[Worm]

OCEANS OF TIME

Loosely based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
For Worm and sylvanspider only.
PM either of us if you'd like to be involved or feel free to lurk.
Please no posting without permission.

[Worm]

Elizabeth Bathory / Elizabeth Ward

Age: 207 years old
Sex: Female
Orientation: Lesbian
Species: Vampire
Occupation: Landlord

After two centuries, I still have not forgiven myself. I still see your face in every girl I feed from. The urge to touch your skin one last time, plagues me. Every breath I take feels like it was taken from you, now turnt to dirt. Oh, the saying how time heals all wounds, it isn't true.

Elizabeth keeps anonymity by remaining the widowed hermit with her husbands fortune. None of it was true, but it kept her from having visitors. As time flew forward, the pain of stretching a human body to these extents has become truly hell. She had to find new ways to lure her prey. This time, it would be through a new business venture. A grotto in central Wales had caught her eye. Little did she know that the heartbreak of centuries past would finally resurface.

William Shaw

Age: 20 years
Sex: Male
Orientation: Heterosexual (never questioned)
Species: Human
Occupation: Realtor

William was in the height of his young life, with a young bride-to-be and adventures abound. He was handsome, skilled and money was no object to him. His fiancé was no less than a prized object. She was the apple of his eye and the feeling was mutual. Their plan was to move to Italy and find their own farm and family. First, they must tie the knot after a new business offer from the strange widow outside of town.

Were the rumors true? A vampire in England?

They must all be mad.

[sylvanSpider]

Emily Barker

Age: 19 years old
Sex: Cis/Female
Orientation: Bi/leans toward women
Species: Human
Occupation: Lady

Miss Emily Barker was born and raised in London to the well-to-do Mr. and Mrs. Steven Barker, the latter not making out of the birthing chambers. The former, not having any idea how to raise a young woman, hired a nanny to aid him in taking care of his beloved daughter. He loved her more than anything and soon he saw the years ticking by. A decade, his little sweet was ten. Then eleven. Then twelve. By fourteen the pretty little thing was already gaining attention from the opposite sex. Thankfully, he still had a few years before he would have to give her up to another man.

Circumstances wouldn't allow him to see another year of his dear daughter's growth, however, as he grew sick that same year, and had died by the time young Miss Emily Barker was fifteen. He'd made her the sole inheritor of all of their wealth, and their estate was to be sold with the money from that, as well, going to his beloved daughter. Until she was of marrying age, he'd arranged to have her stay with a Mr. and Mrs. Trumbuckle, another well-to-do family who now had an empty nest. They were loving and took Emily in for her remaining youth as if she were their own daughter.

Simon Wegg

Age: 23 years old
Sex: Cis/Male
Orientation: Straight
Species: Augmented human*
Occupation: Helsing

Simon Wegg. Orphan. Raised himself on the streets since he was ten...until he was....found. He had been trying to steal a loaf of bread that was laid out in a windowsill to cool but the officer who caught him didn't take him in to the station. No, in fact, the little orphan boy roaming the streets wasn't ever seen again after that day, at least, not by many—and even then, he was never recognized.

Where he'd been taken instead was a long established institution in need of employees—the Church of England. It was an institution that dealt with things that did not belong in the realm of humans. He was trained to hunt and kill vampires, werewolves, exorcise demons. You name it. The young lad was quite clever indeed and soon found himself one of their leading helsings. Upon hearing of a vampire attack, a simple but gruesome murder they called it, in central Wales—he went.

[sylvanSpider]

Simon, despite the circles under his eyes, looked quite proper. His suit was perfectly tailored to his form, and for once, he even wore the outer jacket with his tie also perfectly in place. Dark hair framed his angular face, his thin lips staying in a perfectly neutral scowl as he prepared his bag for the day's endeavors. There was one thing he had to his advantage--the town of Flint was small, small enough that the interviews could potentially be finished in the course of one day when his actual investigations--and the hunt--could finally begin.

Glancing down at the most recent copy of the census he saw that the first on the list were a Mr. and Mrs. Somethingorother...erm...Adams. How unique! he thought to himself with some sense of sarcasm. Seeing no sense in lingering, he set out at precisely eight o' clock and before he knew it he was knocking at the door under a sign that read "Barber" in big, bold, black print.

[Worm]

Olivia was sweeping up the hair from a long day's work. Not much work had actually been done, however, as they'd only had two customers today. The weather outside was gloomy, and nobody liked the nape of their neck freshly shaved on days like this. So she took her time sweeping up the little bits, and even when they were all swept up, she swept some more. Her husband, Gerald, called from upstairs. "'Liv, someone's knocking on the door!"

Surely, someone was. She wasn't quite sure how Gerald always knew, but she couldn't hear a damned thing. She cracked open the door, a crease in her eyebrow from scowling. Yet in contrast, smile lines widened as she greeted the man at her door. "Yes, can I help you?" She tried to seem friendly in hopes of gaining a new customer.

[sylvanSpider]

Simon kept himself from looking at the woman from head to toe instead focusing on the woman's eyes--perhaps too intently. He cleared his throat in a somewhat dramatic gesture, straightening his tie and making a show of lifting the clipboard up to read from it, "Mrs. Adams, ehm...forgive me, but is there a man on the premises I may speak to?"

[Worm]

"Yeah, alright." She said, hand on her hip. Her front was covered in an apron, but you could still see folds in the fabric where her stomach and breasts would be. She wasn't a classy lady, but she was at least married. "GERALD, MAN AT THE DOOR-" She yelled over her shoulder before walking off to the shop. She began sweeping again, hoping that she'd be able to at least overhear the conversation. After all, the shop was right next to the door. The chairs were aligned vertically from the window which was to Simon's left.

