The Hunting of Ed

1/8/2009

05:27 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

[NOTE: This log is timewarped back to Christmas Eve, December 24, 2008.]
Fallout Shelter #17(#3791RJh$)
The fallout shelter lies in darkness, the stale air smelling of filth and quiet madness. The floor is sticky underfoot, and an unwary soul could easily bump into the furniture.
The large doors which are the obvious exit are closed solidly, despite being unlocked. They seem to have been buried from the other side, or perhaps welded shut. The only other means of egress appears to be the small hatch in one corner, leading down.
Contents:
Diego
Ed
Obvious exits:
Hatch

[NOTE: This log is severely timewarped back to December 24th, 2008.]

It's a long drive down to sunny San Francisco and it is considerably warmer than St. Claire, without a speck of snow on the ground to be seen. The address that Ed gave Diego leads him in to a part of the city that is full of cheap apartments, townhouses, and empty lots choked with weeds. While not the poorest area in the city, it would be a serious stretch to call it middle class. In the end, Diego discovers that the address belongs to a large apartment complex with ample guest parking, if one isn't too afraid of destroying their shocks on the potholes. The apartment is on the fifth floor.

Diego pulls into the apartment complex, looking up at the light windows stretching above. "Well, we are here. Is everyone ready to get out?" he asks, with the air of someone who's wondering exactly how difficult it will be to extract his rear from the carseat.

Yi spends much of the time in the car looking out the window watching the world speed monotonously by. Her expression states otherwise, though, pensive as it is. By the time they've gotten anywhere close to San Francisco, she's bouncing her legs restlessly. And by the time they pull up to the complex, she's burning to get out of the car. Her answer to Diego is to haul herself out for the free air and a stretch. A groan later, she sighs with the relief and looks around before looking back to Diego. "Which one is hers?"

The complex is older and the grey concrete is pitted from more than three decades of being exposed to polluted air and the elements. The front of the building is is marked by a pair of double doors and a cracked sidewalk. Somewhere, someone is smoking up and there is the distinct scent of weed in the air.

Diego gets out of the car a little slower than Yi, taking a moment to rub at his back as he locks the taxi behind him. The driver extracts a sheet of paper from his pocket, flipping it open and double checking the address. "Si, this is the right place," he mutters to himself, before raising his voice. "Apartment 514, she said. Fifth floor, si?" He looks towards the front door, though seems a little hesitant, glancing back at the Gnawer Garou he took with him. "Are you ready?" he asks, politely.

Yi stretches out some more, using the car as a support stand in process of a few lunges. Her nose twitches at the scent of the weed in the meanwhile. After a few more chances to stretch, she nods to the kin, and goes with him to head towards the apartment complex's front.

Once inside, the pair find a phone and a list of numbers corresponding with particular last names. Diego quickly finds a listing for Jefferson, punches in the number and the phone is picked up on the other side. Once Diego identifies himself as 'Ed's friend' to the unfamiliar female voice, there is a buzzing sound and the building's door is unlocked. A short elevator ride later and the pair are up on the fifth floor. Standing in the open doorway of apartment 514, is an older black woman in an apron. She waves at the pair as they exit the elevator. "Hello you two. Samantha will be out of her room in a minute. I'm Ms. Jefferson, Sam's mother."

Diego puts on a broad smile for the woman and extends a hand in greeting. "Buenos noches, Ms. Jefferson. I am Diego Del Toro. I want to thank you very much for your offer. You are very generous to let us stay here, especially over Christmas." Most of the time he's talking to her, his eyes flick between her mouth and neck.

Yi bobs her head up and down, standing just behind Diego. "Merry Christmas," she adds in a softer tone, accent putting her an ocean apart from Diego's origin. "I'm Yi. It is nice to meet you." No effort is made to shake the woman's hand.

Ms. Jefferson waves the pair inside and they enter a small apartment that is a study of controlled chaos. "Jimmy, stop teasing Faeye," the woman calls out to a young boy of about eight, who is placing dog biscuits on top of a large 'small animal' cage and sizable female rat is trying to pull the cookies in to the cage with tiny paws. "Open the top and give her the biscuits." In the kitchen, people can be heard moving around and there are the smells of cooking. "Dinner is almost ready, if you two are hungry."

Diego makes his way into the apartment with the care of someone walking through the middle of a driving range. He follows her into, a sheepish but warm smile on his face. This atmosphere...something about it... "Si, Ms. Jefferson, I am, in fact, very hungry. Thank you, again." He looks around, scanning the faces of the people there.

Yi steps in after Diego and just observes. The decor, the furniture, the living arrangements and those living inside... all get a good eyeing, but she too gets caught up with the smell of food. Home cooked food, at that, and all its temptations. The ragabash moves to set a hand on Diego's shoulder. "I'm going to use the WC," she notes to him.

There are a total of three adults and two children aside from Ms. Jefferson, all of which become visible as they poke their heads out of the kitchen, or lift a hand in greeting from the couch. Two of the three adult women are black, while the one man is mulatto and the woman appears to be an Asian/African mix. The two children are around eight and ten years old respectfully, the older one being a girl. Judging by their appearance, they are related and most likely the offspring of the one adult male and the Asian/African woman. Ed finally makes an appearance, coming out of one of the bedrooms and grinning widely as she catches sight of Diego. "Hi!" She greets cheerfully, even as Ms. Jefferson shows Yi where the small bathroom is. Ed looks a bit different from what Diego remembers. Once, he say her as a mulatto teenager with short cropped hair. Now, she is clearly the same person, only older and looks to be around thirty. "Hope the drive wasn't too hard on you."

Diego nods over his shoulder to Yi, a little distracted by the new surroundings. He's catching eyes and exchanging greetings with the people there when Ed finally arrives. He glances up as she enters, and a huge smile on his face, though there's definitely a surprised look on his face when she gets closer. "Ed!" He holds out his arms and pulls her into a tight hug. It only lasts for a moment though, and then he's pulling away, a little sheepish. "Ahh, no no. It was not a problem at all. Yi was in the car and we...well, we kept each other company I suppose." He looks her up and down, brows pulling together. "You look...ah, you have changed, Miss Ed."

Yi is on her way towards the bathroom, but she takes notice of the use of the name and turns to peer at who that name is associated with. Her eyes linger on Ed for a few seconds too much, but then she raises a hand in a mild wave which drops back to her side once she turns to continue back into the bathroom.

Ed shrugs and scratches at the back of her neck after being released, looking a little sheepish as she does so. "This is how I should look. Close to it, anyway. I /am/ over thirty," she says, with a flash of perfectly normal teeth. "I wish you'd stop using that name, Sam," Ms. Jefferson calls out of the rat cage, as she helps Jimmy feed Faeye dog cookies. Ed just rolls her eyes at this. "Oh, lay off Mom. I've been using Ed for years. You should be used to it by now. So who is Yi?" She asks, returning her attention to Diego, after a brief look and wave in the Gnawer's direction. "I don't know her."

