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[I realized the best way to encapsulate Devi's powerset would be disney songs and if I go down that hole tonight I'm never coming back so.

In a different part of the world from a little town where everything goes bizarre, perhaps in a lovely wooded place in germany, is a striking young woman who, in a world of guns and drone strikes, is one of the most fear assassins on the planet with a fucking compound bow.

Look, sometimes these powers develop naturally. And Shirin's career military, to spy, to...free agent, as it were. She's mostly retired, or taking care of jobs that are too dangerous for most--which is why she's now out in the middle of nowhere, in the woods, sitting on a tree branch and questioning her life and her choices.

Her contract was to subdue, and she was given pictures, but she's got no real idea why her target would be out in bumfuckerstein, nowheresberg. A job's a job, we suppose.]

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[It might be her target. It might not be. I, the narrator, have not seen this photo. But as the narrator, I feel the need to explain something.]

[Aravalle, Germany, is a small town in the far north of the federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg. It is a small township of considerable age, though its architecture does not largely betray this. Aravalle was rebuilt after the thirty years war; hence, Schloss Aravalle showing the signs of a late Baroque structure. As the southern half of the nation suffered more acutely than the northern, the Schloss Aravalle looks more akin to the Wurzburg Residence on a smaller scale, avoiding Rococo-esque opulence. The late date in which this building was constructed is reflected in it's contemporaries. While most of the people live in modern German houses, the other historic buildings are in the Classicism-Historicism schools; in other words, by the time they could afford to move the government from the seat of the noble families' lines, it had been a hundred years!]

[But regardless, it is a beautiful day in that well maintained garden she has a vantage point on, and the young man who may or may not be her target seems to be trying in vain to get cellphone reception. Ironic, as the modern economy of Aravalle is based heavily in the tech sector. But that's for another tag.]

[Well, he is her target, but she's a little confused, given the other data she has.

Still, she's not here to kill, only subdue and possibly kidnap...so what's a hired sniper to do, but hop through the treeline and sneak through the garden to get a closer look and try to figure out what the fuck is going on with this very young-looking man who can't possibly be Mattias Aravalle.

...It's possible her pictures are a touch out of date.]

[This gets weirder and weirder, because she gets onto the grounds and he's glancing around suddenly like he heard something. Which, he's a civilian so there's absolutely no way he's perceptive enough to have caught her.]

[And then he looks up, raising his hand for a... large bird? That thing looks absolutely vicious, but he just let it land on his hand, no falconer's glove, nothing, and took the message off of it, which he doesn't unfurl and the bird flies off. He seems to be turning to head back in.]

[Some weird things going on at the Aravalle Manor.]

...I'm so not paid enough for this.

[She mutters it--bad form, for an assassin, but, well.

She'll just pull out a tranq dart and throw. She's not really worried about it--she knows it will hit. And using a coated arrow's going to do a little too much damage to reasonably expect anyone to talk to her after shooting them, so. Dart it is.]

[Thunk. Well, that got his attention, and he pulls that dart right out of his neck, but well. He knows how this sort of thing works.]

What--?!

Take it easy...just a little nap.

[Her hands are up, in the open--she'll keep him from cracking his head on the pavement when the drugs kick in, if he doesn't stab her.]

Forgive me, but I'm kidnapping you this afternoon. I just need some things...sorted out, as it were.

[He's shaking his head. He seems a bit surprised, but not panicking, just unsure how to take this.]

No, no miss. You are... making a very big... mistake.

[Well, so much for that. Thump.]

...You're probably right, but it's not like I can just walk in and ask questions. Mattias isn't even supposed to have a son, so who the hell are you? This is not the house of some secret madman. Why am I asking you this? You're unconscious. Christ.

[She did catch him. And now she's carrying him off--honestly, it's not far from the estate, the safehouse she was provided, the blackout curtains are secured over bulletproof glass, and while he's locked in, he's not bound, and there's water and some chocolates on the bedside table when he wakes up. Either she doesn't think he can get out, or she really is just trying to make her kidnappee comfortable. Hell, even the bed is comfy. As for her, she's at the far end of the room, reading through the newspaper, with a pistol on the table in plain view...and no other weapons in sight. Hmm.]

[He does recover not particularly any faster than the usual sort of person from these tranquilizers, but. He does eventually wake up, blink a bit at his surroundings.. He does not panic; it seems he's either got nerves for days, or he's just immediately snapped to the fact that she has a gun.]

...Who are you?

Let's just go with 'Shirin', since I'd like some plausible deniability of my mistakes, mm?