In a matter of moments, a cascade of sounds erupted from upstairs. First, the creaking of floorboards, groaning and spitting, and then the clacking of a cane as the hobbled man walked down the stairs. He wasn't much older than Olivia, but he was worn and it was obvious. He had a large mole on his nose, which hung over his lip. He seemed to have a busted knee, only applying pressure to his right one. When he got to the door, he stopped only for a moment to catch his breath. "What can I do you for? A cut and shave?" He squinted, trying to make out the man's face.

[sylvanSpider]

Simon winced as the woman bellowed to her husband and winced again with the groaning from above and yet again as the clacking of the cane was heard. Straightening back up again and clearing his throat shaking his head, steady green eyes upon the man, "No sir. I'm here on a matter of much different business. You see, I am an investigator and as of last night, I'm on the job of a murder that happened here in Flint. Now, to begin, I'd like to ask, do you have any lodgers with you that I might interrogate all at the same time?"

[Worm]

Gerald leaned in, listening to the peculiar man's concerns. "Lodgers? You askin' for William?" He shook his head, skin under his neck flapping as he did so. "Why that boy's not capable of murder. He's as sweet as can be." He huffed, looking over the man. Olivia heard her boy's name and hurried over to the door, nearly pushing Gerald out of the way.
"What do you have to say about William?" She looked back up the stairs, hoping that the boy had either left early to finish his business affairs, or that he was still sleeping - even after all of this ruckus.

[sylvanSpider]

Simon kept his impeccable posture, looking back down at the clipboard as if it had any kind of merit whatsoever in an attempt to not cringe at the couple and looked back at Gerald, "I'm not implicating him just as I'm not implicating you, sir. I'm merely trying to collect information. Interviewing all the members of a household at once is the most efficient method and I have many...many households to visit before the sun sets this evening. Now if you would please call him down..."

[Worm]

Gerald shoved Olivia back from her hovering position, so he could speak man to man with the newcomer. "What makes you want to interview us? We're just homely people, trying to live our lives peacefully. Why don't you-"

"WILLIAM!" Olivia belted over Gerald's voice, the same way she had called her husband down. Gerald growled, looking over his shoulder towards the stairs. When nobody responded, Olivia continued. "Will?" She decided to go up the stairs towards the rickety ladder into the attic. Gerald sighed, inviting the man inside now.

"Name's Gerald, if you haven't figured that out. You are?" He squinted again, trying to decipher any lies from truth.

When Olivia made it up to the attic, a frantic shuffling was heard right after. She bounded down the ladder, then the stairs, tapping Gerald's shoulder to whisper in his ear. "Will's not home."

[sylvanSpider]

"I'm interviewing everyone--" Simon interjected before the man could take offense and before cringing when his wife's luminous voice again filled the cavity of the barber's shop. His eyes unwillingly went to the ceiling as if waiting for footsteps that only came when the wife Her Majesty herself went up."Not home? Is this normal, or perhaps he is away at business? I am interviewing business owners as well, perhaps I will see him there..."

He went inside all too willingly finding it deprecatingly awkward to be standing outside of their door for others to witness the chaos that he was now subject to (perhaps subject of) now. "My name is Wegg. Ehm...Simon Wegg."

[Worm]

"Good to meet you, eh, formally, Mr. Wegg." He extended a hand that showed heavy signs of arthritis. This was from years of holding scissors and blades. "Name's Gerald Blanchett. Wife's Olivia." She closed the door behind Simon, a worried look in her eyes.

"Yes, yes. He most likely went back to that old widow's house to finish up business with her. That's probably it." She had no ability to hide her anxiety. It was all too strange. After all, Will had mentioned breakfast the night before. It wasn't like him to leave without mention.

[sylvanSpider]

Simon took the hand, gently, more gently than he had done anything in his entire life fearing that even a touch would snap the man's finger in half, "It is a pleasure meeting you. Both. The old widow's house? Well, I shall be getting there soon enough." His plans to go through the town may have just been stinted. Having gained some information from the chief of police in the night prior, he was able to piece together that the last murder of this nature hadn't happened in Flint for the past decade, perhaps longer. If a vampire was lingering, they would have had the aged look of a very old person--or perhaps a vampire who hadn't been feeding. Regardless, his trip through the town could very well be stinted with an expedited trip to the widow's, but this he kept internal.

Externally, he struggled to smile in response to Mrs. Blachett's anxieties, "Yes, that must be it. I will visit her presently after I finish here, if only to ease your mind." After moving in from the door with it firmly shut behind him, he continued to stand awkwardly with his rigidly straight back, knees locked, one hand's fingers curled about a pen and the other holding the clipboard still more awkwardly in front of him. He cleared his throat.

"With that out of the way, shall I commence the interview?"

[Worm]

"Please do, Mr. Wegg." Gerald led the man to the right, where the modest living room was. Olivia hurried to the kitchen to make tea for her guest. At least he was kind enough to make his way up the large hill that barricaded Ms. Ward's home. No wonder she wanted another property, perhaps one closer to town? Neither of the Blanchett had talked to William about the widow's choice.

"Please, sit." Gerald motioned to a chair nearest the door. It was worn and perhaps not so comfortable. But Mrs. Blanchett spent most of her free time in this chair sewing, knitting and reading.

[sylvanSpider]

Mr. Wegg did exactly as he was invited, sitting stiffly on the stiff chair and swallowed, "Very well. The first question might very well make me the unfortunate bearer of bad news, but I must proceed regardless. Tell me, are you familiar with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas?"