Diego smiles, glancing over in the direction of the rat cage, looking a little embarrassed that their conversation has been overheard. "Oh? She is...a cousin. A very strong cousin, having come along to keep me safe. I am grateful to her, for I could not have come without her." He's still smiling at her, though he's worrying his hands together now.

Yi heads off to the bathroom and remains there for a few minutes, allowing for the others to have their conversations without her. For now.

Ed pats Diego's shoulder, then gives it a squeeze. "Don't worry. We're all family here and there are no secrets, even if you would not have wanted to be here when I got back originally. Now that was a /discussion/. Oie."

"Hey, Sam, you want to play battleship?" Jimmy asks from is spot by the rat cage.

Ed shakes her head. "Not until after dinner, ya runt. And you should pick something that more people can play."

You paged Ed with 'Yi is going to be checking her weapons that she's got hidden on her. Basically: 1 butterfly knife/balisong in the pocket. 3 throwing knives in a wrist brace and one knife in an ankle brace. These were dedicated as a set, gosh, years ago. All of them are mundane, no silver or anything.'.

Diego lets out a sigh of relief, putting a hand to his forehead. "Dios mio, bueno! I was worried I would have to hold my tongue...Miss Yi is one of the Guardians, and she was kind enough to come after I told her of Miss Kaz's orders." He smiles at Jimmy's question. "Battleship! I used to play Battleship all the time with my father, back in Spain. It was the one game we had from America then."

Ed laughs. "Well, maybe you two can have a game, then we can pick something that more people can play. I'll have to say thankyou two her when she makes a reappearance. It's good to have you here. HOw have things been in St. Claire. Not working to hard, I hope?" In the living room, two people are expanding the table and setting out cutlery.

Diego chuckles and shifts back as someone pushes past them with an armful of cloth napkins, he moves to press agains the wall, hopefully out of the way of the busy people. "It is good to be here, Ed. I cannot say how glad I am to see you are well. And that your family is well, also." His eyes sweep across to the people in the living room. "Work in St. Claire has been very, very busy. I hear it is always like this around Christmas time, however. Parties, people needing to go shopping...it is a busy time with very much driving.

Ed nods and directs Diego out of the flow of people. "Probably good to get a break, then. Hope coming here doesn't cut in to your income too much."

Diego lets out a bit of a nervous laugh at that, "It is good for...what do you call it? Mental health, at least."

"Yes, well, hopefully the trip will end up being worth while. How old if your car, anyway?" Ed asks, sparing a glance towards the table as it finishes being set. "Dinner in a half hour," comes the call from Ms. Jefferson. "Can I play the Wii?" Jimmy asks and in short order, four people are playing Mariocart and everyone else is watching.

Diego frowns thoughtfully, eyes turning up to the ceiling. "Ahhh, I believe it is a '93, though the engine has been rebuilt in '02, and quite a few parts have been replaced since then. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing," Ed says, flashing the kinsman a wide grin. "Was just curious. Here. Lets go sit at the table. The living room is full to bursting."

Diego gives Ed a suspicious look, though it's also coupled with a smile. "I am not used to such a crowded living space. The Odeon is so huge, and so few Gnawers actually stay there..." He follows her into the living room, looking for an unobtrusive place to sit.

Ed actually directs Diego to the dining room, which offers a full view on the living room in the small apartment. She pulls out a chair at the table, then drops in to one nearby. "Now, when the time comes, where would you like to sleep? Mom and her sis are going to double up in one room. Pat and Simon'll be taking over my Aunt's room and the kids are gonna sleep on the pull out couch. We have some cots we can set up, but my old bed is free. Don't really use it anymore."

Diego nods gratefully to Ed, taking a seat and pulling himself in to the table. He looks down on the food, a hungry look on his face. "Hmm? Oh, I could not possibly make you leave your own bed, Ed. That would--oh." Understanding dawns and he gives her a worried look. "Are you, ah, are you saying you do not sleep, then?"

Ed shakes her head. "I do sleep, after a fashion. Just not at night and I don't really feel the need for a bed any more. I don't need to be comfortable, or warm to sleep."

"Ah." Diego shifts in his chair uncomfortably, now. "Well, if you are not using it," he starts, then glances down at the family below. "Does your, ah, family know about it?"

Ed scratches at her cheek, as she glances towards the living room. "Aside from the kids, yes. You would not have wanted to be here for that conversation. It was... heated. But, you know, we're Family and that wins out in the end. S'what it means to be a Gnawer and that's what I am, before anything else."

Diego relaxes at that and turns a warm smile to her. "There are times I have wondered what it would be like to be of another tribe, but for each of those times, there is a time when I am thankful to be a Gnawer."

"Doesn't hurt that mom knows people, who know people and so forth," Ed says. "We manage to arrange something to help with my, umm, dietary needs. Which means that I don't have to go out much. Almost the same set up I had with Ben, in St, Claire. I should call him soon. See how he is doing. Felt back using the key he gave me to clean out the stockpile he'd set up for me, the night I left town. WOuld have liked to have given him more warning, or a better explanation."

And the tension in Diego seems to evaporate all at once. "It is good to hear that you are well cared for here, Ed. If you like, I can give Ben the message myself, though I am sure he would be happier to hear from you personally."

Ed nods. "I'll give him a call after the holidays. See how things are going on his end. Honestly, I don't know what's been happening in St. Claire. I mean, I skipped out due to Basil's message, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of fuss over me. Not according to the people I've talked with, anyway. Tempted to go back. I love my mom to bits, but it's only a matter of time before we start to drive each other nuts and I felt like I was being useful. Not to mention the friends I made."

Diego nods at that, "I have to admit I am a little surprised. I have not heard a mention of you from anyone besides myself since you left." He frown, pushing his plate along the table. "Perhaps the person Basil told about you was not as dangerous as you thought?"

Ed shrugs. "He wasn't specific and admittedly, I haven't called him, or talked with him. Maybe he was just pissed that I didn't tell him myself. Nice guy and all, but he talks too much."

Diego nods along with that. "Basil does have a tendency to, ah, talk a little too much, doesn't he? Do you happen to know who it was that he told about you?"

Ed shakes her head. "Haven't a clue. Message just said the fuzzies were going to be out to get me. Kinda assumed he'd blabed to a Get of Fenris, or something equally stupid."

Diego hmmms at that, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps...maybe he overreacted?"

Ed shrugs. "It doesn't matter, really. I left just incase. I'm not ready to die again. Didn't much care for it the first time around and it forced me to tell my Family. Which is a good thing. It's not as if I could have come here to visit and kept up the act for all that long. I mean, I can't eat normal food easily and I can only pretend to not be hungry for so long."

Yi eventually exits the bathroom with a flush of the toilet and a wash of her hands in the sink. She just happens to watch the water flush completely and wait for some before she comes out. Once it doesn't look like anything's coming up from the toilet, she steps back out to search for Diego and Ed. Her attention catches on the colorful gameplay of Wii Mariocart, holding it there for a minute or so. The ragabash stands behind the kids at play, watching the screen, and them, in a moment of fascination.

