Difference between revisions of "Log:Have You Forgotten: The River Bank"

2017.09.13

The East Bank is reminding people of something. Part of the Have You Forgotten plot.

The East Bank

It's a clear and warm day in Tamarack Falls. And you'd think that reports of a body being swept downstream would keep people away, but it doesn't. There's been teens playing hooky from school to come and see if they can find anything related to the incident, but most have left empty handed or with scrapes from falling down the bank.

And does anyone really remember why you don't go to the East Bank? That's probably why there's so many missing. People forget things too easily these days.

And somehow you are here today.

A black 1969 Ford Bronco blasting Jefferson Airplane pulls up to the bank, not too far away from where the report was made. The engine cuts out and out of it steps two people: one, a man in a green and blue plaid shirt, worn Levis, construction boots, a Red sox cap and a messenger bag, and two, a woman, probably wearing some ridiculously unsuitable clothing for checking out a murder scene. They are C.B. and Franklyn, and the former is most certainly smoking (the latter too, no doubt), as he argues with Franklyn about...well, what the heck are these two arguing about, anyway? "That's not the point. The point is that it's entirely allegorical. Did you know that Kipling lived in Vermont, by the way? In Dummerston, down in the south..." He takes a drag and takes a quick look around, squinting, and after a moment, draws a pair of aviator sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and puts them on.

Also playing hooky is one Amanda Green. Not that her work ever required too much of her attention. But she has decided to spend some time this afternoon meandering along the river, idly staring at it, as if it might just cough up answers to her. Which, well... it might.

The woman is alone (save for those that can see Spirits, in which case there's a weird cloud of static that looks almost like gnats but is decidedly not), and she's dressed in colors today. A sea blue linen dress, a silly hat, sunglasses. The only nod to September from an otherwise August outfit is that she is wearing hose, and those are sport a lovely floral pattern. So much color!

LOSER declares the bold white print across Vinnie's tits, bright against the black of her short-sleeved crop top. Even in her high-waisted jeans, some midriff is left showing, but then so's a bit of her right ass cheek where the denim's torn on the back of the right thigh, kept semi-decent with a series of safety pins. That pocket features a series of eyes, a single tear dripping from each. So emo. Really, she looks like she may well belong with those teens playing hooky. She's even convinced a friend to shirk her responsibilities, too! Not that it was difficult, given how damned nice a day it is. She may well have been babbling about 'river hobos' when she catches sight of... well, first CB and Franklyn and all that noise, though they get barely more than a considering glance. Mostly, it's Green. She earns a, "Shit." Cuz flaking on work doesn't tend to work out well when you and your boss end up the same place. Poor, poor Cheryl stuck back in the record shop with two people to bitch about now.

Speaking of Kipling... there's a Kip not too far off. He's wandering through the area, hair that was once pulled into a ridiculous attempt at a man bun has come somewhat loose so some falls back into his face. But he doesn't seem to notice or care other than to offhandedly push his hair out of his eyes every once in a while. He's got his phone out, using it to take pictures. Not of the scene itself, but of everything around it. Like he's some sort of National Geographic photographer who is just missing the really good stuff. And despite the warmth of the day, he has on long sleeves and heavy pants and his usual sneakers since he only seems to own the one pair of shoes. At least the sweater is a thin summery weight style. He's coming closer as he tromps along, but he's still just a little bit outside of the main area of The Group At Large as it is.

"Uh, how about him being an imperialist piece of shit, though? You -cannot- separate 'The White Man's Burden' from the rest of his work, then take something as /ridiculously/ seeped in Colonialism as 'Jungle Book' and like, like, like fucking /sanitise/ it for children and call it a classic. It's twenty-fucking-seventeen, the book needs to be fucking =retired= from the Western canon, and demonstrated as like, what /not/ to do." Oh hey listen, there's Franky - talking rapid speed while she steps out with C.B, smoking a cigarette and...

...yeah okay, Franklyn's not dressed appropriately. Or /is/ she? Loose white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the front buttons left undone, tucked into a pair of white Levi's, little white leather sandals on her perfectly manicured feet. Sunglasses? Fuck yeah - big and black, just like the bag swinging from her arm as she puffs on her cigarette and stabs it in C.B's direction. "He's a fucking fossil!"

Everyone else? Green? Soz gang, Franky's in full on animated, flouncing, arguing-about-who-gives-a-shit. She'll focus up. Eventually. Realise where she is, and who she's with...

