Home from the Park~ [Alec, or Invite][NR]

Amaranth was slightly... confused... to put it lightly over everything that had happened today. It had been more than eventful, that much was for sure. She met who she believed to be her great grandfather, had made a new friend, and had seen a dragon; an angry dragon, but a dragon nonetheless.

So, she figured the best place to go hang out for a while and try and clear her head was her grandfather's office. She landed on the roof of Darkman Tower, small hand held gaming system already in her hands. She walked over to the stairway door, and then down to the 1,000th floor. She wandered her way down the hallway, beginning to whistle the tune that she had heard Darkman whistling in the park; it was catchy, and stuck in her head.

She wandered her way into her grandfather's office, closing the door behind herself after entering, continuing to whistle and play her game; which for the moment was silenced.

Alec looked bored. He sat slouched behind his desk holding his head propped up with his right hand. He thought of maybe heading up to the penthouse to watch a movie, play a video game, battle a hologram in the VR simulator, or just crashing on his ass somewhere and being lazy. For the moment he was lazily gazing through random cameras situated through all parts of the city, watching random situations. Watching the crazy things that took place in this town was the same as watching movies, TV shows, or reading comic books.

Amaranth walked in as it was getting dark out. The moon and stars could be seen clearly since they were 1,000 stories off of the ground. When Amaranth walked in whistling that song, it was as if Alec were transported back in time. It lasted only a moment, but to Alec it seemed to be an hour. A song that Starshanza, a woman he once considered to be his mother, sang to him when he was young. It was a precious time in which Alec felt like he had both parents. A surprised look spread across a face that was always calm and not as angry as it always was in 10 years of war. Hearing the song caused Alec to sit up suddenly and gaze upon his grand daughter. That wasn't a mainstream song, and there were only few still left in existence who knew it in detail like she did.

"Amaranth, where did you hear that song?" he asked.

Amaranth paused her game and looked up from the game in her hands, her whistling coming to a stop. "Hear what? The song I was whistling?" She blinked a few times and then shrugged. "I heard it from the man in the park... he startled whistling it when he was walking away." She thought back to the man, who she thought was her great grandfather, but wasn't one hundred percent sure yet.

"Why? Do you know the song?", she asked, wandering her way around his desk as she always did and stopping next to him.

A man in the park... There was some park that his father talked about going to sometimes. He said the park was some kind of 'special place,' but he never went into any detail. Alec had never been to this park himself, and didn't know where it was. He didn't think it was a big deal, and just dismissed it as just one of his father's things.

"Yeah... there was a nice lady, she used to sing it when I was a kid. I used to have nightmares... it always calmed me down," Alec said, looking out of the window to his left, at the stars, thinking back to the Vampire's Mansion, where he and his father went against many foes who tried to claim Starshanza for their own. The confrontations were numerous, but he and his father as a team never lost... until Lord Kinoki. But that was another story.

"Why are you in a park in the evening talking to some strange man? Who was this man?" Alec continued. "Was he really tall and dressed something like Neo from the Matrix? If you've ever seen that movie... Did he have on sunglasses even thought it's dark out?" Alec pointed to his eyes with an index and middle finger. "Was he smoking a cigarette or some green stuff?"

Amaranth giggled softly. "I was playing football with some kids, and mom said I had to be back before the streetlights were on, but they weren't on yet. So, I started swinging and he was sitting on the bench nearby." She tilted her head a bit. "He was wearing all black, and did have sunglasses on. Annnd, he was smoking something." She nodded a bit.

"He asked me me some questions, and then gave me this sphere thing that gave me a new power.. and then he left. When he left he said 'I'll be watching. Take care of yourself, Amaranth'." Amaranth tilted her head again, staring at her grandfather. "Then a dragon showed up... and another little girl, named Niala."

Alec scratched the top of his head. Electricity traveled around his halo which began to glow brighter, further illuminating the dimming office. The POP and ZAP sound of the electricity around his halo echoed in the office, obviously indicating that he was quite irritated.

"...That was Darkman, the man this building we're in is named after," Alec explained. "He's the former Boss, the founder of Edge City, the CEO of The Company, my father and your Great Grandfather... He's never around anymore, he just wanders around like an amnesiac or a drunk. I haven't seen him in years, but he always seems to know what's going on, like he's behind the scenes watching everything like some kinda stalker, and he only pokes his head in every once in a blue moon. One time I hadn't seen him in 10 years but he knew everything i'd been through, he really makes me mad when he does that."

Alec was aware of the dragon. It was the big thing that had been waiting outside the city limits while Himitsu was here during that meeting about Squall and Demi. Apparently, whatever it was had the ability to shift into a humanoid form for blending purposes, and had done so to enter the city. Yes, Alec had been and was still keeping an eye on him, as he did with all foreigners who were potential threats.

