Realistic or Modern The Shadow People

[Endgame]

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“Nothing here to see. Just a kid like me.
Trying to cut some teeth. Trying to figure it out.”
– Figure It out, ROYAL BLOOD​

A N T H O N Y .


“When you see a good move, look for a better one.”

It was uncharacteristically hot in Seattle. The sun sat directly overhead of them as its golden rays perforated the thinly shaded cover of a maple tree in half-bloom, casting drifting shadows over an army carved from granite. It was the second hottest day in May on record for two years in a row since the nineteen-eighty-four high of eighty-eight Fahrenheit.

“Who said that, Alexander Alekine?” Anthony asked rolling a pawn between his fingers before it fell upright onto the board.

Despite the shade, Anthony’s t-shirt stuck to him with perspiration. His forehead glistened with sweat. But if he felt the heat, he didn’t show it. Instead, he sat casually in his seat spewing smoke from a Lucky Strike like a nineteen-eighty-one Toyota Tercel.

“Not a Russian,” the older man corrected, “a German chess player. Emmanuel Lasker.”

Henry sat across from him with his dark hands pursed around the top of an ivory cane. His chin was tilted towards a cerulean sky to direct the sounds of traffic into his “good” ear. He sat adjacent to the chess board rather than facing it to maintain a better orientation should he ever have need of an escape. But it was never really about needing an escape; chess only ever occupied half of his attention. The other half preferred to people watch – although “watching” wasn’t exactly the word Anthony would use to describe what Henry did, but “people hearing” wasn't exactly a conventional term.

“Yet another dead guy with unsolicited advice,” Anthony tsked, leaning back on the cement seat. Flicking the ash of a burning cigarette onto the stone pathway, he repositioned it to the corner of his mouth. “Pawn to D1. Check.”

The older man smiled amusedly; teeth a bony barricade in a shadowy landscape. “You’re in a foul mood. No customers for that five-finger discount you call a performance today?”

Anthony didn’t answer, but he made a face that billowed smoke; one that could be caricatured by a Chinese dragon and wouldn’t go unnoticed by his companion.

“Rook to D1. You saw her today, didn’t you?” Henry paused, arching a brow over the metal frame of his sunglasses. Without an ensuing answer, a quirk of his lip suggested he came to his own conclusion as he tapped the pad of his index finger against the handle of the walking stick. “I take it your silence means yes. When you’ve been blind for fifty-two years you pick up a thing or two. You know you’ve two choices: Continue lusting after a life that is no longer yours or move on. There was never anything in the rulebook about life being fair. You were dealt an unfortunate hand, but most people would know when to fold and wait for the next one.”

Collecting the cigarette from his mouth, Anthony disregarded the sour looks and gestures towards the non-smoking sign positioned directly overhead. “Look Rain Man, I don’t recall asking for any advice—and you’re not fifty-two. Knight to A2.”

“Bishop to C8.” Henry grinned again and realigned the walking stick between his knees. “Rain Man was autistic, not blind. And I wasn’t born this way, but I figured someone as astute of you would have figured that out. Did she know you were watching her?”

“She doesn’t know I exist, remember?”

“Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone.”

“Now you’re quoting Dead Poet Society?” The Drifter inspected him carefully. “You know that I have you. Queen to B3.”

"’Not so fast, Louis. Nobody is gonna be arrested. Not for a while yet.’ Queen to D7. Check."

“Seriously? Casablanca? Bishop to A2—”

“—Let me finish. Check. Mate.”

Anthony’s gaze fell to the board, and with a little reluctance and surrender, he toppled his king.

It wasn’t the first time he had been beaten by a blind man and certainly wouldn’t be the last given their prolonged history; nevertheless, it left a sour taste in his mouth that even the best hot dog stand in Seattle couldn’t quell.

He stood up, dropping the expired cigarette onto the ground and a few dollar bills onto the table between them.

“Don’t spend that all in one place.” The Drifter finally replied replacing the expired cigarette with a new one from a freshly opened pack.

Henry waited to collect the cast until he heard the flick of Anthony's lighter. “You know half the people in this park are from Seattle’s Cancer Care Alliance down the street. It specializes in lung cancer.”

“I know.” Anthony quipped. “Why do you think I’m smoking? Same time next week?”

Henry waved him off with a dismissive gesture. “Same time next week.”

 

[KingofAesir]

J E S S.
"I don't trip. I do random gravity checks."

Jess couldn't remember the last time Lucas had smiled at her. In the beginning, the job had been fun and kept her occupied during the day hours she had nothing to do. Lucas was kind, always inviting her in for lunch or just to talk. She liked his manner of carrying himself in way that reminded her of her father, sitting smoking a pipe in a big backed leather chair and his eyes bunching up when he laughed. Lucas hadn't laughed in a long time. He wasn't rude or anything of the sort, don't get her wrong, he still invited her in from time to time but the light in his eyes had begun to fade.

Jess had only seen this sort of thing happen once back in Colorado in the budding years of her life as a drifter. There'd been a girl, maybe about eighteen, living in a house she'd been hired to keep looking fresh. The parents were stoic and stern quite like her on parents had been, and Jess found herself relating to this girl very closely. Her name had been Adelyn Wyatt. Jess remembered vividly the exact shade of green her eyes were, like she'd taken a photograph and stuck it behind her eyes so that she'd constantly be reminded. Adelyn was.... naive. She lived in the same fantastical world Jess had during her years alive and Jess found herself trying to keep Adelyn grounded for fear of her fleeing off, much in the same manner Jess had.

Adelyn wasn't necessarily supposed to be being company to the gardener, but her fantastical world drew Adelyn toward Jess. Jess took it in stride, attempting to convince Adelyn of her already adventurous life. It hadn't resulted to much in the end. The second Adelyn's parents had forbid her from talking to Jess and threatening to fire her, Adelyn's light had died. Jess hadn't meant to inrapture the young girl so, but it seemed it was something she was incapable of preventing. Adelyn had been distraught but avoided Jess none the less for fear of getting her fired. In the end, Jess had left anyway and she'd never quite been able to forget Adelyn's face while she stood straight backed and stoic in her second floor bedroom window.

Jess never knew what happened to Adelyn in the years after she left. But that had been almost thirty years ago now, Adelyn was most likely in her late forties. She wondered of that light had ever come back. She doubted Lucas's would, it had been almost a month without as much as a quiver in the cloudy mask he'd placed in himself. Lucas was old, approaching the mid-life age of fifty-two, his children grown and gone and his wife long dead of cancer. Lucas had plenty of reasons to be sad, or angry, of bother for that matter. But Jess had never once seen him do this.

So now, her she was in his front yard sat atop a seated mower as she watched Lucas move across the porch of his home in a pacing manner. With a frown and a knit brow, Jess shut off the mower and strode up to the porch. She approached the steps cautiously, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jeans and ducking her head to try and find Lucas's eyes.

"Mr. Newell? Are.. are you alright?" Jess questioned with concern lacing her tone. Lucas Newell's eyes shot open and his head snapped up in a bout of surprise. Like he'd forgotten Jess was there.

"Oh! Jess, dear you frightened me." Lucas placed a hand over his heart and stood still a moment in an attempt to catch his breath. While he was doing that, Jess noticed the red ring around his brown eyes and the bags hanging below them. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping. "Yes, yes, I'm quite alright, thank you. Just.... thinking is all. Yes, thinking." His eyes clouded over. Jess's frown deepened.

"Are you sure you're alright? I could call a doc-"

"No!" Lucas snapped suddenly, looking her hard in the eye. Jess stepped back slightly frightened. "I'm sorry. But, I don't need a doctor, thank you. I'm alright."

