Collab
@Silence ,
@Alissa Ming ,
@The_Dujke and
@Blue winter rose
Anne pointed at the hold her arms out wide, "well, so this is "de Dam", the centrum of historic Amsterdam," she said. "And that is the National Monument," she added pointing at the large statue on the square. "Once a year on the 4th of may we have two minutes of silence, here to uh.. what's the word? think back? at all the Dutch people that died in wars, since the second world war." She explained, trying to keep her mind off the man.
Faith looked around, her gaze traveling to each location as Anne mentioned it. She didn't have to feign interest. After all, nothing truly lasted forever, and quite a few of these sites were long since gone, despite the best of conservation efforts. What was still there of the ancient days were not nearly in this pristine of condition. Then there were antiques like the dam itself. As technology had advanced, such crude energy methods had long since been abandoned, and in many places taken down. But even as interested as she was, she kept her lookout for any danger. "This is so cool." She said simply, not even trying to keep the awe out of her voice.
"Gorgeous..." Holt admired "I feel like ages have passed since i've been here.". He let out a chuckle when he realised that there was a huge hole in his schedule. He finished his contract and needed to hear from his employer. So all he could do now was wait. And since he was watching over Clark, he thought this could be a good opportunity to show him some things about European culture. He and Clark sat on a bench near the Dam. Giving them a good view of the area. Holt's car was parked close by, so transport for the duo wasn't going to be a problem. "So, I've noticed you've been really focused on news channels on my radio. Hopefully that means you'll be able to understand me soon." Holt lit a cigarette as he leaned in on the wooden bench. He puffed his cigarette and began to think about a sollution to Clarks predicament. What could the alien want? Probing humans was certanly out of the question. So what was it? Destroy earth? Enslave humanity? Hopefully he would find out soon.
When they stopped it was in a large city. Clark stared around at the people walking and he watched the vehicles move about. All of it felt foreign and strange in almost every capacity. Additionally, it was loud. It all felt loud compared to his home planet. On the ground it was near silent. People were perhaps the loudest part. Then he could hear jets and aircraft go overhead every now and then too. After a long moment he looked at Holt. He was understanding a lot more and he narrowed his eyes slightly. The man wanted him to know what he was saying. Over days and days of nothing, but constant immersion in the language he was understanding more, but he didn't really know how to say that he understood. Instead he shrugged and kept on watching.
Anne smiled at Faith. "yeah, it is." She looked around the large square, it was grouded, mostly tourists though. Convesations in at least 4 diffrent languages mixed togheter. So many people and no one she knew, so diffrent than at home. "Somewhere churchclocks sounded. Anne counted at along 6 times, so late already. "Are you hungry?" she asked, whilst she tried to think of a good place to eat nearby.
Faith thought, as her eyes wandered the mingling groups of people. She had to admit she wished she had a translator with her. It might be interesting to know what these people thought of something like this. "Food sounds like a great idea." She said. She was too awed to really know if she was hungry or not, but she did need to keep her strength up, if nothing else.
Holt and Clark sat quietly on the bench. It was good to relax, sure. But something wasn't right. Like something was somehow wrong. Holt was weary. And then, suprising him completely. His stomack grumbled. He was hungry. He looked around and caught the site of a pastry shop close by. It smelled wonderful. "Hey Clark, let's grab a bite to eat. " he said as he got up from the bench and ventured twards the hypnotizing smell. A sign above the shop said "BOBIS". Whatever that meant.
If there was one thing that Clark was more than glad to admit he understood it was the invitation to eat. He wanted to have some food and there was something good smelling in the air. Slowly he got up from his place on the bench and nodded. "Food. " He knew that word and it was easy enough to say.
Anne walked into one of the streets that were connected with the square. She didn't really had a plan where to go. She just walked in the hope to come across a restaurant, that was nice, whilst she thought of the possibility's. Then the brightly coloured sign of BOBIS pulled her attention. "Look, I ate there once with Fleur, they have good food, decently cheap aswell." she said nodding in the direction of the pastry shop where two man just walked through the door.
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Faith said. Her eyes were bright with interest, again, not entirely feigned, but were still watchful and alert. "If you say there's good food there, that's good enough for me."
Holt walked over to the glass counter where chubby old man with a mustache stood waiting for him to choose. The choices were endless. Pretzels, waffles, cupcakes, even pizzas. Holt stared through the glass and pointed. "I'll take the pretzel, and uhh, give me two waffles for my friend here.". The old man gave out a smile and gave them their order. All fresh and warm. They took a seat at a table next to the window. Giving them a good view of the Dam.
