Living Shadows (IC)

[Sandman XI]

Wesley smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as Silhouette (Caroline?) woke up quite quickly. She was alive, that was a plus. Though a million questions ran through his head now. He thought of how to present them without sounding weak, but not overbearing either. He sighed, boy this was gonna be an eggshell walk. Let's start with the obvious. "I'm glad you're awake," he said in a gentle tone. "Don't worry," he said with a chuckle, "I got the number. Let's just say that truck is... dismantled." He sat down next to her where she was sitting. He tried hard to look not unhappily confused. It looked more stoic than unhappy. "Silhouette, there are some things I need to ask you." There was a pause. "I saw somethings while you were out. I am afraid I saw something that you would not want anyone to see in your guise. An identifying mark." He looked at her seriously, "I need you to tell me the truth though. The identifying mark was a tattoo. I guess this will give my identity away too. About a month and a half ago, you walked into my parlor and showed me a tattoo." With one final pause he got to the point. "Caroline, I need to know your true intentions. Why were you searching for drugs? Was the Silhouette cover story just because I found you?" He sighed, "I... I got worried that something was wrong over that month and a half and now my head races for the real reason you were gone. Please, tell me you were not using me for a patsy." He looked into Silhouette's eyes deeply. Hoping like hell he was wrong.

[Aoiroo]

Her head wasn't exactly in the best condition to process the first part, but her ears perked up almost immediately when she heard her name. Her hand went to her face as she let out a breath,

"Well shit."

Letting out another sigh she reached behind her and felt the tear in the back of her the fabric,

"My intention, for what exactly? My intention at the time when I entered the store was the intention I usually have whenever I wear short skimpy outfits and try to go out clubbing, information gathering. I won't deny I was lieing to you about the reasons I was talking to you in the store in the first place, but Silhouette isn't a lie."

Standing up she started to stretch her legs once more,

"My intentions for the last few months have been to stop the traffiking of designer drugs in Freedom. For that reason, I wear a mask, and when I wear a mask, I lie to people. When I'm not wearing the mask, I lie about the mask, to my friends, to my family, other heroes."

She paused for a second,

"By the way, can you promise not to tell Grim about this, I tried really freaking hard to keep my powers a secret when we first met and I don't think she appreciates me threatening her with cast iron after that little ordeal we went through. In fact, don't mention you know anybody by the name of Caroline to her, it makes things less complicated."

[Sandman XI]

Wesley listened to Caroline's side of the story with rapt attention. He was aware what mask meant to some people. He even thought about getting one himself once. Though nothing ever came of it. Still, he respected people who did wear them. He pulled himself up when she stopped talking. "Your secret is safe with me," he said with a firmly assuring tone. "Thank you for telling me the truth." He reached out his hand for hers, "I hope I didn't sound too hard on you. I just needed to know the truth." He smiled, "You know, we can continue this elsewhere as Caroline and Wesley. Or Knight and Silhouette can blaze across the night together."

[Aoiroo]

She was a bit scared about what his reaction might be, but when he held out her hand she smiled, not that it was visible. She grabbed it and gave it a squeeze before letting go,

"It's fine, having a healthy sense of skeptism is good. Anyway, it's not like this I'm particularly fond of lieing in general, I just sort of have too because. Well, you saw the crowd from yesterday, Silhouette has pissed off a buttload of people and Carrie would have to move out of her place if word ever got out."

When she reached around again to feel the tear in the fabric, she let out a sigh,

"Anyway, I don't feel much like running around with my costume torn. My tattoo is, like you said a rather distinctive marking. Though, I'll have to head back to my appartment if I want to change. Quick question though, what actually knocked me out?"

[Sandman XI]

"It was something, well," Wesley paused. He didn't quite believe it himself. Avenger had been on a tar to get rid of most of the vampires in Freedom City. This one could have been a straggler from that rampage or there could be more out there. "To be honest with you it was a vampire. Not a zombie. I don't know how well versed in the vampire problem this city has, but they're a bit more worrisome than their lower functioning kin." He looked in the direction the body was hiding, "Though I do thing we should possibly get rid of it. Come morning people are going to find a mangled corpse. That's not good for business." He looked back to Silhouette, "Any suggestions?"

[Aoiroo]

"Not unless you have some powdered milk."

Looking at the direction she let out a shrug,

"If it's really a vampire it'll probably burn up when the sun rises, if not, well I'll be honest it's not exactly uncommon to find random corpses in Greenbank as it starts to get colder out here. Bit grim a thought really, but shelters can only hold so many people and squatters can't really pay for utilities."

Glancing around for a second she took a second to see the mass of unconcious homeless people,

"Umm, do I even want to ask what happened to them?"

[Sandman XI]

Powdered milk? Wesley was confused again, but he didn't show it. Maybe he'd ask what that meant later. He frowned at the thought of it not being a problem of finding a dead body. Be it vampire or not. It was quite disturbing to hear the casualness of finding such a thing. He closed his eyes and pinched the place between his eyes as he thought before letting go. "That's really bad, you know," he said referring to the problem as she looked around. He didn't have time to follow up as Silhouette asked about the homeless. "Oh don't worry about them," he assured her, "they're OK. It was just something on par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing they'll miss."

[Aoiroo]

She kneeled down quietly even with his word on it she took a second to check one of there pulses. It was steady, so she let out a sigh,

"Well we just can't leave them out here, at least not in this weather."

