A Strange Town

Amber hadn't expected the loud bang. It took a lot of self control to only look for the source. She looked at the other person strangely. "Wolf hair? I agree with Jennifer, werewolves don't exist." Then she turned back to Jennifer. "You must not have many travelers if you don't need inns. Still...if that's true, then it won't be easy to find a place to crash." It wasn't quite true, there were always places to hide. But she couldn't pass up such a generous offer. "I'll take you up on staying, if you're sure. Just until I find a place. I'm sure you could show me how to apply for housing." She'd need a hideout more than a house. But it would seem strange if she didn't go along for now. She could probably just slip out one night when she'd found a place to hide, and plan.
 
“No, no! We do have travellers, but not a large amount. The thing is that all of them never leave, but who would want to? I haven’t even found the exit to the village. Well, I’ll apply for you, since it’s a complicated process really, all houses are same, but the council are very careful on who lives where. But since no one leaves, it means we have a perfectly happy town. Come, I need my energy for a personal project anyways.”
Jennifer knew there was something wrong with her sentence, but kept going. At the end of her sentence, she blended down to pick up the cardboard box and began to walk a little towards her house, expecting Amber to follow.
@Alissa Ming​
 
Amber followed. No one leaves? What does that mean? People have to leave sometimes. Who do they trade with? How does their economy survive? I could use my crew just about now. I'm sure Gale could find something. Hm...guess I'll need to do some investigating. Amber considered all she'd heard. And, since Jennifer's back was turned, she fished out the few coins she'd taken to study them as she walked, she wouldn't get many chances without Jennifer noticing, and she needed to know if the currency she normally carried would work or if this currency was different. Currency often changed from place to place, country to country. There was often a way to exchange, but no one said those exchange rates were fair. She kept an eye on where Jennifer was going, and where she was putting her feet, so as to not actually run into anything. But her thief's instincts were on high alert. Everything Jennifer had said was suspicious. Everything that had happened was suspicious. And she was simply going to have to find out what was going on. But she would have to be careful. A thief's downfall could be curiosity, or getting into a fight when there was no need.
 
Humming a small song while quickly approaching the house, Jennifer tried to make Amber comfortable by speaking with her while walking along.
“I’m sure you’ll like it here, Amber. The houses are quite small, but very cosy, and we never run out of food. It’s not bad food either, not one cloned tart or loaf of bread, I can tell from the synthetic flavour anyways. The council says it comes from new technologies that can cause rapid growing in crops.”
Stopping suddenly, Jennifer turned around quickly and came closer to Amber, whispering while still smiling.
“Really. I think it’s magic that upholds everything, despite their explanations. Is it bad to imagine sometimes? There’s quite a lot of wizards here with food or farming magic. I can do magic too, I think.”
Closing her eyes to concentrate, she made a strained face before fading in and out of thin air before stopping and fading in again. She moved away from Amber and pointed to a small house nearby.
“You see that? The one with a well? That’s my house.”
Also, if Amber took a look at her old money, she might see some of them...changing, likely into the town’s currency.
@Alissa Ming​
 
Amber was quickly regretting ever making the acquaintance of this strange person. She was likely crazy. She pulled a couple of the coins from her pouch from her last heist before she found herself here. "What the?" She muttered to herself. The coins were shifting before her eyes. More resembling the money she'd taken from Jennifer. But 'magic' might explain why no one left. This...self-sufficiency wasn't possibly. And what Jennifer had done...or tried to do, was, so far as Amber was aware, strictly impossible. She looked over at Jennifer's house. "Yeah, I see it. It's...nice. Smaller than I was expecting."
 
Zander continued to hear the strange sound, from the same place, so it wasn't moving. He got up from his couch and slowly made his way to his radio in hopes of seeing if he got the same odd signal. Sure enough, there it was.
"Hmmm, Someone's jamming the the radio signal, but why?"
Underneath, all the white noise, Zander could still hear voices, however, they weren't music. Someone was on the other side. He quickly ran and grabbed a pencil and paper, and listened for any words he could hear clearly. He was hoping it was just something random, but his suspicion that something was wrong was confirmed when he heard a very loud pop.
"What the hell was that?"
He continued to listen in, despite being very nervous.
 
