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Post by Loki on Apr 10, 2021 18:48:34 GMT -8
The address was sent along with a simple text. Dead body.The Chevalier was taking shelter by the skinny overhang reserved for smokers, flinching away from the rare evening downpour that spit against his skin. He wasn't flying any colours, with a plain jacket and dark jeans that matched his motor oil-stained digits. A new cut was patched over the bridge of his nose, which he picked at while avoiding looking at the EXIT door. A few bikes in the empty lot indicated at least three of his retinue were either inside or making a sweep.
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Post by Gavin Graves on Apr 10, 2021 19:43:55 GMT -8
Gavin knew the streets. As much as he's a foreigner here, he knew them well anyway. His Oz ways and accent in this desert city filled with the unending ebbs and flows of tourists gave him a lot of leeway to hear about things locals would assume meant nothing to the obvious foreigner and thus be less guarded speaking about, or at least not code as hard around him. He knew their ways and kept his head down mostly. Some however knew enough about him to see him for what he is, an active and attentive ear on the street. Loki was one of those blokes. It was always troubling when he would get these late night texts from someone connected like him. There was an edge to it whether intended or not. Gavin knew too much for there ever not to be. This was going to be serious and he was going to have to code switch to match whatever situation dropped a body that he somehow would be able to help with.
He'd changed up his coat to suit the inclement weather. It had the added benefit of maybe disconnecting his usual rugged style from the night's activities to come. Perhaps it was wishful thinking.
Gavin walked up casually and positioned himself under the shelter like he wasn't there to do anything but smoke his imported brand cigarette in the wet night. Nodding at Loki, he silently lit his smoke after a few tries, the damp air throwing off the fuel mixture. Taking a drag, he studied the expression of the companion in the shelter trying to get a read on the tone of the night.
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Post by Kai Rose on Apr 10, 2021 22:54:06 GMT -8
A dead body. So began many a Summer mystery, except this one had ended up in the hands of Solomon's operators. Perhaps it was coincidental; perhaps Loki felt there was an inside angle that needed to be investigated. In any event, Kai had offered Oren a ride in to work. She wore dark blue jeans and a black turtleneck sweater under which her thin layer of Kevlar was well-concealed. She noted the bikes, the Elemental -- and the Beast. Okay. Autumn was here. That was unexpected. Was this Hedge stuff, or just plain old fashioned fuckery? "Sir. Gavin."She glanced from each to each, sipping on a Dunkin Donuts coffee. It promised to be a long night. "How bad?"
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Eis
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Post by Eis on Apr 11, 2021 4:59:31 GMT -8
Eis had been more than a little unsettled by the ominous text. Brief, though it was, it could mean any number of things and have consequences far deeper than the loss of a single life. She silently hopes she won't have to look at the body, though assumes that to be nothing more than wishful thinking. Her only comforting thought amid all this uncertainty is that whoever had lost their life had been a stranger, and how can she care all that much about a stranger's passing?
With her own fears concerns set aside, for the moment, the pale effigy of Fear makes her way to the address. She'd decided on wearing something sensible for the evening, so she'd changed into a flex-fit pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers. The dead body isn't going to care how presentable she looks. As for the others? Arriving on scene and seeing a handful of familiar faces only cements the idea.
Judging by the number of vehicles, they aren't the only ones here. She eyes Gavin expectantly, even as Kai asks the question on everyone's mind.
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Oren
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written by Hiver
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Post by Oren on Apr 11, 2021 8:43:31 GMT -8
What an odd bunch: claws, crystal, and a willowy, desiccated tree. Oren resisted the urge to put on the sunglasses he kept in the glove compartment of Kai's car for this exact purpose. Instead, he simply walked out the car, put on his beige coat and his Serious Face. And even though Kai beat him to the punch, he could at least indulge the trope of his vassalage a little. "What do we got?"
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Apr 11, 2021 19:47:18 GMT -8
Lucas had always been something of a night owl. When the text came in, he was already awake, reading through some notes he had been working on for his other projects. He wasn't terribly surprised to see he was being called in to assist with a body. However, he was surprised that he didn't recognize the number. It didn't belong to anyone in Winter or any of his Fall contacts. If another court was calling him in, then something strange had to be going on with the body since his expertise was in ghosts and not crime scenes.