Alec was also aware to the latest edition to The Company, Niala. She was on a probationary period even though she didn't know it, and he had to keep a constant eye on her just in case she decided to abuse the powers he'd given her. That, and to make sure the girl was alright. She didn't exactly have parents, and it didn't seem she had anyone to look out for her, so Alec decided that he'd be that person to lean on.

Amaranth glanced up to her grandfather's halo and blinked, taking it as a sign that he was irritated. She shook her head slightly. "I thought that might have been him, but I wasn't entirely sure. It's kind of creepy that he knows what always is going on. Just like I thought it was creepy that he knew my name; at least at first, until I figured out who he was."

She shook her head again, flicking the little switch on her game to shut the thing off before shoving it into her pants pocket; she hadn't changed since she had got home, so she was still covered in dirt, scuff marks, and just otherwise looked like she'd been playing a ruff and tumble sport. "But, I then got distracted because Niala got the dragon man angry... Though, I don't understand why. Unless it didn't appreciate her calling it a lizard, but that's kinda what all of the pictures I've seen make them look like. I just hope she doesn't get eaten, she seemed nice." She grinned suddenly. "Maybe she'll be my new friend! If the dragon doesn't maul her."

Alec wasn't going to just sit here while one of his employees got attacked. Supposedly the kid had some sick powers, but if she got attacked, Alec was going to intervene. 1, to show the kid that someone always had her back, and 2, while he generally disregarded murders in the streets because most of the time the person being killed was scum and usually deserved it, he wasn't going to tolerate some out-of-towner attacking one of his closest people simply for calling them a lizard. She was a kid. Kids make those sort of compliments. Harmless words. Nothing to get bent out of shape over.

"I don't see why that woman and her pet...thing are even still here, honestly," said Alec pinching the bridge of his nose with an index finger and thumb. "I'm not going to keep babysitting for this woman and her man dragon thing, and keep reprimanding people for even looking at them the wrong way or calling them names. They need to just go back to their homelands before something I can't control happens to them, and that woman needs to go get some like, serious medical help or something."

Amaranth had met Niala, and it seemed the 2 were becoming fast friends. That wasn't a bad thing at all. Perhaps it would even cause Amaranth to come around the tower more often. "Sure, I don't see why you 2 wouldn't be friends. It looks like she'll be sticking around the Tower to live, judging from that smile on her face when I gave her the keys to her own suite. Must be awesome to have your own plush apartment-like setting with robots to come feed you at anytime at only 13 years old, eh?"

Amaranth smiled and nodded. "I was kind of wondering that too. But, from what I understood he has some sort of contract with that lady. So, he doesn't have a choice in being here. But, I dunno why she's still here. She looked really sick, smelled it too, so I don't understand why she didn't go home yet. I wouldn't want to stay somewhere where someone threatened me with a bullet with my name on it if I was sick like that. I'd take my butt home and stay there." She giggled. "Then again, I wouldn't be silly enough to put myself into that sort of position."

"Niala must be that little girl mom was talking to Demi about." She said, lifting her hand up to tap her temple, indicating her mother's telepathic link with the Malkavian. "Apparently they, Demi, her boyfriend Flynn, and Niala, went to Niala's father's house... and he's a bad bad guy... and she got some stuff of her moms so she could see the memories she wasn't allowed to see before... so like, she might be kind of upset or something. When she showed up at the park she looked really distracted."

Amaranth tilted her head a bit. "Maybe I should stay here for a few days... my island's okay, and Niala might need like.. a friend or a hug or something. I can only imagine what she's thinking."

Alec would be satisfied when the 2 were out of the city and back in their own territory. That way, should some other situation arise it was out of his hands. He'd already pretty much prevented the sick woman's death at the hands of Squall, who had a custom built bullet with her name on it; Alec wasn't the type to keep doing favors for some woman he didn't even know.

It had to be a traumatic experience to have confronted her father in regards to information about her mother. The girl had to be going through a thing. No child should have to suffer not having a family that young, similar to himself, and even his father Darkman. It was an incredibly lonely feeling no one should have to experience.

"Yeah... that sounds like a good idea. I need you to keep and eye on her, Grand Baby. Stick close to her. I gave her one of the Company Pendants that lets her get around the Dead Zone for the most part. If she gets beside herself, then I trust you'll know what to do," Alec said.

She smiled and nodded her head. "I don't think she will get out of hand, though. She seems nice enough, and her thoughts were pure. The only reason, from what I picked up on, that she even wandered over to the swings when she did was because she heard my voice and that dragon's voice; so she was curious as to why a full grown guy was talking to a kid, she thought I might've been in some sort of trouble."

She giggled suddenly, grinning. "Maybe everything will work out and her and I can be friends and then she can help me build stuff in my lab. She's super smart and an excellent artist. I think it's because she's good at drawing things perfectly from the way she sees them when she does her memory thing."