glass half full kind of girl again. It was going to take time, but she’d make it there in the end. “Nah. Go for it.” A bit of second hand smoke wasn’t going to kill her, “My dad would smoke worse shit around me when I was kid.” She laughed quietly. It didn’t even bother going into another room to light up when she was a baby. Winter did have a non-asshole brother out there, but their relationship wasn’t strong enough to save her. She hadn’t even seen him for over three years, so why would he randomly remember his half sister. Lex however saw her every damn day. “Fuckin’ wild how these people can erase you completely.” Perhaps she should have just stayed in Seattle. “I was starting to lose faith.” She said with a nervous laugh. The thought of having to spend eternity in there sent a shiver down her back. Winter couldn’t stand the sight of Elias, but she was still grateful he’d pulled her out of that place. He’d be back some day soon though for her to repay the favour. He wasn’t the type of man to do something for nothing. She’d picked that up within an hour of meeting him. Winter returned the smile as he beamed that he owed the place. “That’s pretty fuckin’ dope.” And to have enough to actually buy the place, wow. Winter could never picture herself in that kind of position. The only thing her dad left her was a car, which doubled up as her home for a while. “Order and go. I wanna eat my dinner while lying in bed watching some shit documentary.” She didn’t want to say it, but she also didn’t feel like sitting in the diner alone and eating. She stepped a little closer to Kace, lowering her voice a little as if the ghost riders were right behind them. “Do you get scared they might come back? Everytime the sky darkens a little I start feeling sick.” It was hard for her to admit that aloud, but if anyone could relate it was Kace. KACE CLARKE |
|
KACE CLARKE
Werewolf
untriggered
Posts: 98
Age:
30
Occupation:
Owner of the Diner
Status:
Single
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 6, 2024 20:04:23 GMT
|
Post by KACE CLARKE on Mar 31, 2024 19:01:29 GMT
Shit was far easier when your biggest worry was whether you were gonna catch some good waves or you were gonna get a C in chemistry instead of your usual B. For years Kace had avoided anything that looked like responsibility. Sure, when he was in Texas, he paid attention to their dad’s rules, had done his chores around the house and kept decent grades, but he’d always been yearning for a return to California and the absolutely lack of rules in Kamilla’s house. Staying out on the beach until the sun was coming up, treading sand back into the house, your veins still buzzing with booze and the beat of the music that’d been pumping out around the bonfire. If Bodhi hadn’t died, maybe he’d still have been there.
Looking back, Kace wasn’t sure what had been the first domino in the line that would eventually tumble. Had it been taking over the bar? Would Kit have been primed to blow in the same way if he’d been sleeping in his old bedroom at Kamilla’s, or even with their dad back home? Would he have even been home to flip the TV on if partying all night had still been his vocation? Questioning it while he’d watched Kit had fallen apart over what he’d done from the other side of an invisible wall had only left him angry. There’d been nothing to take the edge off there other than the cigarettes and the reaper had warned him that nothing would be enough to stop that slide towards insanity in the end.
Kace glanced down as he got one of the cigarettes out now. Maybe it would’ve helped if he had a little something stronger, but it would’ve made him a fucking asshole to preach to Kit about cleaning up his life when he was looking to alter his own mental state. ”I lived in LA half the time growing up, so I get that,” Kace muttered. Kamilla wasn’t exactly into that shit, but things were always handed around, party favours guaranteed to get you in the mood. Things were on a different scale here, but Kace imagined if he needed to find something to take more of the edge of he could find someone to buy from.
Out of the train station he’d gone right back to his usual habit. A few beers after work, more if Kace or Frank was home, chain smoking out in the yard, trying not to leave the place reeking of smoke when Theo, Freyja and the kids showed up on Sundays. Then it was like everything just about perfect, the cracks in the people around that table hidden for a few hours, papered over by having the kids around. None of this shit had gotten to them yet and he was fucking thankful for that.
