Log:Blood On The Leaves: Stagbridge
| Blood On The Leaves: Stagbridge | |
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"Is that real?" | |
| Participants | 2017.10.30 Something is found at Stagbridge that spooks everyone. Part of the Blood On The Leaves plot. |
| Location
Stagbridge | |
| It's a chilly night in Fort Brusnett. Halloween is less than a few hours away. That means that different places have been getting into the Halloween spirit. Some people might have been hanging out over in the Industrial District and drinking at the bars and having a good time at one of the Halloween parties or some might have been having fun on the hayrides at Stag Run farms. Whatever the nature of the night, whether they are headed further into Fort Brusnett or back down into Tamarack Falls, the road has started to lead them towards Stagbridge. A hooded black jacket brushes all the way down to Avalon's knees, protecting from that chill in the air. It covers the black velvet dress that she's in, glimpses given when the wind blows. Tights with stars and moons dancing across them, and a pair of flat leather boots round it all off. Breathing in the scent of fresh fall air, as she makes her way back towards Tamarack Falls. The way is familar, though she does have a small metal flashlight dangling from her wrist, just in case she needs the light. Humming, softly, as she goes. -Ploop- A wallet, empty, hits the riverwater with a gentle sound. Above, resting with his back against a tree, is Cassian. He's draped along a tree branch, as one might expect of him. In his hand, for a moment, is a small picture. "Hm. I guess I'll give that one back," he mutters, before tucking the picture away alongside a twenty dollar bill. Next, fished from a small bag, is a a velcro wallet. It's opened with a tear. "Ugh. Grow up," Cassian mutters, before he continues fishing through the wallet. When you're SPOOPY AF all year long, Halloween is just another day. So Teagan's just kind of wandering. They have their hands in their pockets, meandering, and the wallet falls past their face just as they cross under Cassian's branch. Looking up, the Darkling curls up one corner of their mouth, tipping their chin up at Cassian, and pauses to lean against the tree. No other greeting, just ... leaning. Things are dark, and most rational people would be about with a flashlight or something else to see the way. Omari isn't one of those sensible, rational people. The beast's even dressed for warmer weather in a tank top, cargo shorts, and low tops. To the mortals he just looks like a strange man walking an equally strange dog, although the wintry wolf at his side seems to be more concerned with the moon above than anything else. Omari is the first to catch the scent of blood on the air. The wintery wolf probably can't help but catch it as he walks. It comes from a few spots on the concrete of the bridge...and then the darkness that hangs above them. There's a click of stilettos against pavement as a blonde figure makes its way down the street; apparently Poppy decided to go for a walk in the Halloween costume she was using to get more tips at the bar, which appears to be the Suicide Squad version of Harley Quinn. She has her seaweed-laced hair pulled into ponytails and dip-dyed, and she's wearing the blue and red hotpants, fishnets, and red and white t-shirt with black writing. Perhaps horrifyingly, it isn't too different than some variations on her usual state of dress, although she typically doesn't have her face painted to this degree. In a nod to the weather, she has a short, dark red trench that's hanging open. When she spies Teagan, she flashes a grin. "We have got to stop fucking meeting like this," she says dryly to the darkling. Cassian could feel them gathering beneath him. The Leechfinger was hungry, but, the spoils of his trip into the world were more important than dinner. At least so long as they remained down there, and not in the tree with him. In a moment, the velcro wallet falls down past Teagan, into the river with the rest, to float downstream. The two dollar bill is tucked away. The sound of something hitting the water has Avalon's attention swing that way, has her steps pausing. Mis-matched eyes narrowing, watching for...something. But when all that she glimpses is a wallet floating, sinking, there's a disappointed look that shows on her face. Not what she was hoping for, not at all. An arch of brow, for the man wearing only a tanktop and cargo shorts, and a glimpse to his wo..err. Dog. Before she's walking again, slow and leisurely. The easiest way to track Vorpal's approach is to observe the part in what foot traffic there is as he nears the bridge. Folks duck into alleyways, cross the street, huddle in stoops as Vorpal meanders towards the bridge, resuming their nights after he passes. His Mask is strengthened, that's not the issue- it's the weighty sense of Sublime strangeness he exudes, heedless of his attempts to seem... normal. He's not dressed up, in fact wearing rather ratty clothing. Torn hoodie, tired