human
Bodachs were creatures that are attracted to events of evil -- more specifically events that would cause death. When an event caused a particularly traumatic death, there would be multiple of them, sometimes so many that they seemed to be swirling around a person like a black tornado licking on fear and axiety. The theory was that they fed on these events, or perhaps they caused them, but a bodach was never truly something to be explained.
They could only be seen by those with the Gift, which was perhaps why most were completely and blissfully unaware of them. It would explain why Ivy lived her life as if nothing strange were happening because for her, there truly was nothing.
The mystery, however, had yet to be solved on why the bodachs had taken a particular interest in her. Ivy lived a life that was rather quiet -- she was a young professional that was renting a house in the lower part of town, her home hardly more than a studio apartment, but it was where she put her head at night. The neighborhood was low-rent but was by no means slums, though some of the houses were older and run-down.
She looked every bit the same of someone else her age -- unless you had the Gift. Through their eyes, they would see the ink-black creatures that prowled around her like beasts ready to strike, sniffing at her heels and licking up her legs. Their mouths seemed to try to grasp at her, though never touched, enjoying whatever it was she had to offer them.
It was good they weren't visible to most or her night job would have put her out on the streets. If people could see a bodach in all its glory, they wouldn't have much of an appetite... Or really a life, seeing that most who did see them died mysteriously afterwards. Blissfully unaware was best for her, seeing that money had to be made and orders needed to be filled. Though two nipped at her heels, she was at work on time, donning a white apron and putting on a smile as she started her shift at her night job - Pop's Diner.
The jingle announced a new person, eyes lifting to greet her new customer. "Hi there, welcome to Pop's. Seat yourself, hun."
gpt
I stopped, but only briefly when I saw the young waitress. She was surrounded by the black inky ghost like animals. I smile and nodded at her, before moving to a booth in the back. I didnt know if the bodach could sense me, or could tell that I saw them, and I didnt want to find out.
I dont know what part of the accident caused my brain to be rewired, but since the 2 days I was unconscious Ive seen them. Each of the 5 times Ive been in there presence bad things have happened.
I took the booth so I could keep an eye on her. The beasts tumbled around each other, as if they was fighting to feed off her energy. Fortunately there were only 2 at the moment. The number present was important. The higher the number the closer Death was.
After she took my order, I let my eyes follow her into the kitchen. The look I kept on my face was as if I was checking out her ass as she walked away. Which thinking about it, wasnt much act, as it was an ulterior motive.
As she place my coffee and pie in front of me, I started striking up a conversation with her. I was hoping I could figure out what fate was upon her that would lead to these creatures to her. Creature for another world here to witness her death. Trying to find out if she was new to the city. Why she was working at Pops. Trying to pry and many benign details about her life from her as I could. Since the place was empty at 3:30 pm on a Tuesday, she decided to take her break and let me buy her a cup of coffee, while she told me her story.
human
The nighthad been fairly standard up until the point thathewalked in. He was ordinary as far as customers went, if not a bit on the staring side, but she was used to it by far to have the male attention on her. Ivy fell into her usual rhythm of polite attention, but something about him seemed.... Off. Not off in the way that she thought him to have a mental illness, but off as in she felt there was something more to him than what he seemed.
That was, perhaps, what compelled her to take a seat in the booth with him as he lingered well beyond what a customer typically did. Plus, he was good natured enough to offer coffee to sweeten the deal.
"I know I introduced myself when I took your order but since you bought me a coffee, why don't I get to know you more?" She offered a slim smile and proferred her hand to him. "I'm Ivy, like the plant and not the Batman villainess."
gpt
I absently minded reached my hand out to take the hand of the girl across me as she introduced herself as Ivy. If Ivy had only known about the creatures crawling around her as she sat in the booth. They swirled and climbed around her body much like her namesake plant would climb a trellis.
I searched her eyes for the slightest hint of evil, for a malicious spirit, anything about her that spoke of a villainous nature. Id never seen nor read of a bodach attracted to an corrupt sprite. They seemed to feed off if not the innocent at least the decent, and it appeared they had a special attraction to gentle souls that were being exploited in some way. I hoped for something about her I could bring out that would cause the inky creatures to move back from where they came.
