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

[9544]

[ No?

Nothing?

Oh, well. ]

Wow, never been to a zoo? Zebras are awesome. But we're digressing -- okay, fine. Fair point. So! These things. You said you hunt them? Hunt them for what? And please don't say 'for funsies' because it's bad enough every nightmare I've ever had is real.

[momchester]

[Success. She loves it when the skeptics buckle.]

I hunt them because they hurt people, and- someone has to.

[I mean, really. Why do you catch criminals, Jake?

Although Mary doesn't actually sound condescending. Her answer is very simple.]

[9544]

[ There are sickos in this world! There are also shady cops who do a lot of bad things in the name of good, so it's not reallllly out of his realm to be suspicious.

Especially when actual monsters are involved. ]

Good answer. [ He was hoping she'd say that. ] You pass!

So what's it like? How do you even get started in something like that?

[momchester]

Heh. [Funny dude.] Thanks.

[Ah. This question.]

Well, there are pretty much two ways. Be raised into it, or... learn about monsters the hard way.

[9544]

And which one were you?

[ Both options sound kinda tragic, but ... maybe there's a less tragic backstory to follow?

Maybe? ]

[momchester]

Column A.

[There's something about the way she says it- not quite as lightly as you'd expect. It's a subtle but detectable tone of "you are not high level enough to unlock this tragic backstory."]

[9544]

[ Not yet, anyway. But people tend to share their personal stories with him ... maybe not now, but eventually.

Jake's just that kind of guy.

Or maybe that's just because he's friends with Charles Boyle, and Charles Boyle shares his personal stories with him.




Never mind, doesn't matter, not important. Moving on! ]

Are we talking like, a generations thing? That's one hell of a creepy heirloom to inherit. Or a ... cool one? Maybe?

I mean, you've gotta have some pretty awesome stories.

[momchester]

A few.

[What a can of "once caught a fish this big" you've opened, Jake.]

The Campbells were chopping heads off of vamps all the way back on the Mayflower.

[9544]

[ He's into it. Tell him all your stories. ]

I mean, I guess vamps have probably been around for longer than that, so yeah. The story checks out.

Ooh - who's the most badass vampire you've ever smoked? Was his name Dracula? Did a Dracula ever exist?

[momchester]

[She laughs a little.]

I don't think there was ever a Dracula. A lot of that "lore" is wrong.

Most badass vamp? [She bites her lip in thought.] Um... well, back home, we were going after the Alpha vamp soon, but we hadn't tracked him down just yet.

[9544]

Oh man, he is good. [ Beat. ] Not that I know anything about your abilities, and I'm totally just gathering this based on the fact that you've been this gig all your life, and for generations.

[ But clearly she knows her shit.

And this is a whole new world Jake is learning about, because about ten minutes ago he didn't really believe this stuff could actually exist. ]

Alpha vamp? Sounds terrifying. How old must that guy be?

[momchester]

Oh- millennia, at least. He's the first vampire ever created, and is connected to all of them. Almost like their vampire god.

[9544]

Vampire god? [ A god of vampires. Ughhhhh why is this reality??? ] How is there a vampire god? Jeez. Okay, so what happens if he dies? Do the rest of them die too?

This is crazy. Is this real? [ Don't mind the mild freakout. ] The world is a scary place.

[momchester]

My world. [Quick with the correction.] It might not be the same one as yours. Even if it is- then you know the world's full of people like me, who know. Who hunt them, so people like you can sleep at night.

[9544]

Man, do us normies owe you a debt of gratitude.

[ Seriously.

Maybe he better check under his bed next time, just to be sure there aren't creepy-crawlies living under there without his knowing.

(He hasn't done that since he was six.) ]

Are there a lot of guys like you? Like big task forces? Factions? A top-secret department somewhere in DC?

You ever heard of the Men in Black? Are they real, too?

[momchester]

[Okay, Jake, Mary officially likes you.]

Men in Black?

OH. Is that the alien movie?

[Someone missed out on 33 years of pop culture.]

[9544]

Uh-huh. [ Affirmative on the alien movie. ] Oh, man. If they're real too, then it's like the whole world I know is a lie.

[ But -- ]

A glorious lie.