Fantasy PHANTASMA: SCHOOL OF THE STRANGE

[MechaGhoul]

"Right, well if magic isn't being used and it is solely done through foot-chase yes. Lots of spells are handy for these sorts of situa-" Susie immediately shook her head, as she stopped in her thought. She simply gave a nod to Lily as she scuttled off to get the teacher. Susie had more pressing matters, such as getting back the mannequin. And so she headed off in the direction where she assumed it went.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Deciding to follow after the alraune, Anya's feet gave a pitter patter after Lily, albeit not as quickly. Such was the fate of non-tentacle-legs.


The cat, however, slowed to a stop as she eyed something odd: a chocolate bread thing, sitting perfectly alone and unattended. She'd heard that Paris had really high class food. Chocolate was tasty. Maybe this was a food van.


Anya looked to the left, then the right. Though Lily was still scurrying away, there was ample time to ponder what the bread was for. Only a madman would leave their sweets unattended in an open van. This was almost enough to drive the young girl to steal. Almost.


"Man, someone might take that if the owner doesn't eat it soon." Anya smiled, turning away from the open door. As she spun, a hand quickly gripped her hand and yanked her roughly through the open door. She barely had time to let out a loud shriek before landing against the opposite wall. The van's door slammed shut, and the engine roared to life before pulling a harsh U-turn, and speeding away from Lily, leaving only a trail of dust.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Achim, was coming back into the realm of consciousness! Hooray! He moved his head up as he glanced around. He was, being moved. And there was a pain in his back. Alongside these, he was without even his barest of possessions. The pain acted back up as he growled out. "Uuuggrrr... H-huh wha?" He glanced at Richter. "Put me down, unless I dunno, me being here is the only thing from keeping you ashed. I guess." He growled out in agony again, from his back. "...'Splain."


Then again, as Achim knew there was a time and a place for everything. And this was exactly the time to ask about this. "Yea- agh, damn it! Yeah put me down." The biker gangster said to his vampire associate. "At the least explain why I'm on your shoulder and what the HELL-" Achim growled out in sheer pain.


Breathing in and out he went about trying to meditate himself to a calmer state of mind. "The Hell we doin'?" Achim glanced around for a moment, noticing something truly awful! Besides the pain, there was something else truly awful. "Where's Natalya? She okay?"


For as per Gargoyle Creed, well at least part of the Creed as proclaimed by Malcom Jets, 'Our bitches in back, don't let'em get whacked.' Achim would not forsake the message of his mentor. Then again, he really didn't need to, considering she wasn't an official bitch for any of the members. But she was a nice lady, so at the least she was an 'Honorary Bitch' for the gang, least according to Achim. So he'd have to make sure she wasn't killed at least. Then again they were in France. Hardest thugs here couldn't survive even three minutes in the Detroit Hellscape.


Oh if there was a bit of free-time, Achim would enjoy teaching them a lesson in life's 'Hard-school of Knocks'. Well if they did anything to start something that is.


------------------


Susie had found B20! She bent down as she glanced at the mannequin, and held out her hand to collect the little marionette. Well really it was more allowing the mannequin to choose whether or not it wanted to come. Glancing at the thing she spoke,"Ah there you are! You don't wanna run away now. Things can happen he-"


Susie's ears twitched as a van seemed to drive by really quickly, and someone shrieking. Ferdie spoke up with his own little message, "Ya know, this reminds me. WE need to go to the Velvet Tigress!" Susie glanced at Ferdie as she gave a knowing smirk. "Ah, La tigresse de velours est un établissement merveilleux. That we do, but uh, we should er, do something? For that ki- ...That was Anya wasn't it?" The Unholy Puppet shrugged.


"Laissez-faire ma chère Suzette." He responded in a casual fashion. "Kidnappings happen, who are we to stop the natural order of things? I mean we-" Susie simply raised her index finger to her lip as she gave a dismissive shush. "Not time for that. Right uh, well, we are going after that vehicle. Nous allons profiter du club après." She said to her ventriloquist doll. "If that's the case, I can live with doing this then. Alright lets do it."

