Interlude 2: Death and Birth

## Brief Synopsis

After injecting himself with Solace, Gatlin and Piper drive back to his casino, only for him to accidentally ding a police car, leading to him having to take a bunch of drug tests—which he succeeds—until they check his urine. He's taken back to the police station, but after some convincing, Piper is allowed to go with him, waiting in the waiting room.

While Gatlin's with the police, the Shadow Creature visits Piper, this time, asking for her voice, which she gladly gives up, saying she rarely uses it anyway. When Gatlin realizes this fifteen minutes later, he's horrified and filled with guilt for failing to protect her while under his supervision.

Once at the casino, Piper tests a new 'luck' power the creature gifted her, which Gatlin takes an interest in, only to cause a stir when she's able to win the jackpot on a machine. He takes her to his office to try to have a chat of his own with this Shadow Creature, and unable to *stop* it from taking Piper's body parts, he offers his Sire's legs as a compromise, wanting Piper to *at least* keep those to herself. The Shadow Creature agrees, so they rollerblade down to the prison and are surprisingly let inside with no questions.

Gatlin doesn't chat long before offering Kurt up to the creature, but to his horror, it doesn't just take his legs, instead swallowing him whole, until *Kurt* is nothing but a shadow, while the creature is now a corporeal white, alien-like being.

Gatlin is harrowed by his Sire's sudden death indirectly by his hands, but Piper's happy to have her friend with a body of its own and hugs it. When the issue of a name is brought up, Gatlin brings up "Pepper," and thus, Pepper is born.

## Session

After Gatlin takes his 'human' drugs, he starts driving Piper back to his office, but rear-ends a police car and has to take a few tests. He succeeds, until he's asked to pee in a cup, proving he has drugs in his system.

**Police Officer, a Ghoul, pulling Gatlin into a quiet corner**: *"I know you Kindred think you're above the law, but even Vampires can't drive under the influence. I'll have to take you with me."*

Gatlin apologizes to Piper, and she writes on a note that she wants to stay with Gatlin.

**Piper's Note**: *[Gatlin is my guardian. I'd rather stay with him.]*
**Police Officer**: *"You can go home."*
**Piper's Note [Paraphrased]**: *[I don't want to not be with him. I don't feel safe at home.]*
**Gatlin**: *"It's not Stockholm, I swear."*

They take them both into the car in the end. Gatlin's miserable. Piper's excited. Gatlin's taken away for thirty minutes and has to pay a fine, while Piper sits in the waiting room, feeling watched. When she looks around, the room is suddenly empty, and she sees the Shadow Creature. It has a single eye and arms composed of light. They sit next to her.

**Shadow Creature**: *"We are getting more powerful because of you."*
**Piper, smiling**: *"I'm just glad to be of some help."*
**Shadow Creature**: *"We need more."*
**Piper**: *"What happens when you become whole."*
**Shadow Creature**: *"We do not know, but we wish to. We have tried before, but our friends always left us."*
**Piper**: *"What will you do when it becomes done?"*
**Shadow Creature**: *\*They stay silent\**
**Piper**: *"Will you stay my friend afterwards?"*
**Shadow Creature**: *\*They nod\**
**Piper**: *"Cool! I won't stop being able to be me, will I?"*
**Shadow Creature**: *"We are... I'm sure."*

Piper holds out her shadow hand. They shake it.

**Shadow Creature**: *"If you wish to aid us, may we ask something? We are in need of a voice."*
**PIper**: *"Oh, well, that's easy. I don't use mine much, so you can have mine."*

That takes it off guard. It puts a hand on her neck and takes it. She can no longer talk, but she's fine with that. It thanks her with its new voice.

**Shadow Creature**: *"We thank you, Herald."*

When she blinks, the people are back, and Gatlin is shaking her. When he learns her voice is gone, he panics about what Torsten will do to him when he finds out.

They make it to his casino and see Felix, whom Gatlin chats up, asking if he ever got arrested. He learns that Felix used to riot, cause arson, and deal drugs.

**Gatlin, asking what drugs he dealt**: *"Okay, but not Solace, right? Do you know people that tooken it?" [Yes, 'tooken.' He's high.]*
**Felix**: *"I don't anymore. I'll be perfectly honest: The distraction this does isn't worth it."*

Gatlin learns Felix Turned a lot of his friends, but they agreed to the embrace willingly.
Meanwhile, Piper is watching Nina do roulette, and she uses a new power the Shadow Person gave her, but the power fails. Gatlin sees Piper doing weird 'air guitar'-like motions, and asks about it. Piper writes on a piece of paper.

