Feb 19 06:23:04 109 PA - Bear to Play Fullback For the Bears of the Lady
From Chronicles
Feb 19 06:23:04 109 PA.
MONIQUE'S ROOMS
Gabriel doesn't keep tabs on people with photographs and surveillance, but he has spent his adult life noticing things. An Eskimo girl might be hard to notice without paying attention. An Eskimo girl accompanied by a giant polar bear? Not much trouble to find the building. He arrives at Raleigh's with his greatcoat swirling behind him in a stiff winter storm. A quick check of the directory leads up to room three. After a sudden shake to get the remaining snow from his shoulders and boots, he knocks politely on the door. Three knocks, no more.
A short Eskimo girl might be hard to see, were she traveling alone. But Monique is never alone, and Tornaq rather likes it that way. It helps to keep the both of them safer, after all. As the knock comes upon the door, Monique shifts her position and eyes the door, remaining settled upon the one piece of furniture in the room -- the bean bag chair. Unfolding her legs from beneath her, she rises to her feet, carrying with her a mug of clay 'bowl' of tea. Her feet are bare, but otherwise she's dressed as she normally is. Reaching the door, she takes a peek through the peephole, and then she opens it before gesturing for Gabriel to come inside. "Good morning, Gabriel," she says softly. Tornaq is settled on his rump, comfortable and staring towards the door.
Gabriel greets Monique as he would any lady - very politely. His head dips, which is something, as they're pretty close to the same height. "Good morning, Monique. I hope you're doing well. Very sorry if I'm disturbing you, I can come back if another time is better. I'm afraid I don't know your regular schedule." At the end of his short statement his hands have come together, palms against one another near the bottom of his ribcage.
A smile touches at the corners of her lips, and Monique softly shakes her head a bit. "Ah, no... it's no disturbance that you have come this morning. I was just having a cup of tea. I have a typically predictable schedule, sometimes," she says softly, her tone holding a thoughtful cast to it and her dark eyes showing a slight sparkle. "I am doing well, thank you. And I hope you are, as well. Please, come in," she offers, gesturing slightly to make an offer the interior of her apartment to him.
Sweeping his greatcoat past him so that he can move through the portal without bumping his hostess, he immediately looks around for the bear. Hard to miss, of course. Still, Gabriel hasn't yet determined how to greet Tornaq. Wave? Say hello? Give yourself ears with your hands and say, 'boogedy-boogedy?' In the end, he opts to simply move in, with his few weapons hanging off. He's quite unlike most people of his ilk. His 'ilk' being normal squishy people. "Nice place," he comments, "It's very... minimalistic."
The great white bear offers a nod of his head by way of greeting, giving a rumble of sound as well. "I own little, and so I have little," Monique says softly, her tone holding a thoughtful cast to it. A smile touches at the corners of her lips, and she closes the door after he's inside. "The bean bag chair, Sebastien brought for me," she says, giving a small nod. "Can I get you a cup of tea?" she offers, raising an eyebrow slightly.
With a slow shake of his head, Gabriel politely declines. However, he does ask, "If you have just a glass of water, that would be very nice, thank you." Tornaq gets a look, and the human man in the room makes his own amused rumbling sound, then walks closer to the beast - keeping a polite and respectful distance, but closer. "I've really come here to talk about you, my large Ursus."
Monique tilts her head slightly to one side, and then she gives a small nod. "Of course, I have water as well," she says softly, a smile touching her lips. She steps over to the kitchen area, pausing to place her tea on the counter. A cupboard is opened and she retrieves a glass, which she fills with water from a jug in the fridge before offering it to him. She does, at least, use some common technologies. But the fridge really doesn't have anything else in it, and the light bulb is burnt out and has been for who knows how long. "Here you go," she offers, giving a small nod to him. "You wish to speak of Tornaq?" she asks, curiosity to her voice. The great white bear rumbles out of curiosity as well, blinking a time or two as he peers at Gabriel.
Gabriel thanks his host as he takes the water, allowing a moment to sip from it. Things can be strange when you're living in winter, but still feel like having something cold. His eyes turn from Tornaq to Monique. "To be honest, I'm not sure who I'm supposed to speak to, Monique. Not quite sure what Tornaq is. But I'm come here to tell you in detail what I need of you - or more specifically, of Tornaq." He sips again, then uses the glass as a small pointing mechanism. "I've been making the rounds to everyone regarding details."