 

[CSA]

Lily's face became pale as she heard a shriek behind her. She turned in time to see Anya get pulled into a van, and immediately she scuttled after it. Having a teacher owe her a favor would have been nice, but this was Anya. Lily said that she would protect the girl, and then some bastards go and kidnap her.


Lily's heart sank as the van zoomed away. Lily was fast on her tentacles, but not fast enough to catch up to a speeding van.


"Susie," Lily called out desperately. She couldn't see the Elf, but Lily likely wasn't so far that an Elven ear wouldn't pick up her plea, "Anya's been kidnapped! Magic her unkidnapped!"


Lily had no idea what spells Susie knew, but she was capable of some pretty high-level stuff. The Elf probably had something that could help. Until then, Lily continued going after the van, hoping that they would stop for a really bad red light or something.


"This can't happen. This CAN NOT happen! I'll murder them! I'll murder every last one of those sorry bastards, and eat the goddamn corpses!"

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Well, Natalya's probably fine. For now. And as for me..." Richter said, lifting up a sewer lid. In the distance, he was fairly certain he heard a shriek, but then again, they were in the slums. It was probably some crack deal gone wrong.


Unless, he considered as he fell through the hole with Achim in tow, the students went full retard and ran around the wrong side of town despite being white American children. But he was sure they knew better.


"I'll be fine in here. Let's see... Natalya went in a northerly direction, so...." the vampire placed the bare biker in the ankle-deep sludge, and began jogging away.


"Use your night vision! Try to avoid the rats!"

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie's ears twitched as Lily made her pleas. She glanced at Ferdie, "Yeah, that was her alright." Ferdie paused for a moment, "Anything else?" Susie stood back up as she glanced down the road. "Well she wanted to 'magic' her unkidnapped." Ferdie began chuckling. "Right, well, yeah we ain't doing that. INSTEAD, time for a traditional Noir Style investigation!" He paused in his thought before he made an eager declaration, "FUCK YES... I am much happier about this now. If only because we get to be Noir Detectives. We can hit up a costume store right?"


Susie just stared. "Se il ya une sur le chemin, oui." And so Susie began the search for clues. For it was Necromancer Noir Detective time.


She glanced at Ferdie. "Right, first, before we come up with our inner detective monologues and stu-" The puppet spoke up, "Also we gotta choose our Femme Fatale, every Noir Story has one."


Susie paused as she thought of the following.

• The direction in which the vehicle was going
  
• The color of the van
  

These would be two quick clues to help solve the mystery. "Right, we also have to choose that. But what we need to focus on is the obvious. Then once we have that confirmed, we pursue onwards."


------


Achim smirked as he felt the sewage hitting his ankles. "Ahh this, is more like home. Still too classy." He breathed in the sewer air as he shouted back to the Vampire. "I have no night vision!" He proceeded to follow, though in a more relaxed swagger. "Rats, I will unless I'm hungry. Then again, these are Frenchie Rats, ain't sure they are too tasty."


Though of course, he couldn't relax in this fine place for long. So he began moving faster than what he was going during his relaxed swagger, through the thick viscous substance, enjoying the occasional breeze of the sewage gas hitting his bare body.

 

[CSA]

Lily continued to run after the van as fast as her tentacles could carry her, which was pretty fast. Bad traffic or a long light could certainly aid her, and hopefully she would be able to end this thing long before anything particularly bad happened to Anya. The Alraune didn't know what she would do if that happened.


In addition, she kept an eye out for any phone booths around. She had no idea what number to call for the French police, and could really use a phone book for that purpose. She also considered what she knew about the van, like the color, the make, the model, or if she was able to see any of the license plate.