"Okay, as long as you're sure. Well, I'm done, is it okay if I head out?" Jess didn't believe Lucas, of course, but she couldn't force him to tell her what was wrong. Lucas nodded and brought a hand to his temple, massaging it gently as if he had a headache.

"Yes, make sure you out the mower up. I'n going to take a nap. See you tommorow, Jess." Lucas turned around and disappeared into his home. Jess sighed and went to return Lucas's mower to it's place in his shed.

A few minutes later, Jess was shooting past building after building on her bike on her way back home. Parker stood up in her pedals, lifting herself off the seat and leaning forward. The bike wobbled uncertainly but Jess managed to keep it straight. A boy walking his dog crossed her side walk path and Jess was barreling toward him, the brakes refusing to work. Jess shouted a warning into the air and the boy turned but failed to move. At this rate she was headed straight for the dogs leash. Jess cursed loudly and lifted her handle bars into the air as she approached, effectively jumping over the leash. Jess shouted triumphantly as she continued peddling past the boy and apologized over her shoulder.

Unfortunately for her she was too busy looking back at the stunned boy to noticed the tree branch in the middle of the sidewalk and her tires hit it, throwing her off the seat and onto the cement below. Jess groaned and looked up at the building before her.

"At least I got all the way here without killing someone."
​

 

[WordArtist]

Jevaan muttered to himself idly as he adjusted his tie in the mirror. It wasn't often that The Zookeeper Project asked for his presence at one of their public functions, but this time, he'd been asked to give a speech. It was this speech that he muttered under his breath, covering it in his mind to keep it fresh in his memory. Thankfully, he hadn't had to write it; he'd just had to memorize it. Annetta, the project's associate director, had written it for herself, intending to present to the public without him. The project coordinator at the venue, however, had insisted that Donan Bishop himself be the one to present. Annetta didn't care... or, at least, she played it off like she didn't care. She'd modified the speech a bit to make it sound more like Bishop before handing it to him along with her polite request for his presence. It was so rare for her to ask that he didn't refuse.

Still, Jevaan was irritable this morning - not that he was particularly not irritable any other morning - as he finished dressing the part: dark green suit, gold tie, white carnation. It hadn't been his own choice. Annetta had insisted on the combination, claiming that it would present well for the venue to which he'd be speaking. His brow furrowed as he stared at himself in the mirror. She'd claimed he would appear to be a conservative but comfortable authority, but he thought that he looked more like a rotten avocado.

She'd also asked him to shave; he'd promptly refused. He kept his salt-and-pepper well groomed, and that was going to have to be good enough.

Pushing his extraneous thoughts aside, Jevaan redirected his attention again to his speech, reviewing it once more in his memory before feeling confident that he wouldn't miss a beat at the podium. The venue was the Bella Luna Farms, an hour north of the city. Jevaan wasn't looking forward to the trip, and he hadn't a clue why the location needed to be so far away, but thankfully, Annetta was driving; he wouldn't have to concern himself over it.

Jevaan's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash outside the complex, and he moved to the window, as he made final adjustments to his attire, to see what the commotion was. Not unexpectedly, he found Jess quite grounded and her bike a nearby wreck. He shook his head. In all the time he'd known her, she'd always been a mess... reckless and accident-prone. It was a wonder she hadn't ended up a casualty of the law for reckless endangerment. He frowned again at the thought. If she ever did end up in jail, it would be publicity that they really didn't need.

Deciding that a strict warning might be appropriate here, Jevaan grabbed his gold-anodized aluminum briefcase - leather would not go over well with the guests, Annetta had said - and stepped out the door of his apartment, locking it deftly behind him. He pocketed the key and stepped out onto the sidewalk just as Annetta's car was pulling up.

Jess and Annetta hadn't had much interaction, but unlike Jevaan, Annetta was a kind and concerned soul. Before he could say anything, she was out of the car and helping Jess to her feet, asking after any injuries she might have sustained in the fall, and carefully examining her as though looking for any additional damage that Jess might not be aware of. "She's perfectly fine, Anne," Jevaan said in his deep, rough voice. Why anyone would want him to give a speech was beyond him. "This isn't the first time she's taken a fall off that thing, and it won't be the last." Annetta gave him an almost scolding look before turning to pick the bike up and set it right on its wheels again. She pushed the kickstand into place to keep it upright and returned her attention to Jess.

Jevaan didn't give her a chance to start in again, instead interrupting whatever good intentions Annetta had by saying, "Jess, one of these days, you're going to do something dangerous when a patrol is going by, and you're going to get yourself tossed behind bars for reckless endangerment. Imagine the kind of impact that will have the next time you think about riding that thing like a hellion, hm?"

( KingofAesir )

 

[Kennedy]

Skye​

The air was almost suffocating inside of the Mother Goddess Homeopathic Shop. Whenever walking passed the always-open front door, a soft flowery aroma welcomed passers-by, along with a soothing jingle of windchimes. The storefront windows were often filled with flowers, prints of self-empowering words of wisdom, and a three-foot-tall stone statue of Buddha.

Skye sat on the countertop of the small storefront, slim legs crossed into a pretzel shape, back straight, eyes closed. She absently moved her long, braided blonde hair back over her shoulder before her cool-to-the-touch hands rested comfortably palm-faced down on top of another woman’s hands, which were palm-faced up.

“Feel the energy flow between us,” Skye breathed, her voice almost a sing-song whisper. She could feel the customer’s tense muscles in her hands begin to relax. “Focus on your breathing… In through the nose…” They inhaled in unison, and paused. “And out through the mouth…”

The two women exhaled at the same time. “My cool, relaxed energy is transferring from my body to yours through our hands, Joan,” Skye cooed softly as they continued to breathe. The customer shivered. “Be at peace with me, Joan. Let love and life flow through you. Let it become your Light Aura. Be Light with me.”

There was a sudden clattering in the front corner and Joan jumped, hands falling away from Skye’s. Skye opened her eyes calmly, not even bothering looking at the apologetic glance of the store owner, Lance. “My apologies, Sisters,” he mumbled in his laid-back sort of way.

When Joan turned back, Skye’s bright green eyes smiled at her. She uncrossed her legs, stepping onto the floor in bare feet; she didn’t bother to fix her flowy white tank top, though she took a quick moment to wipe a bit of perspiration off her slightly-tanned forehead before placing both of her cool hands on Joan’s shoulders.

“Feel the love, Joan,” she said softly. “Be love. And you will be loved in return.”

“Thank you, Skye,” the woman replied rather sceptical, which made Skye smile more.

“Peace, Sister,” she responded, reaching back at the counter briefly before Joan could walk out of the store. “Lavender for calm. Have it next to your bed to have a peaceful, restful sleep.”

Skye walked with the customer to the door, stopping just short of it and resting an elbow on Lance’s lanky shoulder. “You’re so awesome, dude,” Lance mumbled happily, offering Skye the joint he had just lit. “Like, you bring so much love to this, like, world and you just… like, share it with everyone.”

“It’s a gift I must share,” Skye replied in her happy-sleepy tone of no worries. She took the joint, taking a long drag before letting out a grunt, her hand raising above her head and turning in the air. “Mm--I love this song!”

Her 5-foot-6-inch, overly slim body swayed and danced back over to the counter of the shop as Lance turned up the stereo, the epic Woodstock by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young covering up the song of the windchimes. Her floor-length flowery skirt brushed the floor as she spun.

“This was music!” Skye shouted. “This was life!”

She reached the counter of the store, stumbling faintly from a wave of dizziness that came from spinning around the room. She let out a carefree giggle, sighing contently as she tip-toed around the counter. Lance turned down the music when he heard the heavy footsteps of another customer.