Black hiking boots crunch over the ground, far from stealthy. Then again, neither is the rest of the get-up, despite that it's all done in shades of black. Black jean shorts, croptop that leaves a flash of pale stomach exposed, a sleeveless kimono of black lace trailing behind her as she walks with Vinnie. "I'm just sayin'," Avalon murmurs to the other woman, before she's cut off by that 'shit'. Oh hell, someone got caught skipping work! This is the benefit of running your own place, kids. There's a press of her lips, not quite a frown, as those mis-matched eyes look about. "Fuck. Still a lot of people poking around."

"He's a fossil? Well, so am I, sweetheart, and people still read my books," C.B. tells Franklyn with a smirk. Whatever THAT means, seeing as he looks about 25. "Look, I get what you're saying, I really do, but..." As they walk along, the others start to come into focus, and he kind of just trails off. What are so many people he knows, and knows well, doing in one place? Small fucking town...

Still, he doesn't wave or smile or anything at anyone. Just smokes and glowers pensively. When he draws closer to whomever, then maybe he'll greet them. Maybe. But he's not exactly the smiling and waving type.

Vinnie shrugs up her shoulders nice and high like it ain't no thing when her conversation with Avalon gets cut off by that momentary distraction. "Gorgeous weather plus recent murder equals spectator central." When she catches CB starting to actually take in his surroundings, she proves herself to totally be the smiling and waving sort, all friendly and finger-wiggly and totally lacking in anything that might actually initiate conversation. With him. No, she's gonna tip over and whisper something to the pretty thing all in black at her side. While eyeing the pair all the way over there. And grinning.

There's a smile on Green's lips. Though her sunglasses hide her eyes, she sure looks blissful. Serene. Exactly how one should look when they're investigating a murder, right? Or, well, maybe she's not? Maybe she's actually here to stroll? To escape things like work? Surely, there doesn't seem to be any concern at all on her features, not when eyes settle on Vinnie (and whoever that is with her). A hand goes up and there's a little wiggle of fingers, but Green says nothing. She hears that bickering, and then eyes catch CB and Franky, too. They get the same wave, the little Brit's motions entirely languid. Kip, well, she's not seen him yet. Green continues to walk, not speeding up, not diverting course. She'll probably cross someone's path soon.

Of course, her little spirit body is less content to be languid and idle. The cloud of static will fire right over to Vinie, and start to circle her. Forms and images, all black and white and static, start taking shape in the cloud. Shapes, outlines of animals, outlines of faces.

There's no click click sound as Kip takes some pictures of things nearby. His phone is, as usual, on a mode that is usually set to silent, vibrate or super quiet depending on the day and how adventureous he feels in regards to sounds. But he holds the thing like he's taking pictures and since his shop has a few framed shots he's taken of nature and things around town, it's pretty likely that's exactly what he's doing. Before the place becomes a madhouse and any natural beauty might be ruined by people tromping through it all. He's glancing around for anything else that catches his eye when he finds himself unable to ignore the sounds of voices. Oh people have come by now and again while he's been there, but it just sems like a few more than there were before, so he looks up and over, eyes narrowed into a squint to peer at them from the slight distance. So he shifts paths and starts to move closer, seeing the Avalon and Vinnie pairing before he really sees anyone else. And since he doesn't know those two, he just starts off assuming he won't know the others, either. Even for a small town, Kip keeps so much to himself usually that he's probably seen everyone in passing before but has no idea who some of those people actually /are/. So he just makes the assumption, wrong as it is going to turn out to be, and heads closer.

Head tilted, Avalon takes in the whisper from Vinnie, lips twisting up. A turn of head, the whisper returned, and she takes a little side-step as she looks towards those that Vinnie had. Quick, considering. If she sees that little spirit fluttering around, she doesn't say a thing.

"Don't fucking 'sweetheart' me, and talk about /yourself/ to refute the point I'm making, yeah? Shit, you just know I'm right and don't wanna admit it..." Franklyn is smirking to herself now, ashing her cigarette and-- oh! Oh look! There are /people/ here. Franklyn stops and turns and gives a little wave to Green, her expression lighting up behind her sunglasses - but she seems all... Distracted? Yeah. What is it.

