Hunters Wake

(Excited, leaning into the hunt.) Oh yeah, something’s definitely down there. Might be our buddy Kyle.

(Grumbling, disgusted, but still cracking jokes.) Coven guest sanctums are all velvet and perfume. I’d sooner piss in one.

(Caught up in a berserk's rage mid-combat.) You want some too?! HUH?! I'm ready to kick some fucking ass!

(Defiant, trying to maintain control while restrained and in pain.) I am gonna kill you.

(Shocked and in pain, lisping with fangs freshly knocked out.) Aagh! You thon o' bith! [Son of a bitch]

(His trademark greeting.) Hey asshole!

(Voicemail greeting: Cold, distant, heard directly after a breakup.) Hi, it's Megan. I'm sorry I missed your call, leave me a message... And if this is Hunter... I told you I need space.

(Awkward, fishing for info from her ex. Forced cheerfulness, probing.) England was super cool, I had so much fun! We went swimming and... umm, whatever. It doesn't matter. How about you?! Did you and Morgan hang out?

(Breathless, frightened, close to tears as she treads water while something menacing lingers between her and the beach.) Please, I don't know what you want! Go away! SOMEONE HELP ME!

(Tender, reassuring in the aftermath of a bad situation.) Everything’s going to be alright. I’m here.

(Teasing, affectionate with her son's longtime friends.) Alright guys, it was cute when you were kids. Now it's creepy.

(Similarly, but with her son.) Sorry handsome, you're not half as mysterious as you think.

(Simple, gruff but proud.) Good job, son.

(Magnanimous, stern towards the end.) We won't be back until Monday after next. Have company over if you want. Just don't trash the house, clean up after everything, don't be a dumbass. And no pool parties unless you have that girl over, the one with the lifeguard certs!

Come in here, son. I wanna talk about these grades of yours.

(Relieved, fussing, ending with a tight and grunting hug.) Are you okay? They said no injuries but they didn’t say... why are you all wet? Look at me, what's that on your face? c'mere you...

(To her son and a female friend in his room.) Alright you two, I'll be downstairs. Leave the door open!

(Taking a call and getting some bad news about her son.) Miller's residence... Yes, speaking... What? Oh no! Where is he now?!

(Concerned, caring after his daughter was near-witness to a traumatic event.) Come on Princess, sounds like you've had a long night. Have you eaten?

(Scowling, no-nonsense, could blow up and make shit crucial at any second.) Yeah yeah, fine. Tell me where my daughter is, NOW.

(Sedate, weary, almost vulnerable.) Princess? Phone for you. (Pause.) It's your mother.

(Concerned, firmly questioning.) Why are we still here? Is she being detained?

(Greeting a large party that just arrived at her restaurant. Her voice is raised a little to be heard over lively atmosphere.) Hi, welcome welcome! Oh my goodness... yes, hello! How many?

(Counseling her husband on dealing with their daughter. Mildly exasperated, but earnest and loving.) You must listen to me. If you tell her to stop seeing that boy, she will probably run away and marry him before the school year ends.. If you let this pass, it will pass. Probably before the semester even ends. (Softer.) Please trust me, okay?

(Polite and measured, speaking to a police officer.) If my daughter isn’t under suspicion, then why are we still here?

(Firm but gentle, speaking to a tearful daughter about the young man caught serenading her through her window.) Is that him? (Pause.) Chloe, is this the same boy? (Another pause, then responding to a presumed silent confirmation.) Well then I guess he better come inside. Use the front door... and get your guitar case out of my wife's gardenias.

(Same young man, same night.) My daughter seems to like you very much. Whether or not I agree with her is down to whether my wife forgives you for what you did to her flowers.

Good evening. I’m Alan Batista, and this is Pacific Coast Independent News*. It’s been just over a week since the tragic events at Del Cielo’s Vista del Oro quarry. Tonight, investigators have officially closed their inquiry into the incident.

(Explaining part of her comic, enthusiastic and completely sincere.) It's the archetype I'm talking about. Somebody says, "This is the way things are, don't question it," and somebody else says, "Why?" I like the second guy.

(Mildly frustrated, pushing back.) No, I know. But that's always the argument, isn't it? Freedom is dangerous. Don't do this because you'll regret it. Don't read that because it'll corrupt you. Don't sleep with this person. Don't dress like this. Don't don't don't. At some point you have to actually live your own life.

(Teasing, playful, deliberately misconstruing an analogy about violins.) Maybe I want percussion.