[dice]5399[/dice]

 

[ComradeSenpai]

The van, a plain, white windowless cleaning company van, sped through the cobblestone street after street, skidding around corners.


A blond man with a rat tail stuck his head out the window, and saw the alraune chasing after them. Reaching back in, he threw a rolled up dirty magazine, and threw it at Lily in an attempt to slow her down. Skidding around another corner, it sped off, faster than any plant could run, soon growing smaller in the distance. With some struggle, part of the license plate could be read: "N4**S**"


The magazine fell just short of Lily, unfolding beside her. A short distance away was a pay phone, covered in various graffiti and swears.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Right." Susie remarked as she glanced at Ferdie, as she casually walked down the sidewalks pondering. "It wasn't that descript. So it could be anything." The puppet spun his head to glance at Susie. "So should we contact the crew?"


Contacting her fellow Sky-Pirates could indeed prove useful. She shook her head, "Not enough time has passed, for them to know anything, if they would. However, we do need to find a costume shop... Suspects could er, have visited it for disguises." Ferdie just stared, "Right, we both know we are just going in for costumes. So how we wanna do this? Twin Detectives? Me as the TRUE Detective, you as Femme Fatale?" Susie glanced the streets looking for a costume shop as she chuckled. "Mmm, we'll see. But first..."


Susie quickly entered into an alleyway where she noticed the corpses of some dead pigeons. She sat down as she arranged the pigeons into a circle around her as she sat down cross-legged. Holding out her hand with her palms facing upwards, she began to raise the dead creatures as her servants. Scouts for the mission ahead. These creatures would no longer rest, they would awaken for their task, to find the Cat-person Anya.


Ferdie took this opportunity to poke Susie, "Come on! We need to decide COSTUMES! Susie! Susie! Susie!"


[dice]5400[/dice]

 

[CSA]

Lily gritted her teeth as the van sped off- the very same teeth that would soon have the flesh of these bastards betwixt them, if all went well. People like that deserved the worst that Lily could offer, and she would hear their screams as a delicious little appetizer before she started on the main course.


As Lily grabbed the phone book to look up the number for the French police, she dialed Susie on her cell. Maybe she could do something with Lily's information using her wizard stuff. She also quickly picked up the dirty magazine with her tentacles. The volume would likely have some fingerprints on it, or perhaps something telling scribbled in haste inside. She'd have to look at it closer soon.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Suuuusie! Suuuuusie! Costumes! We need our detective costumes." Ferdie noted, as Susie finished up the summoning. She stood back up and rolled around her shoulders. Tilting her head she gave the creatures a tranquil smile. "Mes jolis, jolis oiseaux. Trouver elle." Susie glanced at Ferdie as she spoke up, "We'll get the costumes soon en-"


And that is when Susie received a phone-call. She reached into her pocket as she pulled out her cellphone and spoke, not checking for the caller identification. "Vous avez atteint Suzette Bellerose. Puis-je vous aider?" As she answered the phone, Ferdie obnoxiously spoke up. "Psssssst whooo is it?"

 

[CSA]

"God I love it when you speak French," Lily muttered, scanning the pages of the phonebook for any word that looked like 'police', "Anya's been kidnapped, right? White cleaning company van. Blonde guy with a rat tail haircut. License plate beginning with N4 and an S five or so places in. Can you do anything with that? Oh, and do you know the number for the police or at least the French word for police?"


Though Lily was reluctant to get the authorities too involved because she wanted to murder that guy, it was more important to save Anya. To that end, Lily was prepared to do just about anything.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie held the phone away as she spoke a bit to Ferdie, "Leads." Quickly she returned the phone to her ear. "I was fearing that. Police is-" Susie paused very briefly as she spoke making sure her accent got across in this, "Police. Now white cleaning company van, blonde with rat-tail haircut, and license plate with N4 at the start and S around five places in?" She said as she glanced at Ferdie.


