the SEVEN-FIVE project

2004-03-19 - 12:26 a.m.

I had no intention of mentioning that Steph was mentioned on one of the pages of names; so I sat in the passenger seat, half hanging out the window, letting the wind blow through my hair.

We got to Steph's building and simply went up to the apartment. Steph was standing in the hallway waiting for us. I didn't like the look or feel of this at this point.
"No guy, eh?" She asked as we walked towards her.
"No, he wasn't where I figured he'd be, but I'll find him eventually."
She turned her key in the lock and began walking away from us. About halfway down the hall she turned around, "Coming?" She said and continued down the hall.
Nikki looked at me, I shrugged, and we went down the hall after her. She stopped in front of the building to light a cigarette. It took her a few tries to get the lighter to stay lit with the wind blowing, but eventually she got it and we began walking down the street.
"Where are we going?" Nikki asked after four or five blocks.
"The apartment is not safe, never has been; too many cultists in the building. Shortly before you guys came back a bunch of them left. I figured it would be safe for me to move about with them gone."
"You said you were too low power for them to notice you. So why would you even bother being stealthy around them?"
"Being stealthy is a survival technique. I've got a building full of cultists or something looking for magic users so they can be drained like batteries. I'm going to avoid them whenever possible; I had a run-in with some of them once; that was enough."
"I see, I see, I see." I said quickly, trying to keep her away from further outbursts. "So what kind of information do you have about this little group?"
Nikki shot me an incredulous look, but Steph waved her off. "Probably same as you. It's called the Church of the Blue Moon and this sect is run by a guy named Cyrus. From what I gathered from the neighborhood before they got all wacky was that Cyrus was always the weird guy around here. He was usually found late at night performing some kind of ritual or something in the alleys around here trying to gain something, but usually got nothing.
Suddenly he disappeared for a few weeks. When he came back he was spouting all kinds of shit about this Church. Eventually he got some followers and then it just kind of exploded; next thing anyone knows he's more or less taken over the town.
I got here about two months ago to do my photography project about the music scene in Redstone and the first band I talked to was 'Powerfly'. Cyrus was their bass player, no one seemed to happy about that, they kept going on about their previous bass player, I take that as being you, Seven. He started on about his Church while I was taking pictures of the rest of them. Before I could finish with them Tessa was arrested for assault; not the first time I was informed. So I talked this Amy girl into introducing me to some other bands.
After a few weeks of working with other bands and hanging out with Amy she told me that Cyrus had left the band and no one had seen Mary, their pseudo-roadie. I didn't think anything of it until I started hearing people in my building talk about The Church of the Blue Moon and Cyrus.
When I heard about people going missing and showing up days later drained and shit, I started hiding like none other. I don't have much ability with magic, but it might just be enough to draw their attention, and I don't need shit like that again.
When she stopped talking I noticed that we were in front of a church. I sat down on the steps, Nikki sat in front of me and Steph sat next to me. Before I could say anything Nikki's cell phone rang. I could only hope it was Amy with some kind of information.

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