Skye was looking down at a book she had open on the counter as the music was lowered, her hand rising to her forehead. “Oooh,” she whined faintly. “Suddenly some bad vibes… Hello, Logan!” she smiled cutely at the man who had walked in, her nose scrunching up playfully as her hands waved around her friend, picking at an invisible barrier. “Your aura is so dark… So upset… What brings on the harsh motions, my darling friend?”

 

[StoneWolf18]

Something wasn’t right. That much Valoire had been able to distinguish from the past week or so. What that was, however, she wasn’t sure. It could’ve been from the lack of memories when trying to recall anything, not recognizing herself, or even the strange desire to make her way to what she now realized was the large city of Seattle. But none of it made sense and, to be completely honest, she was exhausted of trying to put the unwilling pieces together. For all she knew, everything was perfectly fine and she was simply thinking too much into the strange occurrence.

Sadly, optimism didn’t seem to be as strong as to completely convince her of this.

For now, she simply kept going upon her way. It was difficult to say the least, waking in New York and then having to find one’s way to another location entirely. Val had tried to slow down her progress, although it only left her in even more of a bad spot for all she had were the clothes upon her back and a festering urge that forced her on.

The woman assumed she had made a decent amount of progress towards whatever was her goal, that being to finally enter the city of Seattle. While a bit fatigued, she still was glad to finally have arrived…. Sort of. There still was a slight distance to go, even though the strange directional pull had been split into a few different branches. Not all that sure what her goal was or what she was to do, the strongest one was subconsciously chosen as she continued on her way.

 

[WolfSol]

Haloes Havana Grey
' There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so ,
-William Shakespeare, Hamlet
■■■■■■■■■
​

Haloes

​

Flaugmig the Beast

​

​

Ten shots of espresso in a twenty ounce mug, a fluffy, majestic beast on her lap, and a leather-bound book in hand that had surely seen better days. Haloes sat, cross-legged, atop the windowsill with her back against the window. It was a morning ritual, to sip on coffee that was much too bitter while reading Hamlet to her beloved feline, Flaumig. The cat, a large "fluff" with wisps of fur that reminded her of the plumes of smoke from Anthony's cigarettes, had a way of calming her, and the addition of what she considered to be a good book made the numbness of her life momentarily abstracted. Perhaps it was the gentle and never-ending purr of Flaumig or Hamlet's relatable notion and down spiral of sanity, but either way, she was at peace.

"To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come..." her voice whispered against the warm purrs, resounding with rusted passion. She paused in her reading, closing the leather bound book with its worn binding and aged and overly used pages before grabbing the coffee at her side. She downed it in one gulp and sighed. It would've been exceptionally better if she could actually taste the coffee. Why she even bothered to try at getting a taste of bitterness was beyond her. The ability to taste had left her long ago, but she still got up early, every day, to swing by the coffee shop and request the drink. It, like ice cream, was something that she couldn't let go even after death.

The brush of paws on her exposed legs brought her attention down to the feline. They stared at one another, her dark, brown eyes becoming lost in the cat's mustard-colored gaze. Only when the cat meowed, a rather guttural and grating mew, did she finally blink. Yes, that's right... she looked up to the bedside table at the alarm clock with what could only be described as disdain. It was time for the ritual to end and for her to get ready for work. Flaumig gracefully leaped down onto the wood floor as Haloes stood. She stretched her arms toward the ceiling, feeling bones pop, and shuffled across her minute and rather bare bedroom to the calendar tacked on the wall beside the door. A May representation of a basket full of tabby kittens stared into her soul as did today's date.

Myer's

She read the single word scrawled on today's date repeatedly until a face came to her. Right, the elderly black male who suffered from Osteoporosis. He'd been a recent addition to her clients, and was thankfully easy to care for. He'd requested only her company, the occasional house cleaning, and physical support, if necessary. Myer had looked to her in desperation. His insurance wouldn't handle the fees of an official caretaker, and Haloes demanded little money. She requested just enough to pay for her apartment and her cats' well being. In addition, he had cats which was always a plus as far as Haloes was concerned. Yet he was a talker and not even her adventures with Hamlet, the incessant purring of any of her cats, or the tasteless coffee could brighten her mood with that in mind. The idea of having to be sociable today forced a groan out of her.

Grabbing the wallet, apartment key, and cellphone from atop the dresser, Haloes kissed all five cats goodbye and headed out into the hall. She shut the door quietly behind her before making a beeline for the stairs. The limited space in elevators made her too agitated, and stairs usually meant less people.

As she took the steps two at a time, her irritation in socialization returned. It wasn't Myers' fault, she knew. He was lonely, everyone in his family having been long dead, and although he had a similar love for his cats as Haloes did for hers, a cat couldn't hold a conversation. Either way, a job was a job and if she wanted to feel relatively normal and sane then she'd have to buck up and go. Still-

She'd descended to the bottom level, just before the front door when the telltale crash of Jess and her bike becoming intimate with the ground reverberated into the lobby. A shake of her head, Jess was always reckless and accident prone... Stuffing the wallet and cellphone in her pockets and wrapping the kitten-printed lanyard and keys around her neck, she headed out into the hot summer day.

"... Imagine the kind of impact that will have the next time you think about riding that thing like a hellion, hm?" Jeevan's voice greeted her, the gruffness reminding her of Flaugmin's brisk mews.

Tags: KingofAesir WordArtist

 

[KingofAesir]

J E S S.
"I don't go crazy. I am crazy. I just go normal from time to time."

The next thing Jess knew a woman was helping her up off the ground and fretting over her. Jess was unable to get a word in as the woman examined her and spoke in a rather fast manner. Jess thought she recognized the woman but where would she have seen her? She was just opening her mouth to confirm that she was perfectly alright when a familiar voice rang out behind them. Jess turned around, folding her hands behind her back like a child caught in the act.

Jevaan strode up to them a briefcase in hand. The picture of sophistication with his crisp green suit and golden tie. She nodded in confirmation as Jevaan informed the woman that she was alright and proceeded to inform her that this wasn't the first time Jess had done this. That was completely true, of course, Jess seemed to always find ways to fall off of things. The last time thise had happened she'd stopped to fast and the bike had crashed over nothing to throw her off. There was also that one time with the window.... none of the drifters in their little apartment complex had been too happy about that.

Jess scratched the back of her neck and chuckled, quite honestly a bit embarrassed, which was a first for her. But she straightened up as Jevaan turned to speak to her in a scolding tone. She frowned at the mention of jail and turned to look at the woman which was propping her bike up. Her eyes snapped back to Jevaan as he finished talking and she assumed it was now her turn to get a word in. She noticed Hal exit the building just as Jevaan finished his scolding and she offered a somewhat goofy smile in her direction before turning back to Jevaan.

"Sorry, Jevaan. There was this kid with a dog and I jumped over the leash and got really excited about that... but then there was a branch." Jess eyed the tree branch angrily. Where had the thing evwb cone from? "I didn't hurt anyone.... or deface any property this time! I swear!" She smiled, proud to have actually made it home without someone threatening to sue her. Jess found herself curious about Jevaan's attire and the woman, which she now noticed had a car with her.

"Where are you headed? Something important happening?"

Tags; WordArtist WolfSol ​

 

[WordArtist]

Jevaan followed Jess' gaze to Hal behind him as she came out of the complex. He gave her a silent, curt nod of greeting before returning his attention to Jess. Hal, at least, carried a comfortable reserve about her that didn't grate on Jevaan's nerves. He could not say the same, however, for Jess' ever-available excuses; they always seemed to strike what few he had left. Her explanatory ramblings brought two fingers to the bridge of his nose. "If you had been cycling at any normal speed, you wouldn't have had that problem. Perhaps, next time, you should consider slowing down."