jeans, worn-down hiking boots. His hands are tucked into the bellysleeve of his sweatshirt, and his hood is up, shading the top half of his face as he spots Teagan and approaches at his own, casual pace. He follows the glance up into the tree, but slows as Poppy addresses Teagan, waiting at the edge of converational distance to let their discourse play out as it will. The flickering, broken-mirror fragments of Teagan's gaze slide over Poppy in her hella hella getup. "I dunno, I could meet you like this all day and twice on Fridays," drolls Teagan, flashing a white, neat, smile toward Poppy. The smile comes and goes quick as a fog skirling past the headlights of a car, there and gone again. "Nice costume, Pops. On your way to a party?" Their attention briefly flicks to Nemo, chin ticking up just so. Omari stops for a moment, sniffing fervantly at the air for a moment. Romulus however stops at the sight of the two darklings. The hedge beast grows curious, and barks to them about the need for food being easily met by the deer not far from here. Omari shakes his head in disagreement. "Smells like blood," he notes a bit too loudly. "Not sure what kind, though." What in the world is Allen doing out here? And without his usual leathers? Dressed in a jacket-weight flannel shirt, a knit cap and cuffed blue-jeans: is this a costume or just an unfortunate fashion choice? And now who's talking about blood? He removes the sledgehammer from his 4-point harness on his back and shoulders it, looking around that the apparently unseen-until-now gathering of Lost. Poppy flashes Teagan a bright grin in return. "Right? I would make a shitton of money if I could wear this every day," the siren agrees, clasping her hands behind her back. "Was actually taking a fucking walk, since I'm technically not on shift right now. Funny how the roads are tonight." A wry look at the darkling, as though somehow this is their fault, and she seems about to say something else before she's sidetracked by that barking. A frown and she tilts her head at the mention of blood. "Blood?" Omari might not have been talking to her, but that doesn't stop Avalon from questioning him, even if it's softly. The witch looks more curious than concerned, exactly. It;s then that wandering eyes find a few familiar faces - at least slightly familiar. Two from the Devil That Wasn't, and one from her own cafe. Strange things afoot, again. Figures. The final piece of loot is pulled from the small bag, before it's stuffed away into a pocket. To any paying close attention to the fifteen feet or so above them, they might be able to catch a credit card being slipped away. The small handbag, is also tossed. Rather than arc simply through the air, however, it falls a little more flatly and lands at Poppy's feet. Then there's talk of blood, and the newly bored Darkling turns his attentions to the weirdos below. The wind picks up, which tunnels it right through the big opening of the bridge. This seems to be a popular place this evening as there's a few more people that start to move down the bridge towards them. But that's not the weird thing. The weird thing is that it starts to rain blood. Little drops hit Omari and Romulus in the face. Starting to dry in the cold wind as it sticks to the face and fur of the wolfman and his dog. It also gets in a girl's hair. The bright red streaking the blonde when she reaches up to brush it away thinking it was rain. When she pulls her fingers back there's a blood curdling scream when her eyes go up towards where the drops are coming from. And sure enough. There's a body hanging up there. It's hard to see since the lights not entirely good up there unless it's the flash from the stop lights from the traffic lights. Vorpal loses interest in the mundane conversation almost the moment it begins. It's the scream that tags his attention. The godling twists towards the sound and starts over immediately, the promise of something out of the ordinary far more appealing than talk of how often someone he doesn't know should or shouldn't dress like another person he doesn't know. The bright spots of blood draw his attention first, then up into the darkness above. Vorpal stares up into the shadows as his head tips to the side. He says nothing. Not yet. Not with mortals around. He knows better. So, was it Omari that mentioned blood? Who now has some blood on his face? Just another day of weirdness when it's raining blood? Oh, wait, Allen looks up and sees where the blood "rain" is coming from, then looks back down quickly, approaching the cluster of toward the few people he knows and recognizes in the group of Changelings. He remains quiet for now and stops behind Poppy and Teagan. Omari turns his oddly blue gaze to Avalon, sniffing at the air between them. He huffs, and opens his mouth to affirm what he said. However, he never gets the words out. No matter how clean he seems to get things go to shit soon enough, and as the first syllable leaves his mouth the blood falls from the skies. He looks up, anger radiating around