The Underground Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
undergroundmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
undergrounds2017-01-22 11:27 pm
undergroundmods) wrote in undergrounds2017-01-22 11:27 pm
The Night Train
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.)
no subject
"You know," he said, shrugging and trying to play it off as not worth talking about,"work. ...and stuff."
Prowling around at dawn and dusk to keep his territory clearly marked as his, patrol for anyone and anything making trouble near his home, hunt a few dozen pigeons. Stuff. Stuff Jean-Claude didn't need to know the details. For reasons.
"You uh... having a good time? Happy with the election?" Get the topic back on the vampire and off of Daryl.
no subject
"Stuff," Jean-Claude repeats, with a smile, raising his eyebrows slightly in response to the other man's words. No, he is not certain he does know exactly, but he's willing to let it slide. He can hear the way that Daryl's heartbeat is speeding up, after all. The more nervous catch in his breathing. And he can't get enough of it. The way he knows it has a direct correlation with his proximity to the other man. The way he knows he affects him.
How he longs to do more than simply sit beside him, but he knows to be gentle with Daryl. To be slow and careful with him, lest he scare him away. He knows he has his attention, he knows that the other man wants him. There is no need to rush this time together. He is immortal, after all, or close to it. Time will never be a problem for one such as himself.
He allows the shifter to direct the conversation away from himself, understanding what it is that he is doing and going along with it anyway. He glances around at the people there gathered around them, giving a moment to consider his response, before he replies, "If you desire," yes, that was in fact a deliberate word choice, "my honest opinion on the matter, mon ami, I believe the people chose for the best. We have seen before what happens when too much power was allowed to go to one vampire's head." He turns to smile at Daryl, and the look in his eye is older, and a bit more serious than the normal flirtatious glint he offers as he continues, "I would like to keep mine attached for the time being, if it is all the same to the rest of the city."
no subject
"Sure they appreciate that," he said when Jean-Claude was done. "You keeping your head attached, I mean. The vampires, anyway. Know you ain't exactly welcome in Hillingdon right now, either, but most of us appreciate the hunt being called off so you got a little bit of support in that way. Still a vampire, but... you know... it's something."
He felt like he'd just put his foot in his mouth, but he was trying to be supportive and show Jean-Claude his efforts were appreciated without being dishonest about how much they were... outside of himself.
no subject
"It is something," he replies, gracefully. "Hillingdon is not in general all that much a fan of my kind. Even still." He tilts his head at the other man again. "I would hope that of all their number, there are at least a few among their number who can stand to see things differently. Non?"
no subject
no subject
"It is not easy to break old habit," he offers. "It is why so many people are so afraid of vampirekind. And why it is perhaps intelligent of them that they should be. I am doing my best to reform my people. But there are always those among the bunch who must be..." He smiles, tilting his head as he pretends to search for the right word. "How would you put it. Weeded out. Your people have had no trouble in assisting in such endeavors, however."