Annetta took the opportunity brought by Jess' question to jump into the conversation, preventing any further scolding from the over-zealous - and obviously irritable - mentor. "Sorry, dear," she said gently as she brought Jess aside a few paces. "He's just irritable because he has an out-of-town speech today. He hates making speeches, but I think he hates leaving the city even more. Put the two together, and you've got the perfect recipe for his bad mood."

"I don't hate making speeches," Jevaan countered dryly. "I simply think it's a bad idea. Your project coordinator will quickly see the error of his ways, and I trust it won't cost your endeavor too much to teach this lesson." It certainly wasn't the first time he'd been invited to make a speech. Most times, he declined, offering a more friendly option as the face of the company, but there were always those few who insisted that the Project's General Director be the one who makes the speech. The discovery that his bad attitude tended to drive potential investors away rather than encouraging them to donate usually prevented him from being put back in the spotlight with the same crew. Unfortunately, as the program continued to grow, ignorant people maintained a recurring theme, and he was regrettably required to inform them, however disastrous the result.

He said nothing to the accusation of hating travel; perhaps genuinely he did.

Annetta scowled at Jevaan's back momentarily before returning her attention to Jess. "Anyway, don't concern yourself over him. He's just grumpy today." Giving Jess one more brush-down to get the stray grass and dirt off of her, Annetta smiled. "We're supposed to be gone for most of the day, but if things go about like we expect, we'll probably be back early. That will brighten his mood," she said, although those last few words sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than to encourage Jess. Calling out to Jevaan, she said, "Mister Bishop, we should head out. They're expecting us early for a sound check."

Jevaan simply nodded from the sidewalk and stepped past them to the car. Opening the door of the black sedan, he slipped silently into the back seat and closed the door. He could be seen, through the rear window, laying his metal briefcase on the seat beside him before folding his hands casually on his lap in patient wait for Annetta to return to the car.

( KingofAesir WolfSol )

 

[Coyote Hart]

The streets were blistering hot.
Nico had given up playing his guitar. The heat was messing with the strings, and he had forgotten to bring a tuner.
As he packed up, he looked into his guitar case and counted the spare change. Three bucks. Not much. But it could get him something to drink in this weather.
"Now what do I do?" Nico muttered under his breath to himself, "No classes, no job shift, and to top it off, horrible weather."
He finished packing up his guitar, locking his case with an audible click, and slung it over his shoulder. The sun had warmed up the guitar case, and the metal burned the visible skin of his neck.
"Nothing else to do but go home," Nico sighed, and started off back home.
Not a lot of people were outdoors at this time of the day. The heat had scared them all into their air conditioned houses, or maybe they were working in a nice, cool environment. Unfortunately for Nico, his house didn't have air conditioning.
Not watching where he was going, he turned a corner and almost crashed into a dark haired woman. Nico managed to jump back at the last second, but he lost his grip on his guitar case, and it fell to the ground with a dull bonk.
"Oh crap," Nico said, leaning down to the sidewalk to get his guitar, "I'm so sorry. I should have been watching where I was going."
StoneWolf18

 

[Mage_Clawhammer]

“Disappointment.” Logan stated simply, and he fixed Skye with a crooked grin. In one hand he was gripping a book, which he held up for her to see. The cover was cream in color, and had the worn simplistic blank design of something used and missing its dust jacket. The title, in black Times New Roman across the top, read Sleep For Insomniacs.

“I’m not sure why I bother.” He said, shrugging. Logan then crossed the distance between them and set the book down on the counter beside her. “Wishful thinking, I guess. Anyway, thanks for letting me borrow it, but you can have it back now.”

He'd cut his hair that morning. Normally a thick dark mane to his shoulders, he'd cropped it close today, a little longer than a buzz cut. It was far too even and neat for a personalized job, which meant he'd actually paid someone to do it; something that wouldn't last twenty four hours. Logan knew better, but he still felt the need to test his boundaries. An experiment, he called it, and one of his less harmful ones at that.

“So,” he started, leaning his weight against the countertop. “How's business?”



Kennedy

 

[KingofAesir]

J E S S.
"If you're lonely dim all the lights and put on a horror movie. After a while you won't feel alone anymore."

Jess honestly didn't mind Jevaan's irritable self. He reminded her of the way her father had been and perhaps thats why she continued to like him despite his sour attitude. Aside from this, Jess had a generally friendly attitude toward everyone and tried her best to be courteous and not accidentally knock something over in them. In short, she was nice to pretty much everyone.. well.. aside from Logan. But she wasn't even necessarily mean to him, she just didn't like talking to him.

Jess smiled as Jevaan climbed into the car and saluted the woman who'd been brushing her off, "I don't mind. I need some scolding every now and then." And she quite honestly did. If Jess didn't have Jevaan to be a steady hand in her otherwise wild way of getting about, she'd probably already be in jail. Jess shivered at the thought, she was sure the other prisoners and guards would just love her at night.

"Good luck... I guess. I hope all goes swimmingly." Jess offered another of her signature lopsided grins, her mouth had a habit of pulling up higher in one side than the other and it made for a rather goofy looking smile. It fit her though, goofy was her middle name.

Jess went to turn towards Hal to give her a proper greeting and let Jevaan and Annetta leave. She waved at Jevaan as she stepped back next to Hal, rocking back on her heels in a rather child-like manner.

"Are you leaving too? Am I to be all alone today?" Jess questioned Hal with a frown and a scuff of her shoe. Jess didn't like being alone. At all. She supposed she never really had, even in her time alive. She always preferred to have the company of someone, anyone really. Being alone made her feel.... well afraid. Of what? She didn't know.

Tags​

WolfSol WordArtist

 

[WolfSol]

Haloes Havana Grey
' There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so ,
-William Shakespeare, Hamlet
■■■■■■■■■
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Haloes

​

Keba the Cotton Ball

​

​

She caught the brief and rather forced not from the old Drifter, and she replied with a meek wave that he'd likely missed. The descent from the stairs was slow, drawn out, as she listened to their chatter. It wasn't anything new, she'd heard the talk between Jeevan and Jess before.

"He's just grumpy today."

Haloes cocked a brow at that. She'd seen Annetta every blue moon with Jeevan, and one would think that the woman would know better by now. Jeevan being grumpy was a good thing. It was normal, and she appreciated him for that. Out of everyone he seemed to be the most realistic and quiet. They rarely talked, him and her, but the appreciation for his existence, Drifter or not, was always there.

Haloes paused at the base of the stairs as the three parted ways. Within the breath of a second, Jess was right at her side. Like Jeevan, she fancied Jess' presence more so than the others that had become a part of their herd. Although the girl had a knack for talking a lot more than Jeevan, she welcomed it with metaphorically open arms. Somewhere along the line of a relationship being made, Jess had understood that talking wasn't quite something that Haloes practiced often unless it was a necessity. Thankfully, Jess didn't really expect holding in depth conversations her to begin with, she'd just looked for someone to listen.

The girl rocked on her heels, a sign that Haloes recognized as either her being disappointed or nervous. "Someone has to afford taking care of the cats." She shrugged. If today was dedicated to pet sitting, she would've taken Jess along with her. "I'm sure you can manage without me for a few hours." She'd said.

She plucked her phone from her back pocket, flashing the screen once to read the time. "See you later." She ended abruptly, leaving no room for added conversation. If she wasn't quick, she'd likely hit the rush hour traffic and be late, and being tardy was something that Haloes really didn't fancy.