Similar to Kip, Franklyn has gotten caught up in all that beautiful -nature-. Wait a second... "Heeey, what's going on?" Is she stoned?! 50/50 chance, really; because who is she even speaking to? Green? Heat-- Vinnie and Avalon? Kip, over yonder? There's a pretty cloud overhead, too... Also that... Static. Cue silent smoking.

"I have no earthly idea," C.B. mutters to Franky, gesturing with his cigarette. "Why are all these people here?" He gives Vinnie a gruff nod in answer to her greeting, and Green as well. Kip -- well, once he spots him, he lets out a sigh and lifts up his shades so he can rub the bridge of his nose. The last time he ran into Kip, things didn't exactly go swimmingly, and he looks back at the Bronco like maybe he's thinking of just turning around and taking off.

Vinnie's grin grows wide and delighted at whatever Avalon whispers back, the orange-haired LOSER tipping in toward the other woman in a brief expression of appreciation without one more word murmured. Her blue-eyed attention is instead on Green, a kiss blown the little brit's direction. The loft of her brows is surely an inquiry, though it's only the way her eyes angle upward, too--turned toward the static cloud now keeping her company--that gives that wordless inquiry any context. How well that translates over the distance, well. Who knows. She's starting toward CB and Franklyn, encouraging the eventual collision of the various wandering parties, murmuring, "Under three," to Avalon as she goes.

And, yes, the collision is inevitable. Green continues her saunter, eyes pulling away from the group and to the river as she goes. But she's heading in the right direction. Only when she's nearer does she look up, and soft, warm smile on her lips. "Hello, loves," she says aloud. "Just enjoying the day," she says, that, seemingly towards CB and Franklyn.

Avalon makes a silent show of glancing a her watch, dainty silver thing that it is on her left wrist. With Vinnie trapezeing off towards the direction of CB and Franklyn, she keeps occasionally glancing towards that way. Everyone else converging? She instead meanders her boot-crunchy way towards Kip the Photographer, ever so casually peering at what he's taking those pictures of. Maybe he found something -interesting-. Or dead. Interestingly dead? Don't mind the looming girl that smells of sage and night-blooming jasmine.

As the groups move on with their discussions and the looking over of things, a few of them find footprints to follow, probably from where the officers were bringing the equipment in. Then there's the first telltale signs of the bright yellow police tape that's left in a bush and it's flapping in the wind.

Vinnie is probably far more focused than the other. While they all walk along her attention gets pulled towards a tall patch of grass that looks like it's been bent over from something large. It might be the cops or something else. If she reaches in, she'd discover a shoe that looks like it belongs to a younger child.

Green's just going to be labeled the town weirdo if she keeps coming up to all these places where people die. Ahem. The Brit catches the scent of something. Not sulfur and not death, thank goodness. There's the shimmer of something that catches her eye as she walks along the bank. If she stops to take a look she'll be finding a very large snake skin that's been shed. But...what native snakes are that big in Vermont?!

Kip does, in fact, spot the others with a gaze that offers more recognition since he's gotten closer. Once his focus lands on CB, though, he stops in his tracks and looks like maybe he's not going to get any closer. Then he sways forward a bit like he's about to suck it up and head closer anyway, but his eyes focus on Franklyn and he just stands there, unmoving. It's pretty obvious to anyone who sees him that the pair he's seen makes him clearly stop the trajectory he was on. But his gaze can only be distracted for so long, even with hints of police activity having taken place there. So with a hand reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck absently, he starts heading back toward the others, not directly heading /at/ them but in the general direction since that's the way back to the road so he can call for a ride back.

"Why not? It's so fucking /nice/ out. Isn't it -glorious-?" Franklyn takes a big lungful of cigarette smoke, then sighs out happily -- dropping the butt on the ground and stubbing it out with her heel (litterbug!), before she starts frolicking off in Green's direction, kissing the air around the lil' Brit's cheeks before she beams at her. "Guess who got awarded the investor moneeeey." She sing-songs, then mmmphs and gestures vaguely between herself and C.B. and Green, "I was just saying the impact on our next production and how that will influence the scale of work at the Theatre, then--..."

Franklyn stops dead, turns, and looks off to the distance. Squint, squint. Oh na, that's not a cool bird, it's just some tape flappin' about. Disappointment grows on Franky's face, only to immediately get replaced with curiosity. "Hey check--" Midway through chattering onwards, Franky clocks in on Kip.

A smile blossoms on her face, then Franklyn raises a hand and waves, "Coo-eee, Mister Kip!" Wave, wave, gesture, grin.

