The Horsemen of Apocalypse

[Skellybones]

She spread her hands, sly smile on her face. "Do what you wish. I am no mother." She mounted her horse. It hauled its upper body into the air as she adressed the girl once more. "It's a heck of a long way in that-" she pointed vauguely. "Direction." Before spurring her horse away. If the girl wanted her help, she'd just have to call, like anyone else had too.

[freezerpup]

I dont need your help! Skye shouted. What's up with her, him, it? If its not human and not fake, what is it? If its called Death why did it not bring Death? Maybe it brought the death to my family, Skye thought to herself.

 

Death wait! Come back here please! Shouted Skye beside an empty road.

Edited May 26, 2013 by freezerpup

[Skellybones]

Death ignored the voice at first, but, unlike what the girl had actually yelled, it continued echoing in her head, growing louder, louder. It drummed in her head. She hated it when she was summoned, it always left her with a headache afterwards. But it was an extremely efficient way of travelling. I the sky, the horse and its rider rode on moment. The next, they were rounding the corner of the road, running straight toward the girl. Death narrowed her eyes, her scythe suddenly disappearing from her arms as she charged headlong into the human. She caught her, and lifted the girl onto her horse's back, swinging her arms up and around. Mild annoyance grew. "So now you think you need my help, eh?" She growled, suddenly sounding older than she looked.

[freezerpup]

No, I just need to ask you something. Said Skye Curiously. You know the way you were there when my parents died in the car crash? Did you make that happen? Asked Skye with a frown on her face. Edited May 26, 2013 by freezerpup

[Arctic]

The immortal smiled politely at her as she stood, very casually and dismissively replying, "Very well." As she walked away, she would feel as if she was being watched by something otherworldly and, as soon as she disappeared in to the kitchen, the feeling subsided. Once she left with the tray of food for another party, the man still sat at his table, though his food was gone and the plate was set aside. His glass was empty and his hands were interlocked and rested on the table. His hat was fixed upon his head and he sat statuesque, eyes focused not on the screens above, but on a window nearby looking out upon the street. It had begun to rain.

Edited May 26, 2013 by Arctic

[Limitless]

(( Here, we'll timeskip too and be about where the rest of the group is. ))

 

Through the rest of the evening, for as long as the man was there, Nicole gave him something of a wider berth than her usual strange customers. Everything else felt so bland, so dull, and she didn't realize she'd been watching him until one of her regulars started teasing her about how she kept staring over there. She laughed, and did her best to act normal, but couldn't get her mind off of him.

 

Nicole stopped by to check in on him a little less than regularly, sighing dramatically about the rain and letting herself get lost in thought. She didn't realize how late it was until several of her late-night regulars and co-workers started bidding her a good night and heading home.

 

Ultor was still there, and she sighed as one of the other girls went over to tell him it was about closing time.

Edited May 26, 2013 by Limitless

[Arctic]

The man rarely moved, except to assure the occasional waitress or general manager who approached him that he was fine. Each time, he came up with the same excuse; that he was waiting for someone who would arrive shortly. And every time someone came back to check in on him, they had seem to have forgotten, and once more responded to the excuse as if he had freshly walked in to the bar and taken a seat. Perhaps the only person exempt from that charade was Nicole. If he was truly waiting for someone, he had been waiting for hours on end now, but no one but her seemed to have the capacity to realize that. In addition to that, as soon as the parties had departed from the two tables nearest him, they remained empty for the rest of the night, yet even this went by unacknowledged by the rest of the waitstaff.

 

As nightfall came and another waitress approached to inform him closing time was imminent, he simply turned his head and smiled. "Oh, yes, my dear, I realize. I am waiting for a friend, and they will be along shortly." He nodded and, without waiting for a response, looked out back towards the street.

 

The waitress left him alone, seeming to acknowledge this as a perfectly reasonable statement.

[Limitless]

She frowned slightly as the girl walked away, seeming to not have a care in the world. Nicole didn't enjoy prying into other people's business like this, but it had gone far enough. She had noticed the tables remaining empty, had listened as he said the same thing over and over, and had had enough of it.

 

Holding her head slightly higher than usual and walking slowly to hang up her apron and check out for the night, she made up her mind. She was going to ask about this, but write down what she'd seen and heard first. Slowly, deliberately, she pulled a sheet off of the notebook she took orders in and wrote it down, folding the paper up and sticking it in her pocket before collecting her coat and umbrella.

 

Nicole walked out towards his table as though she was approaching a trap, and with a soft hum, settled herself down across from him, one hand on the table, the other seeming to support her head as she, too, looked out the window. The silence resumed and held, and she waited.

 

After several more moments, she let out another small, slightly more dramatic hum, and looked at him, seeming almost wounded by his silence.