[She follows his gaze to the gun, and laughs a little, before picking it up and just...holding it out to him.]

It's not loaded, but I'm not expecting you to take my word on that.

[He stares at her.]

It is either a trick, and it is, or you are handing me an unloaded gun for no reason, Shirin.

What do you want from me?

Well...to not put to fine a point on it, I need to know whether or not I've been hired to subdue an innocent man.

[She does put down the pistol but she has replaced it with an unnervingly piercing gaze so, that's happening.]

Not killing him myself means nothing if I'm simply setting him up to die. And if you are who I'm assuming you are...you're the best shot I have at figuring this out.5

Wait... who do you think that I am?

[Because this vagueness is starting to make him worry, given what he stated objective is.]

Well, here's the thing. You're the spitting image of Mattias Von Aravalle...but the pictures I have are about...oh. Forty years out of date.

I was told he had no children. But...looking at you, that can't be right, can it?

[...Yeah, something's fucky.]

I am Mattias von Aravalle IV. All of us are, it was insisted upon. My actual name would have been Konstantin. Forty years out of date, The man whom you hold a picture of, is likely my father, Mattias Aravalle III, nee Joachim.

[He sighs.]

He and my grandfather are dead now. If someone has hired you to kidnap a man who appears as this photo you described, then they are either after me, or my great grandfather, and if that is the case, they are trying to kill you.

...Maybe, maybe not.[There's a long pause, where she stares at him, and then gets up to come over to him, well within striking distance.]

Why would you be mistakable for your great-grandfather, Konstantin?

Because my grandfather has looked the same since 1917.

[He doesn't seem happy about this.]

And we of the line of Aravalle are to keep up this charade for him.

...Then he is indeed my target, and your charade, I think, may not be necessary much longer.

[She gets up and pulls a file off her shelf, before tossing it to him--it's full of surprisingly detailed information, although yeah, they left out that shit about there being more Aravalles. The orders are simply subdue, although if he must be killed in the course of her work, so be it.

What's more curious is the watermark on the documents, indicating who hired her--the Ionesco Foundation, who weirdly always get involved when supernatural bullshit is high. If they're involved, a subdue order is because they want him alive for Science.]

I think, though, it may be necessary for me to kill him, from your reaction. I...apologize for this, but it may be safest for me to lock you in until it is done.

It is fine. If you should fail, he will find me and kill me as it is. Should you win, I am going to have to figure out so much.... I may as well stay here. I wish you luck, hunter.

I don't need luck...but I appreciate it.

[She does hesitate for a second, and then tosses him...keys and a piece of paper with a safe combination?]

Give it four hours. If I'm not back...well. Don't just calmly accept your death, no.

[And she's leaving.

...Without the gun. Um. Shirin.]

[Well, then. He'll read the paper. Sit around. Eat the chocolate. Drink the water. Debate masturbating. Try to nap and fail. Keep watching the clock on the endtable.]

[He's really hoping she comes back.]

[Well, good news is, she comes back.

Bad news is, she's covered in blood, one arm is definitely broken, she's been clearly bitten...almost everywhere but her neck, and she's kind of, um, glowing.

So, pop quiz. We just shot a vampire with a bow and arrow. Traditionally, this is about to become a very interesting afternoon for Konstantin and all his siblings.]

W-well...I see why they said subdue, now.

[She laughs a little, leaning against the doorway, but in the interests of this not actually ending up being stardust crusaders, it's obvious enough--she succeeded at what she set out to do.

Mattias Von Aravalle is dead.]

[Man I can't believe Konstantin's fuckin' dead. Or maybe not, since he's stuck here, but he does look a bit different since she left. Hair's kind of shaggier. He's a little paler. Eyes are goddamn near glowing.]

What... what the hell?

...Oh, goddammit.

[She's trying to push herself off the wall but--she's in incredibly pain, if she's not mortally wounded she's pretty close--and she's tired.

That glow flickers and shimmers, and somethings seems to wind into her hands....the shape changes constantly. Bullets, knife, arrow, axe, grenade, rock, targeting reticule...the shift is constant, almost insistent, but she's not moving for a weapon.]

Please tell me you're not about to go berserk and try to eat me.

Why are you glowing? Can you just stop that, please?!

[It does seem to be causing him physical discomfort, to the point that he slumps forward in bed and grabs his face. And when he does, something just fucking leaps out of him and tries to grab her by the throat and pick her up.]

AaaAAH?!

[She can't dodge, not this injured, but a knife just. Whizzed by his ear, before she's a bit too busy clutching at the arm holding her throat.