Tags: KingofAesir WordArtist

 

[StoneWolf18]

Valoire was lost in thought, not really paying attention either as a teenage boy jumped out of her way, the thud of his guitar case dragging her out of her thoughts. "O-oh! No... that was my fault..." She replied, moving to help him with his case until she paused. The directional pull she was feeling, while stronger continuing in the direction she was directly heading, was faintly felt coming from the boy. A faintly confused expression passed over her face, hesitating in her move to assist the teen before continuing to do so.

Once he had a sure hold on his case, Val appeared as if she wanted to say something but refrained, knowing that anything would sound more than odd. Instead she averted her eyes and murmured a soft "Excuse me." While moving past him on her way once more.

Coyote Hart

 

[Endgame]

"We got lost in the travels in the spiritual book.
Missed the beaches from nirvana and the way that they look."
- Full Circle, HALF MOON RUN​

A N T H O N Y .

"Jesus, Anthony. I've been trying to get ahold of you."

Selema wasn't very tall. Standing a little over five-feet she was about as threatening as a three-week-old spitting kitten. Subconsciously she must have been aware of this fact, because whenever she was irritated she stood up on the balls of her feet and angled her nose up in the air -- which was precisely what she was doing now while slamming a single pointed finger at the centre of his chest.

"You can't answer you phone or something?"

"Depends who is calling."

Anthony leaned against the side of building, his casual air epitomized by the cloud of smoke billowing out from between his lips. He hadn't travelled far since his game with Henry, only two blocks towards Adelaid where he was intercepted before his routine stop at the Seattle Pastry House; even in dead he was a creature of habit.

"Do you even have it on? Let me see that thing."

She held her hand out between them until Anthony acquiesced and surrendered the device to her waiting palm.

"A flip phone? Where did you find this thing in a museum?"

"I wanted a Nokia, but this was all they had." He tapped the ash onto the sidewalk between them.

For a half second she broke composure, a smile curving the corner of her lip until it quickly faltered. "I can't find Cole."

"What do you mean by 'can't find'?"

"I haven't been able to find him for a few days now. I went by his apartment again, but he didn't answer."

Recollecting the phone, he tucked it into the front pocket of his jeans. "You know how he is, he's more flighty and reclusive than Hal. Put him in a room with Jess and sit back and watch natural selection happen."

"I'm serious, Anthony."

"I'm serious, too. It could be an episode on Planet Earth, like watching a lion toy with a field mouse."

"Anthony, I'm really worried. It's not like him."

He held her stare.

She stared back, golden eyes the shade of burnt mustard. He held back his tongue long enough to take another pull from the cigarette.

She wasn't just worried, she was rattled; an unusual state for someone like Selema.

Clearing his throat, he gazed off down the road. "Did you talk to the others?"

"You are the first one I've found. Seems like everyone is dodging their phones today. What if something happened to him?"

They both knew what that something could be; Drifters didn't fear death, they feared what came after it.

Rubbing at his eyelids with the knuckle of his thumb, he shook his head. The cacophony of Tuesday morning traffic filled the pregnant silence: a blare of horns and the rumble of purring engines.

"Look, I'm sure it's nothing, but if it makes you feel better, I'll keep an eye out for him, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," she attempted a smile, a faint imprint that held none of its usual joyfulness.

Falling back into her heels, she took a step back, some of her natural demeanour retaking shape as she crossed her arms against her chest. "What are you doing here anyways? This is a vegan restaurant."

"Correct." He brought the cigarette to his mouth.

"It says holistic living right under its name."

"Uh huh," he answered with a drag from the Lucky Strike.

"And there is a 'please respect our air, don't smoke' sign right behind you."

"Yup," he replied blowing a cloud of smoke between them.

She frowned and waved the cloud away. "One of these days you are going to piss off the wrong person."

"And then what will happen? They might kill me? I have some news for you, Selema," he leaned forward, hushing his voice with no intention of being quiet, "I'm already dead."

Even if anyone heard, no one would have believed him. Not anyone sane anyways. Only Henry seemed to be an exception to that rule.

Shaking her head, she unfurled her arms from her chest. "You're an asshole, you know that? I think I liked you better when Agnes was still around."

Dropping the expired cigarette to the sidewalk, he snuffed it out with the toe of his high tops. "I prefer to think I'm nice-challenged."

"Right..." she didn't sound convinced. "Just call me the second you find him. And pick up your damn phone next time."

Then she was gone, remerging with the flowing stream of people populating Seattle's urban streets, identifiable only by the flash of her mint-coloured T-shirt.

Anthony waited until she was completely out of sightline before tugging back of his phone from his pocket and drafting a text to anyone awake or willing enough to answer him:

"Cole is AWOL. If you've seen him let me know. If not, keep an eye out until I hear otherwise. - A."

 

[Kennedy]

Skye​

“You just need to chill out, maaan,” Lance quipped; he still hadn’t moved from his spot near the front of the shop. “Like… Sleep is sacred. You gotta… Gotta treat it the way it should be treated.”

Skye giggled softly, taking the book from Logan and haphazardly tossing it onto a shelf behind her. “I still think you need to try some aromatherapy,” she offered as she placed an incense holder on the counter with a long, faintly-scented stick already inserted. She took a lighter from atop the cash register and lit the incense, gentle hand movements wafting the smoke in the direction of Logan’s nostrils. The scent was familiar, very close to a smell that often came from Skye’s apartment in the evening.

“We can’t sleep like the dead,” she mumbled playfully, smiling at her own little joke, “but we can relax enough to feel rested in the morning. We can still dream, my friend.”

She took a moment to take another drag from the joint in her possession. She never really alluded to anyone whether or not drugs had much of an effect on her; she enjoyed her little mystery, despite people often “harshing her buzz” and telling her that she “shouldn’t be feeling high”.

“Business is great,” Skye finally drifted back to the question that Logan had asked. “Lance is going to be starting some meditation and yoga classes in the back studio during the evenings to try and rack in some extra rent money.”

“Ch’yeah!” Lance interjected once more. “With Skye’s sales techniques and my meditation classes, we’ll be rolling in the green!”

“...Rent money, not weed,” Skye added nonchalantly, now focused on the new headbands that had arrived that morning. She turned the mirror on the counter to face her, placing a thin pink-and-tan braided headband across her forehead and stretching it back. “Though… We’ll probably still enjoy some weed as well.”

Another playful grin crossed her lips as she looked away from the mirror and to Logan. “How do I look?” she asked, modelling the headband.

Mage_Clawhammer

 

[WordArtist]

Jevaan waited until the car was moving to cast an over-shoulder glance at the complex. He felt a pang of... something. He wasn't quite certain what it was, at this point. It was something he always felt when leaving the property, and he'd never quite gotten used to it. On the other hand, he rather welcomed it. At least he was still feeling something, even if he couldn't identify it. As he returned his attention to the road ahead, he knew he'd feel that same feeling - a bit stronger, the second time - when he saw the sign that so graciously informed him that he was leaving the Seattle city limits. He rarely left the city, but when he did, he was careful to watch for it... the sign that invoked a feeling that he didn't get anywhere else.

It was a few short minutes later, just before they reached the sign, that his phone politely informed him, with its usual quiet chime, that he had a new text message. He picked up his phone and read the new message, frowning at its contents. He read it second time before unlocking the device and dialing a number deftly... one he was grateful that he only called rarely. As he lifted his head, he recognized immediately that they'd already passed the city limits farewell. He'd missed it. He frowned deeper.

As the phone rang, Jevaan spoke quickly to Annetta, relaying the information contained in the text she had also likely received. She wasn't any more pleased about it than he was. "Do we need to turn around? They won't like it, but I can tell the project coordinator that you had a family emergency."

