Everyone has moments in their life where they think to themselves, "Wow. I probably should be dead right now." As Tess stood there in the dark alleyway in the middle of Manhattan, she had one of those moments.  It wasn't the first one that she'd had, nor did she think it would be the last, but it was the closest call that Tess had ever had. Her life had flashed before her eyes as the red and orange light illuminated the darkness. The only feeling that she'd had before then had been absolute terror. The words of her mother had fluttered through her mind like butterflies - "You shouldn't ever walk home alone at nighttime, Tess." "You should always carry mace with you, and don't give me none of that 'it's illegal in New York' bullshit either." "Make sure you brush up on your self defense techniques, Tessy. Show 'em that even a country princess can kick their ass too." The only problem with her mother's advice had been that Tess hadn't followed a single one of them. She carried no mace. She walked home alone at nighttime all the time. And there was no way in hell that she could channel her inner 'country princess' to kick anyone's ass. New York had changed her. She wasn't the same Tessy that her parents knew her as.<br/><br/>When her mind calmed down enough to process what had happened, what she'd seen, and the fact that she was still not alone in the alleyway, Tess's mouth fell open and she gaped at the man coming toward her. Her green eyes were wide with a mix of surprise, disbelief, and straight fear. Those feelings combined with the events that had just transpired had Tess scrambling behind her, backing away as quickly as she could, until her body came into contact with the full brick wall on the opposite side of the alley. Her back pressed up against it, her palms were flat on the surface as she steadied herself, but her voice was loud, clear, and a bit too high pitched for her usual liking.<b>"Am I...Am I okay?!"</b>Nervous giggles escaped her as her mind spun.<b>"What in the hell was that?"<br/>
</b><br/>The only thing that Tess could think of was Harry Potter and how they could cast spells in that make believe world, but in her world, magic wasn't real and it was more dark, cold, and terrible than the fictional universe that JK Rowling had portrayed during the first half of the series. Perhaps this was like the last few books, though, and there was going to be a big war between a modern He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and a freak like Harry Potter.  Was she that freak? Was this even real? Had she really just seen magic? Between her discombobulated thoughts and the reality of the fact that the man standing before her had shot fireballs from his hands, Tess was coping with the situation better than most. Her hand had began to shake at some point from all of the adrenaline flowing through her veins and her lip began to tremble as tears threatened to spill out of her eyes like waterfalls. She was stronger than that, though, and only one stray tear fell down her cheek and her teeth dug into her trembling lip hard enough to make it bleed.<br/><br/><b>"Help me work through this."</b>Tess said after a deep steadying breath. Her voice was still a bit panicked and her eyes were still wide with the ebbing and waning fear.<b>"There was some giant black thing coming to get me and you shot fireballs out of your hands to stop it?"</b>She waited for a response, hoping that she would get an answer that would promise she was slightly insane, but as Tess repeated her question to herself, looking at the facts and the assumptions of it all, she short circuited.<b>"That's impossible. That's crazy. That's..."</b>Tess's mouth went dry. Her face grew clammy. She felt the cool sweat starting to form on the back of her neck and the burn of her ears. She knew what was going to happen, and so, she said as much.<b>"Oh god, I'm going to pass out."</b>Within seconds, Tess slumped against the side of the wall, oblivious to the world around her.<br/><br/>Tag:<a class="username" data-user-id="153" data-username="@Vaughn Doom" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/153/">@Vaughn Doom</a>