him attention shifts to the body. "What. The. Fuck." he growls through clenched teeth. "I'll try to order that special shampoo later," Romulus tries to offer. "Oh, what the actual fuck," sighs Teagan. Like, some people scream at the sight of dead bodies, and Teagan just... sighs. They squint, and head to the part of the bridge where the body is. "Watch my ass," they call sort of ... generally... to the folks they were talking to, and add, "I mean, like, in case something attacks me, not just because my ass is fucking fantastic." Who's gonna climb up to the body, or try? Teagan. Ofc. "Pops, see if you can get that girl to stop screamin'." "Fucking purses from heaven," Poppy says cheerfully, leaning down to pick it up. What are the chances it's covered in diamonds? Pretty low. It seems to plain leather, if a shade of dark purple. "Finders keepers," the siren says, tossing it over her shoulder, apparently not concerned at this manner of acquisition, although she does peer up into the tree to see exactly what the source of the handbag is. And then it's apparently raining more than leather goods, and her attention snaps towards the screaming; her mouth opens for a moment, then she considers before closing it again. A nod to Teagan, and she's moving at a fairly impressive pace in those stilettos towards the screaming girl. Avalon's mis-matched eyes don't shy away from Omari's own blue. There is a little flicker, though, a glance over his features that might suggests she sees something more interesting there than most mortals would. But maybe that's just the blood falling on it. "That's..." Her voice trails off, and she clicks her flashlight on to shine the beam up into the tree limbs. Because not everyone can see in such darkness, and curiosity is a thing that burn strongly. "If you insist," offers Vorpal mildly when Teagan demands their ass be watched. They're heading where he's interested, anyway, so it bears a look. He glances towards the screaming girl, but the seaweed lass is heading that way. So that's good. Sorted, the Brits would say. So it's back to watching Teagan try to clamber up to the body- or whatever happens to be up there. As the scream rings out, Cassian hops to his bare feet. He considers the scene for a moment, before he prepares to move. Poppy is afforded a view of the Darkling, strange as he was. Even the flashlight passes by his form before he seemingly vanishes into the foiliage. On the other side of the river, in the tree line, he would appear from a treeline shadow. This afforded him a ground-level view of the bridge. As quickly as the Stonebones arrives to the grouping, the group starts to break up a little. This leaves Allen standing with a smaller group very briefly, before seeing Poppy and heading after her and she approaches the screaming woman. This is a busy place sometimes. The sound of a scream and the blood have already set off a chain reaction. There's a car that passes that stops and the driver gets out to see what all the commotion is about. The girl that screamed looks at Poppy and the others and there's a bit of an apologetic look , "I...is that real?" she asks. Dude in the car gets a flash light out, to try to be helpful to people. Teagan climbs up there pretty easily. Someone down on the ground helps by providing light. Not towards the Darkling. But by Illuminating the body. Which Teagan can tell when they can get up there is a Changeling. Or used to be a Changeling. The rope around their throat is probably not what killed them though. There's something papery sticking out of the pocket of the shirt the body is wearing.
Poppy is only briefly distracted by a spattering of blood on her sleeve, pressing her lips together firmly, even as she fishes a tissue out of her pocket and scrubs at it. At least red on red isn't too visible, even if the scent is still there. Reaching the girl, she gives her a wry look. "It's Halloween; I'm pretty sure it's someone's idea of a fucking bad joke, blood included. It's getting /way/ the hell too easy to buy this shit online." And off in the distance, there's the sound of sirens incoming. As Teagan darts off Omari tries his best to wipe away the blood, but to no avail. "Of course," the Beast grouses. He doesn't quite calm down, Summer after all, and instead starts looking about the crowd to see if there's someone. Anyone he can blame. However, there's just too many to just stop one. He barks out, "It's all a part of my fucking youtube channel, you fucking fuckwits." A deep breath has to be taken, and he shouts, "See, over there!?" And over there is indeed something strange. Of all things a unicorn, burning bright in the night. "If you assholes catch it, you'll even get a chance a million dollars!" And at that the light-made thing takes away and into the woods. Nemo watches the unicorn flash into the woods and steps over to Poppy and the worried girl, speaking at a stage whisper intended to be overheard. "Sorry about the blood. The track for that thing? Loops east. Pretty easy to cut it off if you go quickly."