If Isaiah wasn't currently passed out in a dark alley, he might have been interested in tonight's news. After all, he was normally the imbecile looking for secrets in a useless landmark. Granted, he rarely did it on two legs and even when he did he tried to make sure he kept the light levels down. He hadn't made it this far without being at least somewhat careful, and tonight was no exception. Sure, his strategy involved waking up on a wooden pallet next to a dumpster, but it wasn't anything he hadn't done in the past. This worked most of the time, and he'd done it for worse reasons than phoning a friend. Said friend emerged from a drainpipe and crawled onto his shoulder as the vagrant got his bearings, eventually standing on it's hind legs to get closer to his ear. Isaiah cocked his head, a crooked smile forming on his lips as he heard the news. "Really? Ah. Aren't you a lovely one, then." Fishing out a peanut from one of his pockets, he gave it to the sewer rat squeaking softly in his ear, watching it scurry back to it's underground home with it's prize in it's belly. It had been proud of what it had told him, so Isaiah got to his feet and staggered out of the alley. Might as well follow up in the proper flesh.
 
"Oh, that's what they always say. Werewolves are just a myth, so go on and pet that cute doggie in the shadows. But before you know it, you're losing all your favorite clothes to your exhibition fetish, getting fleas in your ear and getting rejected when you try to dance with that devil in the pale moonlight" Torian was still rambling even as he walked away, almost like second nature to waste his breath on trying to sound like he had something to say. "The same thing happened when people denied the existence of the leprechaun, stole his gold and paid the price; made for a shitty story... But marketable" He had to slap himself when he finally slinked out of sight. "Okay, I REALLY have to stop going off on tangents"

The streets grew dim under the glare of the moon, pressuring the streets ahead into a sinister split of islands balancing over the darkness. A lot of a space and he couldn't see jack shit. Yeah, he took the first turn into an alleyway. To him, a tightly confined space where a possible attacker could come from only two directions was much better shady walk than in the open field of shadowy pools. "I should hurry up, I don't want this to be like the night that ended with me waking up inside a ditch, surrounded by doll heads..." Torian figured he hit his head really hard at some point in his life, because, despite his age, his memory had been experiencing a lot of odd lapses. Not just of his time before ending up in this odd little town, but daily moments seemed to have been locked away from memory as if he blacked out and his body had gone on autopilot. Hmmm... Maybe I'M the werewolf. At least then I could get home faster "Just have to get home, write up some things in the log book and then turn in for the-" A muscle twitched, senses flaring, eye twitching as his body naturally came to a halt in front of the wall.

It was a terrible sight. An infuriating one. An example of tragic injustice.

"Who the fuck tags a wall with coin store paint!" The smell of the graffiti set the man's nose aflame as his hands pulled apart his coat, bringing out cleaning tools. "Everyone knows that shit looks tacky on walls! And this will take forever to get off!" He wanted to go home, his legs longed for the comfort of his bed. But the janitor within his heart already knew that justice must be dealt. He had work to do. "
 
Just as Leon saw the 2 shadows, he heard the police officer. He quickly hide his powers and faced the police. "Pardon me officer, but as I was walking home, I heard a loud crash sound coming from this building. Seeing as there weren't any police going to investigate and the fact that no specific time was provided for the curfew, I took it upon myself to make sure no one was hurt. Instead, I can see two shadows in there and it looks like they're taking off with bags. Believe me officer, I'm not the one you should be concerned with right now." Leon has getting angry. He could've easily stopped whoever was in there, yet his time is just being wasted by a cop completely oblivious to the actual problem. It then occured to him that the cop assumes he was the one causing the noise.
 
