1st hunt | video

[momchester]

[The video starts a bit awkwardly, with the shakycam and fumbling of someone who isn't very practiced at the art of video chatting. A late-20-something woman's face is up close, clearly trying to figure out "how does I tech". After some fumbling, the camera stills and she sits back, looking a bit awkward.]

Okay. So, I guess this is what people do here. Calling the Internet using cameras.

[She looks too young and modern to be so fail at technology.]

Anyway- hi. I'm new.

Let's just say I didn't go to the, um, shitshow today- Thank God... Let's say I'm not gonna register. Don't wanna put on tights and fight crime, or whatever.

What're my options? Learn to knit? [There are at least three (3) guns visible in the video. She does not look like a knitter.] Start a [air quotes] "blog"?

I can't exactly do what I did back home- no monsters to hunt. No day job to go back to.

I kinda don't know what to do with myself.

Comments

[audio ; private]

[failedparenting]

[That feel when you look ve your wife but she's really fuckin' frustrating on occasion.

Ah, love.]

Baby, how about we don't tell everyone we hunt?

[momchester]

But we don't anymore.

audio; private

[heckblazer]

They're still here, love, just harder to spot.

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[momchester]

My husband says the same thing. But- if they aren't hurting anybody, is there really a point?

voice;

[momchester]

Monsters. The kind that eat people.

video;

[9544]

There are tights involved? Wow, nobody told me that was in the fine-print.

[ Jake waves a hand at the camera. ]

Juuuust kidding. Hi - Jake Peralta, newly registered non-tights-wearing self-proclaimed superhero at your service.

So what's this thing about ... monsters?

video;

[momchester]

[A little half-smile.]

Hi, Jake. [small wave] Mary Winchester, official new meat and temporarily off-the-grid drifter at your service.

[She leans forward conspiratorially.]

You know, I think there are tights, but they haven't gotten around to handing them out yet. They're a little busy in de Chima. Just you wait.

[ Video ]

[ghoulking]

Hunting monsters. What kind?

[ Video ]

[momchester]

The deadly kind. I don't miss it.

[I mean it's mostly true??]

Video

[drivesadesk]

Hunting monsters? What sort of monsters?

Video

[momchester]

[Through a mouthful of sandwich.]

The kind that eat people. Man, everyone's getting so hung up on that.

video;

[song_of_ice]

You'll find there are still threats to the city, even without registering. People will still need help, whether or not you wish to be official. You won't have very much reason to sit to side.

They might not be the same monsters you faced back home, but you will find strange creatures sometimes or threats that are supernatural.

video;

[momchester]

If I'm not registered, isn't that a crime called vigilantism?

[Said softly, but with a tone that suggests she isn't a stranger to breaking the law.]

video;

[itistolaugh]

Okay you have got to meet my friend John.

[ She is not calling him by his ridiculous fake name. ]

video;

[momchester]

Nah, sounds like an idiot.

[Look closer, Harley. She's in John's motel room.]

[text;]

[directordisaster]

From what I've heard, there's rather a lot of options for us ImPorts to do. And you don't have to fight crime if you register.

A "shitshow" though. That's a mild way of putting it.

[text;]

[momchester]

I guess I just don't know where to go from here. It was easier with fewer options.

What do you do?

text.

[functusofficio]

They provide everyone with a job to start with. That is one place to begin, here.

text.

[momchester]

I'm in a different city than they assigned me to.

Video ID: Sparrow

[bestpirate]

[Jack lowers his bottle of rum when he first catches a glimpse of this lovely but distressed blond. At first, the pirate swore it was none other than Miss Swann in the flesh. As much as he tries to forget her, Jack cannot forget the subtle fullness of her petal soft lips or the fiery spirit lurking behind those bright green eyes. Nevertheless, he's mildly disappointed when it turns out not to be her. He holds some feelings of amour for Miss Swann but those feelings are overshadowed by the crushing loneliness of being so far away from home.

He greets this young woman with a joyless smile that suddenly turns a tad wolfish once he gets a better look at her...assets. Much like with Padmé, he likes what he sees.]

At least you were given more choice than I! I'll admit I was quite inebriated when they sworn me in, lass.

[momchester]

[Seeing someone who appears to have stumbled out of a Disneyland ride is a bit surreal for her at first. She blinks a few times, trying to move past it and actually hear his words.

Turns out, his words are funny.]

Oh, really? I hope for your sake that wasn't yesterday.

video.

[littlemissfutility]

Didn't they give you a job? It should've been in your file.

[That's how it worked for her, anyway. She tilts her head a little.]

It isn't a superhero thing. Just a...regular person thing.

video.

[momchester]

My assigned job? Are you kidding? I don't need that retail hell.

Anyway, I'm in a different city than my assignment.

video;

[cleptes]

[Hunting monsters? It could absolutely be a coincidence or not. Bela hoped it was the former.]

You could blog about guns. [Yeah, she saw them.] Most people tend to go to their job they were assigned.

I'm registered, but I don't fight crime.

video;

[momchester]

[Well, the fact that she introduced herself as "Mary Winchester" to someone else in this post definitely isn't coincidence.]

What's a blog, anyway? It's some kind of internet thing, right?

[Text]

[pale_blue_arrow]

a lot of places will hire imPorts - that's us, for clarification - just because the locals are curious about us. drums up business. any job that requires a degree, you'd have to prove you have the skills for.

but you could be a self-defense instructor or bite the metaphorical bullet and do a normal job search. apartments here can be rented by non-natives, it just takes a while to find a place. my boyfriend and i found one in nonah, though, so i've got some info on finding a spot there.

it's always possible to squat in government housing, too. they won't kick you out right away. i'd give it a month before you'd have to put in serious worry on that.

[Text]

[momchester]

Thanks for the low-down. You're the first person to really lay it out like that.

Self-defense could be fun. Teaching people how to beat the tar out of other people and getting paid for it?

[video]

[carbonfrozen]

Yeah, sure, learn to knit. I'm sure you'll be a great knitter.

[Lady you have three guns in the background. Han's absolutely certain she's going to run up against the law at some point down the line.]

You got a lot of options, besides fighting crime. I think most of us who get dragged here just end up not fighting crime at all. [A shrug.] Just seems like too much work.

[video]

[momchester]

[HEY listen u smartass]

I knit you a sweater. It might not even fall apart.

[Don't count on it.]

So what do you do to pass your time?

video

[inflated]

What kinda monsters were you - [ Seifer inserts some air quotes here. ] - huntin'?

video

[momchester]

All kinds. [Through a mouthful of potato chip:] Lately it's mostly demons and vampires.

[hombrenuevo]

You don't have to let that stop you. I still hunt!

[ Says the 13 yo. ]

Although, I don't like to call them monsters. It's prejudice, you know? I prefer the term cryptids. Or UMAs.

[momchester]

How old are you, kid?

[am_i_a_monster]

You could hunt animals.

Didn't they give you a day job?

[momchester]

Yeah- a boring cash-register job. Who wants that?

voice;

[dejerate]

You talk about hunting monsters. I guess this place might seem pretty tame in comparison. I know what you mean. Back home, I joined the military to hunt vampires. Now? I'm an ice cream truck driver studying to work with kids.

[Which makes more sense once one realizes his past. What he went through as a kid and how he wants to help others kids not end up like that. For all that Yuu vowed to avenge his lost orphan 'family' by killing all the vampires back home. Helping other kids is all he really wanted to do once it was over. Here? He has that chance.]

voice;

[momchester]

For a weird superhero world, it seems surprisingly normal.