Oh, good, a man with a flashlight. OH... Oh wait. Allen's surprisingly expressive face passes through these thoughts as he begins waving at the mam from the care. "Hey! Hey, man," he calls out to the flashlight holder from the car. "Hey, can you help me find my wallet." It might seem flimsy to other Lost, but the stonebones is willing to try something to keep eyes on the ground if possible.
Above them, wrapped about the girl, is a change. Rivlets of blood along her leg is now revealed to be merely ribbon, colored red and glinting in the flashlight. The scent of blood fades from the girl's body. Body? Clearly they meant mannequin.
Nemo takes the paper from Teagan and looks it over, handing it back and leaning in to murmur something, probably what the paper says. Then he straightens, tapping his foot and pondering idly. "What did it look like up close? Did you catch any of the interesting features of the mannequin?" The blonde looks over at the light like she just forgot that there's a dead body hanging above them. A unicorn and a million dollars? That girl gives a look to Poppy, "Who cares if they give you money? It's a Unicorn? You can drink it's blood and never grow old like Voldemort!" she shouts as she toddles off to defy gravity on those heels. Oh yeah because she's gonna survive a horror movie on her own. Even as that bit of a distraction works there's still little relief felt by Omari. He's still covered in blood, and had what should've been a relatively peaceful evening ruined. He turns his gaze back up to that hanging body, anger still obvious to any with fae-touched eyes while his fists begin to ball back up. "I just wanna know who the fuck this is, and why they're fucking hanging like strange fruit." And just as Unicorn Blood Drinking Barbie toddles off into the lower places, there's a few cop cars that pull up to the light and can't see anything for the moment. "Probably some kids playing jokes on us, Mike." one is heard stating into their mic. But little did they know that this indeed was not a joke. Nor the best dressed Halloween costume. "You and me both," Avalon says to Omari, glancing over to him. "Teagan got a look, seems like. Unless you want to climb on up there yourself - I'm shit at climbing trees." Her eyes narrow, and she blinks a few times. Whatever she sees, has her moving closer to Omari, and she's doing a quick flare of nostrils to inhale. Yep. Still smells like actual blood. "You fucking people and your tricks," she says under her breath. Not towards anyone in particular. "Oh, oh, wait," Allen waves at the guy from the car with the flashlight. "I think... Oh mean, I'm sorry," he tries to look abashed, or at least as drunk as he feels comfortable attempting. Patting his back pockets, he slows his speech and monotones, "I think... yeah, I've got it right here. Sorry to bother you, man." "Aight," Teagan murmurs back to Nemo, tucking the paper into their pocket. They murmur something back to Nemo, and click their tongue gainst the roof of their mouth. "Yeah, man, it's a hell of a stunt. Still, it'll be nice to get that shit down before it scares people too much. Little weird, man." They start sorting through their pockets absently, as if looking for something, or already distracted. "I don't know about the rest of you," murmurs Vorpal, "But I find myself abruptly interested in some urban exploration. I bet I can find someplace appropriate to scratch that itch. Meanwhile, yeah- we better take down the mannequin before we get more attention than we wanted. Give me a few and I'll get it down once we're clear of rubberneckers. Cassian has taken a backseat, seemingly 'setting' something up. Camera? Who knew. As the Police approach, Cassian seems to ignore them, going about his business of production. An added touch is given, as he shapes the glamour illusion about them. Was that another scream? "Damnit, tell Foster his shit is broken again!" Cas demands. Poppy grins at the girl and follows for a few feet, then once it's clear Barbie is off to the moon whether she stays with her or not, the siren drops back and sighs, glancing towards the police as they pull up. She doesn't make a face, keeping a rather pleasant expression because police, even as she starts over to Teagan. "Once they've wrapped, want to go get a drink?" she asks with a grin. The cops finally realize the the thing that's hanging up in the rafters is indeed a body and the crime lab gets called in. It's going to be a long night. A one lane traffic kinda long night. | |