Getting a small key out and opening the door, Jennifer welcomed Amber into the house, which first lead into a living room with a fireplace, and a small kitchen.
“I do suppose it’s a bit on the small side, not that it matters, the council doesn’t usually put newcomers here unless they ask. Do make yourself at home, is there anything you want? A cup of tea, maybe?”
She began to do that weird fading in and out thing while walking to the kitchen and getting a fine china cup. Turning to Amber, she gave a quick apology for that strange phenomenon.
“Oh sorry, it’s been happening quite a bit lately. I think my magic is blocked or something like that. I have many bookcases and I’ve read that in a book once. My magic must be something strong, in that case that it can break through a block. Oh. You don’t have any powers, don’t you? Where did you come from?”
The living room has a warm feel to it, a handmade coffee table, 2 bookcases full of books, 2 cosy chairs facing the fireplace, awfully comfortable. Jennifer opened a cabinet and took out a box, opening it, it turned out to be a pack of tea leaves. She began to warm up the water while looking for the biggest tea leaves.
“Ah, I love tea, I bought this box from the trinket store, said was the best in ‘China’ or other made-up place. Do you like the house? The houses are pre-furnished, I just made it more homely with the books and carpet.”
@Alissa Ming
———————————————
“No citizen should get involved in such a matter, because this is a matter for the law and the council. We assure you it’ll be resolved by morning. Now I should be much more harsher on you, but go home. Before I call one of the council members.”
His voice was polite, but he took out his baton and his expression was clearly showing signs of rage. He doesn’t seem to be letting loose, so the only way Leon could pass him, was to knock him out or something. Especially since the policeman came closer to Leon, clearly trying to intimidate him.
@ShadowCoyote0
———————————————
Just while the janitor was planning to clean up the wall, a woman appeared from behind and crossed her arms while looking at the janitor with some sort of superiority, she was a wearing an apron and had a badge, so she was likely a worker of one of the local stores.
“Now, what do you think you’re doing? I was planning to paint the vandalism over with paint! You’re that weird storyteller right, who works at that school? What are you doing so late, you clearly aren’t a worker or anything?”
She appeared somewhat annoyed with Torian, but then said something again, with a quieter voice.
“I’ve heard you have some things in those pockets of yours...As a worker of the trinket store, I’m intrigued. Not to mention, I need something: Do you have anything to smoke?”
@Kanassa
———————————————
The radio was heavy with static, so only people with good hearing skills could hear what was behind it. It was quiet for a while, as if the place was completely empty, but then faint footsteps could be heard, followed by a stern voice, that doesn’t seem to fit anyone Zander knew in town.
“Have you checked the body? You aren’t afraid of getting a bit of blood, aren’t you? Check for anything.”
“...Wait, I feel something...Hah, just what we needed. It’s pages are covered with blood though, ugh.”
“Come on, wrap it up! Before the police come! #5, just cover the body, we don’t have time to dispose of it!”
Something was definitely wrong, was it a robbery? Or something worse?
@Maluon
———————————————
The rat that ‘spoke’ to Isaiah, led Isaiah to the path leading to the Ruins. Espically since something there was illuminating a light, and not a torch either, it was will-o-wisp like. Although it should be suspicious, police probably didn’t want to go near a homeless person, espically someone who talked to rats. Neither was Isaiah a particularly rowdy person, so they just left him be.

A couple of houses could also see the light, although most were blocked by other houses and horrible angles. And the ones that could see it were asleep likely. Theo’s house was lucky enough to see it, and so could Jennifer’s. She looked at it for a little bit, confused at what it could be, and deciding what to do. Theo’s house could see that ruins perfectly as well, and the light especially.
@Green Door @Draco Shadowdragon​
 
Zander knew something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Being the prepared sort, Zander had grabbed an old cold war era tape recorder from a shelf and recorded his radio as well as write down what he had heard. He listened carefully, despite his blood running colder than Pluto's backside.
"I cant believe this."
Zander had a habit of talking to himself. He would continue his endeavor until it went silent, even if it took an hour.
He hoped it would end soon. He felt like he was doing something good, despite the real danger of dying.
 
Leon raised an eyebrow at the officer. It was clear that the cop wasn't interested in solving the problem. Something wasn't right about any of this. Not trusting the officer, Leon froze the man in place within mere seconds. The officer is out-cold in the ice, but otherwise unharmed. Leon knew he would have to act fast. He busted down the door to the building and put up an ice walls at the entrance. He then yelled to the shadows "whoever you are, drop what you have and come out slowly." He didn't want anyone to get hurt, but he couldn't let these people get away with a crime.
 