The unholy puppet who did not transcribe it, but simply noted it. "I can use that. Thank you for the information." Susie spoke again fairly slowly as to make sure Lily would get the information she needed, regarding the phone numbers. "112 for general police. Anythingelse?"


And so Ferdie poked her as she held the cellphone away. "Hey uh, you're not gonna go super-fast in trying to solve this right? I'm enjoying this quality time playing Noir Detective, despite the fact we haven't fully set up our gimmick. Cause Noir Detective action is kickass! Aaaand I want to drag this game out for uh as long as possible really." Susie just glanced at him, and quickly moved the phone back into position. "Wait? Company van?! Logo of any sort? Any other details?"

 

[CSA]

"Yes, there was a raccoon with a mop for the logo. And the name Pierre. Look, if you find anything out, call me," said Lily, tossing the phone book into her flower in case she needed it later. She then began flipping through the dirty magazine to see if she could find any clues there. Yes, clues. There was no other reason.


"You said that you wanted to be someone I could lean on, right, Susie? Well, I'm not normally one for leaning, but I really need you right now. This is something I can't do on my own, so please do everything you can. If it involves expensive components or something, I'll sell off every bit of me to pay you back. I promise."

 

[Blumenkranz]

The girl awkwardly walked out of the room as she tried to brush her hair into a presentable condition. Her legs didn't allow her to move as fast as she wanted, barely able to hold her already negligible weight, but that was to be expected. But at least, in exchange for a very noticeable blush, she got what she needed: the subway's maintenance conducts key.


The subway was one of Natalya's favorite escape routes, only topped by hovercraft extractions and vertiginous reckless land driving. More glamorous than the sewers, but still as privacy-friendly; the rats were still there, but at least it smelled much better and the floor was cleaner.


But of course, not the subway everybody knows, no; a place hidden between tunnels, and protected from regular people by trains cleaning the routes to the access points every minute. That, or a key, which she had.


Usually, she would have let the demolitions expert of her group blow up the door for them instead, but obviously she was alone now. Alone and almost naked, with no equipment to crack open that door. Funnily enough, that utter lack of equipment was what helped her get into those tunnels. Now, all she had to do was avoid being spotted by cameras or guards until she managed to reach a safe place.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Racoon with a mop, Pierre. Oh, oh these will do nicely." Susie responded as she glanced at her unholy companion. These, oh all this information would be useful. The game of Noir Investigation would probably still last awhile with it gained though, at least not hindering it enough that the puppet would complain about the length of the game. "Do not worry about the cost of components. Just, try to stay calm. Clear heads prevail. Thanks for the information." Click.


"My dear little birdies should find some information. But now we have more. ...I'll need to give those little birdies it as well." Susie noted as she walked out of the alleyway with her unholy puppet in tow, as she twitched her fingers in an methodical fashion. She moved them about as if she was conducting a marionette. The dear little birdies, would hopefully receive a proper update of their orders. After all such information would be useful in the search.


"Pierre the Cleaning Raccoon probably. Blonde dude with rat-tail, and N4 at license start. Don't try solving this too quickly, we have to get our costumes and stuff!" Susie wagged her finger as she gave a slight smile at Ferdie. "Oh but every Noir Detective must contemplate on the severity of the case which causes him to act faster." The puppet grumbled at that, "We haven't even decided our gimmick yet! Like we have yet to choose what bar we work out of in solving the crime! Or even the more basic matter, which roles we are. Twin Detectives? One Detective and Assistant?"


"We shall decide on that, when we decide on that. My dearies, I hope they found something else out. And when more time passes, I shall contact the crew. However, right now, I shall go to obtain a decent orb in which I can purview the world, in a much more coherent manner than tearing apart the shackles of the realm of the dead and commanding those beautiful and elegant creatures to seek out which I desire." Susie said with a bit of over-the-top showmanship.