Diego looks up and sees Yi come out of the bathroom, though he smiles when he sees her get distracted by the Wii. "Ah, yes. Your mother seems the type to not allow someone to not eat her homecooked meals, si? You are lucky they took it so well..."

Ed hehs and rubs at the back of her neck. "She's my mom. I mean, she gives me shit for some things, but that's what Family does, eh? 'Scuse. I should say hello to Yi." The two kids and two of the adults are playing the Wii game, making commentary and occasionally calling each other mild names as they hit bananas, or get blown away by blue shells. Rising from her seat, Ed makes her way over to Yi, a hand lifting in greeting. "Hey."

Yi seems so caught up in the play that she doesn't note Ed until greeted verbally. Then she looks to her, and in a moment of surprise shies back a pace or two. Her recovery is swift, though, and she dips her head to the vampire. "I have not seen this game before," she remarks a little awkwardly, indicating the Mario Kart play. Belatedly, she adds a "Hi."

Diego watches Ed get up and go over to greet the Guardian a little nervously. When Yi shies back, Diego tenses, then relaxes when she does. Seeing them starting to get along, the kin glances around the dining room at the hustle and bustle of people getting ready for dinner. His stomach growls and, with one last guilty, discreet glance around, he reaches for the nearest basket of dinner rolls.

Ed smiles warmly. "Ed, or you can use Sam, if you want to stay on my mom's good side. It's good to meet you. Always good to meet Family. Yi, right?" She extends a hand in greeting. "If you want to play, you can ask. But the kids will kick your butt until you get used to the controls."

Yi nods to her name, not quite echoing the same warm smile. She shakes her head in small back and forth gestures regarding the invitation to play. "No, I'm fine to just watch," she replies to Ed. The extended hand gets a downward glance, and the ragabash is slow to respond. However, after a longer than usual pause, she reaches out to take the other woman's hand and shakes in a way that denotes it isn't her usual method of greeting people. Yi's quick to let go. Glancing about for Diego, Yi then waves Ed back to the dining table, where she also decides to go and have a seat. "Is this all of your family?" she asks.

Diego is pulling away from a basket and sitting back down in his seat, inspecting one of the dinner rolls approvingly. The man takes a bite, turning at the same time to a comment directed at him from one of the cooks. He just smiles and nods to her.

The fact that Ed's hand hand is ice-cold, probably doesn't help matters any. Ed shakes her head, as she makes her way back to her seat. "Not all of it, no. "Mom's half brother, Steve, has a good fifteen years on her and he's not doing that well these days. We'll visit him on the weekend. Richard is his kid," she says, pointing at the one guy in the room. All told, Uncle Steve had eight kids. Most of'em have their own these days." A shrug. "Mom could give you a better run down than I could. She's the one who keeps in touch with everyone."

Yi shifts her gaze towards the television whenever there's a miniature uproar from the kids at the set. But her attention also repeatedly returns to the one seated at the table. It's through all this that she levels a straight on gaze to Ed, one that tells of her insider's knowledge to the vampire's condition. And a telltale sign that Yi is not as friendly as she would seem. "And what about your /other/ family?" she asks pointedly.

Diego munches on his roll happily, keeping up a light conversation with the woman from before. He gestures to her with the piece of bread at one point.

Ed blinks, looking confused for a moment. "Other Family?" Her nose wrinkles up after a moment. Cluing in, perhaps. "Don't have any."

Yi narrows her gaze some more, clearly disbelieving. "Then how did it happen?" she asks next.

Diego glances over at the two girls talking and he falls out of the conversation with the other woman, brows drawing together when he sees their expressions.

Ed sucks in a breath and turns her eyes elsewhere, expression that of someone who is distinctly uncomfortable. "I don't know where he is anymore. It happened... Not far from here, actually. I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

Yi doesn't appear to have any intention of letting up while they're on the subject, though. "It happened to you. It could happen to others. Maybe it has. And it will keep happening until /something/ is /done/." Her words come out vitriolic.

Ed flinches, shrinking in to herself and pointedly looking away from the Bone Gnawer. "I don't know where he is anymore," she mumbles. "He let me go, then he disappeared. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

Yi sits up some more in the seat, leaning onto the table as she flattens out her tone. "You could find the one that did this to you," she says firmly.

"Why?" Ed says, asking the question without looking at Yi. "Why should I devote myself to something as pointless as revenge? What would I have left, even if I managed it? I'm a Bone Gnawer. I'm a survivor. I have my Family and I've learned to deal with what I've become, even if I still can't stand looking in a mirror without a mask on," she says, lightly touching her face and twitching slightly. "He was stronger than I am and he let me go when I asked him too."

Yi abruptly stands to her feet from hearing that. The chair clatters behind her and her gaze intensifies upon the vampire.

Ed flinches and looks down at her hands, not moving from her seat. Over by the TV, the game is forgotten as several people turn their heads to watch the unfolding drama.

Diego stands up quickly, face turning pale and heading over to Yi. "Miss Yi..." he says, voice wavering.

Yi swallows down with much restraint as many seconds pass with her awareness of other eyes upon her returning. Diego's voice only just barely registers as Yi takes a visible step back from the table, eyes still on Ed. "I... am going to see about... helping in the kitchen," she announces. A sharp turn on her heel, and the ragabash stalks thataway.

THe kitchen is bare, aside from a large stew pot with what smells like beef stew simmering away. Most of the dishes have already been cleaned away and the driprack is full to bursting. Ed rubs at her home and rises out of her seat. Once standing, she slowly makes her way towards the opposite end of the apartment and the bedrooms. The Mari Kart game resumes, but Ms. Jefferson starts heading towards the kitchen and her Garou guest.

Diego looks between the two of them, extreme worry on his face for the moment. After a moment, he moves to follow Ed, excusing himself as he pushes past people in the hallway to follow Ed.

Yi steps into the kitchen without a word, eyeing the domestic surroundings in effort to distract her gaze from any clear focus. Her path roams to the pot of stew where she gives it a sniff, then on towards the dishes. Hands plant on either side of the sink and the ragabash hovers the empty bin, staring down into the drain.

Ed opens one of the bedroom doors and disappears inside. Leaving the door open, she sits down on the edge of a small bed that is little more than a closet and cups her face in her hands. The small room as a single window, blotted out with black paint. "Is there anything I can help you with?" A voice asks from behind Yi, as Ms. Jefferson pokes her head in to the kitchen.

Yi doesn't turn around at the question, but her head lifts and her gaze stares at the backsplash. "You have something to drink?" she supplies after a long moment.

"We have juice, water, and pop," Ms. Jefferson supplies. "My sister likes those Hard Lemonade drinks, so they're probably a few of those around."

Yi takes a moment to compose herself and then turns around. "That," she says to the mention of Hard Lemonade. She looks upon Ms. Jefferson with an air of distance and called up sympathy. "Do you have a moment?" she asks of the woman, "because if I could, I would like to speak with you, Ms. Jefferson."