Amber looked around the quaint small house. Her eyes, the eyes of a thief, measuring the worth of everything in the house. The china was nice, but honestly nothing special. "Tea would be nice." She said, thoughtful. "Um...I'm from a small town. I don't have any magic that I know of. I have a few...skills I acquired growing up, but no magic." The hesitation was slight, and she was reasonably certain Jennifer wouldn't notice, but there were no guarantees, and she cursed herself for her sloppiness. She didn't see much worth stealing here, but that was alright. She couldn't take anything from someone she was staying with. Not only would that be monumentally stupid, but it would go against her code. For now, at least, they were allies. She had no intention of returning what she'd already taken, but she would take no more the way she normally did. "It's a nice house. A good place to stay." She'd seen much, much nicer, but all in all, she was telling the truth. It was a nice house.
 
At the woman's entrance, Torian swerved round to meet her, jumping into a defensive stance that included whipping spray bottle out as if he was going to use it as a weapon. "You look like a legitimate business owner, what you doing jumping handsome YOUNG men in dark alleyways!?" He wiggled the spray bottle threateningly, before his grip slackened at her words. "Just painting it over won't get rid of the stain on the soul, it only hides and lets it fester. Plus, it makes everything smell like piss." And at yet again being questioned about himself being outside at night, he came to cross his arms with an annoyed grunt. "Oh, common people. Can no one even fathom that a guy can go on a nightly walk because it feels nice and the moonlight is good?! No, no, it has to be suspicious, because of fuck nature, right?"

It's starting to seem like the only time people want to talk to him is when they want to judge him. "And I'm not weird, I'm cool!" He knew he was cool because the random weird kids at the school said he was... You know, that one time he got frozen in a block of ice. It wasn't his fault that students ignored the 'water is here' sign and used the hallway as a slip-an-slide. "Huh? You... Wanna a cigarette?" His hand slowly reached inside his pocket, pushing through a myriad of junk.
 
Jessica looked outside her window and wondered about the will-o-wisp like light.
“Huh, strange. I’ll look at the ruins tommorow, that doesn’t seem like a torch light.”
Turning back to Amber, she poured the hot water in the china cup and then added the leaves to it. She grabbed the handle of it and carefully walked over to the living room, where she place the cup on the coffee table. Then sitting down herself and inviting Amber to sit in the other chair.
“Come, sit, you must be worn out from the trek in the forest. Strange though, there’s so many newcomers with magic, even I, that I find it strange you don’t. Ah, skills? You mean in terms of fighting and physical skills or intelligence and ability to control social situations?”
Reaching her arm to grab a book in the bookshelf next to the chair, She kept talking but was reading as well. She noticed Amber’s hesitations in her sentence, but it’s dumb to say it out loud.
“The books are very special to me. Most other objects here are from the council, but these books are so old, so informative. Can you read? You do look poor, so I wonder if you’ve received an education.”
@Alissa Ming
———————————
No one noticed the frozen officer, so Leon was undisrupted while running to the building.
The building, it was mostly quiet, but it seems like there were a few signs someone was still there, the moving shadows, some faint whispers of frustration, and finally, a cloaked man slowly coming out the shadows and putting his hands up.
“I surrender! Screw the operation, I just don’t care anymore, killing is the death penalty, and I’m ready to die!”
His clothes were strange, like a cultist’s cloak. Could this be a cult’s doing? The somewhat hysterical man was hooded and wore a mask as well.
@ShadowCoyote0