Jevaan considered. Though he knew that Annetta thought it to be an accurate representation of the facts, Jevaan deemed the statement a lie. "Yes," he said quickly, "we need to turn around. Tell your project coordinator that there was a project emergency that I--" He was cut off by the other end of his ringing phone being picked up. He didn't wait for anyone to speak before saying calmly, "A drifter has gone missing in Seattle. Get your team ready for the worst case scenario." He hung up before the person on the other end could say anything in response.

Annetta found a u-turn appropriate spot in the road and quickly swung about, pausing a moment to wait for traffic that was coming the other direction before turning onto the opposite side of the highway and heading back into Seattle. This time, Jevaan watched carefully for the city limits sign. He always felt something akin to elation when coming into the city from the outside, and he was looking forward to it.

When they finally did pass the sign, however, Jevaan stared at it and felt... nothing. That was a first. He usually felt at least a little bit. Perhaps he was too distracted. That must be it. He kept silent, saying nothing about it to Annetta. It would only worry her.

He was back in front of the complex a few short minutes, and several phone calls, later. If Cole was missing and not just being reclusive, he'd surely be found with a whole team of researchers on the lookout for him, Jevaan thought. There were only so many places in this city to hide a drifter without being quickly found out. After all, a drifter in the darkness would send most people running for the light. It would be hard to hide him anywhere but in plain view... unless something had happened to him.

Jevaan frowned as he opened his door and stepped out of the car, not bothering with his briefcase. Annetta glanced at his back sympathetically from the driver's seat before pulling away from the curb. She was too distracted to notice that he'd left his briefcase behind.

Jevaan strode quickly along the complex walkway toward the front door, opened it, and made his way to Cole's door. He pounded on it. "COLE!" he bellowed once before pounding again. He repeated Cole's name loudly. If Cole was being reclusive, he was likely holed up in his own apartment and simply ignoring the world. If something had happened to him, he might still be inside, but it was highly unlikely. "COLE!" he repeated for a second time, his voice increasing in volume with the third calling of his name. "YOU'D BEST SHOW YOUR HEAD, IF YOU'RE IN THERE, BEFORE I BREAK THIS DOOR DOWN!"

Endgame

KingofAesir (if you're still outside when he returns)

 

[KingofAesir]

J E S S.
"Just calm down for a second. You're eyes are bulging out of your head, dude."

Jess practically pouted as Hal took of without another word. She waved half-heartedly with a returned, "Yea, see ya." Before turning into the building. Booted feet haphazardly making their way to the elevator. She pressed a flickering three with her thumb and glared at her reflection in the stainless steel doors. Steel blue eyes glared back at her and she sighed, letting her gaze drop.

"Must you be so childish, Jess? Tisn't at all flattering." Jess muttered to herself running a hand through blonde locks. She could faintly remember when her hair was brown, when she was alive that is. She could picture dark brown, almost black, locks falling into her face, drenched in sweat, and the sound of water. That was as far as her memory went as no other recolection of her past life past that point puld be remembered. Her eyes were the same though, the same steely blue-grey color they'd been when she was alive that was certain.

Karolyn Sheenan. A preacher's daughter. That's who she'd been. It was funny to think now what her father would say if he could see her, probably the same thing as Jevaan does all the time. But perhaps he wouldn't, she couldn't know, her memory wasn't exactly something to bank on. Unless it was her memory as a Drifter, she remembered everything about that.

The ding of the elevator pulled her out of her thoughts and she lazily shuffled her way out of the confines if the small place and into the hallway. The apartment building that she and the vast majority of the Drifters she knew lived in wasn't luxurious by any means, but it was home and a roof over their heads. Besides, if she hadn't ended up here she probably would've already succumbed to the Fading. Jess shook her head.

"Now that was just the happiest thought of the day, now wasn't it?" Jess asked herself sarcastically as dhe walked down the dim corridor a few steps until dhe cane upon apartment 302. "Home sweet home." Jess mumbled to herself as she tried to find her key in the abyss that was the back pocket of her jeans. "Damnit, where are you, you little-ah ha! Gotcha." Jess pulled out the personally decorated purple key and managed to unlocked her door and two inside.

Jess didn't have much in the way of furniture or the like, but she had managed to scrounge up enough money to buy a small couch/love seat thing from a totally not sketchy guy on a street corner. Oh, and the TV. Which didn't get many channels and was a pretty old piece of junk, but it filled her time. Of course, there were built in appliances but she didn't have much use for them. Her taste buds had died long ago along with her sense of temperature, which would explain her wearing jeans in 100 degree weather.

Jess kicked her boots off her feet and trudged her way over to the couch, somehow miraculously managing to trip over air and land face first into the cushions. The blonde groaned loudly into the moth ball smelling fabric, not bothering to try and get up for fear she'd just fall again.

"Curf you fucking ar!" Jess's muffled voice squeaked as she shook her fist in the air exateratedly. While she could have technically stayed there all day due to not needing to breathe, she forced herself upright on the couch and curled her feet under her. Flicking the TV on with the nearby remote and settling in the random nature show that decided to pop up. Soon she was completely spaced out and off in her own made up world.

Her phone buzzing in a familiar pattern that she recognized as Anthony's text tone pulled her out of her head. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, the battered case scratching against the palm of her hand. The text she read caused her to frown deeply. Cole was missing? Jess racked her brain for the last time she'd seen the reclusive man. She was more than positive she'd seen him walk by the other day at Lucas's. He'd waved back at her and everything. Jess decided to relay this information to Anthony.

"I'm pretty sure he walked by Lucas's like yesterday while I was mowing." Jess pressed the send button but started to type again soon after.

"How long has he been gone?" Just as she sent this text the sound of Jevaan yelling filled her ears. Jess jumped off the couch and was out her door in a matter of seconds, striding down the hallway to where Jevaan was banging in Cole's door. A few drifters poked their heads out their doors but soon retreated back inside.

"I'm going to assume you got the same text from Anthony." Jess stopped next to Jevaan and pulled a bobby pin from its place in her hair, "Let me try." Dragging Cole out of his room was a thing they'd had to to before and that required picking the lock on his door, which wasn't very hard anyway. Jess wiggled the bobby in around until the door clicked and she pushed the door open to Cole's dark apartment.

"Like taking candy from a baby."

Tags​

WordArtist

​

 

[Coyote Hart]

Spoiler: Nicodemus Everett

Oh gosh darn it. I need to learn how to code.

More Information
Location: On the street
Objective: Figure out if the person he's talking to is dead or not
Mood: Curious
Interactions: Valorie

As Nico gathered up his case, he felt the woman freeze mid-action. Nico too had the instinct to freeze but did his best to continue on his path. What is this feeling? Nico wondered. He could almost put his finger on it, but it kept slipping out of reach.
Then it hit him. It was the urge between Drifters to band together. An almost magnetic pull, attracting Drifter to Drifter to team together to defend against their greatest enemy: The Bedlam. But there weren't any Drifters nearby.... were there?
Unless... the woman right here must be a Drifter, Nico realized.
He felt the woman help him pack the spilled case back up. Guitar. Tuner. Spare strings. Polish.
As soon as the case was back in its original state, he felt the woman stand up and hear her excuse herself.
Immediately, Nico knew that he had to stall her. There was too great of a chance that she herself was a Drifter. And Nico was painfully curious
Nico knew most of the Drifters in the community. If the woman was a Drifter, then she must be new.
"Hey, wait!" Nico called out to the woman, "I uhh...."
He started panicking, not knowing what to say. Where you from? No, too direct. Are you from Seattle? Not that either.
"You look familiar," Nico decided on saying, "Have we met? Maybe in the Mother Goddess Homeopathic Shop? Maybe at one of the Zookeeper Project meetings?"
Oh gosh, Nico thought to himself, What the heck am I saying? How is this going to work? Why am I even doing this? I blame this on curiosity.
StoneWolf18

 

[StoneWolf18]

As the boy asked for her to wait, she did, turning to face him although a slight anxious feeling began to rise as she did. Was it about the odd pull she was feeling? Certainly it couldn't... regardless it was barely noticeable and had to be a figment of her imagination. Coming from him, anyway. Yet things took a slightly different turn as he stated that she looked familiar, asking if they had met in a variety of places that didn't make much sense to her. Studying the teen's face for a moment she shook her head slightly. "I-I'm sorry I can't seem to recall if we have or not..." Val would then trail off, realizing that it was a sure possibility that they could have indeed met, but with her lack of, well, personal knowledge, she couldn't put a face to a name even if she tried. And his face wasn't particularly familiar. But, not seeing as she wasn't sure who was correct, she decided to press a bit into what he was asking, it might being possible to shed a small ounce of light on the situation. "What might be your name? If we have, it might help..." She was about to finish the sentence with 'jog my memory' but ultimately decided against it.