Ms. Jefferson nods and heads over to the fridge. After some digging around, she locates the Hard Lemonade and offers it to the Gnawer. "Sure. Stew can wait a little longer."

Taking the drink from the woman with a nod of thanks, Yi twists the bottle open to have a long drink out of it. She's gotten down about a third of the bottle before she pulls the lip of the glass away, exhales heavily and looks to the older woman. "About 'Sam'..." she starts slowly, "Do you know about her... condition?"

"Samantha?" Ms. Jefferson says, as she lifts a kettle off the stovetop and starts to fill it with water. "Yes. She doesn't like talking about it. She'll talk when she's ready. Just the way she is."

Yi resists from getting her gut reaction spilling out. Her eyes do widen though, at the seemingly casual admittance. "And you... are Okay with this?" she ventures.

You paged Ed with 'Yi's going to be tempted to test everyone in the household with the Fang of the Wyrm fetish she would've had still...'.

"Of course not," Ms. Jefferson says, tone hardening a touch, as she sets the kettle on the stovetop. "I always told her she should have just stuck with her job and everything would have worked out eventually," she says, with a turn of phrase that speaks of an old and well worn argument. "But, she's still my Daughter."

Yi looks out from the kitchen back towards the dining room and through, keeping her gaze off of Ms. Jefferson. At the last, however, she abruptly looks back. "She is not your daughter, Ms. Jefferson," says the ragabash as gently, but firmly in her belief, as she can.

"I think I can judge that better than you can," the older woman says, voice going cold. "We've done what we can to help her and that's all we can do. She spoke of someone called Ben, back in St. Claire, who was helping her as well. He is a Butcher. Was having people at the slaughterhouses collect food for her." A pause. "She's my Daughter. She can't change what was done to her. I'd be lying if I said it hadn't scarred her. I can see that much."

Yi tightens on her grip on her bottle, brow furrowing to a pinch in the middle. "It is /more/ than just /scarring/," says the ragabash lowly. "She suffers. She suffers a sickness that cannot be cured through any other way but one."

Ms. Jefferson checks on the kettle, which will take a little while longer to start boiling. "I don't know how to answer that," the older woman says, looking over at Yi. "It was Yi, right? And you're a Bone Gnawer? We're all Family here. We're all knowing kinfolk in this house and we look after our own. I'm not going to turn my back on her. She hasn't turned her back on us."

"No /vampire/ is kin of mine," Yi suddenly hisses out vehemently. "And if she were any bit kind and regarding of her life past, she would not keep up this /lie/ that she continues to live. She would not do this to you, your family, and us." Her words come hotly like the flame beneath the kettle. "Do not suffer thy people to tend thy sickness in death."

Ms. Jefferson's face suddenly goes blank, as she turns off the stove top. "Then you are no Bone Gnawer," she says flatly. "Family is Family. She is not a burden to us. Would you have us kill my brother, because his kidneys are failing? I know you're Diego's friend, but I think you should leave."

Yi's eyes round out at the older woman's statement, and for a very long moment she goes completely still and silent. Her stare goes unblinking for several seconds, and then finally comes that blink. Then, Yi tears her gaze away and pushes off from the sink. "Your brother," she says in a growling quiet voice, "would not stand over the beds of those innocent children at night and feel a hunger for their blood." She takes another step away, then another, and another. At the threshold between kitchen and dining room, she looks back to the mother. "You must learn to let your daughter go. She is gone, Ms. Jefferson."

Ms. Jefferson has a sheen of sweat has appeared on her face, clearly not immune to the Bone Gnawer's Rage. She releases a tense breath, as Yi turns away from her. "You just resisted the urge to tear me apart," the woman says quietly. "You control your nature. We have to live with Family that can kill us by accident over a temper tantrum. We trust them to control their nature. I trust my daughter to do the same. I don't see the difference."

Yi half turns back to the woman. "Six, seven years ago... I went to look for Family." Her gaze twitches back. "I found a vampire. He may have been someone's father before. Someone's brother. Someone's uncle. Someone's son. Someone's husband. Someone's lover. But he was none of that when I met him. He was a monster." Her voice quivers, her body slightly shaking. "And /he/," she says slowly, "turned me into what I am today. So, you tell your daughter. Tell her to enjoy her holiday. When she is done... I will be waiting for her." She turns and moves to set the half-drunken bottle onto one of the placemats at the dining table, and moves onward towards the living room with the other relatives and children.

Scowling, Ms. Jefferson trails after Yi, watching the Bone Gnawer's progress. As the Ragabash heads for the door, the older woman picks up the pace and follows her that far. "I'll tell her that Family has turned their back on her. That there is a Monster in their ranks," she says, voice pitched low. Even so, the Mario Kart game has been forgotten and a number of people are watching Yi's exit from the apartment.

Yi gets the door open on her own, but stiffens with Jefferson's words. Her only continuance, though, is to get the door open wide enough that she can slip through and close it behind her.

Ms. Jefferson locks the door once it has been closed and for a short time, rests her forehead against it. Then, forcing a smile on to her face, she calls people to dinner and tries to continue as if nothing had happened.

[Yi takes off into the night, prowling through the neighboring area and then using Open Seal to get back into the complex.]

Diego enjoys the dinner thoroughly throughout all of it, though manages to look a little offended at the idea of opening presents before Christmas morning. He's in good humor as he's pulled into the kitchen, though the Spaniard pales immediately at the news, letting out a little-too-loud "What??" before he can quiet himself. He gives Ed a shocked look, mixed with horror, that all melts quickly into gut-wrenching guilt. "Dios mio, I am so sorry, Ed...this is all my fault, I should have found someone else to bring..."

Ed blinks, then swears softly, a scowl settling on her her features pretty firmly. She waves Diego off, not looking happy at all. "There is a place I could hide in the city. I don't want to go back there, but it has doors I could lock. Mom, is your passport up to date?"

Ms. Jefferson lightly shakes her head, then runs a hand over her hair. "It is Sam, why? As for Yi, she said something about encountering a leech six or seven years ago that made her what she is today. I have no idea what happened to her, but that's what she said to me. She also said that she'd be waiting for you after the Holidays."

Diego just wrings his hands now, looking incredibly disturbed by all this. Oh, what a way to spend Christmas Eve...

Ed makes a face, nose wrinkling right up. "If you could get it for me mom, I can use it to get a flight out of the city tomorrow. Most planes are booked to the gills, but there have to be some first class seats somewhere on redeye flights available. I can pass myself off as you." She lifts a hand. "Don't ask how, I just can."

Unsurprisingly, Ms. Jefferson looks a little disturbed by this, but she simply nods. "Right dear. It's in my room. Let me go get it." With that, the older kinswoman exits the kitchen and heads for her room.

Diego swallows and glances over to Ed. "And I assume you will need a ride." The man's brows look like they've fused together, lines of worry etched deep in his face. He occasionally glances at the front door.