[Arctic]

Ultor looked out in to the darkness - broken only by streetlamps and carlights - with a straight face and thin lips. When Nicole sat at his table, he did not look over or acknowledge her. When she began to hum, though, and looked to him, his head turned with hers and he locked eyes with her. The gaze was intense for only a fraction of a second before his features softened and his thin lips curled in to the slightest of smiles.

 

"Ah. Nicole. Good evening," he greeted her casually. There was nothing else, no more words. He didn't try to explain himself, he didn't try to tell her that he was waiting for someone. He simply sat, smiled and looked in to her eyes as if they had been friends for years.

[Limitless]

She held his gaze, something like a mix between defiance, determination, and intense curiosity in her eyes. This what exactly what she wanted him to see, and when the initial intensity on his part softened, she let her own expression soften, slightly tilting her head to acknowledge him.

 

A small warning bell went off in the back of her mind as more and more people trickled out of the already rather quiet bar, but she ignored it.

 

"Good evening, Ultor." She moved only her eyes, inspecting where the wall met the ceiling above them, then watching the rain a moment longer, then finally swinging her gaze back to him. She, too, seemed at ease, as though with a friend.

 

"Whom might we be waiting for, darling, if you don't mind me asking?" Nothing abrasive, nothing like an attack, yet almost definitely a strike. Simply phrased, it seemed to carry more questions with it that Nicole had the good sense and manners not to ask in such a place. Why have you been scaring my customers away from these tables, what mind games have you been playing on my co-workers, and most of all, who, or what, are you really?

 

She simply smiled, now watching him the way an alley cat would watch another, larger cat who had come to challenge her for her supper.

[Arctic]

Ultor kept his hands interlocked on the table, still wearing that same friendly smile. Strangely enough, the table had been washed since he'd eaten, something normally reserved for after a customer had stood up and left. Additionally, as far as Nicole could tell, the man had never paid for the meal nor drinks he had ordered, nor that of his friend's. He did leave a ten quid tip, however, which was neatly folded and weighted down by the sugar container on the table. No one had taken it yet, clearly.

 

He simply smiled wider for a moment then looked back to the window, but not before his eyes seemed to shift and look beyond her eyes, as if he could see her thoughts, all of her unasked questions. Silence fell over them. He sat in it, undisturbed, basking in it. Just at the point where the silence became maddening, where discomfort had filled that corner of the bar, just when Nicole was beginning to get that nervous itch that all humans got, he spoke up. He did not look over when he did.

 

"You know? I don't rightly remember. How quaint." The words were so casual, so human, it was almost piercing in nature.

[Limitless]

She involuntarily shook once as if she'd been slapped, but quickly managed to regain composure. Smile a bit less confident than before, she nodded.

 

"I see. Then, are we really still waiting for them? Perhaps they've forgotten, too. At any rate, darling, we'd really better go. They're about to turn off the lights and lock the place up." Nicole smiled again, ignoring the money on the table, completely ignoring the fact that he had never paid what he owed, and stood slightly, adjusting her coat and and slowly fluttering her lashes.

 

"Shall we, darling~?" she queried lightly, cocking her head slightly and lifting her hand as though she intended to place it on his arm when he stood.

[Arctic]

The man simply nodded. Whether or not Nicole was looking at him when he did, the nod was as apparent as if he had spoken. He stood to his full height, towering over the waitress, and affixed his hat on his head. He gathered his camera equipment from under the booth seat and adjusted it on his shoulder, heading for the door. "I'm truly surprised you work in a place like this."

[Limitless]

Nicole gave a whimsical laugh, the first real laugh anyone would have heard from her all evening, and followed him to the door, letting the hand drop. She hadn't noticed his gear before; perhaps he was an artist, rather than a businessman? That might suit him better.

 

"And why do you say that, darling?" She replied, dipping her head gracefully as he held the door open for her. Her umbrella opened with a slight pop, large enough to shelter both of them, though Nicole seemed to have a difficult time holding it high enough gracefully so that it didn't scrape the top of his head. It seemed she was accustomed to walking home with others in the rain.

[Arctic]

After only a few paces, he stepped off to the side of Nicole and out in to the rain, relieving her of the burden of holding the umbrella so high and so strenuously. He didn't acknowledge the movement, and seemed altogether unburdened by the stormy weather. "You're flirtatious. In a pub as common and dark as that, you would be swarmed over with the wrong sorts of attention. You would do well as a dancer of any sort," he commented dryly, turning his eyes up to the sky for a couple moments.

[Limitless]

Nicole pouted at him for a moment, but lowered the umbrella. She was not incredibly happy that he had simply moved, and was now walking in the rain, but she wasn't the kind of person to inconvenience herself quite that much to maintain appearances.