Given the golden streak of light that followed the knife--and the bullseye now burned in the wall where it hit--she didn't miss. She just can't get his attention by speaking anymore.]

Ggh--hhk--!!

[So here's the weird thing. Her stand is kind of violently getting short circuited here by his. And it looks like a strange kind of torso of a human being, with wings, black and purple, so that's a bit terrifying. But even as it literally tries to just shut her stand down forcibly, her bites are closing and that arm is forcibly resetting itself.]

Stop...! Please!

[Look, she's not throwing anything else at him, that's the best he's going to get because she is terrified beyond belief but she does realize she ...well no right now she hurts a hell of a lot more while that's resetting but she's not bleeding so much anymore.

Still, there's not much she can do but be horrified and try and pry the arm off her throat because seriously buddy this is not fun.]

[Look you just threw a golden bolt at his head and he's seen his vampire great-grandad crush enough people's throats to know that they need air to do that. But fine, once he's got it back under control he's going to drop her -- the figure fades and he falls back, gasping like he was the one choked out, here.]

W...what...

[Well, let's review, Shirin, your arm's no longer broken, you're not bleeding from everywhere, and the creepy kid you kidnapped is a lot creepier and is probably the source of that.]

Konstantin...?

[She'll figure out how questions work in a second, that's all he's getting right now.]

Aaah...! yes...?!

[Look, some people just go blonde when they get their weird bloodline powers. His own tainted blood seems to be acting up now that the guy in charge is dead.]

Hey, deep breaths, calm down.

[She is definitely not paid enough for this. But she is carefully coming across the room so she can make sure he's alright.]

You're...still in control. You're still you.

[His pulse is a mile a minute, he's hot to the touch, but he's paler than before, his pupils have halfway slitted and his eyes seem to just permanently be pale now, and his canines protrude some, but not enough to be proper fangs. Sure enough, it's stopping, apparently about halfway.]

I... I....

Are going to have a lot to sort out. [...Well. First she's going to go get a washcloth wet with cool water and just...press it to his forehead, gently.]

But focus on the now. Can you tell me your name? Where you are? Anything you can start to make sentences about.

I am... I mean, my name is... Konstantin von Aravalle, though... legally I am Mattias IV. Aand.... I don't know where I am.... Besides in bed. You're covered in blood... I think I'm going to be sick...

[He's trying to be coherent, here.]

Keep talking. Anything you can remember...keep yourself grounded.

[She's remarkably skilled at dealing with a fever of a hundred and vampire, huh. But she's gonna go get washed off, a little, since. Well. This is gross.]

I don't know what's going on right now... what in the hell happened? I know you killed my great-grandfather, but, what is all of this...?

[His breath's getting slower, but it hasn't gotten any less ragged. He's also flopped back on his side at this point.]

I have a pretty good idea what it is, but I don't really understand how it's happening, if that makes sense.

[She'll come back out with...well that shirt's dead so she's stripped down to her sports bra and he's gonna have to deal.]

The power you're feeling, that you're developing...it's known as a stand. It's essentially a power born of some part of your psyche.

Time was, they were pretty rare. I guess the arrows the Ionesco Foundation gave me sparked something strange in your great-grandfather...they suspected that beings like him might have some connection to the formation and origins of these powers, that's why the wanted him alive, but, well. [SHRUGGING.]

These powers sometimes awaken naturally under extreme stress. He died, so I guess that awakening past on to the next in the line--that'd be you.

[Well, he seems to be back under control, and well. He shows the signs of things like breathing and whatnot, but uh. Those weird-ass changes didn't go away.]

That is the most nonsensical and convoluted thing anyone's ever told me, but. It also is the only explanation for the events.

I never claimed it made sense.

[She'll pick the cloth up, and frown.] ...Also, don't panic, but I think you're part vampire now?

Technically, I think I always was, but uh, I'm assuming you mean something else now?

[He's going to shakily slide out of bed and go find that bathroom, which probably looks like a crime scene given her bloodiness.]

...Ah.

Yyyeah.

[Rubbing at the back of her neck.] Look, we need to get you back home before people realize there's been a murder but, we have tonight, I think, before the foundation really makes anything public. If you need to just...not deal with any of this right now, I couldn't blame you.

[Shirin Najafi: World's Most Supportive Kidnapper?]

Where are we, even?

[He stares at her from the bathroom door.]

And please tell me you packed a change of clothes, wherever and whoever we really are.

Of course I did. I didn't come out to Germany with nothing, what do you take me for?

[HUFFING A LITTLE BIT.]

This is a safehouse in town...probably about a five minute walk from your estate. Hide in plain sight, as it were.

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