Ed puts a pinkie-tip in her mouth and picks at her teeth, scowl not really disappearing. "It wouldn't hurt. If I pass myself off as mom when I leave, Yi'll think that I'm still here if she's watching the front of the building. There are still some 24 hour grocery stores open, thank god. We can say we're heading out to pick up something real quick. I probably won't be able to get a flight until tomorrow and that's if I'm lucky. I really need something I can get off of /before/ the sun comes up."

Yi continues to lurk outside about the complex, but she doesn't go up to the door just yet.

Diego nods, swallowing and shooting another, longer glance at the front door. "I...I'll do what I can. I should warn you, deception is not one of my best abilities."

Ed scowls. "Maybe I could get someone else to do it. I could pretend to be someone else. I really just need to get out of here. If she comes back during the day, I'm toast." A glance towards the living room. "And she's Garou. I don't want to put my Family between her and me." A pause. "Fuck," she adds, hissing in irritation.

Diego follows her glance one more time, and the kin steels himself, his jaw setting. He puts a hand on Ed's shoulder. "I will get you out," he says, with determination. "What must I do?"

Ed's nostril's flare and the look she gives Diego has the flash of the predator in it, but it's swiftly chained and muzzled. "Just take my mom to the store," she says, words a little tense. "I'm going to eat and sit on the internet. See if I can manage to get out tonight. If not, I know where you can take me in the city, until I can catch a flight."

Yi makes a few more circuits around the complex as a whole until she finally exits the complex with a grumble on her breath. Heading back to the car, she looks into the backseat at her things and with another use of her gift to open locked up things, pops the locks to get inside and rifle through her stuff.

Diego deflates slightly and, after a moment of hesitation, pulls Ed into a hug. It's brief, and then he releases her, quickly turning away to head into the living room.

Ed looks more then a little surprised when Diego leaves and takes several seconds to center herself. That done, she opens up a new minifridge that has been shoved in to the corner of the kitchen. She pulls out a plastic green one liter bottle of something, which she slowly starts to mix. She's still mixing it when she heads back in to the livingroom and quickly ducks in to one of the bedrooms. She returns with her laptop and sits down at the livingroom table with it. The clunky ancient thing buzzes in to life. Drinking what's in the container, she pokes at various sites. At some point, her mom drops off a passport and a credit card.

Yi finishes rifling through her bag, which she slips behind her head as she lays down in the backseat and shuts her eyes for a time.

Long distance to Ed: Yi is going to use Blissful Ignorance so she isn't spotted when she's crashing in the car.

Diego exits the kitchen quickly, not looking back and lost in his own thoughts for the moment. He sits down with the kids at the Wii, smiling and watching them play, until he himself is asked to join in. The Spaniard takes up the reigns for a few games, coming in last place every time and smiling all the while.

It's closing in on ten at night when she finally closes her computer and checks the time. "Hey Diego. Having fun over there?" She says, collecting the passport and credit card. "I'm going to pack up some of my things. I've managed to get a flight for tomorrow, around eight. Plenty of time, even if it gets delayed on me."

Diego looks up from the controller, his character crashing into a wall while he's not looking. The Spaniard smiles. "I think I am finally getting the hang of this game. Si, Ed. I will find a spot to sleep, and you may wake me in the morning, yes?"

Yi is still inside the car, eyes shut. To the random passerby, however, she's disappeared from actual view.

Ed lightly shakes her head. "Come morning, I'll be asleep. Do you think it'd be safe to wait until tomorrow evening? Do you think she'd come here during the day?" Ed asks, sounding a bit uncertain.

Diego blinks in thought there, frowning slightly and ignoring the punches in the arm he's getting from one of the kids. "I...do not know. I do not think Yi will try to do anything dangerous around your family. However, she may try to take you away from them before then. She does not seem like the type to wait for no good reason."

Ed nods looks down at her computer, scowling some more. "Alright. I'll stay here. Leaving now would look strange. And if I go tomorrow, I can use a slightly different tactic. One that'd probably work a little better. Kids'll be heading back to their place tomorrow. I can leave with them. Just, no heroics. You got that?" She tells Diego, rather pointedly.

Diego nods, resisting the tug on his hair from his teammate who's upset that he's losing their team points. "I understand. I see you in the morning then, Ed." And then he's pulled away again, and starts searching franctically for the Reverse button on the controller.

Ed shakes her head at Diego, some amusement showing up on her face for a short time. She collects another full bottle of liquid from the fridge and disappears in to her room. Diego sees her again far sooner then he probably expects, as the gift unwrapping happens at midnight. As one expects, the typical chaos ensues. Gifts are handed out, paper goes flying, and the kids, particularly the young boy, want to try out their new video games right away. As the chaos dies down, Ed hands Diego a large paper envelope. Clearly filled with papers and something smallish in the middle that causes the package to bulge. "Now, you're not allowed to open that until after you get back home," Ed tells the kinsman.

At midnight, Yi unsheathes one of her knives from her wrist holder and gets out of the car with her bag in tow. The movement temporarily reveals her, but she goes still again once she's at the side of the apartment complex, waiting by the front gate in the shadows.

Diego's attention is pulled away from the people milling about and he flips the envelope over, frowning carefully at it. "What? Miss Ed, you did not have to...I mean...umm..." He clears his throat and just smiles to her, sheepishly. "Thank you. Very much."

Ed simply grins and turns her attention to the kids checking out their new possessions. A half hour after all the gifts have been unwrapped, bed calls for all sane people. Ms. Jefferson and her sister disappear in to one room, the kids into another, and the couch is pulled out for their parents. Ed directs Diego towards her old bedroom. "Like I said before, you can use my room. I uhh, sleep in the room's closet. So long as that doesn't bother you? If it does, I can pull out a cot for you? You can sleep in the living room."

Diego swallows at that, though he shakes his head as they head into the bedroom. "No, I...I mean, I shall sleepfine, I think. Though, I am sorry if I am being too forward Ed but..." He eyes the closet curiously, "You do not happen to sleep hanging upside down, do you?"

Ed blinks, then laughs. "Hello no. I just curl up in a corner. I just happen to feel safer with a door between me and the window, even if I painted it over."

Diego laughs a little sheepishly at that, "Ah, of course, of course." He sits down on the bed, twiddling his thumbs for a moment and looking about the room. His eyes then turn up to meet Ed's. "Will you be coming back to St. Claire any time soon?"

Ed opens her mouth, then closes it. "I don't know Diego. What can I do, if I can't trust Family there? I am not a Monster," she says, lips pressing together. "I will not allow myself to become one," she says, shaking her head. "Anyway. Go to sleep Diego. Might hear me coming in before dawn, when I head for the closet. Until then, I'm just going to sit online for a bit."

Diego nods, not making a move to lie down just yet. He chews on his bottom lip, that news not surprising, but not encouraging either. "Good night, Ed. Be safe."

"Good night Diego," Ed says, then heads over to the dining room table, where she settles down with her clunky laptop. She really has no intention of moving again, until dawn nears. Even then, she'd just be aiming to sleep.