Coyote Hart

 

[WordArtist]

Jevaan's persistent bellowing in the hallway drew attention. Though he was generally a rather calm individual whose voice tended not to carry, Jevaan knew how to make a ruckus when he felt that the situation called for it. This was certainly one of those times. The heads that popped out of their doors curiously - some of them nervously - didn't stay out for long, though. None of them particularly liked it when Jevaan 'checked up' on them, and the sympathetic expressions disappeared behind their doors quickly after realizing what was going on. To their ways of thinking, Cole was likely in for a very unpleasant visit.

If Jevaan noticed the attention he was drawing, he paid it no mind. Either he simply didn't care or he was too distracted to be bothered with it. Ensuring the safety of the drifter community was, in his mind, part of his job. If it was embarrassing and uncomfortable, so be it. If it was a personal affront, so be it. If it meant property damage... so be it.

Jevaan gave little thought to the concerns of others... something that Annetta had scolded him for on more than one occasion. She'd said he was always acting without the emotional consequences in mind... that his attitude was condescending... that his methods were restrictive and his approach too rough. Her words had been backed by countless others complaining similarly about his ways. It had never done any good. He didn't care enough to change.

Jess' approach distracted him from his attempts at coaxing Cole out of his room. Without speaking, he held his phone up and punched the home button, lighting up the display for just long enough to show the text notification on his lock screen before dropping it back into his pocket. He was all set to restart his pounding when she tugged the bobby pin from her hair with an offer of assistance.

He wasn't surprised in the least when she popped the lock on Cole's apartment door. She had, after all, done so before. "All of your agility must have gone to your hands," Jevaan said dryly, sarcastically comparing her deft hands to her clumsy everything else. "As usual, your skills at breaking and entering are exemplary; I'll assume that you refrain from using them on my apartment." He didn't seem to care whether she used them anywhere else.

As Jess pushed the door of Cole's apartment open, the resistance from the other side bothered him. It wasn't the sort of resistance one would experience from a person on the other side holding the door or a piece of furniture being pushed up against it intentionally. No, it was the sort of resistance one would get from random debris cluttering the doorway. That wasn't normal.

Jevaan reached forward and deftly flipped on the overhead light from its switch near the door. He arched an eyebrow at the scene before him. The place was in shambles... chairs overturned, tables shoved aside... one of them flipped. Shelves had been emptied of their contents, which were now scattered - some broken - on the floor around the room. What a mess.

He didn't pause long. Striding forward, he stepped over or around the stray objects on the floor to search the apartment. The rest of the rooms were in as much disarray as the living room had been. None of them revealed Cole. Jevaan paused in the doorway of Cole's bedroom and took a long look around. He could think of only two possibilities: Either Cole had been abducted - unlikely - or...

Jevaan pushed the thought aside. There were probably endless possibilities that he wasn't considering. Whatever had happened here, they needed to figure it out fast. Stepping back out of Cole's room, he turned to Jess. Despite her clumsy and absent-minded self, her point of view could potentially be helpful. "What do you make of it?"

 

[Mage_Clawhammer]

Collaberated between Mage and Kennedy ​

“You look like an old hippie.” Logan rolled his eyes, but smiled and added. “Cute, though.”

He then looked longingly at the trail of smoke wafting up from the burning tip of the incense, and wondered what it must smell like. There was once a head shop that he used to frequent in California. The store had always smelled of incense, a heavy aromatic musk that could steal the breath, and often conjured thoughts of velvet drapes and dark red lipstick. The memory was vague, and Skye didn’t seem the type, but still it stirred around inside his head.

“I appreciate the thought.” He said, and then reached for the pocket of his jeans as his phone hummed suddenly against his hip. “But I just don’t think it’ll do me any good.”

He removed the device with a forefinger and thumb, and stroked the screen to life. It was a Samsung model. Not the latest and greatest, but new enough. The advance of technology continued to astonish and excite Logan through the years. He preferred to indulge in it, rather than shy away as many older Drifters had a tendency to do. Particularly now that internet access and social media had become a vital part of his research. Sure, Jevaan’s Zookeeper’s were leaders in obtaining and distributing knowledge of dead like them. Logan preferred to keep his own independent database, however, and puzzle out his own theories with a few well earned contacts overseas and across the states.

As he brought the phone’s screen up in front of his face, thumbing open the messenger window, Logan’s eyes narrowed slightly. Even with group messages, Anthony typically didn’t include Logan unless it was something important. He only had to skim the message itself in order to see just how important.

“Anthony’s put out an alert.” He muttered, absent mindedly, but in Skye’s general direction. “Cole is missing.”

After another moment of silence, in which Logan reread the message twice, he closed the screen and turned his attention back toward Skye. Her smile was gone; the usual brightness in her eyes dulled with worried.

“That’s nothing new, though, right?” He asked, though he already knew the answer. “The man disappears all the time. He’s like a damn cat. I always thought he and Hal would get along famously.”

“Maybe it was his time,” Skye replied very quiety with a thoughtful shrug, placing the headband very carefully back on the display. “His aura had been so grey the last time I saw him…”

“He wasn't there yet.” Logan insisted, as if he would know better than anyone. Then his tone changed as his thoughts retreated inward. “So...what has Anthony so worried?”

Another small shrug from Skye. She was trying her best to wave off the disappearance of her old-souled friend.

“Anthony’s always worried. I keep telling him that some fruity lilac oils would help him relax his mind but I think he enjoys being pent up and stressed.” That didn’t stop her from grabbing up her bag from under the counter, slinging it over her shoulder.

Logan nodded, taking her cue as he leaned away from the countertop and turned toward the door. “We should go see what’s going on.”

 

[KingofAesir]

J E S S.
"I'm and the embodiment of a bull in a china cabinet. But this looks like it was done by a literal animal.'

Okay so, Jess had seen messy apartments before, her apartment was a pretty good example but this..... this was ransacked. Jess followed Jevaan into the apartment, ignoring his comment about her agility. She walked up to a shattered flower vase in the ground and frowned. What the hell had heppened?

Her feet didn't move as fast as Jevaan's as she took in the site around her, quite honestly to shocked to do anything but stand there with her jaw hanging loose. Maybe she'd been expecting something else to ve beyond that door, like Cole curled up in the couch with the TV flickering, refusing to acknowledge the world. But this was insane. It looked like someone had ran through her randomly knocking things over.... like and animal.

"Shit." Jess murmured under her breath, shoving her hands in her jean pockets. Something in the carpet caught her eye and she bent to to look closer at a stain. It looked like some kind of sida had been spilled on the carpet, but it hadn't soaked in yet so it had to be relatively new. Someone had been in her not too long ago. Jevaan's voice had Jess straightening back up and turning to face him, a hand scratching ag the back of her neck.

