Finders Keepers

[all_too_familiar]

Sometimes witches have powers before they turn. But this is rare, uncommon.

More often, a potential witch displays almost nothing out of the ordinary at all. Just, say, a little more skill with people, a little more natural charisma. An extra dose of something that could almost be called luck, if one were paying attention and on the lookout for witches.

There is one such maybe-potential, right over there. He's not from around here, but he is fluent in Italian and French and German and he professes that English is his first language and laughs when people call him a liar because of his perfect accent. He might not be the most powerful, but a polyglot witch could be useful for something. And who knows, maybe there's more to it.

Maybe someone would care to find out.

Comments

[poll_the_stars]

"Okay. We'll be here for a few more days, anyway."

[teleia]

"Yeah."




Rosalie ultimately decides to stick with Carlisle and Esme and Edward.

[all_too_familiar]

That's fine with Yvette and Blair, they just want to make sure Rosalie doesn't feel trapped. When it's time for everyone to go their separate ways, they wish the Cullens a fond farewell, and then it's off to Denali.

They don't stay there for very long; Yvette is a little antsy to get back to the correct side of the Atlantic, and doesn't find the Denali coven very interesting, though she's perfectly friendly. Blair is, quite predictably, very charming to all three of them.

But then Yvette would like to stalk a college's science department and several libraries and she can't do that as well in Alaska as she could elsewhere, so away they go. To the correct side of the Atlantic.

They go to England, because Yvette's missed it. She's introduced to the nearby covens, with Blair clarifying that she's under control now. They find her mildly novel, just like Blair, though she's a bit more so because she's also a newborn, but ultimately don't really care about her. This is fine by her. She parks near Oxford and stalks their science department. Who needs to enroll when you're a vampire with superpowers? Not her. She learns all of the best spots to listen to lectures, and listen she does.

Blair stays around her for a while, making sure that she's not going to eat anyone, but soon he gets a bit bored. His sister doesn't need a constant babysitter anymore. And his power's still not developed, it feels like he is out of shape. It's annoying. Niggling in his head that he's got a thing to work on to be better and isn't taking it. Now there aren't any emergencies to take care of, and everyone he cares about is safe. Time to go refine it.

He pokes at it on his own in London some more; there are enough people there to make it a pretty good place to practice finding people. He figures out how to set it to the equivalent of 'find all' and from there claws himself something that tells him where people are in a certain radius of himself. Woefully smaller than he'd like, but whatever. It's easier to use his vampire senses, but any minor power expansion is a victory, here.

From there - he's not sure how to get it better. Trying to speed up how quickly he gets a proper signature from people doesn't really work. He tries to get it to tell the difference between vampires and humans, but the power doesn't lend itself to that type of sorting.

Eventually, he gets a bit frustrated. He tries asking his power to lead him to someone that can help him fucking figure out his power.

[taste_tester]

Hiiiii.

[all_too_familiar]

Well. The person is a vampire. That - simplifies things, he guesses.

He goes to say hello.

[taste_tester]

His teacher is sitting in a café in Narbonne under a broad-brimmed sun hat with a characteristically picked-at croissant, people-watching.

She starts watching him in particular as soon as he comes within a block of her.

[all_too_familiar]

...

Why does he feel like he's an entrée at a restaurant?

She's unsettling, in a way that doesn't exactly make him want to run, but makes him want to have an ally present, some witness to make sure he's not about to be picked up and shipped off to who knows where to be eaten. Despite how vampires aren't very edible.

Well, he's not one for backing down when he's decided something, and she already knows he exists. Might as well be bold.

He walks up to her like he's meeting a friend, and then says, for the benefit of the humans nearby, "Hey! I wasn't expecting to see you here. Mind if I join you?"

[taste_tester]

"Oh, no, not at all," she replies fluidly, also in French. "It's so good to see you, how have you been?"

[all_too_familiar]

Oh, this'll be fun.

"Can't complain," he says, "I finally got back into travelling; I've missed it. The people you meet are so interesting."

[taste_tester]

"I find the same thing!" she agrees. "Been in France long?"

[all_too_familiar]

"Not very. My education in London was getting a bit dull, I thought it might help to have a change in scenery."

He's getting a lot from this conversation, at least from his power. Talking's the best way to let it do its privacy invasion thing, after all, even if the conversation's mostly bullshit.

[taste_tester]

"Oh, I haven't been in London for years. I find it a little crowded even for my tastes, do you know what I mean?"

England has a higher concentration of vampires than most places, for some reason...

[all_too_familiar]

But that's not really a problem if you eat animals. No competition for prey.

"I do," he says, "but I don't mind. If I keep to myself no one sees a reason to bother me."

[taste_tester]

"Like the quiet life?"

[all_too_familiar]

Blair shrugs. He mostly just doesn't want to get his arms ripped off by other vampires.

"Some of the characters in London can get a bit touchy. It's more that I don't want to get into trouble I can't get out of."

[taste_tester]

"I'm more of a risk-taker. Hasn't killed me yet."

[all_too_familiar]

"Well, whatever works for you."

Blair feels pretty justified in his measured and calculated unease. According to his power this woman is scary. Not just in the sense that she could likely kill him - that's not really a surprise, he's still very young, drinks animal blood, and has kept out of fights in general - but in the sense that she's just completely amoral. Very like she's focused on something else, but his power's not telling him just what that is.

... But he could hazard a guess, considering the circumstances. Does she hunt witches? Not to kill, certainly, but for something else. He just can't figure out what.

[taste_tester]

Maybe she will show him. "D'you want to get out of here? This croissant is not as good as I was hoping, you know how I get, we can catch up somewhere else."

[all_too_familiar]

This is about all he can get from his power on her, there's no point in keeping this up any longer.

"Yeah, sure. I don't know the area very well, you know a good place to go?"

[taste_tester]

"Oh yeah. I'm visiting with a friend, but she's going to be at work for hours. You'll try to get along with her if she gets home before you leave, won't you?"

[all_too_familiar]

Human or vampire? It's hard to tell, from that. Likely human, but it could be a vampire. Either one, he's not out for causing trouble.

"Of course," he assures.

[taste_tester]

"Good. I couldn't bear it if something happened to her, you know."

She leaves a few francs on the table and gets up and crooks her finger at Blair. "Thisaway."

[all_too_familiar]

Subtle.

Thisaway goes Blair.

[taste_tester]

His teacher's friend lives in an apartment above a boulangerie, three floors up.

His teacher lets herself in. The lock doesn't work.

The apartment doesn't smell like any vampires other than her.

"So," she says, rolling her long sleeves back from her hands. "What brings you to me?"

[all_too_familiar]

"I'm a witch. Tracker, personality-based; I get snippets of what the person's like along with where they are. It's not as good as it could be, and I hit a proverbial brick wall with training it alone. So I prodded it for help and it led me to you."