A Strange Town

Zander was rather confused, but he read the passage that caught his attention the most.
"It said: "I know that persona will never break unless something happens, if I lose myself, I hope my subconscious will guide me to this stone. And I wish her blissful ignorance and love. Which I can no longer have. " "
Zander looked rather unnerved.
"No idea what that could mean."
 
Leaping up from the bench, Jennifer jumped up and looked in the direction of the ruins wth determination.
“Right! Can’t let a twisted ankle deter me. Let’s go.”
Although limping, Jennifer began to quickly walk over to the ruins, while replying to Amber.
“Right, so what have you learned about the town’s layout then?”
————
Helen, was taking down the “decorations” that the manager had but up, stuff like sports memorabilia and neon bright sign. Turning over to Torian, Helen smiled and came over, before whispering in his ear.
“Mr Jenkins is a little kid, and likes to show off his weird collections, as his half-slave, half-PR manager, I’m not letting it stand.”
She winked at him slyly.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to place the blame on the little snot that’s putting his hand into the sampling cup, He hasn’t bought anything, and still causes us to waste twenty coins a week. So, what are you doing here?”
@Kanassa
————
@ShadowCoyote0​
 
"Well, it' a good day for some decent company and I had an extended break period" He offered a wink back with the compliment. Torian cringed at the terrible decoration, feeling he needed a shield and a hazard suit just to get through here. "Oooo, you're getting more feisty in this business. I'm impressed" He'd come up with one hand outstretched to lightly press into her back and guide her to the less-than-public conversation and Torian leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Plus, I felt like you might like to know: You've got an admirer" The man glances down at the photos one more time before holding them out to Helen. "Student been carrying these around. She spilled the beans in a conversation about how hot you are" He was using that word right, right?
 
Leon clenched the necklace upon hearing the passage. "Okay, most of that was pretty confusing, but perhaps this is the stone that was mentioned." He looked at it again. There was still a mysterious energy flowing from it.
 
Amber talked for a while about the map of the town they'd been working on while planning the heist. She kept a careful eye on Jennifer's limp, though it didn't seem to be slowing her down too much. That was good. If it had been, she would have insisted Jennifer help Gale and Marina. Gale tended to stay behind and be a voice over their com link. Marina didn't go on these much either. She typically had her inventions do just about everything. Not that they couldn't but they all had their own strengths. It helped no one if they needed speed and their hacker or inventor was the one out and about.
 
“What can I say? I’m not lettin’ a kid screw up my reputation, any more than I ruin my own.”
Helen giggled a little at the wink, and the “extended break period”. Although she stopped smiling when she saw the photos, and she took the one with her going back home at night.
“Secret admirer?...Oh. Charming. I might know who she is, Luna, Lucille or something? Always on about crazy stuff, and claims she knows me from a past life. A real nutter, that girl. Did she have an airy voice, and change moods at the drop of a hat?”
She clenched the photo she had tightly, almost like she wanted to rip into shreds.
@Kanassa
————
The ruins were almost close, and the signature destroyed statue was poking it’s head out. Jennifer clapped her hands together and walked closer to them.
“You know...the ruins are known for being all mysterious and all, and strange items, even people end up there. So the flashing lights must be something strange. I bought my notes just in case. There’s some homeless people there sometimes, sleeping in the old stone houses. Of course, within a night, they usually disappear or move out. It’s just...strange.”
@Alissa Ming
————
@Maluon​
 
"That is a bit weird." Amber agreed. The homeless, though somewhat transitory by nature, tended to stay in a general area unless chased out. Like all humans, they liked familiarity. So it was weird for them to vanish so quickly unless the police were doing a stupendous job. Though if that were the case, then that would make this job even harder.
 
"Lucy, I think. I just call her Fluffy though" He leaned back against the wall shrugging. "Yep, yup and yeah. Annoying little one, though she can make a surprisingly decent janitor... You know, after you force a broom into her hand, order her to clean a room and then get her stuck in a glue grenade" The usb stick slipped out of his sleeve and into his hand so he could hold it up to her. "This place got a computer I could use to check this? She was, apparently, trying to steal this as well, I want to check it out"
 
"It almost sounds like someone knew something may happen to them, so they wanted who ever they loved to continue their life. I'm just guessing on that though."
Zander hoped that he was wrong.
"Did you hear anything, voices, when you saw...what ever it is you saw?"
 
Leon nodded his head. "Yes, there was weeping, and I think I heard a woman. She seemed guilty of something...perhaps she killed someone..." Leon's head hurt, he couldn't recall the experience any further. "Sorry, that's all I've got for now."
 
“You can’t be sure, she lies quite a lot, she’s said to me once before that she was called Lily! On her best days, she’s rather adorable, but she’s quite creepy sometimes. I’m not good with strangers though, so maybe she’s just annoying.”
To be honest, Helen kinda thought Torian was kinda weird as well, but she wasn’t that type to say it out loud to someone she knew. She pointed to an area in the back.
“There’s the computer room at the back, and a lock as well. But I think Mr Jenkins is coming back soon, so you might have to be quick.”
@Kanassa
—————
“It’s weird, because I’ve seen this guy before, he was homeless, and apparently, since he kept out of sight and didn’t do anything too hostile, he was allowed to remain. Homeless people are generally safe unless they attack someone.”
The ruins were coming into sight more, and the stone houses were in view.
The ruins, were as expected, old and crumpled. Most structures had been turned to rubble, but not all of em, especially the statue in the middle, and it’s Sphinx-like chamber, that had been locked for who knows how long?
@Alissa Ming​
 