With the clock still ticking on by, Yi waits for a while to observe the comings and goings of residents in the complex. Once the opportunity strikes for her to enter the area again, she does so sometimes in the middle of the night when most are normally asleep. The ragabash steals her way up the stairs to the apartment complex and makes use of her Gift to open the door of the place. Her movement is as quiet as she can make it, and every sense is on alert. Her pace is slow, listening for who's asleep and who may be awake.

After Ed leaves, Diego stays sitting there on the bed, looking a little lost and overwhelmed by everything that's happening. The kin eventually forces himself to lay back on the bed, not bothering to undress or get under the covers. Reaching into his shirt, he pulls out his silver cross and holds it between two fingers. His eyes close and he presses the crucifix to his lips, whispering prayers to it. He's still awake and whispering when Yi silently enters the house.

There is the tipitytap of keyboard keys and most of the lights are out, as Yi enters the apartment. But Ed is still up, seating at the living room table, with the light on above her head. Not all that far away from a pair of sleeping bodies on the sofa couch in the living room. She has a clear view of the door from where she is sitting and as the locks click back and the door creeps open, she pushes her chair back and turns off the light. The apartment descends in to silent darkness, save for the weak glow of the laptop screen.

Yi steps inside through a crack of the door just wide enough for her to get through. Once inside, she's within the apartment, Yi closes the door (again, quietly). There's a few seconds of wait just to listen to hear if anyone else is stirring the night before Christmas.

Diego still lays on the bed, whispering his own prayers, unawares.

There is no sound, our sight of anyone awake. But, the laptop is up and running, casting ghostly shadows around the dining room. The man in the pull out bed is snoring softly, while his wife adds a somewhat louder drone to his own.

[OOC] Ed: Would have seen the light going out as the door cracked open. So, someone is clearly around.

Yi peels off the wall by the door. Her path takes her towards the laptop with its light, but not in any direct path. Instead it's along the walls, skulking in the shadows, using her Gifts to obscure her as much as possible and seek out the one target.

You paged Ed with 'Blur at some point, Sense of the Prey looking for Ed.'.

The room remains dark and quiet, aside from the snoring.

Yi sneaks up to the room's entryway. Once there's the feeling of her prey closer by, the Gnawer starts to shift. Her mass bulks up as she makes a slow transition to her warform.

The prey moves further away as Yi shifts, the sense of moment putting the leech somewhere on the other side of the dining room table. "For the love of Gaia, not here," comes the quiet hissed and clearly terrified words from where the prey should be. And low and behold, there she is. It is almost as if a fog clears and the Gnawer can remember seeing Ed as soon as she entered the room and all the movements the Leech made while in her sight. Actually, it's rather creepy. "Not here," comes the pleading voice again, as the now visible Ed lifts up her hands, showing that they are empty. Her gaze shifts between the sleeping forms nearby and the terrifying Crinos. "Please," she says, hands remaining up and well away from her sides.

Runs-the-Gauntlet's lips peel away from her very visible fangs. Ears twitch at the pleading tone, but on the feral face of the crinos there appears to be little mercy. Yet, the Bone Gnawer makes no move for the vampire in the dining room.

Ed shivers and standing in place is clearly very difficult for the leech, as her eyes are round with terror. She doesn't look up at the Crinos, but rather off to one side. "Please. I've always been loyal to Family," she says, eyes pressing closed as her hands ball in to fists. "What do you want from me?" A brief pause. "Please, talk with me. If you decide you must kill me, I'll go with you quietly. Just not here. Not in my mother's house."

Runs-the-Gauntlet withholds a snarl as her ears continue to display a deep disturbance. However, the ragabash withdraws back to her breed form to heed the begging. With a motion of 'come', she gestures for the vampire to follow her.

Ed shivers and points at her computer. Without waiting for a response, she grabs at the clunky laptop, brings up a wordpad window, and quickly starts to type away.

Yi displays an air of impatience, but waits for the typing to go through.

Ed types out a simple message; Yi came. I left with her. Goodbye. A few more windows are brought up and closed, then the leech turns away from the screen, leaving the message up. Silent, she follows the Gnawer's lead.

Diego opens his eyes and blinks, sighing. The kin finally pushes himself off the bed and, as quietly as he can manage, creeps down the creaky hallway towards the kitchen. "Miss Ed?" he says, in a very quiet whisper, "Are you still about?" The room is dark, and the human can only see flickering shapes near the computer screen.

Yi can be seen making her way from the dining room back towards the front door, looking back often to make sure Ed is following. The Gnawer maintains verbal silence while still in the apartment, opening up the door and waiting for Ed to go through. She looks up at the creaking sound from the hallway, gesturing for the vampire to move quicker.

Ed hesitates for a moment, some light spilling in from the main hallway of the complex. Giving her head a shake, she wraps her arms around herself and continues out the door. Pace remaining about the same, despite the Gnawer's gesturing.

Diego blinks when the door opens and Diego pokes his head around, spotting Ed making her way out the door. He's disappointed for a moment, but then steels himself and strides to the front door, opening it up and slipping out to follow the two of them.

Yi walks behind Ed like a jailer of a max security prison. As Diego comes out, she finally speaks. "If you come at me," she warns the man, "I will defend myself." To Ed, "Keep going."

Ed looks back at Yi, expression unreadable, save for a brief flash of anger. "Go back to bed, Diego," she says, even as she keeps walking.

Diego pales when he sees who it is who's accompanying Ed. "Oh Dios Mio, no..." the kin whispers, and he holds up his hands, slowly moving towards the two of them. "Please, Miss Yi, think of what you are doing...Ed has not done anything wrong."

Yi doesn't pause, but opens up the stair well fire exit down towards the first floor. "I know what I am doing," she answers Diego firmly, exhaling slowly through her teeth.

Ed ducks through the security door, jaw set and not looking back this time.

Diego moves forwards a little faster now, reaching out to hold the door open. "Please! Mercy, Miss Yi! The Lord asks us to show mercy to our enemies, so they may become our friends!" The kin's tone is plaintive now and slowly filling with fear.

Yi stops some way down the first few steps on the stairs, turns and glares at Diego. "Do you want to make friends with the same things that did /this/ to me?" She shrugs out of her jacket, pushes up her sleeves and reveals not just her wrist brace carrying the throwing knives upon her, but the scars that criss cross over her skin. "You want to be friends with that?"

Now in the stairwell, Ed glances up at the security camera perched in one corner. Perhaps, wondering if the device even works any more. At Yi's words, she flinches. "I am no monster," she mumbles, wholly to herself. She turns to face Diego and the less than happy Ragabash. "Go back, Diego. I don't want to see Family hurt because of me."

Diego looks down, shocked at the scarring on Yi's arm. He looks between the two of them. "...Miss Ed did that?"

Yi turns away from Diego, putting her jacket back on. "And I do not lie to myself of what I am," her remark to Ed is as they continue down the stairs. Whether Diego follows or not, she doesn't try to stop him. Neither does she answer the man's question.