The closer they got to the building that Holt had pointed out the stronger the scent of food got. It was almost enough to make Clark feel like a mad man. He wanted to eat all of the food and it smelled far better than anything he'd eaten so far. When they stepped into the building he stared at the different food, not even sure what he wanted. However, that didn't seem to matter. Holt chose something for him and then a different food for himself. Clark looked from Holt's selection to his own, but didn't say anything. He would just have to wait till he could speak the language more fluently.
Anne walked into the shop, the smell of food was really prevelant in the shop and reminded her that she didn't really had eaten anything since the two slices of bread she had quickly eaten during lunch. She walked over to the glass counter and waited for the two man to make there choice and pay. One of the man looked a bit off and didn't seemed to be able talk somehow. "So what do you want to eat?" She asked faith, "The pizza's are pretty good. You want to share one?"
"Pizza sounds great." Faith said. Her eyes wandered the store as they stepped in. She noted the two men in front of them. One seemed to be a foreigner, who couldn't speak the language. But there was something about him. Something off. Not dangerous. She'd met enough dangerous people men and women alike to know the difference. But she'd also met aliens, many of whom had been humanoid. The man she was studying as unobtrusively as possible didn't seem quite human to her. But it wasn't something blatantly different. He looked as human as she did, meaning if she was right, he was humanoid. It was just a feeling. She pulled her eyes away, not wanting to get caught staring, and returned to being the alert sentry she was supposed to be. But though her eyes were scanning again, she kept her muscles relaxed.
The pretzel Holt began to eat was delicious, He looked around the room, taking in the interestin scenery, until he noticed a few things that were a bit of a bother. He didn't like how one of the customers came in looked at Clark. He needed to get him to behave like a civillian. Otherwise, they would have a lot of trouble with staying incuspicuous. Holt stared back at the girl with an annoyed expression. Hoping she would stop staring at someone for who she knew could have been autistic. He just wanted to eat without worry.
Clark didn't notice and he didn't care that anyone stared at him. He was happy enough with the food. On the table he saw a little butter and some jam. If there was one food that he did know, it was the berry spreads from home and he hoped that these ones would be similar. Grabbing one of the tiny packets with the berry spread he opened it up and smeared a generous portion over one part of his first pancake and then took a small bite to determine if it was good. As soon as he tasted the berry he grinned and smeared another 3 packets on the single pancake. "Mmm." Nodding some he tried to indicate that the food was good. He'd seen that on one of their strange sort of advertisements when he was watching the hologram.
"Ok, you like Pizza Mozerela?" she asked at Faith. She noticed the woman looking at the two man and got a bit supscious. There was something weird, the woman looked a bit too long. "Seen them before?" she asked, slightly worried. The man acted weird, unnatural, like he came straight out of a commercial. suddenly the thought came up that they were the ones in the car. No stop it you are seeing things now, she told herself, the man was very likely german and not polish judging his accent. Atleast for as far as she had knowledge of accents.
"No, I don't. Sorry, I got a bit wrapped up in my own thoughts. It's nothing." But now her eyes were drawn back to the pair, and she studied the other man for a moment. And she had to force herself not to stiffen. As it was her hand almost strayed to the hilt of her hidden blade. This man carried himself with the air of a man who had killed before. Possibly an assassin, but she couldn't be sure. He could have been in the military. She knew it was hard to turn off. Her own protective air could be mistaken for danger or could be seen for what it was for the observant eye. But she'd met enough dangerous people in her time to recognize the signs of a man who could be very dangerous indeed. She made herself look away from the pair again, though this time, she kept them in her view, so she could see them out of the corner of her eye. Not for the first time, she wished she'd brought her translator. "Anne, I wouldn't worry too much. Even if they were any danger, which I very much doubt, no one would be so foolish as to attack someone in public. There are too many people here for a specific attack, so anyone who wants to hurt you would have to wait for you to be alone." She smiled nonchalantly, failing to mention that someone crazy might be a different story, or the fact that her last job had ended with some public fighting. Though to be fair, those fights had been against Demons, not normal people.
Holt stared in confusion. He heard everything. This wasn't good, if somehow that girl knew who he was, then he would be in big trouble. He pretended that he didn't hear anything. But some of what he said was intriguing. It seems that this girl named Anne was having some sort of stalker problem. He continued to eat his pretzel and thought; "As long as they don't figure out Clark is an alien, were fine."