C.B. nods and frowns to Green, briefly lifting a hand. "Hi." He tracks Kip for another moment or two before he starts looking, then turns a quizzical gaze upon Franklyn. Did she tell /him/ about the investor money? Maybe so. Then Frank is -- bird-calling to Kip, and he presses his fingers to his face again. Man, he has like a monster headache coming on. Why were they here again? Whatever the reason, it's not like C.B. was able to find much.

Was Vinnie headed off to meet people? Oh yes she was! Is she now? NOPE. Sorry, people. Vinnie's Spidey Sense is tingling. Or maybe she's just avoiding Green who got there first. Whatever the case, her blue-eyed attention seems to be set on something past the pair she'd been approaching. She circles on around the whole lot of 'em and moves right on by, edging close to the pretty brit as she does. She's a little bit off when she stoops down beside some bent grass which ought to be standing taller than it currently is. In goes her hand and... out comes a little shoe. "Huh." No, that doesn't look like what she'd expected to pull out from the weeds, the things held up by a shoelace. Warily.

Amanda's drifting attention is tugged over by Frankly, as the woman approaches. Franklyn draws in close, and Green's smile goes a touch brighter. She reaches out to slip a hand around the other woman's waist, and then stretches up, and goes to tiptoes, so she can press an actual kiss to Franklyn's... well. Jawline. Because cheek is too high for the short little thing. "That's brilliant, love. You deserve it all, and more," she says. She draws in a breath, then, as Franklyn is looking out, she whispers to the woman. A few words, a tight smile, and then she turns to follow Franky's gaze.

"What's that?" she asks. "Oh... this must be where the body was found," she muses. And while Franklyn is staring at Kip, Green starts forward, to drag Franky towards the crime scene. Because, yes, Green just happens to perpetually find crime scenes.

Then, she gasps, and her eyes go wide, and she looks over her shoulder. She looks suddenly a bit confused, then turns to fix a squint at Franklyn, and smirk. "Cheeky," she tells the Garreau. Then she looks back forward, takes a step forward, then stops. Her eyes fall down to the grass, and she squints. She stares. She finally points, so Franky can see it too. "What... the bloody hell is that...?"

Aw sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Kip's been noticed. By Franklyn of all people. And so at her calling to him, his steps slow but don't stop entirely and he just looks over at her with a look that might be partial glower or partial warning or partial something that isn't usually in place on the bookman's face. It's a dark cloud there as he looks over and just stares at her for a moment, giving nothing but a slight shake of the head to her like there's some sort of silent conversation happening or something. And then he spots Green. And then his whole posture shifts even more, shoulders slumping forward like he's being all anxious just being there, just /existing/ in general. A hand brushes hair from his face. His walking at least slows to a stop.

What Kip's doing becomes decreasingly less interesting when that fluttering yellow catches Avalon's eyes. It's sort of what she came down this way for, and so with little else on her radar, the brunette heads that way. Pushing hair out of her face, she ends up slightly behind of Vinnie, brows arching up high at what the woman pulls out from the weeds. "That is..." A shoe, she doesn't quite get out, before she's squinting. Lingering behind the LOSER because she's not above using her internetbestie as a shield.

C.B. rolls his eyes at Green's behavior -- though he's wearing shades, so it might not be obvious -- but then Vinnie and Green are finding things that are...allegedly why they're here. He flicks his own cigarette aside and shoves his hands deep in his pockets, head down as he moves along to see whatever is going on.

Vinnie was just out for a walk, man. She wasn't here to find shoes. Bodies, maybe. River hobos, almost certainly. Some kid's shoe? Eh. Color Vinnie disappointed. She straightens and turns to Avalon with the little shoe still held up by its lace. With a sideways headtip, she looks over toward Green and calls, "You find the foot this fits?" in a demonstration of off-color humor one probably ought not use in public. Not that she apologizes. She just looks back to Avalon and warns her, "This could be you." She even almost manages a straight face before her grin creeps in and she snickers a little.

"I know Amanda-da, but thank you for reminding me." Listen to Franky - so prim and proper in that singular moment, speaking in a real posh British accent because... Because she can? Because Franklyn is a pretty damn good mimic. That expression of hers was all neutral and cool and even a bit indifferent maybe-- but when Green speaks her her?