(Lash has unexpectedly returned after being missing for a week. Delighted to see him, though perhaps not for the nicest reason.) Wow! Hey guys, look who it is!

(Describing a notorious vampire hunter active in California years ago.) Nasty bastard. More of a NorCal figure. Street kid. Hunted us purely for the hell of it, they say. Bloodsuckers stopped going places alone, so many of us were disappearing without word or trace.

(Cutting through a pointless territorial squabble between two groups of vampires.) Alright alright, we get it. Everybody has a huge dick, nobody likes each other. This is Spoony and Florentine. Let them follow you in my Caddy. They can help.

(Commenting on Lash's absence after he resurfaces.) No inviting yourself along, no mosquito whining about not being included, no poaching chattel. Unlife has almost been worth living this past week!

(After hearing an older vampire describe a mortal hunter successfully taking down vampires.) Skill issue.

(Trying to make sense of an alien sensation as the group approaches something none of them understands. Joking, but not entirely.) I'm not sure what I'm feeling. But it's definitely something, and it's something foreign to me. We're gonna die aren't we?

(Genuinely baffled by the idea of mortal vampire hunters.) I still have trouble wrapping my head around the concept. We're stronger, faster, more perceptive, longer-lived and have access to aspects of life and death they couldn't even imagine. Hell, can't some of us do magic? The older ones? How the hell do you get taken down by a mortal?

(Spoony has just nervously suggested that they're going to die.) Bullshit we are. I've been living in eternal night since the seventies. I can deal with a headache and a hole in the ground. You? (A beat.) Yeah. You can.

(Greeting an ancient acquaintance with extravagant, possibly sincere flirtation.) There he is... The Night Herself must have smiled upon me this evening to deliver such a breathtaking presence into my nest.

(Said acquaintance has turned to leave. Hecate loses her temper and uses supernatural compulsion to stay hom.) BE STILL. (Immediately realizing what she has done, suddenly off-balance.) I didn't mean to--no, Stop!

(This same acquaintence has attempted to claim that he and his brood arrived in a BMW Isetta in order to weasel out of taking some of her agents away with him.) No you didn't, Saint. You came in that same fucking Continental you've been driving since you bought it new during the Roosevelt administration.

(Surveying a nightclub governed by the comparatively restrained customs of another vampire court.) Club Hunger. And who said Mr. Glass wasn't creative? Who said Del Cielo Pale aren't allowed any fun?

(Mocking a more restrained vampire's endless attempts to keep everyone under control.) Pish posh. Morrigan, who am I? Oh I do so wish you wouldn't do this! Have you considered not doing this? Perhaps you could do something other than this?!

(Dismissively, said when told her group is leaving right in the middle of her dance with a mortal.) Good for you.

(Joining Eris in teasing Saint for his constant concern with rules and consequences.) Mother Hecate and Sister Eris are right, Saint. You should learn to relax a little. Eternity at your fingertips and you fret like middle management at a Fortune 500 company.

(Quiet, bewildered by her own reaction to the mysterious, silent presence they have been investigating as it touches her thoughts.) I couldn't possibly tell you why, but it is as though a child is crying. I feel obliged to aid in some way.

(Upon discovering strangers at the place the presence has drawn them toward. Quiet and certain.) It wants us to stop them...

(Explaining why a band's newer, more commercially accessible sound bothers him.) I guess like, I get that they wanted to sell more records right? They wanted to expand their reach. But at what cost?

(At a nightclub, attempting to charm an attractive stranger through banter with her scowling, uncomfortable host.) I noticed just how pissed off you looked surrounded by these gothic hotties and thought I'd swoop in to relieve you of some of that stress.

(Mocking a jock schoolmate as he leaves the store. Exaggerated bro voice.) Later duuude.

(Disagreeing mildly with Jared's complaints about a band's changing sound.) I don't mind the new stuff so much. Different doesn't have to mean bad, does it?

(After Jared expresses disbelief that a hockey player would enter their record store.) Weird, right? It's like athletes also buy stuff sometimes.

(After Jared gets inexplicably annoyed when Madison goes to speak to the athlete in question.) Damn... what's up your ass, dude?

(Greeting a customer who's just entered the shop.) Heya, welcome to The Pit. How're you doing today?

(Noticing the figure a customer is buying and making conversation.) Sharks fan huh?

(Ringing up the purchases.) You're right about that. Okay. Nabokov and Mothra Larva. Fifty-two twenty-three.