It wasn't hard to tell that there was something wrong, but Clark couldn't begin to guess what it was. Unless these people were looking for him. Perhaps Holt had brought him here on some sort of meeting. Maybe he was going to hand him over to his superiors in this city. It was big and there would be plenty of places they could hide him if they wanted to. Shoving a few more bites into his mouth the alien swallowed his food in uncomfortably large bites. When they were done he was going to find someplace else to go and someone else to follow around until he learned better how to speak their language and blend.
Anne nodded and ordered the pizza assuming Faith would be ok with it. The man handed her the pizza on a plate, true it was probably laying there for a while. So, it wouldn't be very fresh but it was still hot and probably tasted decent as well. Anne placed the pizza on a table and started cutting it into pieces. "That, isn't really helping," she said anxious, the words of the woman actually only made her worry about the man. She made an effort in cutting the pizza as quick as she could, so they could leave as fast as possible. Whilst she was doing so she made the two man weren't planning on an attack or anything. She felt pretty silly for thinking so, damn, she was turning into her father.
Faith shrugged, nonchalantly, enforcing a nervous-sounding laugh. That was intentional. “I’m over-reacting, Anne. I think your nervous energy is getting to me a little. I don’t mean to make you nervous. We’re perfectly safe.” And wasn’t that as close to a blatant lie as she’d come. She had no doubt the human man was dangerous. She didn’t think he was a danger to them, but he could be, if he wanted too.
Even though Holt acted oblivious, he knew that the girl was still watching him. He was starting to get annoyed. He looked back at the girl and said; "You know, it's not polite to stare." just loud enough for her to hear. Adding a friendly smile.
It seemed that the awkward silence was broke and Clark looked up at the others. They were watching and he still felt like running, maybe finding somewhere else to go, however he couldn't miss the chance to say something. This was a conversation he could certainly take part in. He knew what to say. He'd seen it in a movie. "Yeah....He doesn't like you. I don't like you either. You'd better watch yourself."
Anne nervously looked up at Faith and pointed vaguely at the pizza. "Here, these are yours," she said whilst she put a slice in her mouth making a hurry and trying not to look at the two men. It didn't bother though since the man already noticed them staring. Anne looked up slightly surprised the man did seem to be able to speak English, but, he had a very weird accent she couldn't place. It seemed like he had studied the sentence as well, like she walked into one of those movies Tom watches.
“Sorry,” Faith said, airily, two the other two. “ I don’t mean to stare, but everything is just so fascinating. I’m a tourist from America, and while we have lots of races and religions, it’s quite something else to see those people outside of your home.” She smiled at them, then visibly turned to her food, there was no obvious wariness, but she was hoping she’d deflected the issue
"Bullshit," he said "the girl next to you has a stalker problem, and for some reason you think that's us.". Holt took a bite out of his pretzel and looked the blonde girl in the eyes. "Am I wrong”.
Since it seemed like things were getting heated up just fine, Clark rolled his pancakes into a sloppy collection and nodded slightly to the rest of the people in the small building and started for the door. He had his food and he didn't need to be in the middle of this. They could all get in a fight and this would be a great chance for him to slip away.
Anne turned around to the man, holding the pizza slice in her hand. The man figured out surpricily well what was going on. The girl played over the events in her head, trying to figure out what they had said to make him think that. He obviously was listening of their conversation that was for sure. "No, no you are not," she said, in fact, the man's words made more convenient that they at least know a bit more about who was stalking her. Slightly panicked she looked at the door and wished she had ordered food that she could take with her and sneak away like the other man.
Faith knew this was going south quickly. She should have known such a dangerous man would be quick on body language, just as she would. But she nodded in agreement of Anne’s statement, wishing Anne wouldn’t panic. It was as good as a confirmation. “Even if you were correct, we’d never assume anything about you. Instead it would be just caution to assume those we don’t know mean us harm. But then, you don’t mean us harm, right? So we can all just return to calmly eating.” She hoped.
For a moment, Holt was concerned that Clark would run off to who knows where. But he would probably be close by. Holt sighed "No, I don't. But I am willing to offer some help solving your problem. I've dealt with these kinds of situations before." He finished his pretzle. "So? Want my help?".
Disappearing should be easy, at least that was what Clark figured. Taking himself outside he stepped around the corner and stood in an alley to avoid having anyone see him change his face, eye color and hair color. It was an easy and fast transformation, but he'd discovered that this race of people didn't do that so easily. Once he had changed his looks he took his jacket off and draped it over one arm to hide the rolled up pancakes. He did want to finish eating later on. For now, he was going to walk away and not worry about hanging out with that guy Holt anymore.
Anne looked at Faith unsure if she could trust the man. For all she knew he could be the stalker. If she learned nything from her father was that she shoudln't just take the help of stranger. On the other hand she didn't know Faith aswell. Still it felt diffrent, maybe it was purely because of appaerance, maybe it was more.