”There’s some scary shit out there,” Kace agreed, lifting his coffee to take a gulp that’d wash the taste of fear from his mouth. ”It happened here. That guy appeared one night, got me and another guy.” If it hadn’t been for him involving Mikey he might’ve ended up in there on his own, rapidly losing his shit instead of trying to stick it out. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, even though he was trying to swallow away the lump in his throat. ”Me too,” he puffed. His teeth raked over his lips, his brows drawing together. He wasn’t about to spill out every painful detail of what had happened when he’d died, Kit didn’t deserve to be branded a murderer for his mistake. ”I thought there was a reason I wasn’t being remembered, thought maybe it’d be better if I wasn’t. I’m glad I was wrong.” Kit might’ve been without the pain of his guilt for a while, but that didn’t measure up to having your brother right there.
Pride in what he had managed since Cassie had brought him back shone in that grin. Kace glanced over his shoulder, watching his people move around behind the glass. ”It is pretty fuckin’ awesome,” he agreed. ”Sounds like a decent way to spend an evenin’. You want me to put the order in for you? Shouldn’t take long to put together.” Mikey was in the kitchen, so he knew everything was running smooth back there. He probably could’ve headed home, or over to the club to check on Kit, but he felt like he had to put in his time here, wearing away his sensitivity over what’d happened, like immersion therapy or some shit.
Stiffening faintly, Kace took a drag off of his cigarette. He wasn’t gonna let those sons of bitches taint his place. His brows drew together as Winter shifted closer, like she could still feel that chill too. Swallowing hard, Kace nodded at her. ”I opened up in the dark this morning, twitching at every damn movement. I keep expecting them to come back and grab their little runaway. By now they’ve gotta know we’re gone and it had to piss ‘em off. You think they’re still out there grabbing people?” Like they’d know if they had. It wasn’t like the names were marked down on some memorial. Their whole game was stripping people out of existence. If it hadn’t been for that parole office reaching out for Kit, who knew if he’d ever have made it back here.
|
|
WINTER BEATON
Psychic
Posts: 72
Age:
22
Occupation:
Curator's Assistant
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
I’m part heaven and equal parts hell
Last seen Sept 20, 2024 17:10:30 GMT
|
Post by WINTER BEATON on Apr 19, 2024 10:51:32 GMT
At least growing up in California the sunshine was shining most of the time. It could take the edge off an otherwise depressing existence. They weren’t blessed with the same weather up in Seattle. When winter time rolled in it was mainly rain. Some evenings Winter would be running around the trailer with a bucket for the water seeping through the roof while her dad was smoking with his friends. Most of the time they were just people looking for a sheltered place to get fucked up for days on end. They’d be scowling at Winter most mornings when she would rip the curtains open in the living room. It was a surprise some of them didn’t disintegrate into dust after being locked indoors for so long. Her eyes darted away towards the building behind them for a moment as Kace told her it happened right where they were standing. His place of work too. There was shiver down her back sometimes when she arrived at the museum, standing on the steps for a moment remembering what happened before heading inside. “Do you think they collect two at a time?” Buy one get one free situation. She couldn’t get her head around how it was happening though. Why did they take her and Penny? Why not someone else? Why hadn’t they taken everywhere? It was unnerving to think these things had a list of people to kidnap and for some unknown reason Winter was on that list. “Yup, I feel that.” It was difficult to accept that Lex hadn’t remembered her at all, despite her clothes literally being scattered across the hotel room. Maybe she wasn’t worth remembering. Just that thought alone was enough to send a person into a pit of depression. Winter refused to sink into the darkness though. She had to be level headed about the situation. Her and Lex had only been friends for a short amount of time, so it was different to a brother remembering his sibling. Being ambitious in life wasn’t something she was taught growing up. School would constantly be going on about planning for your future and shit, but Winter couldn't do that. How the fuck was she suppose to know what she wanted to do with her life? Most of the teachers looked at her like she was a lost cause anyway. Her grades were never going to get her into college. Once high school was over she would probably end up in some dead end job. “Oo, yeah please!” She quickly skimmed the menu again, “Can I have a double cheeseburger with friends annnnnnd...” The burger alone was probably enough but she lived with a human trash can who’d inhale her leftovers. “Make two double cheeseburgers. Also a side of onion rings, please.” She lowered the menu, looking back up at Kace. “The second burger is for my roommate by the way.”Being taken by the horse riding men did leave a mark on Winter. She could have opened up to Penny, but she had her own shit to deal with. Her vampire male friend had turned into a massive asshole since she’d been gone. Winter got a glimpse of that when she tried to speak to him about Penny being trapped. It was comforting to hear it wasn’t just her who was watching her back, especially in the dark. “My half-brother thinks so, but I’m not sure. Hopefully they’d not noticed we’re missing.” Although it would be pretty hard considering the riders were blind, but she knew that meant nothing. They could probably sense they were a few people down. KACE CLARKE - wanna wrap with yours? |