Monique gives a small nod to Gabriel, a smile coming to the corners of her lips. "You can speak to either me or to Tornaq. He understands what you say, and he and I... well, we have a way of communicating between us," she says, a thoughtful cast to her voice. "Please, speak freely to us both... I'm not sure what it is that you need or want of us, but we will do what we can," she says, a smile coming to her lips again. She reclaims her 'bowl' of tea, holding it between her hands, and she lifts it to take a sip.
"Okay," Gabriel says, shrugging slowly to both. "Tornaq, you're the biggest, fastest and scariest of all of us. We know that there are eleven zombies down there just waiting to cause trouble. I'm going to drop the staircase with a grenade, then I need you to jump down, and just run into the zombies. You don't need to try to hurt them, just run through them, knocking them off their feet. I need you to be a pinball going between bumpers and loading up a real high score." He looks at both again, then adds, "We'll all be following you as fast as we can, but you're the only one who can knock down the pins and take them out of the fight that quickly. Once we're in, we can deal with them more normally, grenades and such. But I need you for that first hit. I'll give you an honorary appointment as fullback with the Chicago Bears, if I can find a jersey around here somewhere."
Tornaq tilts his head to one side, listening close to what Gabriel says, and he whuffs a breath of air. He glances to Monique, studying her for a long moment, and then he looks back to Gabriel. The pinball adage used doesn't really do anything for either the bear or the Inuit, since neither of them know what a pinball is. So Monique ends up looking confused by it. "So... you want him to just knock down everything in the way? He can do that, or at least... do all within his power to do so. I will armor him for it, and boost his strength so we will hit harder. He has no suit of armor to wear, like Sebastien or others do. It is perhaps something I should look into," Moniqud says softly, a smile touching her features. Tornaq gives a whuff and a nod to Gabriel. He'll do what he can to help.
"Good, thank you... both?" Gabriel smirks at himself, not entirely sure whom he's been addressing. "Yes, just run into them. Knock them over. Keep stomping on them. They'll be moving slowly, so it should be easy, and they're just mindless zombies who won't think to get out of the way." His eyes move over to meet Monique's. "He'll need armor though. They do have weapons. Of course, they should also be slow enough that they won't have time to move and aim. but you never know when someone's going to get off an accidental, stray lucky shot." He looks at Tornaq, unsure as if he's supposed to talk to the bear. In the end, the human wins out. "I'm afraid that I really don't know what your own powers are, Monique. I need some things done, and I just lost Bernard."
"You are welcome, Gabriel," Monique says softly, a smile touching at the corners of her lips. "Tornaq has no suit of armor, and I have never thought to have one made for him until now. But he will have Ithan's armor, which will serve him so long as they do not cause too much damage before he is able to knock them down. Do you know what sort of weapons they will have? I will be with him, and I will try to turn them, if I can," she says, giving a small nod. "I have... a few things that I can do. What is it that you need done? I am sorry, about Bernard... I hope he is all right?" she asks softly, concern to her voice.
Gabriel listens, frowns as he perhaps wonders who 'Ithan' is, but says nothing, allowing the little Eskimo to be the expert on the matter. He can't help but chuckle very slightly and the mention of Bernard. "Bernard has decided to stay out. He didn't give a reason, just 'after our talk.' But as far as I know, he's fine. Perhaps he's staying out because he doesn't believe that he can come out 'fine' if he participates?" The last is an honest question, though perhaps with a mild, mild derogatory hint in meaning. "Can you do anything to keep the vampires from moving? Right now they're trapped basically in four separate drawers. Bernard was going to seal them. But your, ah..." he holds his right hand in the are as if he were trying to screw in a large light bulb. "Light globe. If that was put up outside of the doors, would that keep them inside, because they couldn't open the doors?" He tucks his fingers together, then rather belatedly adds, "The zombies have vibro-blades, grenades and laser weapons of some kind. I'm afraid that my source isn't exactly a military type, and couldn't be any more specific."
"Tornaq and I... we may not come out fine, but we will still be part of the fight," Monique says, giving a small but grave sort of nod. She considers the question, tilting her head to one side a little. "I cannot seal them away, but, I can create the globes of daylight and they would be unlikely to be able to stand them, as they would be like the sun's light itself. It would effectively keep them trapped, but it does wear off, after a time. I would need... or at least wish to be near, to be able to recast them if the need should arise," she says softly, her tone holding a thoughtful cast to it. "So with the zombies, it is better to knock them out before they have a chance to use their weapons?"