Franklyn just lights /up/. Ugh. She doesn't quite allow herself to get dragged on by Green though -- the taller Garreau girl detangles herself aptly, brushing at the sleeve of her shirt before adjusting her bag and glancing around, drifting slowly because... Who cares?

"...Hey." Franklyn looks back over her shoulder, from Kip to C.B. to Kip again. Smile? Serene and vague. "...What'cha takin' pics of, Mister Kip?" Sing-song. Is she aware Kip is giving her a warning look? Apparently not. Although she does look... Curious, suddenly. Franky leans in to C.B. and murmurs quietly, but not /too/ quietly. "...I would have never guessed."

Franky! Pay attention! She doesn't follow up on her never-guess, instead she turns and looks to Green and-- Oooh! "C.B, check that out..." Point, point, point; something in the grasses.

"No, love..." Green calls, as she flicks eyes towards Vinnie, then back to the something. "It... could have been shoes, though. Or... boots. Pants, really," she says, her eyes growing wide beneath her lenses. "Looks like a bloody snake's skin... Do you all have snakes... up here...?"

Avalon gives a snort to Vinnie, shaking her head. "I told you, I am not fucking some river hobo." There's a note of ...caution, almost worry, that comes to her voice, though. A downturn of lips. She looks to that dangling shoe, before she looks over to Green at those words. "There are some snakes. Not...particularly large ones."

C.B. watches Vinnie for a moment, smiling a little, but not joining in with quips or levity. He's hanging back all awkwardly. Then he glances at Franky when she murmurs to him and shrugs, though his attention is quickly drawn by Franky pointing out the thing in the grass. He looks at Frank quizzically, like maybe he thinks it's her fault the snakeskin is there? Or maybe he's surprised that she saw it and he didn't.

Franklyn snorts, scoffs even. "/Do we have snakes/, ohmygoooood Amaanda, are you for /real/?" She clicks her tongue and puts a hand on her hip, smiling and shaking her head. Girls! What are they like? Franky is already on the move - perfect white outfit be damned...

...oh. Oh, /unless/ Franklyn has purposefully dressed as some kind of safari adventurer? Because she's moving through the grasses, getting a stick, and using it to pick up and examine a little bit of... Oh my. Some kind of dingy yellowy semi-translucent... That's... That's not a disused... No, no, it's too big for...

"Woooah, King Cobra doesn't start to cover it -- holy shit, this is like, some cryptid bullshit right here." Franklyn starts to laugh, because... Everything's laughable, right? "Show of hands! Who's got the biggest snake experience?" She turns and point at Vinnie, then Avalon, then C.B., then... Kip. "What's the largest you've ever seen?"

"Nature. For the shop," is Kip's response to Franklyn, still giving her a bit of A Look. But there's something else taking away attention by everyone so he takes a few steps closer, but doesn't close in on them. Just sort of gets a vague idea of what they're looking at. Something in the ground or whatever. He's not close enough to actually see anything. "Wait, there's a snake over there? I... don't much like snakes."

"Why would I know what fauna lives in Nowhere, Vermont?" Green asks, with a little huff of breath. Of course, Franklyn's antics earn an eye roll, which is convenient, because she looks over just in time to hear 'fucking some river hobo'. Green stares at Avalon, then Vinnie. Figures. Her attention turns back to Franklyn, as she picks up that snakeskin. She stares at it. "You mean, bigger than Kip's snake..." she murmurs out.

Vinnie sticks her tongue out at Avalon and gives her a PBFTH for that assurance. "You could be. Could build him out of baby shoes and snake skins and river weeds." Cuz that sounds attractive. Not that she's actually keeping any further hold of said shoe to go making any sexy hobo monsters or anything. She lets the old shoe fall back into the grass, though its position atop that bent greenery will surely make it easier for others to pick out now, should anyone else take interest. Like the cops. Or anyone else here. Who knows. Whatever the case, she's heading on over toward the snake-in-the-grass coming up on that stick to give it a look, too, waving Avalon over. And maybe stealing a curious look back at CB. And smiling. Yep. That was a smile. For Franky, she gives a casual shrug, answers, "I dunno, six foot something?" With a flick of her attention to Green, she mutters, "He ain't even that tall, is he?"