|
KACE CLARKE
Werewolf
untriggered
Posts: 98
Age:
30
Occupation:
Owner of the Diner
Status:
Single
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 6, 2024 20:04:23 GMT
|
Post by KACE CLARKE on Apr 28, 2024 17:15:17 GMT
After Mikey had left he’d had plenty of time to tie himself up in knots about what the riders were doing, why they’d picked who they had. Some people had been awake, he’d approached a few, including the skinny guy who looked like he’d lost a fight with a chainsaw, but none of them had known more than he had. They were basically wiped out of existence the minute one of those sons of bitches shot them, the only way to get back out was to be remembered. AKA they were absolutely fucking powerless against those things. Eventually they’d move on to the next step of their plan and maybe then there’d be nothing left of them for anybody to remember on the outside. Thank fuck Kit had remembered him before then, pulling him back into reality. They might still have been under a blanket of grief here for what had happened, but he’d take that over the train station any day of the week.
Kace glanced down into his coffee cup as he dropped it away from his mouth and shook his head at Winter’s question. A second later he was shrugging, meeting her eye. ”I think we were just the lucky ones – I mean, havin’ someone there to stay sane with. I don’t think anyone else there was paired up. It was probably just a shitty coincidence that they came for us when we were with someone else.” That thing had definitely seemed focused on him alone when he’d appeared in the diner, Mikey hadn’t even been able to see him until he’d started fighting against the invisible enemy. In all honesty, Mikey had seemed like the lucky one. His friend had remembered him, turning up in the station to take him home. Kit’s road back to remembering that he had a brother had been harder, grief breaking through that barrier in the end. Some part of him still felt bad that his brother had needed to remember that he’d killed him to get him back. One corner of Kace’s mouth lifted in a sympathetic smile at Winter. Seemed like the two of them had plenty in common, unfortunately it was with all the shitty things in their lives.
The Diner still would’ve been standing even if he hadn’t come back, but Kace had been glad to get back here and take his place up again. He had his team back around him, Mikey back in his spot behind the counter, Dom and his tattoos were out front. It felt right, even if the sight of a dark cloud in the sky left him in a cold sweat. Taking back his life after those things had tried to erase him from it had felt like the biggest fuck you he could manage. Kace tugged his order pad from his pocket as he offered to put in Winter’s order for her. ”Two double cheeseburgers, fries and onion rings, got it. I guess that’s who you were waitin’ on,” he muttered. Like Kit they’d taken their time coming around to remembering Winter. Even now they had there were probably things still hovering in the air, waiting for the fallout to be dealt with. Dipping back through the door, Kace passed the slip off to one of his waitresses, asking them to put a hurry on it.
Smoking was a shitty defence against the fear that still gripped him from time to time, but Kace worked his way through packets of them like the smoke would be some sort of a shield all the same. His fingers tightened around the cigarette now, threatening to crush it out as Winter brought it all back up. ”Well, shit, I guess we’re not out of trouble yet then,” Kace said hoarsely. It’d been wishful thinking to believe they might stay free anyway. These things weren’t done with the town and he didn’t want to know how it would all turn out. ”I guess it depends how many other people have managed to escape.” Digging back into his apron for the order pad, Kace scribbled down his number on it, tearing off the page to hand it to Winter. ”Keep in touch. Lemme know you’re still here for time to time, huh?”
A minute later Michelle was back at the door with the bag of food. ”Thanks,” Kace murmured to her as she ducked back inside. He offered the bag up to Winter. ”It’s on me, for helpin’ keep me sane in there. I’ll see you around Winter.” Slanting a grin at her, he headed back inside. His step was lighter, the tension in his shoulders easing from where it had been, knowing someone else was out there, managing to move on helped. Life wasn’t gonna get entirely derailed because those things had tried to do what death hadn’t managed to – put an end to him.
|
|
hope to see you in the discord! 
