undergrounds | The Night Train

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It's the 22nd of January and the sun has disappeared behind the horizon. You're waiting at your nearest station when a sleek, metallic grey train pulls up at the platform. No one else can see it, only those who are aware of the supernatural world. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Night Train. Tonight the leaders of the Night Council will be making their annual introduction to the supernatural community – aboard a train that will make stops in every borough with a significant supernatural presence. Hop on and off whenever you like: this event is designed to be open to all. (Though for some reason the train won't be passing through East End or Seelie/Unseelie territory...)

The event takes place from 7pm-12 midnight Sunday 22nd January.

Rules of entry
• No weapons. Any weapons or objects that could be used as weapons will be confiscated.
• No drugs or alcohol except that provided at the event. Don't try to sneak any in.
• No violence. The train is cursed with a hex that will punish any trouble-causing passengers with a lightning strike. The Council doesn't mess around here.

Carriages
The train has five carriages, each one with a different theme. While the Night Council members are dispersed throughout the train, they are under no obligation to stay in their carriage and will likely move around to network and meet fellow members of the supernatural community. There are cameras and security guards in every carriage to ensure there is no trouble.

1) PRESIDENT / VICE PRESIDENT. At the front of the train is a carriage decked out as if for royalty. Surprisingly spacious, the carriage is decorated with gilt trimmings, a thick wine-red carpet and leather seating. Portraits of previous Presidents and Vice Presidents line the wall. Coffee, tea and wine is being served at tables interspersed throughout the carriage and finger sandwiches are available.

2) WITCH REPRESENTATIVE. The next carriage along belongs to the Witch Representative. It's rather like walking into a greenhouse: the entire place is full of herbs and other plants, and there are tables where you can sit and ask for advice or magical favours from witches with varying specialities: a healer, a herbalist, a psychic, a medium and a potions maker. Magical butterflies flutter along the ceiling and among the flowers like colourful lights. A small bar at the end of the carriage serves a variety of herbal teas.

3) VAMPIRE REPRESENTATIVE. The next carriage along belongs to the Vampire Representative. Decorated in a tasteful dark red, about half the carriage's length is taken up by a wine bar that serves a variety of alcoholic and blood-based drinks and snacks. The other half consists of leather seating where the seats face each other to allow guests to talk while enjoying a drink.

4) SHAPESHIFTER/META HUMAN REPRESENTATIVE. It seems that Yasmine decided her aim for the night was to let loose and avoid talking, since this carriage is basically a narrow dance floor. Club music blares out from speakers on the ceiling, there's a disco ball and strobe lighting, and all the windows are blacked out. A magical seal ensures that the noise is contained within this carriage, so you won't hear any of it until you step inside.

5) EMPTY CARRIAGE. There's nothing here apart from rows of seats that you might find on any ordinary train. A sign on the door says "WARNING: THIS CARRIAGE IS HAUNTED. KEEP OUT." If you ignore the sign and go in anyway, you might feel a sense of unease. The shadows seem unnaturally long and the lights will flicker on and off. Magically sensitive types will feel a strong sense of impending death and may experience visions of the seats being ripped apart and blood spattered on the walls. If you stick around even after that, the most magically sensitive person in the carriage will experience a vivid hallucination of their own death at the hands of a vampire. If you manage to endure that without fleeing, PM the mod to continue. (Don't worry, no one will die.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"A bit over six months now," she says easily. "We've been living together since September." Since Redbright moved against Midnight. Nancy had gone for safety to Cooper, over a Daybreak witch.

Yeah, Sylvia can put two and two together. Her eyebrows raise fractionally. After everything they've done for her, Nancy had neglected to mention the fact that she was shacking up with a vampire. She supposes she shouldn't be surprised. It's further proof of how closely Circle Midnight and the Islington Nest were working together when Raymond was in charge. It means she was right to act she did.

But still. The cheek of it. "You didn't tell us that at your hearing." Her tone is noticeably colder. "Did you not think it relevant?"