Im David, David Evan, I muttered. At the utterance of my name, the creature that appeared to be inhaling the scent of her breast paused, snapping what I assumed was his face toward me. Did the creature recognize my name? Know who I was or that I could sense it?
You must be new here? I thought I knew all the waitresses here. Im a private investigator, used to be cop and this has been one of my favorite coffee shops., I threw in the part about having been a cop to gauge her response. Bad people tend to tense, look away stammer a bit when around a cop. Bad people have something to hide.
Much to my disappointment she portrayed a mostly relaxed demeanor and did not flinch. While her eyes did not suddenly jerk away, they did seem to cloud over and speak of a hidden personal emotion that had her sitting in a booth with me as smoky beings froliced around her.
human
The man, who she now knew to be David, was friendly enough in his
demeanor that it stunned her he was here alone. Altogether, he wasn't an ugly man in face or spirit, though his eyes wandered over her in a strange fashion. More than once she'd caught him looking at a point just beneath her or to the side of her and she was momentarily confused by it. His gaze made her feel like there was something she wasn't seeing - a stain, perhaps on her uniform, or maybe something else that was just off.
Ivy wiped at her uniform in case there were stray crumbs from carrying plate still clinging to her clothes and offered a more fresh smile. "Nice to meet you, David." She said, trying to get a better reading of him by watching his body language.
There was something bothering him but she couldn't figure out what it was exactly. "Yeah, I just got hired. The owner is actually my distant cousin and I needed to get out of my home town." She said, shrugging, though her eyes were guarded. She didn't talk about why she left her home town much, but the damage was still there. Her boyfriend hadn't taken the break up well and he'd gotten violent, and the bodachs could sense it.
Their backs arched as if her quiet pain had sent shivers down theirs pines, noses sniffing around her as if she were a fine wine. Ivy was oblivious to them, crossing her arms gently. "Tell me about yourself. Why did you quit policing to be a private investigator?"
gpt
David watched as the young lady across from him swept her hands over the uniform, as if she could sense the beings bounding around her. The act itself unnerved David until he realized her hands were moving in concert with the focus of his eyes. Taking a deep breath he adoted the relaxed cop demeanor he had taken on so many time when approarching unknowns during traffic stops in his previous life.
"Well then welcome to the city. I'm guessing it's much different than what you were used to huh?" Again his eye searched here for a reaction an blink or foreloron look that would give him any hint of information, before replying to her own questions. Yeah was a cop for a long time, most of it spent patrolling this area. I tell you a cop sees a lot of bad stuff, muggers, armed robbers, crazed drug addicts, murders, wife beaters". There that statement 'wife beater' her eyes flashed a brightness and fixated on him just for that brief second of recognition. The look that would give a way a speeder that had drugs in his car, or the suspicous character on street corner that was planning a home invasion. Not that she was guilty of anything, quiet the oppostite. She had unwillingly revieled what she was running from.
"I got medically retired a couple years ago. Another unit was in pursuit of a armed robber. I was trying to block an intersection to control the guy. *** lost it when he saw me and broadsided my unit. Had a bad head injury, put me in a coma for a few days. So I became a PI, to young to just sit around, not enough pension to move to the coast, David chuckled to relieve the tension building inside when confronted by the effects of the accident.
Just then on the other side of the restaurant a baby's cry broke the otherwise quiet afternoon. The boodachs tensed at the sound. What was more innocent than a baby. It seemed that even if there was nothing about to happen to the child the distress of such an unblemished soul captured them attention. All 3 of them leap from circling Ivy and lopped to the infant.
David had to stop himself from his wide eyed stare at the swift moving creatures, realizing he had a unprecedented opportunity. He decided to take a chance. If she believed him he might be able save her. If she didn't she was as surly doomed as she would have been if he hadn't had an afternoon craving for a slice of apple pie.
"Look Ivy this will probably freak you out, but I'm going to take a chance anyway. The coma, something happened I developed another sense, a perception if you will. I get a feeling about some people, something about an impending act, usually bad, usually violent. The second I saw you I knew your future is in jeopardy . I know it's crazy right, but you've noticed how I look past you, that's because I've seen an energy around you, and it scares me. Either good or evil has blessed or cursed me by bringing us together. But either way I'm here and I can't let your future continue as it was before.