"New England doesn't have snakes that size," C.B. says, wearing a look of obvious alarm now. He also glances over and snorts at Kip's line about nature and the shop, though he doesn't add to it. He /does/ snort at Green's line, even if the latter seems to mostly have forgotten he exists. It's okay, he can just hang out here and be invisible. Let the other electrobro take the heat, Enid-style. He still hasn't really moved, though he tilts his head and smiles back at Vinnie. A little.

Oh it's probably good that Kip doesn't catch what Green murmurs out. He hears her murmur, but not the contents of the language that she uses. "What? I take pictures. I get them printed and framed. Some of us happen to like nature," he says to CB. But he's still moving closer. "Wait, you mean there's a six foot snake around? That seems... big. A snake as tall as I am? That can't be right. Do they really get that big?" He doesn't even seem to realize that they might be talking about sizes of other things.

"Please. If I'm going to make myself a fuckbuddy, there's got to be some muscle structure in there, too. I'm not doing all the work," she murmurs. Avalon, waved over, makes her way right up beside Vinnie. Those green-and-amber eyes traveling along the length of that shed. She looks like she's thinking hard. Hard enough for it to hurt. "Someone could have let their pet boa loose," she says, like she doesn't really believe it, towards C.B.. "Wouldn't survive our winter, though, I don't think. Unless it was...very resourceful." As she looks back to Vinnie, she notes, "I don't know of anything like this." There's a certain weight to those words. Like it's a Big Deal.

"You'll have to ask him, love," Green says, with a quick glance aside, to Vinnie. "In fact, you might want to take a look and make sure it's not escaped?" she offers. Green is clearly not as disturbed by this revelation as she should be. Could be related to the breezy, happy, entirely loose (and un-Green-like) expression she's wearing? She turns eyes back to the snake skin. "Just to clarify..." Green says, with a gesture towards Franky and her massive skin. "New England clearly has snakes that size," she says, with a little laugh following it, and a spare glance over to CB. Then her eyes are back on Avalon. "Obviously you're right. You think... a pet? I've known one too many obnoxiously rich types to own boa constrictors and the like...?"

"Maybe take pictures with a real camera?" C.B. points out to Kip, but then he lets it go. He nods at Avalon and looks between the others. "No way this is a native snake. It's got to have been someone's pet, or someone deliberately released it here." This is as good a time as any for a nip of whiskey, isn't it? He thinks so, because he takes off his hip flask and begins unscrewing the top.

Vinnie gigglesnorts at Avalon's retort, snagging the woman's arm once she's close and wrapping it up in both arms. So pleased. That delight continues as she croons over to Green, "Oh, I'll be checking in tonight." But there is Serious Talk. So, she lets her smile slip a little, flicking a look around the crowd before settling on the pretty chick to whom she clings to murmur, "Something for the tea talk?"

Franklyn pauses, the stick held in her hand, big ol' snake skin hanging there for all to inspect or gawk at. C.B. gets a -curious- glance. "...Are you afraid of snakes?" Because Franklyn is seeming totally tolerant to this weird biology in front of her. S'just a snake skin! She glances over to Vinnie, mmming and nodding vaguely. "This is way, way... Way longer..."

All the laughter has gone out of Franky -- the snark and jokes and gentle ribbing of Kip too. The Garreau girl just turns and starts staring at the snake skin - sunglasses pushed up into her hair. "...Huh."

Franklyn proceeds to just... Gawk. Possibly ponder. Who can say.

"You, uh," Vinnie adds after a moment more. "You think maybe Big Boa here ate Little Timmy there?" with a tilt of her head back toward the shoe she left behind.

"Good photographers don't need expensive equipment," Kip snarks to CB, though he doesn't say it in an angry manner. More like he's not sure he wants to engage in back-and-forth with him again. By now his slow advance has him actually in the radius of the group, though still on the outskirts a bit. He's not honing in but he doesn't have to speak loudly to be heard. "Maybe we should report it to someone. If there's a snake like that around here. Especially if it's a pet. Someone might be looking for it," he mentions helpfully. "You call what, animal control for this sort of thing?"

There's a loud crunch of rock and grass behind the group as a few officers make their way back up from being down river. An older gentleman is with them and they all stop when they see the large group of young people in front of them. Because they all look young to them! "We're still working this scene, so if you will return to your vehicles or to another path, it would be much appreciated." one of the officers asks. They don't seem upset, even a bit down. What the heck is going on?

Either way, it's time to start heading back towards cars and things. And away from huge snakey things.