**Piper [Note]**: *[My powers are different than usual. I think my shadow people gave me something new.]*
**Gatlin, after dragging her far away**: *"Powers? What kind of powers?"*
**Piper [Note]**: *[Usually I can make myself lucky, but this time it did something else. A bunch of cobwebs. That's usually what it does.]*

Gatlin is curious and takes her to a slot machine and asks her to try, and she ends up winning the jackpot, making him panic, but he proves it's not rigged by doing it himself and still getting a minor win.

**Gatlin**: *"No, it's not rigged, I swear! Why would I rig it again when showing you?!"*

This drags people who were starting to leave back, thinking the machine is rigged for *everyone.*

They go to his office and Gatlin asks her to call upon the Shadow Person. It appears on the window, and Gatlin can see it. He asks about its stealing of Piper's body parts, and offers up Kurt as an alternative.

**Gatlin**: *"Why are you stealing from my friend? She is very giving and you are taking advantage of her."*
**Shadow Creature**: *"The Herald has given its body to us."*
**Gatlin**: *"She is not an it! And... what's a 'Herald?'"*
**Shadow Creature**: *"It aids us."*
**Gatlin**: *"So what exactly ARE you?"*
**Shadow Creature**: *"We are us. We are..." [silence] "We will take from the Herald, yet we do not have to. We can take from other things."*
**Gatlin**: *"There is this guy in this prison, and his name is Kurt. You could take from him."*

Piper and Gatlin stop by a store to buy roller skates, then skate over to the prison Kurt's being held: an apartment building near the center of Berlin, in a quieter area. They are welcomed in, guided by Ghouls to Kurt's cell. Once in, all their supernatural powers are suppressed by magic sigils. Gatlin feels truly dead for the first time.

**Gatlin**: *"Oh, wow, Piper, I hate this. I want to go home, but since we're here, we might as well do this. Oh my god, I'm dead."*

Kurt is in handcuffs.

**Kurt**: *"What do you want, Gatty?"*
**Gatlin**: *"Oh, it's not what I want. Summon your person."*
**Piper**: *\*Calls out to the Shadow Creature\**
**Gatlin**: *"I just thought maybe you could be its friend too?"*

The Shadow Creature reaches for him. Kurt struggles, but he can't escape his handcuffs. Piper puts washi tape on his mouth to muffle his screams. His legs vanish into shadows, and it slowly works up his body. When he's no longer corporeal, he slips out of the handcuffs and tries to run, attempting to bang against the walls to make noise, but he can't. It completely envelopes him, until he's gone, aside from the light still casting his shadow.

**Gatlin**: *"Okay, Piper, I might've screwed up."*

Gatlin and Piper both lose a point of Humanity [Gatlin 5, Piper 6.]
After consuming Kurt, the Shadow Creature shrouds the room in darkness, then retracts into itself, now more solid and white. A small bell is struck every time it steps on the floor.

**Shadow Creature**: *"You have made me. I am."*
**Piper**: *"What now?"*
**Shadow Creature**: *"I will be."*
**Piper**: *"But what do you do?"*
**Shadow Creature**: *"I exist."*
**Piper**: *"What are your hobbies?"*
**Shadow Creature**: *\*It doesn't know.\**

Piper hugs it, saying she can help them. She asks if it needs a name, and Gatlin offers "Pepper." Meanwhile, Kurt's shadow is still there, walking around, panicked.

**Gatlin**: *"So first of all, where did my abuser go?"*
**Pepper**: *"It isn't."*
**Gatlin**: *"Okay, so he's just dead."*
**Pepper**: *"No."*
**Gatlin**: *"He's non-existing, and he gets no superpowers like Piper did."*
**Pepper**: *"It has become one of them."*

Gatlin's scared of walking out the door, but in the end, the guards don't care if Kurt got spirited away.

**Piper**: *"Kurt's gone now. He was fed to Pepper here."*
**Guard, confused and concerned**: *"Kurt was a shitbag. He got what was coming to him."*
**Gatlin**: *"Note to self: Do not get on these people's bad sides.*

Gatlin points inside, and mentions there's a shadow in there, only to notice it was gone now.
They rollerblade home, Piper taking Pepper with her.

Canon in spirit. He DID question it being her friend.CANON IN SPIRIT.Canon for real :):(
## Notes

* Gatlin pees in a cup, thus completing the "I took a shit today" to "I took a piss today" pipeline.
* **Shadow Creature Notes:**
	+ It can only take from the undead.
	+ It doesn't remember much about what happened to it ahead of time. It remembers fire and dead who walk.
	+ It says Kurt "didn't have a face."
	+ Kurt's shadow was left behind, and could be seen in the light, though it left when they left the cell.