(Approaching the bike's owner outside the Basilica, trying to get his attention.) Hey, 'scuse me! Morning friend! Hi, how ya doing?

(Explaining what he witnessed during Mass.) Nothing like that. Just a guy. Dark sweater, bent down a little ya know? Like he was doing something. Thought at first it might be his bike, but the minute he saw me seeing him he stood up quick and beat feet. That's not how you act when you're checking something on your bike.

(Mostly joking, but he'd really like some reassurance before the conversation ends.) I helped the good guy, right? It's really gonna sour my morning if it turns out you're some criminal evading capture or something.

(Introducing himself and his wife to a stranger.) Thanks so much, Silas. I'm Denis, this divine creature made flesh is my wife Ellie.

(Talking enthusiastically about their first visit to the mission.) You're very kind. This is our first time here. The acoustics are great, the mission is breathtaking. I suppose we were just--

(Half-joking, after discovering he and his new friend come from two different places called Raleigh.) It's providence!

(.Genuinely delighted, having just been told her and her husband's singing is gorgeous.) Oh, thank you!

(Faux embarrassed as their singing is complimented further.) Oh stop iiit... but go on!

(Finishing Denis's thought about what inspired them to sing during Mass.) Just moved to lift up our voices and make a joyful noise!

(Making conversation after picking Silas up at the airport and learning his first stop is a church.) From John Wayne Airport straight to Church. Never seen that before!

(Casually revealing information his passenger never actually gave him.) So North Carolina huh? That's a ways away. Decided you felt like a little dry heat this summer?

(After the passenger has escaped the car, Adil records a message for the person who assigned him.) Mistress. It's Adil. Someone from your Little Book of Concerns showed as entering your domain today. I picked him up from John Wayne. De Lyons. He figured out I was watching him before I could learn anything useful and escaped. He's headed to Mission San Juan Capistrano. I don't know where after that. I humbly beg your forgiveness.

(Excitedly reading the newly announced roster.) Alright... Coastal Carnage, generous donors, sharpening skates, bla bla bla... yo! Forwards: left wing is Matthew Mora--don't know him, center is Roarke Halvorsen, yours truly is right wing, that's what's up!

(Gentle, giving a rattled friend an out when the conversation turns painful.) You don't have to share nothin' you don't want to.

(Delivering a joke, and switching gears to alarmed mid-sentence as his friend feints.) She's alright. not the kinda girl you'd kill someone over but--Oh shit! You good man? you good? Ghost! Ghosty, get up man! You good?

(Sympathetic, still processing the death of a teammate along with his friends.) Yah, us too. Kyle Ross, that's somethin'.

(Immediately chastising a teammate for saying exactly the wrong thing.) Aw jeez. Hey now, easy with that...

(Sincerely trying to reassure a teammate no one blames him for said death. It isn't quite as reassuring as he thinks.) Not for nothing, but I know you wouldn't be able to take Kyle. He was a bigger fella. Don't know how they think you coulda done it.

(Running drills in the Coach's absence.) Alright Ghost! Last one, make it count!

(Firmly shutting down a run of poorly timed jokes.) Boys. Birdy behavior. Let's keep it to the ice.

(Taking charge after learning Coach Rydell may be gone for some time.) Speaking of which: fellas, let's meet back here tomorrow morning same time. The man's laid up but he's counting on us.

(Uneasy humor after learning the team's coach is in the hospital.) Critical condition... what the hell kinda hockey did we sign up for?

(Firm and matter-of-fact. They've got a game coming.) Yeah, we got Anaheim in twelve days. Rydell would kick our asses if we wasted ice time.

(Joining an increasingly terrible series of goalie puns.) Yeah. Let's not let things GET THROUGH to us...

(After narrowly stopping a teammate's shot.) Almost had me!

(Chirping from in front of the net.) Leave your guy in, it's not gonna matter!

(Three vocalizations: one taking a speeding puck directly to the chest and stopping it, one triumphant grunt as he falls on it and stops it going in, one grunt of surprised frustration as one gets past him.)

(Talking shop with the team after they agree practice needs to continue.) Yeah we do. Little weak on the PK, boys!

(Breathing heavy, actively exerting effort.) Go... ah! Go go go!

(Pumped, victorious.) Gooooal! Oh! OH! OOHH!

(Gently informing a concerned young lady that her missing boss has already been found.) He's alive. He's in critical condition at St. Raphael Medical Center.