"I... it looks like some fucking animal just rampaged through here." Jess pointed out the soda spill, "And fairly recently too, that hasn't soaked into the carpet yet." A frown line appeared between blue eyes as Jess' frown deepened. "Shit, Jevaan, you don't think he faded yet do you? He wasn't any older than me." Jess ran a nervous hand through her hair. Whatever had happened here, it wasn't good. They needed to find out where the hell Cole was and soon.

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[Coyote Hart]

Spoiler: Nicodemus Everett

More Information
Location: In the streets
Objective: Talk
Mood: Nervous
Interacting with: Valorie ( StoneWolf18 )

The afternoon sun beat down on Nico's head, and it felt as if an inferno was raging on his thick hair. Heck, Nico wouldn't be surprised if a fire was actually kindling on his hair. He felt sweat running off of his forehead Using his shirt collar as a handkerchief, Nico wiped the perspiration off of his face. Being outside at this time really wasn't a good idea.
The action of trying to tug his shirt upward and holding his guitar case caused him to almost miss the woman's answer.
Well, frappucinos, Nico thought after his mind processed the woman's hesitant response, This doesn't give too much information for me to assume anything.
The woman asked Nico a question, which he didn't hear correctly. So it took a bit longer for him to process this than the last statement the woman made. Finally, he realized that the woman was asking for his name.
"My friends call me Nico," he replied. In a sudden moment of inspiration, Nico pointed in the general direction of Park 3025, "I reside usually in the apartment complex half a mile away from here."
He bit his lip, regretting what he just said. Adding where he lived to his introduction was unnecessary, and kinda weird. He wondered how the woman would react to that if she wasn't a Drifter.

 

[WordArtist]

"Be practical," Jevaan scolded in answer to Jess' concerned theorizing. "Why would he ransack the place and then leave? This is food-central. No animal - bedlam or not - would run away from its closest, most concentrated source of nourishment unless something a lot scarier came through... and I can't think of anything that a bedlam would think was scary around here, can you?" Despite his encouragement, if one could call it that, Jevaan didn't outright deny the possibility that Cole had, in fact, lost himself to that cage of emptiness. "I'd say it's far more likely, especially considering how easy it is to pop the door lock, that a thief got mad when he couldn't find anything of particular value that could be easily carried out of the apartment."

Jevaan took another look around the apartment and pinched the bridge of his nose, a habit when something irritated him. It happened rarely, anymore, but it seemed more common around Jess than anyone else. Go figure. "I'm going to look around a bit, see if I can find anything out of the ordinary. Maybe I can find a good reason why someone trashed the place... or a hint as to where Cole might have run off to.

"In the meantime, why don't you go chat with the neighbors?" Jevaan suggested. "Whoever - or whatever - was in here had to have been loud while he was at it. Someone was bound to hear something, and they'll be a lot more open with you than they will with me. If they can even tell us when, it will help, but the more they say, the more we'll know about what happened and where Cole might be. See if you can get them talking; you're good at that sort of thing."

He didn't wait long for her to answer before he began digging through the debris, replacing things on shelves in a haphazard fashion and righting overturned furniture in an effort to find anything that the mess was concealing. In truth, he rather suspected something far more sinister than either he or Jess had dared to say aloud. His hope, by searching the place, was to prove his theory wrong. Anything would be better than that... anything.

 

[KingofAesir]

J E S S.
"SPD! Open up!"

Jess grumbled as she turned to walk out of Cole's ransacked apartment. She shuffled out with her hands shoved in her pockets and kicked idly at the door frame as she exited. "Go talk to the neighbors, Jess. All you're good at is talking, Jess." Jess stopped and groaned, that was totally true.

With a sigh, she sidled up to the apartment next to Cole's and rapped her knuckles against the wood. She leaned against the frame and crossed her arms over her chest, awaiting the answering opening of the door. That came not a moment later when a woman pulled open the door, long tresses of hair so blonde it looked white falling down her shoulders and what looked like flour on her face.

"Oh, Jess, hi!" Leah greeted green eyes filled with mirth. Living on the same floor, they'd talked before and it seemed Leah liked her more than anyone else did. Jess didn't mind the constant smiles that the baker woman seemed to be wearing, it was a nice relief from Jevaan, and Anthony..... and Logan. Damn, she knew a lot of Drifters who avoided smiling most of the time.

"Hi, Leah. Been baking have we?" Jess leaned forward and swiped flour off Leah's cheek with her thumb, presenting the woman her white coated thumb. Leah went red and quickly proceeded to lift up her apron and attempt to wipe it off. It only streaked it. Jess laughed and pushed herself of the door frame, almost falling in the process. She cleared her throat. "Jevaan sent me to talk to the neighbors." Jess explained, "Cole's gone AWOL. Jevaan and I got into his apartment and it was totally ransacked. Flipped tables and evrrything." She frowned, searching Leah's face for any sort of recognition. When there was none she continued.

"I'm supposed to see if you heard anything weird or saw anything?" Jess pushed, cocking her head to the side in waiting. Leah seemed to think for a minute before snapping her fingers, sending a cloud of flour puffing around them.

"I haven't seen anything but I did hear what sounded like mice scratching the walls a few days ago. I didn't think anything of it." Jess's brow creased and she nodded and thanks to Leah, turning to leave when a hand in her arm stopped her. "Wait, the cookies I was making are done. Let me give you some." Leah hustled of into her home and emerged again with a plastic baggie filled with chocolate chop cookies. She shoved them into Jess's hands.

"Are these not for a customer?" Leah shook her head and tossed her hair over her shoulder with one of those smiles of hers.

"Oh, no, hun. I was just... stress baking." Leah informed her in a matter-of-fact tone. Jess shrugged and stuffed the bag in her back pocket of her jeans as she began to walk off with a wave. "Come by again soon!"

Cole's next door neighbor on his right had a door that the number had fallen off of. They weren't very secure in the first place so a lot of banging up against the door could do that. Jess sighed rather loudly as she practically banged the door down. There was some mumbling and cursing from a male voice and a female voice asking who was it before the door swung open, revealing a tanned man pulling some shorts over his hips. He smiled at her while running a hand through black hair. Jess rolled her eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt... whatever this is." Jess indicated the human woman visible peaking through Ace's bedroom door, "But I need to ask you a question about Cole." Jess crossed her own arms over her chest in irritation. While Ace was a grown man and could do whatever the wanted to keep himself entertained enough not to fade, she strongly disapproved of his way of doing that. All these women, and sometimes men, were constantly played by Ace for his own means. She didn't like him. Not one bit. The noise at all hours of the day didn't help either.

"Oh, my little hobbit neighbor?" Ace nodded, uncaring, "Yeah, haven't seen the dude in a few days. Some weird scratching going on from his place though. Like mice or something. He doesn't have nice does he? I don't need that shit over here." Ace leaned forward as her asked that question, more concerned about getting mice than the well being of his neighbor.

"No, Ace, he doesn't have mice. He's gone missing." Jess groaned and shook her head, "You're useless. Goodbye, Ace. I'll leave you to it." Ace gave her a thumbs up and retreated back into his apartment. Jess ran a hand down her face in annoyance. He was literally the only person on the face of this planet that annoyed her. That was an accomplishment her was quite proud of it seemed.

Jess figured that was enough questioning the neighbors like a police officer and sauntered back into Cole's apartment to relay what she'd learned to Jevaan.

"Jevaan? Did you find anything? 'Cause all I got from Leah and Ace was that they'd been hearing weird scratching sounds the past few days. Real helpful they were."

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