The Gnawer's comment results in a flash of anger from Ed, one that she is unable to wholly repress. "I did not ask for this," she snaps. "One is a monster by action, human or otherwise."

Diego pauses at the door to the stairwell, looking troubled...confused...and then mostly angry. He follows the two of them down the stairs.

Yi growls out at Ed, and at the comment, the ragabash moves to quickly grab and push the vampire up against the wall. "Your actions have driven more tragedy into the hearts of your family than you will ever imagine!" hisses the new-moon.

Ed's body smacks quite soundly up against the cement wall of the stairwell. She hisses back in return; a somewhat alien reaction to a human, but an instinctive one to the leech. "For telling them the truth?!"

"Yi!" Diego cries out, coming forward and laying his hands on her shoulders. "Please! Ed has done nothing! She will harm no one, I am sure of it!"

Yi for a moment looks pained, but swallows it down. "Yes." She keeps her grip upon the woman, staring right at the other. The hands on her shoulders from Diego, though, break off that gaze and she rapidly removes her hands from Ed to reach and grab onto Diego's wrist. Firmly. "She has done enough. Her life was over before it could truly begin, maybe. But that is the way. The Wheel must continue to turn," says the ragabash stiffly, fighting for restraint. "Keep going down," she tells Ed. "We'll not do this here."

Ed's jaw works and she can be seen to be visibly counting, ticking off one finger at a time. "Family means you can always go back, always go home. No matter what has happens to you. That is what I was raised to believe." She says, simmering anger being brought under control. "Go back Diego. She's Garou. If she looses her temper, you'll die as well." She continues down the stairs.

Diego bites his tongue as Yi turns and grabs a hold of his wrist, his eyes closing and expecting pain. "Everyone's life has the chance to change for the worse, Miss Yi," he says, carefully and slowly, "Please...Miss Ed is still a good person. She still deserves to live. But...but..." He glances at Ed and swallows, "If she must, may I please take a moment to say goodbye?"

Yi releases Diego's hand after a moment. Her gaze towards the man softens momentarily, and with a turn she sighs. "She is not alive, Diego. But if you want to say good bye, come on then," bids the Gnawer as she makes her way down after Ed.

At the bottom of the stairwell and at the door that leads in to the lobby, Ed stops and turns to face Yi. "I doubt you'll accept this, Yi, since you have already decided my fate in your mind. Judge jury and executioner," she says, almost a bit mockingly and with a touch of laughter in her words. Perhaps, she is cracking under the strain. "My body may be dead, but my mind is not. I remember who I am. I remember the values I held - hold dear... If I was to look for other leeches and find the ones who have forgotten what it means to be human? Who have given in to their hunger, would that satisfy you? If I could help the Garou in that way?" A pause. "I don't want to go through the pain of death again. I'm afraid."

Diego follows the two downstairs, and Ed's offer makes him stiffen. Still, he turns a glance to Yi hopefully.

Yi bites back her initial reaction to Ed's words, giving her head a rapid shake to clear it. But her following reply could be said to be even tenser. "Why should I believe you?" Yi flares her nostrils, swallowing tightly. "Why should I believe that I could let a vampire go on promises of future Glory?" She glances back towards Diego, studying him momentarily before turning back to Ed. "You will turn into like the hungry ghosts who cannot die and cannot move on. Cursed to wander the land, forever thirsting, forced to watch your loved ones die... You want that fate?"

Ed's teeth click together, as she closes her eyes for a moment. "I could give you my word that I would try my best. I have always kept my word," she says quietly. "So long as my Family stayed safe..." She lightly shakes her head. "I don't know what else I could offer. A tooth, a finger?" She ventures. "I know the Garou have 'magic', but I have no idea how any of it works." She sighs. "If I was to forgot myself. To forget who I am," she says, tapping her hand against her chest. "I would want to die. When my mom is gone, maybe then."

"She's given us no reason not to trust her, Yi," Diego pipes up, "She has done much to help the Sept in the past year alone. There is no reason she wouldn't keep helping us."

Yi's eyes twitch, gaze shifting to Diego to stare at him. "There is no reason for her to help us except to save herself!" she snaps back at him before turning back to Ed. Hardened in her gaze, pointing with a finger at Diego, the Gnawer says, "Tell him the truth." She growls at the woman. "You look him in the eye and tell him. Tell him that you will never so much as think about taking a human life to keep your thirst at bay. Tell him you would always betray other vampires so that you can be allowed to hide amongst the living. Tell him your control over yourself is perfect, that no other vampire could take your secrets, your knowledge, your /mind/, and use it to harm those you claim you want to be safe."

"I helped before this happened to me!" Ed snaps, "and I kept helping because I still consider myself Bone Gnawer Kinfolk," the leech snarls. "I first came to Diego because I'd found a man who was raping his daughter and posting pictures online. I don't trust the police to deal with people like that, so I told the Bone Gnawers about him." She looks over at Diego and her jaw works for several seconds, before further words come out. "I have never thought of taking a human life to keep my thirst at bay, but I do fear it. That is why I got help. Someone who could get me animal blood, so I wouldn't be forced to take from other people all the time. I have never betrayed another vampire, because I've never wanted anything to do with them. I have avoided them as best I can, so I don't even know of any. But if I must search them out to convince Yi to leave me be, I will." She draws a breath in to desiccated lungs. "I don't know what leeches can do, Yi. And no, I can't claim to have perfect control over myself. Neither can you."

Diego swallows, his eyes meeting Ed's as she speaks and not pulling away. He searches her eyes, looking...hoping... He turns a glance to Yi. "She /will/ help us, Miss Yi. I would bet my life on it."

Yi balls her hand into a fist. "No vampire is kin of mine," she repeats almost as a mantra. "You lie to yourself if you think you can continue this way, Ed. Believe me, the Wyrm has already begun to corrupt your beliefs." She turns to look upon Diego, her head slowly shaking at him for his words. "Don't throw your life away on a bet you would lose," she remarks, looking back to Ed. "You cannot hide from other vampires forever. And how will you search them out if not by learning their ways? There is no way to hunt down a vampire without learning their tricks, their powers. /Your/ powers. Sooner or later, they find you instead and they find out you are working with Garou, and they /will/ take what they want from you. As the one who sired you did. And maybe, once they've shown you their world and what they have done, and what you can do, you would choose to join them... or they find a way to make you relive all your pain and suffering, and then you die. Again." She lowers her eyes, gaining a haunted look upon her features amidst the anger.

Ed crosses her arms. "Maybe I am lying to myself," the leech concedes. "But so are you, if you think that you have the right to decide my fate. To take me away from my loved ones. You don't. If you want me to stand in front of council of Bone Gnawers and let them decide my fate, I would be more accepting of it. You are just one voice. Would you be happy if I was willing to sleep where there were Bone Gnawers, always vulnerable to a quick temper? Kaz said that I didn't 'smell of the Wyrm', whatever the fuck that means. Quentin said something about me getting tested again, when I talked to him on the phone. If I was to submit myself to regular 'testing,' would that satisfy you?"