Ferdie chuckled, "Hey, if that's the excuse you wanna use for getting costumes, I am perfectly fine with that!" And so, the pair headed to a costume shop, to buy an orb for use investigating and of course, costumes for the investigation as you can't go Noir Detective without the proper costume.


[dice]5404[/dice]

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Five rotted birds flew off for the course of about twenty minutes. After some time soaring through the sky, the corpse-pigeons returned. Two chirped happily. The third brought a yellow tuft of hair. The fourth, however, brought a tuft of brown hair- one that, on closer notice, smelled strongly of cat.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie tilted her head and smiled at her little corpse pigeons as they returned with some information. "What have you brought me dearies? Oooh, looks like one is still out. Make sure it is alright, would be a shame to have one of your siblings lost." She glanced at the tuffs of hair that two of them brought. "...Your birds did a -" Susie quickly spoke up, "A wonderful job. They should provide a helpful lead."


Susie focused on the fourth pigeon that brought the tuft of brown hair. "Guide me to where you found it."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

The bird gave a lively chirp, and slowly glided off, leading Susie through a series of twists and turns throughout the Parisian streets. The elf soon found herself staring at a catgirl. This one, however, was much taller than her friend. She was also rather well endowed, wither her hair tumbling like a sultry waterfall down her shoulders. Also unlike Anya, she wore an outfit that could barely be called clothing.


<You're a ways out of the castle, love.> the catgirl spoke to Susie in French.


<Perhaps you'd care to see what the beasts in the woods are like?> she asked, twirling her tail through her fingers.

 

[MechaGhoul]

And so Achim continued his trek through the French Sewage system. He had no idea where he would be going, nor what was in it. It was a completely and utter lack of knowledge he had from the sewer system. What he knew was he was bare and was following his Vampire colleague. "Hehe aaaah, not a bad day." Achim mused, as he pondered for a moment.


This would possibly be a good subject for a piece of literature, a short poem perhaps. Though what symbolism he'd use was currently alluding him. He took the time to improvise some dialogue, "Oh perfidious pipes, snarling the sewage, how you mock the things below. Camouflaging the condition above."


Achim shook his head. "No, no. That won't do." Achim glanced up as he threw his hands to the air. "Oh marvelous muses, you brilliant creatures. You radiate with the flair of the same sparks of the Flames of Prometheus. Hark, can you hear the pleas of a lonesome man, trudging through the dank drudgery? Oh while I am ankle deep in the mire, I am not at the fountain of inspiration. Give me a sign! A star from the Heavens to guide my path! The inspiration for a poet whose mind was stuck in the blackened abyss, unable to wander and see the light of creation! GIVE ME A SIGN!"


The biker, the poet pleaded upwards, hoping he'd get some inspiration for a story. Something would come to him in time. For now, he just needed to keep going through the sewage.


----


Susie followed her bird, having such a great feeling that it would lead her to something important to the case. And that's when the bird led her to a, rather different individual than what she was expecting. Ferdie glanced at Susie as she glanced back at him for a moment. She then turned her attention to the catgirl. <Right so we found a ho->


<Oh, I wouldn't leave the sanctity without a reason. Looking for, individuals tends to give you that reason.> She remarked with a smirk, and a casual twirl of the hair. <But oh, knowing the forest is a wonderful thing. Mmm, what's the price of such a thing, for such a sight? And which lovely Madam or of course Madams if I may inquire, do you happen to know? But oh, let's just get to business.>

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Lily, on the other hand, found page after page of lewd French women in various poses and states of undress. On the back, however, was a mailing address, also in French.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


<10 euros for a look at the goods, 20 to pet the kitty~> the lady answered, geting straight to business.