 

She cooed slightly at his comment. "Darling, surely you're not worried about me? That's so sweet of you." She seemed to wiggle slightly, fluttering her lashes and smiling at him. "But don't you worry, little Nicole knows how to handle herself, and makes sure the boys know that they may look but not touch when she flirts with them." There was an edge behind her sugary voice, insinuating that Nicole had been forced to lay down the rules with more than one unruly customer.

 

Silence overtook them again for a moment as she sighed and thought about what he had said. "I do appreciate your compliment, dear, but I simply don't have the body to be a dancer." Regardless of this, if Ultor had been watching, he would have noticed a little extra sway in her hips as she walked.

[Arctic]

"Dancing is a form of art and needs no certain body to use as a paintbrush, but if you insist," the man replied simply. He raises his left hand and tugged down his sleeve, glancing at his wristwatch. He seemed to have no qualms about getting it wet. After a moment, they turned on to a side street at the same time. He was not following Nicole, nor was he leading her. He seemed to know precisely where she was going, anticipating movements before they happened. He said nothing further, looking forward with a resigned yet firm expression.

[Limitless]

She, too, let the silence take over again, starting to grow afraid. Nicole had never been the most imaginative person, but now she felt cold where she hadn't before, and images of herself, torn and bloodied in a heap, shoved themselves into her mind. She wasn't entirely afraid of the man walking beside her, but he was not helping.

 

When they both turned at the same time, she abruptly stopped, backing away from him slightly and looking up at him, eyes wide.

 

"Wh-what are you...?" she whispered, swallowing, clearly at some sort of breaking point. Down the street, at the end of the alley, houses could be seen, and though she knew that if she started running before he did she might make it to her own, just barely out of sight, Nicole was frozen in fear, eyes reflecting what little light the lamps provided in the rainy weather.

[Arctic]

The immortal stopped just as Nicole did, and in anticipation he looked down just as she asked her question. He smiled at her politely and simply offered his arm to her, saying nothing. He stood like a statue, like a soldier at attention, although his face had softened and it held no hostility in its chiseled features. "You may take my arm, walk with me and hear my voice, or you may depart from me, scurry home and spend a lifetime wondering."

[Limitless]

Nicole trembled, working hard to keep her eyes from filling with tears. Scraping together the little dignity she felt she had left at this point, she exhaled, looked around, then took his arm, looking up at him.

 

While she knew - or, felt, really - that this man meant her no harm, she couldn't help but feel as though she were a lamb being led to slaughter. She took a steadying breath, then looked forward again, walking.

 

"Where are we headed now, darling...?" she asked softly, unable to keep the quivering from her voice.

[Arctic]

The man didn't reply to her question, simply walking arm in arm with her for another two blocks before they stopped to wait at a light. Only then did he speak, looking both ways as he did so. "I'd like you to choose a year, any year, from when humanity first took root on this Earth." The words themselves were innocuous and innocent, but behind them was an intense weight. It came almost as a dare rather than a request - choose a year, choose a time, choose a civilization, and I will tell you what I am. I will tell you who I was. I will tell you what I caused.

[Limitless]

As they walked, Nicole looked at nobody, keeping her eyes slightly downcast as she walked forward. There was no other direction at this point.

 

She was silent for a moment, thinking about his question, then she seemed to catch some of what he was saying and her eyes widened slightly. She shivered, drawing a little closer to him out of habit as memories of sitting in church, partially listening to the old man raving stories she only believed to please her mother, and panted once. She wasn't at all sure what he could be, demon or strange angel, but knew he was definitely not human.

 

Finally, she exhaled, and murmured just loud enough to be heard, "Year 1572."

[Arctic]

"A dull year indeed," the man replied. Once the light indicated for them to walk, he strolled through the crosswalk with her and resumed speaking. "I am he who spoke as King Charles, I am he who fought as Spain, he who abolished an empire, he who waged war on Sancerre and slaughtered the protestants." There was a brief pause and, as chipper as he could be, he simply said, "Another." His eyes remained forward facing the entire time they walked.

[Limitless]

She was even less sure now, but leaning towards demon.

 

"1938." she whispered. "1361, 1096, 1212, 1639..." Nicole shook her head.

Edited May 27, 2013 by Limitless

[Skellybones]

Death gave a quiet laugh, her horse swinging around, turning back towards the village from which she had picked the girl up from. Travelling by ground took more time, but seemed to make the human calmer. "I was there, but me, cause a car crash?" A smile spread across her face. "No. I may rid this world of certain... people, but otherwise I let humans run their course in life." The girl was in front of her, and Death held a protective arm around her waist. Mortals tended to get a bit overbalanced, which would leave to an ungraceful descent from the back of her horse. The other had held the scythe.