She put a hand on her chin,

"I don't suppose any of the local shelters do pick up, they're probably already packed at this hour. Maybe we can call an ambulence or two, spending the night at a hospital wouldn't be too bad a deal for most of them though we might not want to stick around since it sort of pisses them off because the hospital has to pay for anyone who doesn't have health insurance and any means to pay for themselves."

[Sandman XI]

"This looks like a job for," Wesley reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone, "technology." He smirked and pushed the speed dial number for emergencies. Silence for a second and then spoke, "Yes, there's been an incident in Greenbank. Seems like a dozen or so unconscious people." He paused for a second. "Alright, thanks." He hung up the phone and put it back in it's pocket. "They said they would be here in a minute." He stood quietly there for a moment, looking over the unconscious from his and Silhouette's perch. He shook his head and looked back to her. There was a lot they had to talk about, but she was right. They had to get out of there. "You ready to go," he asked as his white feathery wings began to sprout.

[Aoiroo]

She looked at the phone then the unconcious homeless. She greatly wanted to assume that it would actually take a minute, that they could just fly away, but looked at him and let out a sigh,

"I think we should wait just to make sure."

As it turned out, they were much quicker then usual, maybe about fifteen minutes before they arrived. Though Sil stayed out of sight with Wesley it was good to see when they arrived that they immediately started to pull out the stretcher and load them up.

"Alright,"

She looked up at the winged boy and sighed quietly thinking back to a time where this sort of sight might of registered unusual,

"We can go ahead back to the roof top of my apartment complex."

[Sandman XI]

Wesley nodded at the suggestion, "We can do that if you wish." He watched silently over Silhouette and the unconscious as they waited on the ambulance. Fifteen minutes was not a lot of time, but they kept the vigil on. When everyone was safe, he smiled. "Freedom City's finest at work." He politely reached for her hand when she told him where to go, "you'll have to guide me there. I don't think I've been there." Scooping her up gently in the same position he had carried her in before, they took to the skies. "So, which direction should I start flying in?"

[Aoiroo]

Putting her hand and pinching the bridge of her nose she let out a sigh,

"Sorry, yeah, umm, you've been there before. That building you picked me up, that's where I live. I before said the top three aren't occupied, but that's only because the heat doesn't work past the first three floors."

Moving her head past her head she made the motion of moving her hand through the hair that was held down under her mask before scratching the back of her head,

"You know my name, so it wouldn't of been hard figure out with a little digging and a phone book."

She sighed quietly as they started over the Fens, though not much better, it looked a bit nice to see some more in tact buildings, regardless of the high likelihood that it will be selling pornography.

[Sandman XI]

"Well, that means we've gone full circle haven't we," Wesley smiled when Caroline revealed the location of her abode, "We'll be there in a bit." He followed her directions efficiently enough. They were there in a few minutes. The Fens was a welcome sight compared to Greenbank. He likened it to crawling out of a fire only to be met by wolves. Both were bad, but you weren't going to die immediately with the wolves. Perhaps he'd gone too much into this metaphor. He put his mind on other things. Like landing. They landed on the roof of her apartment building and he held her hand as she got on her feet again, trying to help her circulation. "And here we are again," he smiled with an implied bow as he nodded. "I can walk you to your door, if you wish." He paused as a realization hit him, "Wait a second, how do you get in without getting noticed like you are now?"

[Aoiroo]

She smiled quietly at the gesture then turned her head over to the edge of the building,

"Same way I get up here without anybody noticing, the fire escape. I'm the only person who lives on this side of the building at the moment so yeah."

Walking over she pulled the edge she jumped down and it made a nice clunk on the metal as she landed,

"You should probably eighty six the wings if you really want to come down, the alley's pretty narrow."

That being said she started down the stairs for the four stories before stopping at the only lit window in the alley. It was locked but she only had to slip her hand through the cracks to undo it before opening it up and letting some warm air and the sound of music she kept playing when she was gone to give the illusion of occupancy.

[Sandman XI]

The wings went down as Wesley began to traverse the stairs. As surefooted as he was, this was new territory, so he wasn't as fast as Caroline. Luckily his reflexes got him down there in one piece. "That's quite a trip," he chuckled. He looked to her with a smile. "Well, it could have went better tonight. I'm sorry I couldn't get that thing off of you. I'm sorry that you got knocked out. Hopefully next time things will be better." Hopefully there is a next time, he thought. Slowly leaning in he gave her a hug of comfort. "You have my number. Anytime you need me, just call. I'll be there for you."

[Aoiroo]

She sat on the window sill as he made his way down,

"Yeah, well the flying helped. It's a lot more awkward getting on the bus dressed like this, though the drivers are usually cool the other passengers always ask stupid questions."

Standing up quietly she pulled from the back of her mask and revealed her face for the first time that night. It wasn't exactly pretty, her hair flopped down as the tie loosened without the mask to assist it's hold and pieces of hair fell into her face. Her lips were slightly chapped, her eyes sulken and her face slightly red in places where the mask clung a little to tightly to her face, but she was smiling quietly a half smirk at the little wave of apologies Wes had just dished out.

"It's not your fault, shit happens and as slick I as am, I can go down pretty dang easily if I don't get the first hit in a fight."

Leaning in for the hug she her head lean a bit on his chest before breaking it off.

"Now than, since I really only have one of these, I have some sewing to do, thankfully I have some leftover leather from an earlier project. So you should probably head out too."