Gabriel could be counted on to be there for the coven and it was with a kind smile that she looked at him. It was impossible to deny that things in town had taken a wrong turn this morning. Amara had been here only for 3 years, but it was not something she saw since moving here. "I'm good, all things considered," she said warmly. "What about you?" An animal attack. Code for werewolf attack. It didn't involved the coven, but since Gabriel was on the council, it involved him. "Here," the witch said, taking a special treat for Penelope from behind the counter. "Maybe that will put her in a better mood." It had taken a little time to get used to the bat, but now Amara liked seeing her and she kept a few things around for her. She did for a lot of animals. "Yeah, I feel it too. It's not just the poor soul in the town square. It feels...bigger." There was a shiver that ran down her spine as she said the words. It was impossible not to feel like this was only the start of something and she didn't like it. / @tcurniquets
As he did, many other times, Gabriel looked up toward the crystal and squinted at it. Perhaps it needed a kind word a recharge given all its work. "I came to see how you were," he said, glancing around the shop. He could be convinced to buy something, truthfully. On his lapel, a very tired and annoyed fruit bat opened its eyes to yawn and scowl before digging into him harder. "You didn't have to come," Gabriel reminded the bat, as if she was a child, as if she wasn't latched onto him. He found it funny — what he was, what she was, and irony of it all. "The Balance seems to be skewed this morning," he hummed, wondering if she could feel it too, he felt everything. He was able to look through all the world, into the dead world, and things were off.
Apparently it does. The words sank deep in Charlotte and she couldn't deny them. It had happened here, the other was right. Still, it angered her, somehow. Charlotte couldn't say if it was because of what happened or because it was being put in her face. She had to turn around not to try and stare him down, a second to control herself. She had been a brawler once, not thinking before rush head first, but she couldn't do that anymore, hadn't been that version of herself in a while. "Wonder if they'll arrest the animal who did that," she said with a tired smile. That was the official cover up, one they hadn't use in a long time. "Guess it happens more often in zip codes near a forest or something." Downplaying it was what she had to do, what was expected of her. "Can I get you anything?" / @tcurniquets
Those that were in the know knew. Now, this level of brutality was something that Cord didn't need — he wasn't really into the whole human aspect of things. They tended to just get in the way, if he was honest. Thought they were powerful. Then, you had people like the Crescent pack who patronized them by pretending to work with them. Most might've called it a noble cause, but Cord saw it for what it was. Fear, in both directions. He needed something to eat, he'd been awake since well before dawn. Unsure that he liked it here, he preferred places he could roam. But he was here, and that was that. "Apparently, it does," Cord drawled. "What's the old saying..." Cord tried to think of the leasing agent that showed him his property and her nervous chuckle of, "Crime doesn't have a zip code, or so I was told."