u/Emeraldth3th

Selina sat against the wall outside Unnaturals in the cool May night, bruised and bloodied, waiting for Allan to bring out some recovery drinks. This was far from the first fight she had gotten into, even less the first time she had been attacked for what she is. Fallen are still considered one of the most controversial paranormals in Bennett, freaks among freaks, not even completely safe among their own. Every day Selina was alive she considered herself lucky, especially considering the stories she heard of other Fallen, ones murdered in the streets or worse, she once again thanked God that her father was a tormentor. Allan finally brought out drinks, whisky by the smell of it, “holding up okay?” he asked. 

“I think you already know the answer to that,” Selina said, taking the drink and confirming it was indeed whisky.  

"I'm telekinetic, not psychic Lina" now leaning against the wall too 

“Same difference, need me to take that damage off you?” 

“Nah, you need the power from my suffering more” 

"Also true, though at least let me fix you up a little faster" Selina said, activating her Radiant half 

Allan smiled and took a long drink, "Thanks, though I think we should consider wrapping up this night and calling it a wash." 

"Why? The night is still young, and I'm only marginally injured all things considered" 

"And you are half demon of pain and suffering, look, probably everyone in Bennett is riled up over your presence, the next dive that is half decent is out in the county, and unlike some people, I actually feel pain" 

Selina took a moment to consider this, downing the last of her whisky, "Fine Allan, what do you recommend we do instead then?" 

"Head home for the night, grab a bottle of something strong on the way, and down it there?" 

"Okay then, but two things. One, we grab two bottles, because I didn't get nearly enough before that asshole Ghoul decked me. And two, we go to your place, it's closer and I still need to throw up on your carpet to make up for last time" 

Allan laughed and finished his drink "you drive a hard bargain, but I accept your terms, let's get moving" 

Selina woke up the next morning on a familiar grey couch with a tragically clean carpet in front of it. It seemed that they had indeed gone back to Allan’s apartment, a respectable one in the nicer part of East Side near Durham, the kind you get out of being a research focus for one of the more funded paranormal study and test labs. It also seems they had indeed grabbed more than two bottles of various liquors as the roaring headache seemed to indicate. After a few minutes of waking up, Selina noticed the canned laughter of some 90s sitcom coming from the TV, the morning lineup of whatever channel with the late-night comedy show they were probably watching last night. Quickly growing bored of it, she eventually flipped through the channels until settling on the news to see if she ended up on one of the morning talks  

“...with policies regarding PPD funding to be reviewed at the next city meeting this Thursday. Turning to business news, new research from Ingram labs is finalizing a new course of ability adjusting injections that, when finished, can be used among emergency responders to boost responding officers, or even temporarily disable particularly dangerous suspects, let's go live to...”  

“Ah, so that’s what they've been doing with Nolan” 

Selina jumped off the couch and nearly into the TV “dammit Allan, what have I told you about sneaking up on hungover me?” 

Allan smirked and took a seat on the couch “to not, unless I want to experience pain beyond my imagination” 

“Very good, now that we have that established, what were you talking about?” 

“About Nolan?” 

“Yes, about Nolan, you seemed to know what his deal was” 

“Nolan was a debilitatior involved with some genetic chemistry or something like that. All I properly know is that they were trying to figure out if they could use the genetics of a debilitatior in some everyday applications, and it looks like they did” 

Selina sat quietly at this information, a way to disable someone's abilities, could it truly be possible? 

"Selina? Are you plotting vengeance on my carpet or is something wrong?" 

"Are they accepting testers? Do you know?" 

Allan looked shocked at the question "that's a hell of a question to ask after a night of drinking, are you okay?" 

Selina took another second to consider "never mind that, forget I asked." 

"This isn't the kind of question you so casually drop after a night of violence and drinking, are you sure everything is okay?"  

"No, you're right, I'm probably still a little rocky from last night. How about I cook us up something? Got any eggs in the fridge?" She asked while walking past Allan, ignoring his doubting gaze 

Officer Willard locked the door to his office and slowly made his way out to his car, dropping by the break room to snag the last dregs of the night's coffee pot before going home. He had stayed way later than he had been slated for, but being part of the grievously understaffed PPD evening shift made sure that he was the one to respond to both an Eastside bar fight and a high-speed chase all the way out to the county to arrest some ghoul, at least the county peacekeeper who joined knew him, probably from the same ghoul community, so Willard didn't have to take care of the fallout.  

Willard had no sympathy for the ghoul, a drunken fool who probably called a Mentalist the wrong thing, though he remembered feeling a slight pang of sorrow for one of the more badly beaten people resting outside the bar. He figured them to be Hellborn at first, which brought him a bit on edge, though after a bit of watching, he saw they were a Fallen. He knew that as a Paragon he should've felt aggravated at their very presence, muddying of good Guardian bloodlines and all that, though he had been in the PPD for over ten years now, and had seen more than his fair share of Undermarket kidnappings, street murders, and other random acts of violence against Guardians and such that he was just glad to see any form of Guardian alive at all. 

He snapped out of his thoughts as a cool breeze blew across his face. It seems he had already grabbed his coffee and walked out into the parking lot during his ponderance. At this realization, Willard walked across the lot and got into his car, resisting the urge to fall asleep there and trying to will the cheap instant coffee into working its magic. He took off his badge and read the solid block letters written on it PPD057641 Julian Willard. He had once again wondered if that number was some randomly generated code by and for their computer system, or if it was the total employee number he made when he was hired. He wouldn't surprised, turnover at the PPD was shockingly high, though he figured the programs would be responsible for most of that number, he almost wished some would stay, but most of them end up going back to their old ways.  

Hiring former crooks for their knowledge on particular crimes the Paranormal commit probably isn't the best idea, as trying to get funding and support for the dreaded and feared Paranormal Police Department is hard enough with the public only recently accepting the Paranormal as real people, so adding another layer of controversy under an underappreciated rehabilitation program is just begging for trouble. He wondered again as to why Guardians were held in such high regard among the public when other Paranormal were far more useful and stronger than them. Mentalists could move stuff with their minds or look in other people's heads, Hellborn were far stronger than any form of Guardian could be, even Lycanthropes could make for incredible night watch, it just didn't make sense to him.  

Though as he finally felt the coffee kick in, Willard decided none of that mattered right now, so he started up his car and drove off, hoping for it not to wear off before he got home 

https://preview.redd.it/s2bg4iuxokhh1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23a088582408392e44634ff22863fff9a544ee0c

guess she needed the queen of wands too

I for one discovered i have developed a minor fear response to hearing a calliope unexpectedly after hearing one play in the background of a video i was watching. Gotta love the stranger