Coffin Drop [mission, closed]

While others might have been transitional, Natalie tended to stay the same. Stagnation would be the wrong word for it. The healer was simply content living her life her own way, not changing much but knowing exactly who she was in return. There was progress now and then. Becoming better as a mage and contractor was one aspect of that, but she also had her little pet projects with the people she had met so far. It was all nice, going fine. She was not looking for big change.

Instead, she looked for big money. In absentia of that, she settled for good money. Vampires were not her speciality, but they couldn’t be that much of an issue. Any creature with such clearly defined weaknesses would not be too hard to destroy. Who knew? Maybe her very own healing could aid in that as well. Some people did say that healing the undead wounded them. It was something that she had wanted to put to the test for a while now.

Natalie adjusted her scarf, looking about. Naturally, there would be a partner. With her, there always was one. While not completely helpless on her own, she appreciated having someone at her side to make up for her defensive and offensive shortcomings. As per usual thus, she had come early, clad in a white, somewhat fuzzy coat to keep herself warm. The weather was not to her liking, but she soldiered through without a cap as well. That would only get lost anyway. Oftentimes, the mage took the pragmatic route with her clothes, so this was for the best.
Looking about, she did notice someone else in the vicinity, who seemed to look for someone as well. Good chance that this was her supposed partner, so she’d give the girl a smile from afar, seeing how she would react to that.
Cheshire Copeland

Ah. Cheshire. What a fitting name for someone with kitten ears. Nat wasn’t judging, of course. Not openly, at least. But in her mind, she was very much snickering at that choice of name. In the end, she only pretended to be a likable person. For the most part, she really was not. So, she shook the hand offered in a gentle, very subdued manner, not letting her smile falter for even a second, despite her interior amusement at that name. She was not always a professional healer, but she did take a whole lot of care in regard to keeping appearances.
“I am Natalie, often also called Nat. Yes, I am here for the job of taking care of the issues of nocturnal persuasion plaguing this place,” she replied, her slightly melodious voice reinforcing her slightly haughty choices of words.

She did not keep up that act for long, though. What had the ghost girl called her? A snob? Yeah, that was it. Probably not the best first impression to give others. Instead, she focused on the sharing of intelligence instigated by the intrepid partner. Apparently, she was an expert in all things stealthy and shadowy, probably to be the polar opposite to the luminary healer. “Hmm, if you want to sneak about, that would mean I have to play the bait or something, doesn’t it? Risky, since I am a healer. But I am used to that kind of mission-fare.” Natalie would shrug, recalling the other times where she’d had to take on that kind of duty. That just came with the territory of being a healer. In two-man groups, she often had to take on other roles as well.


Cheshire Copeland

Funny? It was rare that people commented on her way of talking. At first, surprise was clearly visible on her face. Yet, when that woman started talking herself, it quickly became apparent just why that was. This girl had a funny way to talk herself, laden with expletives and contraction. It was quite unlike how her family usually talked, but there were some similarities to certain guild mates. A bit distracting it was, yes. But not something she couldn’t deal with. Just keep on smiling and listen closely, to not get tripped over by some odd choice of words.

Fortunately, the plan offered here was fairly simple. That girl sure liked to get everything out of the way before even properly introducing herself. But that was fine. She could just go with that as well. Names of guilds sometimes only complicated things. “No, that is likely the prudent choice to begin with. Our foe will seek a victim anyway, so forcing it into a controlled environment would be safer. The question is, however: where will we get one?” It was not necessarily a wasteful endeavour, but convincing someone to join them for this would be hard. They’d have to trick someone, most likely, unless they wanted to alert whatever authorities there were here by forcing someone. Plus, they needed to create a trap that wouldn’t be easily noticed to begin with. If their enemy could just be overcome in a head-on collision, then they were likely of the crafty kind.

Cheshire Copeland

“Well, maybe it can?” Honestly, she still was not sure about it all. Undead were surprisingly hard to come by these days. She had encountered some, while grouped with other mages, but those usually had made sure that these things were made properly dead soon enough. Getting close enough for any kind of field testing in that regard was usually a tough thing. It would be in this case as well.

That was especially true after being given the testimony that their opponent was very strong. Hence, she briefly furrowed her brows. “The issue would be to get to use this. Most of my healing is done, if you want to put it simply, by laying on hands and stimulating the body into regeneration. If you can follow that.” Non-healers often had problems really understanding nuances like that. She would never fault anyone for such, truly. But the most important part was the other thing, anyway. “The bigger issue is that I can only do that when I can touch them, and I need prolonged contact. It might still work. But I think if we can get to that, we can probably just do any number of things we know to be effective instead, right?”


Cheshire Copeland

And thus, she was alone. Well, at least she looked that way. It had been her idea, true, but that didn’t mean she would not be slightly irked by that. Of the two of them, logic dictated that she was by far the better bait. Between not having the ability to hide, nor a grand fighting capability, she would have been a poor choice for backup. Yet, being reduced to ‘bait’ still felt a little off.

Nothing she could do about that. Literally shrugging, she would wave the other off with a brief goodbye of sorts, even though she was still around. For all means and purposes, this was apparently a kind of goodbye. Then, she put her hands back into her pockets and looked about. The streets were thinning out, but it would probably look suspicious if she just stood around here, waiting. That was good to invite in people that wanted to hit on her, but if there really was a vampire, he wouldn’t strike in a wide, open space like this.

Even if no one was around, there were a lot of windows facing this way. There was at least a chance of being spotted. Best to get into more secluded areas. Breathing heavily, forming small clouds in front of her mouth, Natalie started to walk towards the outskirts of time, as if intent on leaving it altogether. That should probably work to get the other’s attention. Unless there was somehow an easier target drudging along nearby. She didn’t see any, but one could never know. They had committed to this strategy now, so she had to stick to it.



Cheshire Copeland