Torian was weird, very weird. That was a fact. "Lucy, Lilly, I hear it wrong sometimes. That's why I call her Fluffy" He shrugged, his hand reaching inside his coat for a lockpick, it might have been buried under some glass. "A locked door is no problem" A grin, a nod of appreciation and a laugh as he nudged her with her elbows. "With the way she talked this up, maybe there'll be some risque pictures of you" A joke told in a teasing tone as he made his way to the door. "If there is, I'll promise to close my eyes"
 
Helen nodded and blushed a little bit, before waving bye-bye and sweeping up the lowly section of the shop.
“Just remember to lock the door afterwards, You won’t like interruptions. Ah, I’m sure ‘Fluffy’ doesn’t have anything too bad, and it’s not like I run around the house naked.”
The door was locked, as expected, but it was pretty unsecure. There was only one thing that kept it from being unlocked, and that was the easily lock-pickable lock, that was worn out anyways.
@Kanassa​
 
"Huh." Amber thought that over. No city was this well watched. Guards and police tended to be too few and overworked to monitor every single little thing, and yet only one person got away with being homeless, and it was only because he wasn't violent. "It doesn't make sense, this place."
 
"You never know when you have that one drunk night you don't remember" In went the lockpick, a few twists tot he left, few twists to the right, and- Booyah! The lock loosened and Torian caught it in his hand, pushing open the door easily. "Ah, criminal values wins every time" He looked about the room, heading over to the computer after snapping the lock over the door and closing. The door wouldn't actually be locked, but he doubted that Mr. Jenkins would be able to notice that the lock was looking different. "Let's see what's on here..." Torian muttered as he pushed the USB stick in, while he was at it, he might as well look over the rest of the computer system for any interesting files. Maybe something to make Jenkins panic.
 
“Nothing makes sense, and that’s why I’m here.”
Turning around with a graceful swirl, and a serious icy look, Jennifer seemed serious all of a sudden.
“From a logical perspective, this place shouldn’t exist. Its opening is a small forest, and I’ve seen a map surrounding the area. This town is much too big to fit into the small pocket between the forest and the next city. And inside...well, the town’s population always stays the same, despite the steady flow of newcomers.
Walking to the ruins, Jennifer looked up at the statue.
“I sometimes wonder if they was something before this town. The theory that this land was a hidden gem never found by anything else, falls apart after a while.”
@Alissa Ming
—————
In the computer, the background and documents were rather unprofessional, because apparently, Mr Jenkins uses this as his personal computer, not the store’s computer. The documents were relatively innocent, if not weird, at worst, there was videos of...that. But most of them were stuff like badly drawn art, and two folders worth of movies.

The USB’s Content was the opposite. No wonder the girl wanted to hide it. It was clear by the contents that she had a problem. The pictures of Helen were not risqué, but still is a invasion of privacy. Such as the photo of her while walking through the street alone, or the photo of her just outside of the bathroom. Most unsettling of all, there was a photo of Helen sleeping, with the closeness of the photo must meant that the girl had snuck into her house and bedroom, and taken a picture of her. Outside of photos, there was a few documents recording conspiracy theories...and a tape at the very bottom, with the title: Prepare Yourself.
@Kanassa
—————
@Maluon​
 
"Oh. That." Torian squinted a bit, he could kind of see the appeal. As he went through the folders, he let out a few hums of intrigue on the clear, organized and calculated stalking of dear Helen. On one hand, bad for Helen, on the other hand, he had to admit he was impressed at the skill and dedication. If it wasn't a creepy stalker photo, Torian would make a comment about Helen looking funny while she was asleep. "Oooo, a manifesto. Let's hear the bit..."
 
The tape was black at first, until the camera lid was taken off. It was clear by the quality that this was a old tape. The cameraman was assumed to be the stalker, and she was on a empty street.
Well, the reason was clear, because they were loud gunshots afterwards, and people started to scream and run. The cameraman decided to run as well, and hid in a bakery, in a small space behind the cashier. She hid quite securely, and seemed sure no one would find her.

“Ah..Shootings are so stupid, what benefit do you get besides dying?”
Sneaking up a little, the girl filmed the shooting, people dying, gunmen laughing, and it continued for a while. Until five minutes later, the girl had put the camera away, and began to make her way out of the back door, when she fell on something.

Moving the something, it turned out to be a bleeding corpse. It looked uncannily like Helen.

The girl screamed, and her noise was promptly rewarded by what seemed to be a gunshot in the leg.

A few minutes after the girl had fallen and the camera was still running, paramedics could be heard.
“Hello, can you hear me?”
“...Yes...A little help?”
“Don’t worry, you’re safe now. How about the woman next to you?”
“Dead.”
The paramedic kicked the button on the camera to stopped recording, and the tape ended.
@Kanassa​
 
Torian took in the tape with intrigue, noting down the location and reminding himself to ask about anything pertaining to the incident later, maybe looking into if any of the citizens were here. He had to say, he was interested, though not obsessed like the girl was, just curious. He copied some files, did a little screwing about and took out the USB Drive, going back towards the door and opening it slightly to see if the coast was clear.
 
Amber nodded. "Wait, it's always the exact same? The number of people never changes? That's either really bad math on the part of the people running this place, or something happens to the extra people..."
 
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