C.B. eyes Franky back. "No. I'm not afraid of snakes," he tells her firmly, though he's also not getting any closer. To Kip he snorts, "Who said anything about expensive? Real cameras sure as hell don't have to be." Then he lets it go. For now. Maybe he's not sure he wants to engage either. Besides...OMG, it's the pigs! He actually starts the other way as soon as he sees them. Like, immediately.

Avalon's arm is easily snagged, and she gives a quick flash of grin towards Vinnie. But this is Serious Business indeed, and her expression is quick to turn that way again. "Definitely a good subject for tea," she says with a slow nod. "If there was a snake that big missing from someone's home, it would be all over the local news. Given how little else there is to report. Most of the time. Save for the influx of riots and dead bodies." Another frown as she murmurs those words. About to say more, when that group of officers comes around. A glance, over her shoulder, to look at them, study their faces. "Oh, so sorry! We didn't realize," is said. And it's completely genuine. That Weird Lefevre Girl out in the woods, poking at strange stuff? Hardly anything new to the local PD. A smile, and she's pulling Vinnie along, and away from where they're not wanted. For now.

"'Dinner, Nagini'." Franklyn murmurs to herself, all lost in thought until-- oh! Oh. Oh. Oh shit, that's the cops? The stick is dropped, and Franklyn immediately side-steps in front of C.B. for absolutely no reason. "...Hey, we're just rambling on." No pause, only a big cheerful sunny charming smile. Also? Fuck that snake skin, Franky's already on the move. "Have a nice day, officers! Enjoy the sunshine!"

Pictures are a good idea. Normally something Amanda would have done first thing! She's just... a bit slow today, it seems. She starts forward, pulling her mobile out of her little handbag, and then she takes a few pictures. Which, if anyone is watching, most of the pictures are more about Franklyn than the skin. And Green smiles all the while. Snapshots taken, she goes right up to the snakeskin, then drops down onto her haunches, and leans in close. A few more pictures, up close! And, hey, while she's down here? Maybe just tear away a little bit dead snakeflesh or whatever it is.

Green's phone is tucked away (skin with it) and then she stands back up, to smile at the police. "Afternoon, loves," she says, in that can-only-be-Amanda-Green voice. "Have anything for me?" she asks.

As Franky and CB take off, Kip just sort of lingers. He doesn't have the posture of someone who plans on /staying/ or anything, he's just clearly waiting for the pair to clear out before he starts off in that direction. But he does at least pull his own phone out and squints at it as he taps at it and brings up the Uber icon. "Well officers, let me find out how long it'll take someone to get me and I'll head out, too." Look at him being all compliant and stuff. "Glad you're here. Maybe you can notify animal control about something." Oh so helpful, this one.

"Nothing for you yet, Ma'am." One of the officers tips his hat to Green in a very cowboy like gesture. Then he's heading back to talk with the older gent that's out with them.

Vinnie has nothing to say for the cops, letting Avalon handle that, but as she's tugged along back toward Behaving like a Good Citizen, she calls a, "See ya, handsome," off in what may well be CB's direction. Then she's muttering to her friend, "I got distracted," but it sounds like it might be concession. "What do I owe ya?"

And just like that, Franklyn is gone. Green glances over, to see where exactly she's ran to. There's just a little laugh, and a shake of her head. Then back to the cop. "You will call me when you find something," Green says. Wow doesn't that sound like an order? "Won't you?" she adds, after a pause, just to make that technically a question. Not that Green would ever just order around cops. "Thaaaank you," she says, as she lifts her hand to wiggle fingers. Then she turns back around, and starts towards Vinnie and her friend. "I can give you a ride if you need one, Kip," she says, as she walks away from the snakeskin.

In reality, Green's just going to wait long enough to swing back around and grab that shoe, too! Greedy little witch.

"You don't mind?" Kip asks Green as he looks at her, then back at his phone. He seems to come to a conclusion and tucks the phone away, moving off after her. "Thanks." Apparently he's taking that ride! Even if it means being with Amanda Green! Enid would have a field day!

Franklyn glances to the side briefly as she heads off, but mostly she's preoccupied with getting a pack of Lucky Strike's from her purse as she meanders back to that ancient Bronco. One is offered up to C.B. as she catches up with him, head lowered to say something... Possibly? But then she's just smiling and looking up at the sky, the trees, the glory of nature. Vermont. Man. Nowhere else like it. Best be off to explore some other wild part...