Once again, it was quiet for a while, nearly 5 minutes, but then the static began to quiet down, and the voice were more clear.
“Oh no. Did we leave the radio on? Hahaha, no one’s listening to this, right?”
A faint sound indicated someone has entered by breaking down the door.
“Whoever you are, drop what you have and come out slowly.”
Leon. The radio was on because the invaders left it on, they were confronted by a man with justice in mind, that much was clear.
“Shh...Don’t let the son of a bitch notice we’re here...why now of all times?”
“I surrender! Screw the operation, I just don’t care anymo-”
“#7! Shit! He’s betraying us! I knew we shouldn’t have hired that suicidal madman!”
The one surrendering was a bit farther away from the radio, so the last sentence drowned out what the ‘madman’ was saying. So someone called #7 surrendered, letting the whole team down.
@Maluon
————————————
The woman began to back away, frightened by Torian’s ranting about paint and wandering at night. But also calmed down once he said something about a cigarette. She spoke again, although somewhat nervously.
“Ahem..No, I have my own cigar, and I wanted to ask if you have the good stuff, you know...something like cannabis or opium. Any leaves or flowers that can get me high really, although I don’t mind cigarettes. You see..Us workers get a exception to the curfew since we need to pack up and all. And night time wanderers don’t count as being the exceptions.”
Looking over to the graffiti wall, she couldn’t see anything resembling souls or festering stains. She commented flatly and unimpressed.
“It’s a wall. A quick paint over it with red is going to the job just fine.”
@Kanassa​
 
"Um...something like that." Amber was not especially strong. She had never needed brute strength. Her greatest protection was running away. In a pinch, she could fight, but she preferred not to. "I can read. Though I probably wouldn't be able to if it wasn't for Gale. He's one of my friends. He taught me a lot I wouldn't have learned on my own." She didn't mention that part of the reason she'd learned was to be able to know for sure how valuable a book could be. Books, especially old ones, tended to be quite valuable, because they were more likely to be rare collectors items. She looked over the books with a practiced eye, gauging their ages and likely value. "I see that they're pretty old. Well used too. You must really enjoy reading them." She looked "poor" to the common person because she'd spent the vast majority of her life on the streets.
 
"Exception to the curfew? You mean the one that was just made five minutes ago?" He didn't remember the announcement even adding a clause about workers. "You know, I might have something- And I'm offended by the instant assumption that I would be in possession of such a thing, lady- But that insulting comment about me being weird and the attitude you're giving me is distracting my hands from finding anything" He gave her a frown, leaning against the wall, his hand grabbing hold of something. If she wanted something from Torian, the least she could do is be polite about it.

"Just a wall? Lady, you're a woman of enterprise, a seller of goods, do you have no pride in your work?" Torian wasn't that much of an honest Tommy, nor was he that good, but he held a firm belief that if you're gonna do something; do your best. Unless that thing threatens you, then feel free to duck out at the speed of light. "I say this because it's true. Inside of us, we both know about this graffiti, it'll still be weighing on our minds after it's been covered up. If you leave this alleyway and that stain is just painted over, you'll regret it. One day, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon for the rest of your life"
 
Zander grew more concerned yet curious about the occurrences at radio station,
What is this?! Zander thought.
Its as if it were a sting of some sort, however, it sounded like local police showing up after some other operation was going on they were unaware of had begun.
Zander started to remember seeing on some of the many documentaries hes watched over the years, stories and documented accounts of happenings just like this. The very notion that some secret organization, agency or what not could even exist, let alone be so sneaky, made Zander's blood run colder than ever, and his face lose its color.
 
Theo saw the strange light from the ruins out of the corner of his eye. Something seemed off about it but it also peaked his curiosity. Theo would wait until Jason went back to bed to leave. Once Jason was back in bed he carefully went out the door without making a sound. He made his way, as quietly and as speedily as he could, towards the ruins. He kept to the shadows and alleyways all the way up to the ruins hoping he wouldn't get caught along the way. He was confident that if it came down to it he could either outmaneuver or overpower anyone that tried to interfere with him getting to the ruins.
 
Leon's eyes opened wide. "Did...did you kill someone!?" Suddenly the whole building felt cold as an icy mist entered each room. Leon's eyes began to glow as he froze the surrendered man everywhere except his face and shoulder. With a flick of his finger, an ice spike slowly made it's way towards the man's face. Leon then created an ice dagger and drove it into the man's shoulder, twisting the blade. If these men committed murder, he was going to get answers. "How many of you are there? Who did you kill? What're you after?" The icy mist began to freeze the windows, making escape much more difficult. He then yelled to the others hiding out. "If you fuckers don't come out of hiding, I'll pin your buddy's limbs to the wall." Leon had no intention of killing anyone, but he was pissed. If he could prevent further murders through scare tactics, then so be it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top