Yi's expression heats up temporarily in a flare of anger and she steps in and faces the vampire. "You DIED," comes the violent, vehement, emotional voice of the fostern Gnawer. "And you do not understand. My orders came from my highest command. The Warder demands your death, Ed, and I am no one to argue."

"My body died," Ed snaps back. "My mind is still here. And who the hell is the Warder? What the hell is the Warder? Don't you answer to Kaz, your Alpha?" She points at her face, as she continues to speak. "I did not survive this," she bellows, as her features pale and deform. "I did not survive a week of dying, a week of pain, of watching my body twist and bend in to this." She snarls past a mouth full of pointed teeth, a purple tongue, and malformed jaw. "To return to Family, only to have them turn on me. He offered me Family, his own idea of it. He said no one would accept me, with how I look now. I told him he was wrong and he laughed. He let me go, expecting me to return to him. I never did. Was I wrong, Yi? Was I wrong to think that Family would understand?"

Yi pulls back at the transformation, looking much like she's about to lose the rest of her restraint. Her still form shivers at the sight of the vampire. "You didn't survive," she says slowly once her demeanor has calmed back down, forced so by will. "How much clearer can I make it? Ed, do you even see yourself? You are not who you were when you were alive. Your mind may remember, but it takes more than just thoughts to be alive."

Ed straightens her back as best she can. "I look like a monster, on the outside." Those strange unnatural teeth click together, chittering away. "There is also one, deep inside of me now. It gnaws, chews, and pulls on its chains, but I will not let it free." The creature seems to deflate, gaze turning upwards. "The dawn is coming. I can feel it. Lets get this over with. I can take you to where I died the first time. Suppose it's fitting that I go back there."

Diego is silent through all of this, a host of emotions coming over him as he hugs his arms around his body. Confusion, anger, fear (especially when Ed drops her disguise), although it all starts to fall away into something blandly sad. "Shall I say goodbye now, then, Miss Yi?" he asks, softly.

Yi breathes an outward sigh, narrowing her gaze at the announcement of the dawn's coming. With the note of being taken to where she was turned, Yi nods. She glances over to Diego and nods again for him to go ahead.

Ed's strange lumpy head turns to face Diego, eyes oddly human in such an inhuman face. "Goodbye Diego. I'm sorry you got involved in this. Please, look after my Mom'n Aunt for a bit. This... this will be hard on them."

Diego swallows, reeling back a little when that inhuman face turns towards him. Still, he takes a few steps forward and, hesitantly, puts his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "I am sorry it had to end like this, Ed. I wish I could have been more help to you."

Yi averts her eyes to a side and sighs, in her own way steeling her expression to hide her emotions. Once they're on their way, she falls silent as they walk.

Ed accepts the hug, looking awkward and uncomfortable as she does so. She says nothing, eyes and mouth held firmly closed. When the kinsman pulls back, she merely nods and pulls a new illusion around herself. Looking like a rather ugly and bald woman, but passably human, she leads Yi out of the complex. Not far away, she pulls up a manhole cover and disappears in to the sewers. No further then a block later, she comes to a small room built in to the wall of the sewer. Some unused area, long since forgotten by city planners. In the room, there is a simple pallet of rags off in one corner and the remnants of a mirror hanging above it. The floor is scattered with the rats, their bones bleached white by time. Glancing up, Ed smirks at the mirror remnants. "I hated that thing. Do me a favor?" She says, looking over at Yi.

Yi looks a little nervous as she follows along, especially when they've reached the sewers and she's required to go in. But go she does, and in the space around eyes the environment, the rats, the broken mirror... Her gaze then goes to Ed again. Her brows tick up. "What is it?"

"Wait until the sun is well up," Ed says. "I sleep deeply during the day... and make it fast. I think I fear the pain, more than anything else."

Yi frowns, reflexively glancing towards the ceiling of the shelter briefly. After a few beats, she turns back to the vampire. "Anything else?" she asks.

Ed heads over to the pile of rags and carefully lays down in the molding jumble. "Leave my family be. They are not a part of this." And with that, the leech goes still and silent. Eyes closed and without her illusions to make her appear human.

Yi swallows down her response to answer with a silent nod. Then she sits and waits. Once it appears like Ed is out, the Gnawer stands to make the shift one more time into Crinos form. Her claws flex as she focuses, and latching on to her inner beast, makes the second death as quick and clean as possible by tearing off the head.

Ed's body twitches once her head in removed and dark blood sprays from the stump, then decay sets in. Flesh withers and mummifies, leaving behind a body that is nothing aside from bone, tendon, and dried skin.

The Gnawer waits for the reaction, eventually shifting back to her breed form. "Go with Gaia," her last words are, until she finally allows herself the tears held back.

After her tears are dried, Yi goes about completing her task. The decaying head is wrapped in her sweater that she takes off, bringing up the piece with her. The bag she'd brought with her as well is emptied, the head placed within and the salt from within poured inside. The lighter fluid she'd brought as well, used to burn what she can of the body along with the mattressing and such. It's not a complete burn, but what she can do she will. And it's likely hours by the time she's gotten everything done, and by then the haggard ragabash returns to where she'd last seen Diego's car, looking for it and for him.

Diego isn't in the street, or the parking lot, though his car is still there, the same as it was when the night began.

Well he has to come down some time. And she paces around, leans against, and finally when there is no more patience to be had... waits some more.

The day pushes on until the sun is at its zenith, and still no Diego. It's not until well into the afternoon that he comes out of the front door, digging his keys out of his pocket. On the way down the steps, the kin looks up and pauses in place when he spots Yi. It's only for a moment, and then he is moving towards the car again. He looks tired, all emotion drained from his face. "Are you ready to drive back, Miss Yi?" he asks, tone flat.

Yi has had plenty of time to wash the blood off her hands, surely. Once she's seen the man finally coming out, she pushes up from the seated spot she'd settled into, brushing off her jeans. "Actually Diego," she says laggingly, "If you want to return on your own you can. I think I'll walk."

Diego stops, keys out and about to unlock the car, and Yi gets a confused and worried look. "...walk?" He glances in the direction of the road. "Miss Yi...it is over 800 miles to St. Claire. That would...it would take you..." He counts on his fingers. "It would take you almost two weeks to walk back from here."

Yi looks down at her right leg in thought. When she looks up again, there is a very faint, wry upturn of her lip corner. "I crossed a whole ocean to get to St. Claire once, in a fish crate. Took me a month. I think I will be ok. You should return quickly though, since your job will likely be needing you."

Diego's brows pull together, and it's obvious he is trying to find some reason to argue. After a few long, painful-looking moments of facial juggling, Diego just nods with an expression halfway between constipation and exasperation, and climbs into his taxi. He starts the car and, with one more glance up to Yi, pulls out of the parking lot.

Yi steps away from the taxi once it begins to move. The bag at her side is hoisted onto her back and she too turns to leave the parking lot but in a different direction.

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