All they've done for her? Right, that's what they'd done, burning Abby's house to the ground. Attacking Midnight. Exiling her sisters. Her relationship hadn't been founded on politics, but rather a bond between two people. On emotions- and that's how she had acted.

"I said I lived with my boyfriend. No one asked who he was." They could have, and she would have told them. She just didn't volunteer the information other than she had a boyfriend. Because, well, it hadn't seemed relevant, no.

Her mouth tightens. "We did ask if there was anything else we should know."

She'd thought the girl vulnerable and in need of protection, offered her help to join a coven. It's clear now that Nancy had never intended to take up that offer. There are a lot of things she wants to say, but they're also in a carriage full of vampires with supernatural hearing. Saying what she really thinks would not be the wisest option given that the Islington Nest have only just rejoined the Council.

Then there's a voice at her shoulder. An annoyingly familiar one. "Hey, Auntie, you're wanted back in the President's carriage." It's Samantha, who then looks across and meets Nancy's eyes with a big smile. "Hey, I saw you with the Vamp Rep. And you're... not a vampire." She blinks, confused.

Apparently Samantha can sense tension from halfway across a carriage.

"Pardon me, but I didn't think my trial had anything to do with my boyfriend." She crosses an arm over her chest. Cooper hadn't even known about the damn thing until it was already happening.

Nancy's eyes move to Samantha immediately, and at once she finds herself returning the smile. Thank you, for interrupting, because she'd really rather not figure out if double jeopardy applied to the Night Council's decisions or not.

"No," Nancy says, "I'm not- I'm a witch. Cooper's my boyfriend." She says it plainly to show she has nothing to hide about it.

Samantha frowns, looking to Sylvia for an explanation. "This is Nancy," says Sylvia, by way of introduction. "She was with Circle Midnight, but now she's with the Nest. Nancy, this is Samantha."

"Oh," says Samantha, and now she's definitely looking at Nancy like she's some ugly specimen that crawled out from under a rock. Wow, Nancy, you've made some weird life choices.

Nancy knows that look. Keeping her chin high, she gives Samantha another smile. "Lovely to meet you." She had been raised to be polite. And so she was going to be just that.

Sylvia could frame Nancy to look as terrible as she liked. But if she was on her best behavior, it could still be hard to hate her, right?

Not to mention, if she was going to be around these sorts for some time now, it wouldn't be a good idea to burn any bridges now. "What brings you out tonight, Samantha?" They knew why Sylvia was here, and Nancy as well, but Samantha, she was the mystery.

Samantha is nothing if not expressive and her face now is showing disbelief as she turns back to Sylvia, ignoring Nancy. "Wow. Why are you talking to her? Back in Manchester we know how to deal with traitors." She turns her gaze back on Nancy, just to make sure she hears every word. "We shun them. They're no longer considered a witch at all."

As for Sylvia, she remains impassive. She'll let Samantha play her hand before she reveals hers. See how far that gets her.

Well then.

Nancy presses her lips together. What a way to want to make a girl want to join Daybreak.

"I'm not a traitor," she says, though it's almost a question. That was a very harsh label, especially when there had been absolutely no traitorous actions in her heart when she moved in with Cooper. What she'd wanted was safety. The same thing she'd wanted within Midnight.

"You switched out your coven for a nest of vampires. That makes you a traitor, sweetheart." Samantha shrugs, then takes Sylvia's arm. "Ready to go?"

Sylvia drains her glass, raising it front of Nancy with a somewhat apologetic expression ‐ the best she can do as a conciliatory gesture – before setting it down on the counter and departing with Samantha. She's not unsympathetic to Nancy's situation even after finding out about Cooper, but right now she doesn't feel inclined to defend her either.

"Only after mine was destroyed," Nancy shoots back, all pretension of behaving thrown out the window. Samantha was awful, and she didn't buy Sylvia's apologetic act at all.

She's not inclined to ask them to stay, however, instead turning to the rest of her drink. Who the hell was this witch, anyway? Maybe Cooper would know.

It doesn't matter, they're already gone. Sylvia disappears into the President's carriage to find whoever asked for her, while Samantha goes off to find a certain Vampire Representative...

The Night Train

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