milliways_bar | (no subject)

"I am a soldier, yes. The enemies of my country are cruel and brutal--quite evil ."

"Oh right, a professional," Mel says. It's not derisive, just a statement of fact. "Must be nice to get paid for it. Me, I hafta keep my day job."

"It is my family's duty to protect Gondor," Boromir explains. "We are the stewards until such time that the king returns. Though I understand my king was truly crowned, as history went, and founded a new dynasty.

"I am glad for that."

She tugs on the green braid in her hair.

"Yeah... sounds jake."

"'Jake'?" Is there no end to these words he doesn't know? He sighs and sips his coffee.

"It means, uh... cool," Mel is used to explaining her slang. "I mean, uh, a good thing."

"Ah. Then, yes. A very good thing. The return of the Valinor kings to Gondor was tied to the defeat of an evil being who wished to turn all of my world to his will."

"Sounds like ~~my brother~~ someone I know," Mel says, carefully. "Tried to bring the demons back into the world by having a giant snake thing give birth to them. I hadta poke its brains out. From inside its mouth."

"I have not faced such a creature," Boromir admits. "The last dragon was slain a few generations ago."

Mel shakes her head. "S'not a dragon. Just a demon. Ha... This vampire wanted to bring the demons back into the world. So I hadta take it out."

"Is a vampire a kind of conjurer?"

She stares. She'd been so good at not calling them lurks, too.

"No, not like a warlock. A vampire's like... well they're dead people, infected with this type of demon, so they can walk and talk, and look human, but they're completely evil and feed by drinking blood.

"Well, mostly evil," she admits. "The ones here are OK."

"Feed by . . . drinking blood." He shudders in revulsion. "They sound like orcs--they feed on man-flesh whenever they get the chance."

She nods. "Well, vamps need blood. Can't live without it."

"They sound like vile creatures nonetheless."

She nods, agreeing heartily.

"They really, really are."

"If they are so dangerous, why are you not paid to hunt them? Surely they must be worth some sort of bounty."

There's a sort of snort and a grin.

"You can't really charge people for saving their life, can you? It's sort of a sacred duty thing. I'm the only one with the power to stop them, I'm the one who has to stop them." She shrugs. "Chosen One, not employed."

"Oh." He frowns. "There is little thanks in following a calling, that is true."

She shrugs. "Thanks I get. People know who I am, and if they can afford it, they might give me free stuff, but usualyl they just can't, which is fine.

"It's not like the Slayers before me, who had to keep a secret identity."

"Hm," Boromir says, for as a noble he has rarely had to worry about provisions--only where they can be acquired while travelling. "I suppose it would be wise to hide one's identity if to be discovered would endanger them further."

"The lurks already know. Their leader... he knows me."

"Lurks." He is about ready to throw up his hands and declare himself done with this place. Nothing makes sense.

Ooops.

"Sorry. Slang in my time for vampire."

"Oh.

"Are there other kinds of monsters in your world, or only vampires?"