The soldier of strange abilities, decisions and times thinks for a moment. "Yes, it's best to have Tornaq just knock over as many of them as possible. As I said, they will likely be mindless and slow enough to not put up much of a fight, if that can be accomplished." Gabriel then cups his chin between two fingers and a thumb. "How close do you need to be? And how long will they last?" His eyes shoot up to meet Monique's as he asks, "How large an area does this 'sunlight' cover?" Then his face quirks up a bit. "Tornaq can drop eight feet, right? Because I'm taking out the stairs. It seems the fastest way to get everyone down."
"I do not need to be close," Monique says, a thoughtful tone to her voice. She lifts a hand free of her bowl of tea, thoughtfully tapping her lip as she considers the question asked of her, and then she lowers her hand before taking another drink of tea. "Each globe will last for almost ten minutes once it has been cast. They are not very large, but they are very bright -- a thirty-six foot area of daylight, which I can move up to thirty feet away from me," she says softly. She quirks a smile, chuckling softly before giving a small nod. "Yes, Tornaq can drop that far. It is not so great a height for one as large as he," she says.
Gabriel nods, listening. "I really don't understand how magic works. Do you have enough... energy.. to armor Tornaq, and also to cast two of these artificial suns? That should be immense overkill, but when it comes to these vampires, I think that overkill can't be too much of a bad thing. That should be plenty of distance, too. The basement isn't terribly large, you'll only need to move twenty feet or so - at most - to get within range of the four hatches." He looks at Tornaq, and gives him a nod. "I don't know how vampires work. Or the undead. But from what I do know, I'd think you should save your energy with turning them... ah... not-not-living? Donna is very powerful, I think her own hold would be make them very powerful." He offers an open hand to the Eskimo girl. "If I can find a vendor in time, I'll be giving you a small box, a small machine that makes noise you can't hear. Probably unnecessary, but if the vampire tries a specific thing, it will help."
"I will have enough energy for that, and more than that, if the need is there," Monique says, giving a small nod to Gabriel. She can draw on Tornaq's power, to a point. "I do not know much of how vampires work, either. But, it will be something of a learning experience. The daylight will work better for keeping them at bay than what turning them likely would," she muses, a thoughtful note to her voice. "What will this box help with? I do not understand?"
The man smiles. "Well, you know, what I do isn't like Bartholemew, or even your close friend Sebastien. I fight, but I don't fight up front like they do." Gabriel offers a nod at that. "I take time to learn things, and figure out as much as I can to make things as easy as I can before I fight, which is why it has taken so long. But now I'm ready. I've been at the museum's library, doing what I can to study vampires. It's not easy, because, well... there are no vampires where I come from. Not real ones, anyway." He shrugs, perhaps not knowing if anyone in the room will understand that. "Anyway, it seems as if vampires can somehow conjure up, call in, whatever you want to call it, a bunch of bugs, rats, flies, all sorts of things that can make you uncomfortable. Can get in your mouth. Can get in your eyes. These little boxes, with their silent sound, will chase them off. Just wear it around your neck, and it will keep them out of your face, and off of your body." His eye turns to Tornaq, considering. "He might be able to hear, but it won't bother them."
Monique listens attentively, and then she gives a small nod. "So long as it will not bother Tornaq, then I will wear it, and I will use it," she says softly, a smile touching her lips. She's not against technology, she's just unfamiliar with it. "It would take more than rats or bugs to have me uncomfortable, though," she points out, sounding a trifle amused.
Gabriel chuckles and gathers his greatcoat around himself. "Yes, and me as well. But I've read that for some reason what the vampires bring in can make even the sturdiest man - or woman - squirm. But I should be going, I really do have a normal job to get to, and they really like it when I show up on time. If you have any questions, just call me over the radio." He drains his ice water, and searches for a place to put the glass. "Thanks for talking with me. Both of you?"
Monique smiles warmly at Gabriel, and then she gives a small nod. "Thank you, for coming to speak with us. We enjoy the company," she says softly. Tornaq rumbles softly and gives a nod as though agreeing with Monique's words. The glass finds a place easily enough there on the counter. "Be well, Gabriel. And if we have need, or questions, I'll be sure to call," she says softly.
Gabriel smiles, then heads out the door, eventually into the snow outside the building, on his way to points unknown.