After grabbing an energy drink from his fridge, a couple of protein bars, his backpack that was filled with his investigation goodies (glowstick, reverse peephole, duct tape, first aid kit, flash light, multi-tool, and luminol), he threw on subdued, dark clothing in the form of a black hoodie, dark jeans, and dark sneakers. Before leaving, he glanced down at the text one more time. What a strange life he lived when a mysterious text about a dead body and an address he had not been to before only raised a couple of red flags rather than enough to make a scarf out of them.
Twenty or so minutes, he pulled up into the parking lot. When he stepped out of his car, he recognized everyone except for the Lost getting out of the car with Kai. If they weren't here on what was likely going to be serious business, Lucas would be making time to get acquainted with said Lost.
"Hey, looks like I'm not the only one who got a cryptic text." He shoved his hands inside of his pockets where he surveyed the rest of the group, noting he was the only Winter courtier present at the moment.
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Post by Loki on Apr 11, 2021 22:16:24 GMT -8
As the temperature dropped, the Elemental grinned despite himself, making sure the radiator gave Gavin enough space before gesturing inside. There may have been a little more teeth than necessary, pointedly ignoring the glittering damp talons of the Razorhand.
His hand hissed and misted as rain made contact, gesturing inside the Starbright Theatre as other started to roll up. The ringing scream followed the intense light emanating off of Kai's crystalline skin. A nod was offered to Oren, Kai, and Eis respectively.
Smile fading, he tucked his hands in his pockets. "We were hired to take care of a Spring courtier? That's all done," he gestured dismissively, quickly moving on from the details of the sanctioned execution. "But, we found out he was seeing someone- mundane. Not sure how much she knew, but we figured best give her a chance before the Arrow stepped in. Tracked her activity to the stage crew in Summerlin. We're not... really sure what we're looking at."
His jaw knotted as he blinked from the Fall courtiers to the theater. "It isn't any Contract we know about..." he trailed off as Lucas broke the ice with a comment on the text, staring at the man for a moment and not masking his surprise.
"I didn't fucking-"
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Post by Roger on Apr 11, 2021 22:30:25 GMT -8
"I did," a voice rumbled from beyond the open door. Kai and Lucas recognized the whiskey and cigar voice as the Other Sun Banisher. The towering Gravewight emerged from the shadows, rain pelting his hat and trench coat as he flicked the husk of the cigarillo into the puddle with a loud hiss. "Gonna keep standing there with your dick in your hand, Chevalier? Or did you rally your 'experts'?"The hallway was behind stage, leading to storage space for various props and equipment, as well as the dressing rooms. Loki lead the way, a little stiff as he still kept his hands in his pockets with a slight hunch to his usual swagger. The Fireheart gestured for the rest to follow, continuing to string along context to the situation. "You called another one?" he snorted, though his expression didn't lend any disdain towards Lucas himself. "I know she might not be much of a conversationalist," he explained to the younger Winter, stopping at the women's changing room. He produced an erasable marker from his pocket, and etching something along the metal of the doorknob. There was a series of clicks before it opened itself, swinging rather abruptly and stopping short of hitting the group. The sickly sweet aroma pools around their feet like a miasma. Not of rotted flesh, but decomposing plant matter mixed with fresh earth and spring petals. Spores and pollen swirled with the opening of the threshold. Loki squared his shoulders, frowning at the corpse sprawled on the floor on a bed of growing chromatic moss. The garden had sprouted internally, splitting the skeleton with explosive violence and parting the jaw and cranium. The skin was grey and thin, feeding blooms that was slowly starting to wilt with the lack of sunlight. "I know her name was Yasmin Turan and she worked as a stage hand. She's- was- going to an arts college for theatre."
He looked at the Fall courtiers, waiting for some kind of obvious explanation for the bloated remains.
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Post by Kai Rose on Apr 11, 2021 22:41:29 GMT -8
"Oh, hey Roger. All right," Kai said, glancing to Oren and Graves with a workmanlike nod as she stared down at the dead girl. Jesus, this was awful. It was like her head exploded with ivy. Weird shit the Chevaliers didn't recognize, no Contract that he knew of, and two Gravewrights here?
Coolio. Time to get down to business, she supposed.
"I suggest we do a sweep for forensic evidence, and get the usual battery of Contracts going to review what happened. Anything that might relate, please don't touch it unless you've got magic to go with it. Let me know, and I'll look back at its history. Don't want to lose evidence. Do we have this place secure for a bit?"