Faith smiled winningly at Anne, though to be fair, she wasn't sure how far to trust the pair either. She was positive that the nervous looking humanoid man was an alien. Meaning he shouldn't be alone without some sort of guide. The other man was the problem. He was dangerous, and could make her job either easier or harder, depending on if he could be trusted. The difference was that it was Faith's job to protect Anne. She didn't know if it was kindness or some plan to take her that motivated this man. For not the first time, she wished she'd had the psionic ability to tell when someone was lying. Being an Empath might be nice as well. But she couldn't read minds. She could speak to people mentally, but she couldn't read minds. She couldn't tell when someone was lying beyond body language, and she couldn't read emotions. Her eyes narrowed in speculation, as she looked over for signs of falsehood in his offer or some reason why he was offering. She allowed the question onto her face. She had seen the alien leave the place they were eating. She would have to find him later. He could get lost very easily in such unfamiliar settings. But there wasn't much she could do now. Not now that he'd left the building. "You're offering to help too complete strangers?"
As of now, Holt had some free time on his hands. And who knows when he would have some again. "You got that right. Besides, why wouldn't I help someone in need? I mean, I sure don't have anything to lose - as if there is anything to lose." Holt chuckled at the last part. "So, want my help or not?" If they said "yes", it would be his first stalker hunt. If they said "no" , then back to the hotel it was.
Anne smilled at faith, "You are a stranger aswell," she said, before she glanced over back to the man. He looked like he could help but, also could cause a lot of problem if he wasn't be trusted. He maybe said he had nothing too lose but, Anne could think of plenty things she could lose. "What do you want in return?" she asked, her father always thaught her to figure out what someone wanted, if you knew that, it was easier to figure out if you could trust them. Not she ever thaught to need that much of his tips.
Faith made the motion a fencer made when acknowledging a touch. "Point." The difference was that she had asked Anne to help, and offered her help in return. Though to be fair, she would have preferred any number of other ways to meet Anne. And she wasn't sure she wanted Holt around either. Not because he didn't have a point, but much like how she had seen his proficiency with weapons, he would be more likely than Anne to realize she wasn't telling the whole truth. But neither Anne nor Holt would believe the whole truth. She turned to Holt. "I'll go with whatever Anne decides to do."
"Nothing. " He said plainly. "I'm just willing to help." There was no real reason to ask these girls for money, or anything else. It wasn't fun being paid to do something easy. In Holt's eyes, a person would have to
earn a reward. There was no easy mode for living.
Anne looked at the man suspicously, she didn't know what he wanted or why he would wanting to help her. Maybe he is just nice she thought. Afterall helping others without really gaining anything wasn't something that rare, she knew some people that would help, without imiidiatly getting anyting back. Still she doubt he was someone like that. Still just having him around could scare off the possible stalkers and it wasn't that she was all alone with him. "Alright,"she said finally.
Faith bit back a groan, and put a smile on instead. She'd left the decision up to Anne. After all, it was her job to make sure Anne felt safe. And if she'd feel safer with more back up, then Faith would just have to deal. Even still, it would make it harder for Faith to keep under cover. "So, I guess that's settled then. Who knows, might be nice to do the whole tourist thing without having to watch our backs." She put a bright, energetic note into her voice.
Holt was happy that he was able to help. He got up and walked over to the two girls and sat in front of them. A light brown table seperating them. " So, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Carl Lidl.".
Anne looked up starngely when she heard the name of the supermarket, but, didn't say anything about it. "I am Annemarie, but, everyone calls me Anne."She introduced herself aswell, leaving out her last name. Partly because, she was used to do it that way and partly because of cautious.
Faith raised an eyebrow at the rather odd name, but didn't question it. Not only were strange names a thing, even in the future, not helped by alien influence, but it really didn't matter if he used his real name. Chances were good she'd never find him or anything about him in the history books. "My name's Faith. I'm a tourist, and I asked Anne to be my tour guide."
"Why does a random tourist care so much?" he thought while keeping a straight face. "So, how long has this thing been going on? Do you know?" he said, putting his arms hands on the table. "Would you happen to know why he's following you?".
Anne digged deep into her memory to figure out if she saw the car before this afternoon or if there was something that they would want from her. Finally she shook her head and said,"I would have no idea why they would follow me, I mean I am a engineer student, my parents aren't really rich or anything. Don't have enemies as well." She stopped to think about the last thing, then she remembered her fathers nervous tendencies and added, "At least no that I know of. As for how long they were following me, I noticed them this afternoon when I traveled too school."