<As for who I know, well... confidentiality is a given in this line, love. Now, who I can be, on the other hand...>

 

[MechaGhoul]

<Oh yes, I'm aware of confidentiality. I won't ask such a pretty kitten to go into details of clients. Rather who you are employed for. Mmm and some other kitties you may be aware of. Ooooh, could you spare that much?> Susie remarked as she twirled her hair about. <I'll add a little more honey to the deal if needed. Buuuut if you can't do that, I'll need to be done quickly. So, I'll just have to be quick with the 10. If you can, maybe I'll have the time for the 20.>


She placed Ferdie down as she fished up some Euros from her pants pockets. She handed over the furled up bills to the Catgirl. <Of course, before such a service I wouldn't mind hearing the name.>


<Right well, certainly I won't need to worry about the game not lasting long enough.>

 

[CSA]

Lily was able to find a mailing address on the magazine, which was odd, because she was fairly certain that these sorts of things were usually spur of the moment purchases when purchased at all. Whoever this guy was, Lily guessed he didn't know about the internet and its wonders. Or he liked the articles.


Lily put the address into her phone, and it turned out to be not too far away. Before she ran off, however, she made certain to text Susie.


Going to 5817 Merde on a lead. If I don't get back to you soon, follow.





Then Lily called the French police on the payphone, giving them everything she knew aside from the address. If the address was a dead end, the police would hopefully pick up the slack. If Anya was there, however, the police maybe didn't have to know and Lily could kill the sons of bitches.


Lily set off once again, as fast as her tentacles could carry her.


[dice]5408[/dice]

 

[ComradeSenpai]

<Oh, you must be a princess to pay for a whole litter of kittens, love. Come back later, and I'll see what friends I can find.> the nice lady replied, strutting into an alley, flicking her tail about.


<And if you want my name... just call me your Petit Fleur.>


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lily walked for some time, eventually walking to another stoop, still on a rather slummy side of town. Off to the side, Susie talked to a scantily clad catgirl next to a narrow alley.


The apartment building lay behind the front door, or rather, half a front door, because it was broken; scraps of it lay scattered around. The address on the magazine listed apartment 217.


 
Anya awoke sitting up, sitting on some hard surface, probably some terrible wooden chair. Trying to budge her hands, she found them tied tightly by a braided leather cord of some kind. Her head was terribly sore, and she felt something warm trickling down the side of her head. She couldn't see, however; her vision was obscured by some kind of heavy cloth sack over her head. Slouching around, she whimpered, until a series of men's voices came around.


"Grande aller, maintenant ils savent que nous l'avons!"


"Ce est bien si. Il les attise avant que nous livrons la rançon."


"Vous voulez rançon celui-ci? Qu'est-ce qui la rend spéciale?"


"Regardez cette robe! Elle est blanche, aussi. Elle parle anglais. Elle est probablement l'enfant de quelque célébrité américaine."


"Celebrity, hein? Pense que nous allons arriver à la voir à la télévision?"


"Ne vous inquiétez pas. Elle va être une star de cinéma assez tôt si nous ne pouvons pas obtenir notre argent." a few chords of laughter echoed about.


"Pourtant, cette fleur pourrait être une douleur. Allons-nous les envoyer un avertissement?"


Anya shivered as footsteps drew closer.

 

[CSA]

Lily arrived at the address on the magazine to see Susie nearby, dressed far differently than she had been not half an hour ago. She was conversing with a very scantily-clad Neko with a level of confidence uncharacteristic of the Elf. Lily was certain that Susie would be all blushing and stuff in a situation like this, but perhaps she realized that even if she was scared, now was not the time for hesitation. Lily was kind of proud.


The Alraune sneaked up on Susie and tapped her on the shoulder.


"Good job, Susie," she whispered. Lily had been planning on going to to to the local harlots if the magazine didn't pan out, but since Susie was doing it, she wouldn't have to worry about that angle as much, "Do you want to team up, or should I investigate the apartment on my own while you work the streets?"


Lily was going to ask her about the new getup, but now was not the time. She needed to get everything done quickly, before something bad happened to Anya. Well, something worse than being kidnapped anyways.