(Two experienced officers have just insisted that an injured man somehow appeared from thin air in a location they had already searched.) I know you both pretty well. But given what you're saying, I have to ask: Any drinking?

(Interviewing a witness in the hospital. Moon believes most of what he's hearing, but has realized part of the truth is being very carefully skirted around.) Silas, I get the distinct feeling you are being honest with me. Mostly. But something just isn't adding up.

(Answering an incoming call.) Hello, Del Cielo Police Department.

(Taking down information about Morgan's missing boss.) Okay. What's your boss's name?

(She recognizes Sid Rydell's name and knows something Morgan doesn't. Trying to remain calm and professional.) Oh. Alright Morgan, give me just a second okay?

(The group has just learned that the coach is hospitalized in critical condition.) Critical condition. Do you think it was a car accident?

(Immediately beginning to coordinate how they'll cover his absence.) You wanna call him later? I can get Pete in here too, if Sid's laid up we're gonna need everyone here to fill in.

(An elementary-school skating group has arrived, and it's time to get the hockey players out of the lobby.) Let's clear the lobby guys, looks like Taft Elementary's here for their skateday. Not you, Matt. I need you out near the ice in case the teachers need help.

(Reporting to Hecate.) Mistress, a small brood is present in the Main Sanctum. They did not show proper obeisance, thus I have no gift. But their presence persists.

(Hecate has instructed him to choose one of the visitors and send them in.) Yes Mistress, the most beautiful one. And if none of them meet your standards?

(Speaking to another of his station. Gentle but firm.) Be still now. The Mistress has commanded you to die.

(In response to Ratchet aggressively demanding to know what Danielson wants.) Tickets, sir. To see the new Marvel movie.

(Responding to Ratchet telling him to piss off.) Midnight showing.

(Clarifying exactly who the tickets are for.) You three, and your guest.

(Lash insists that being mocked and the serious problem he's brought them are two different matters.) Por que no los dos?

(Several members of the Pale have died during an expedition, and Paegan isn't satisfied with the survivors' explanation.) I have some trouble with this. You take along a delegate from Balboa along with half of our brood, and manage to escape by the skin of your teeth! While they all died.

(Her suspicions have escalated into an accusation, and she's demanding answers. She is moving forward as she speaks, and is blocked at the end.) And why the hell not? We got gods-know-what singing all kinds of songs from up there at Vista Del Oro, everybody's looking to you three for answers. You don't have any, so people join you to investigate and suddenly there's vampire killers and compulsions that block you from--no! Unhand me sorceress, now!

(Explaining Aquinas's understanding of courage.) Courage is not the absence of fear. Aquinas understands courage precisely because there is something genuinely terrible to be endured. What defines courage is the willingness to remain steadfast despite that fear. To refuse to let fear turn us away from what we know is good and what we know is right.

(Distinguishing courage from pointless risk-taking.) Fortitude is not recklessness. The courageous man does not seek danger merely to prove that he isn't afraid of it. There is no virtue in throwing your life away for nothing. Prudence still has its place. We don't manufacture crosses for ourselves simply so that we can boast about carrying them.

(Explaining endurance as an act of fortitude.) For Aquinas, one of the great acts of fortitude is endurance: remaining firm when suffering cannot simply be struck down or escaped. And why endure? In service to those we love, in service to those who count on us, and ultimately, in service to our Lord who loves us.

(Everyone is choosing islands and countries for a pool game based on Magellan's voyage.) Can I be Pleasure Island?

(Another player has implied that “Pleasure Island” sounds considerably less innocent than Sora intended.) No! It's from PINOCCHIO.

(Later in the game, immediately violating the premise again just to annoy one of her friends.) Island of Misfit Toys! I'm just kidding, I'm Cuba!

(Quietly checking on her injured patient.) Mr. De Lyons?

(Moon is waiting outside, but Molly checks before allowing him in.) Hi... there's a detective looking to speak with you... are you feeling up to it?

(To Detective Moon as she lets him in.) Ten minutes.

(Drunkenly singing to himself as he wanders along.) And then I drink it down and pay for another. One more shot between me and your mother. 'Cause Johnny and Jack are my two best friends. And when payday comes I'll visit them again.

(Spotting Lash, who appears to have been badly beaten.) Whoa buddy... are you okay?

(He has attempted to help Lash stand and instead fallen over himself, which makes him laugh. Hard.) Jesus Tapdancing Christ I am toasted! Here, lemme just--