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Apr 11, 2021 23:39:40 GMT -8
For a moment, Lucas felt incredibly awkward. First, Loki didn't recognize who he was and was openly surprised that Lucas was there. Then Roger stepped out from the shadows and made the comment about Chevalier having his dick in his hands. Lucas paused for a loooooong time and then out out a small, inward sigh of relief when he realized that Roger was referring to Loki and not him.
Alrighty then, it was time to get to work. Lucas followed after the group until they arrived at the strangely beautiful and macabre death scene.
What a way to go.
He nodded his head in agreement with Kai.
"I'll take a look and see if there's anyone else hanging out with us that we're not aware of in Twilight or if anything weird is going on in Twilight."
With his Death sight up, Lucas goes to work on investigating the scene. First, he goes through the crime scene with the lights on to see if anything jumps out at him while doing that. While he is searching the place, he sprays his aerosol can that is full of luminol several times to help him look for body fluids to either track or see if this was a crime scene and help him put together what happened.
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242
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Post by Oren on Apr 12, 2021 1:35:20 GMT -8
Oren cocked his head to the side, trying to look at the scene from another angle. You know, it's actually kind of beautiful. The soporific haze of blues and purples and yellows. One could see moss, or mycelium...or a toddler's vomit. It was actually quite fetching for a grisly murder scene! He wasn't sure what more he could add when Hot Blonde popped his peepers and really gave the whole thing a good Looking Into It. But he might as well throw in his measly two cents.
Oren loved props. He always wanted to be a Prop Master. Maybe that's how he'll spend his weekend. Stage production. Crew! Other actors would scoff at the idea, but Oren looked at it as just another role to play. Maybe he'd find something there? His mind was on relics: casings, stained vessels, personal effects. Signs of struggle and the consequences of such.
Relatively mundane things compared to what Autumn may uncover.
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Eis
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Post by Eis on Apr 12, 2021 15:55:42 GMT -8
'Take care of'? The fact that Loki so casually brushes past the comment is.... enlightening. But Eis will have time to mull that over later. The past-tense Spring Courtier isn't the subject of interest.
As the towering Winter makes his presence known, and the group heads inside, the Autumn Fairest is gripped by an unsettling sight. Less unsettling in the simple sense of there being a corpse, and more so in that the corpse rest in such an unnatural state. Heeding Kai's warning, Eis gingerly steps around the victim-in-repose to make sense of it. In as much as she can without touching anything, she scours the area alongside her fellows for anything they might have missed.
"How long ago was the matter with your aforementioned Spring Courtier settled?" she asks Loki, offhandedly. It may not be all that relevant, but it gives her something to think about other than the fetid smell and macabre display.
After giving the scene a thorough once-or-twice over, Eis draws as close to the body as she can - leaving everyone else enough room to work - to employ her more esoteric talents. She recalls Loki had mentioned it didn't look like a known Contract. So what could it be?
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Post by Gavin Graves on Apr 14, 2021 0:15:17 GMT -8
Flowing with the crowd, he settled into the space slowly. It was his usual way, looking at things cautiously while on the approach. Partly he was somehow expecting a more usual kind of violence. It was despite the obvious fact these people wouldn't need him if it was a usual kind of violence. Still his mind expected it as it was the kind he was most familiar with. This death was odd enough to pique Gavin's curiosity. Usually he would find himself ruminating on the violence that happened, or he caused--the troubles of being a living weapon. This body was different, and he thought that strange. That strangeness gave him distance. The distance was going to permit him focus.
Focus was only one part of the mix. Clarity and knowledge were other tools in the kit. It was time to find out what he could do when he didn't need to fight his instincts.
When the Knight looked at him expectantly, he tentatively stepped forward toward the mess but careful not to step in anything or touch it. Casting a glance toward Eis, he flared his eyebrows with a 'here goes' expression and set to the task.
Staring at the colours and splashes of plant and fungal materials, he pondered their connections with the damage he was seeing and the curious form the decomposition was taking. Was she changed and her form couldn't handle it? Was there something inside her? Her teeth?. Gavin counted her teeth. A contract ending its effects and releasing this perhaps? Was she fed something? What if it was rapid growth? It's like she drank tea and it all came to life all at once.
His claws brushed edge against the sides of each other, gently creating a ringing sound focusing his thoughts. It was time to answer some of those questions.
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Eis
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Post by Eis on Apr 14, 2021 15:55:47 GMT -8
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 14, 2021 22:03:49 GMT -8
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