Faith rolled her eyes dramatically. "I remember in my psych class that sometimes they don't need to be your enemies to be stalking you. Sometimes it's someone who thinks their in love with you and that you're in love with them in return. It's an infatuation that she wouldn't have done anything to provoke but that particular kind of stalker thinks that some small gesture was meant for him or her. It happens." Faith kept her face straight, not allowing the worry to give her away. She was aware this man was good and was unsure how long she'd be able to stay undercover while he was with him.
"Yes, I know what a stalker is..." he said. "I'm guessing since you've all been staring at me, that i'm the stalker. Meaning that you don't know what he looks like?" he pointed out. "So how do you know that he's following you? Was he or she in a car? If so, could you discribe the vehicle?"
Anne hold still for a moment to recal the things that happend earlier that afternoon,"When I left my home this afternoon I noticed a car, when I arived at the uni I spotted it in the parking lot. When i traveled back I ncoutered it again." she said, as she said it it sounded pretty unbelievable, like one of the stories her father would hold sometimes when he had sworn someone had follow him. A bit scared she just made a drama for for nothing she continued on with the information about the car. "The car was black, with darkened windows and a polish license plate." she said, "and uh," she said trying to remember anymore details, "A volkswagn I think,"
Faith nodded her agreement. She'd seen the car only a couple of times, but she was reasonably certain Anne was correct. "I think she'd know it if she saw it again. I only saw it once or twice while I was traveling with Anne, but I think she's got it right." She should have taken pictures of the car, but that was water under the bridge.
"Indeed" Holt noted. "Alright, Anne, i'll need you to look around and tell me if you can see the car anywhere. Just so we know the stalker is not watching us. Or else we would tip them off.".
Anne nodded and looked out of the window, there were a couple cars parked but, as far as she could see there wasn't the one that was following them and she had the feeling that standing up and go looking outside would be a bit too obvious, "I don't see the car, I think we shoock him of when we took the tram."she said.
"Crowded areas lose them pretty well, just like I said." Faith shrugged. "We'll just need to keep an eye out, because I'm reasonably certain they haven't given up.
"Alright, the key to us catching the stalker is to not tip him off." he pointed out. "Which means he can't see me with you. But that also limits my choices.". Holt thought in silence for a moment, but then got an idea. "What i'm about to say might sound very sketchy. But trust me it
will work. You interested?"
Anne looked at the man pretty worried, "What is it?" she asked cursiously about what the idea could possibly be. Hopefully it wasn't anything too shocking.
Faith leaned forward, interested. While she wasn't a Demon, she wasn't above bending the rules to keep her charge safe. "May as well say what it is, after all, if we don't like it, we don't have to go along. But we can't decide until you tell us what you want to do."
"Well, you see, we just have to lure him out. Now, you might get dissuaded by my method. But I promise there is nothing to worry about. If we were to lure him out, we would need bait." Holt said whilst looking at the girls with a conflicted expression. "You see where i'm going with this?"
"So, you want to provole action?" Anne said not really sure how to feel about it being used as a bait. Unsure about the situation she glanced over at Faith to see what she thinks of the situation.
Faith did her best not to react angrily. "There's a problem with that plan. One is, she's not going out there alone. Even if she was willing to be on her own, her stalker saw me come up to her and ask for help. They'd think it odd I wasn't there all of a sudden. Even if that weren't the case, I'd feel better if someone was with her to stop something bad happening."
"Correct, but the fact that it was out in the open and that it was broad daylight could also be the reason, if it was night time or if she was in an alleyway with or without you, I think the stalker might reveal themselves. Besides, alleys provide a lot of cover. Giving him plentifull time to execute his or her plan." he pointed out." That is why, my plan was to use Anne - with or without you at her side- as bait. Be it night or day. This plan should work. Depending on how eager the stalker is."
Nervously Anne looked from one to another and made circles on the table with her fingers. An habbit she fell into when she got really nervous. "Shouldn't we call the police?" she asked a bit unsure about this, not that she was sure they would do anything. From what she had heard you needed more than just I saw a car a couple times for them to do something. "It is their job to keep everyone safe, right?"
"Police officers drag this process out too long. What I am offering is an immediate solution, but if you want to be stalked more, then feel free to call the police."
“As much as I hate to do this, Anne, Carl is right. There’s also the small problem that the police can’t do much to help until your stalker hurts or takes you. Well, in America it’s that way. I’m not so sure about here.” Faith sighed.
"Alright, so what precisely do I need to do?" Anne asked, if she would do something risky like this, she at least want to know what is going to happen.
