Realistic or Modern Welcome To Shearport

[The Fuzz]

--> Lita





Hmm. It's still "We Will Be With You Shortly" o'clock, but for some reason, the watch feels cold. As you look at the face, it's like raindrops appear on it out of nowhere.

 

[Ragoza]

"I'm buildin' up to something big, Peg. Yeh won't believe yer eyes. So to what do we owe the pleasure?"

 

[Axelgear]

Sackcloth


"Yes," Sackcloth hums quietly along with Lucas, "why are you looking for missing children?" The brownie's inquiring agreement comes after he spits his own shoe from between his teeth and begins to slip it back on, dusting himself down a little as he ducks down to once more clothe his foot.


"And if you wouldn't mind," he adds in his currently peevish manner, "be high on detail and low on volume."


The look he gives Red is one of mild annoyance but it is quickly - very quickly - becoming subsumed into a growing curiosity and concern. Once newly shod, he uses the distraction Lucas provides to slip up close and grab a hold of one of the pretty pink sneakers. The moment he has it, he ducks backwards, pressing flat up against the all and curling his legs to his chest; shrinking himself down and letting his button eyes stare over the mountain of his knees as he turns over the odd prize.


"Ooooh..." He coos, turning the shoe over slowly. "Well, aren't you a pretty thing? Pretty pretty thing, made for a princess..."


Fabric fingers caress the shoe's surface almost lovingly; feeling it, wiping away some of the traces of mud to get a look at it. Holding it close, he peers into the eye-holes of the laces and speaks with the shoe's tongue; he sees into its very sole. The aglets, he avoids; their true purpose, he knows, is always sinister.


When he is done familiarizing himself, Sackcloth knows all there is that can be known about that pretty shoe.

Spoiler

Got permission from Nari before stealing the shoe.


Rolling Int + Crafts to have Sackcloth analyze the shoe and learn all he might from its make and manufacture; what model it is, the size it is, how recently it was bought, where it might have been bought (if such a thing might be revealed from, say, a store mark in it), how much care was taken of it, how expensive it likely was, etc.


[dice]2711[/dice]


[dice]2712[/dice]


[dice]2713[/dice]


Edit: Missed one die on the second reroll:


[dice]2714[/dice]

 

[Inari]

Red


Red huffed and puffed a blast of air from his nostrils while he was questioned, swallowing down his mouthful of bacon to answer. ”Isn’t a kid being missing reason enough?” he inquired, agreeably keeping his voice low. He didn’t bother waiting for an answer; his recent treatment had put him in a mouthy mood. ”I found these-“ he held up the arm the shoes were draped over only for Sackcloth to snatch one, pulling apart the tied-together laces. Its twin dropped to the floor while the ragged little man studied it. Red huffed again and let him study it. Or converse with it. He wasn’t really sure which.


”I found them in the Hedge. Whatever left those tracks out back found the owner.” The topic was serious enough to sour him on breakfast for the moment. ”It was about a day ago, maybe two; figured maybe a report on a missing girl’s cropped up by now.” His brow furrowed and he frowned, skewering slices of pancakes on his fork, but he didn’t eat them. ”I want to find her,” he declared simply enough, though the effort seemed to take some will. He looked up to Lucas for a reply.

 

[PixelWitch]

Zach


A mixture of surprised and bewildered at the sudden onslaught of people and activity suddenly descending on the kitchen, Zach can't help but laugh to himself.


It wasn't normally anywhere near as exciting as this...


At Sage's request, a steaming cup of tea is produced, "Milk and Sugar?"

 

[Grey]

Lucas Hood





Hood's face twists into a frown, brows tense and heavy.


"I'll go check with the sheriff now, get back to you in an hour or so." He says, shrugs on his coat, and heads out to his car.


He gets in, sits a moment, breathes in, and decides to use the police radio rather than drive out there looking for immediate answers.


*cracklecrack-click* "Ranger Hood here. Any missing persons reports I should know about?"

 

[Alexandra]

Sage


"Just a touch of sugar, my dear."


She stirs the tea briefly, and sips.


"Excellent...just what today requires."

 

[The Fuzz]

---> Hood





It takes a little while, and at one point involves sitting there like a tool for ten minutes, but eventually the deputy in the office gets back to you. Seven children reported missing over the summer. Three of the reports eventually closed, with one drowned, one found alive but scared in the woods, and one found to have been abducted by the father/ex-husband. Uh, that's four unresolved, three boys, one girl, ages between six and ten. The girl was reported a day ago.


If you want the file, you'll need to drop by the station. Hint, hint, if you know something, Ranger Hood, come the fuck in and share.


----> Sackcloth





Mass produced, plastic molded, probably stitched in a sweatshop somewhere. All white and pink. Nike/Adidas, all the same stuff, really. This one's the former. For some weird fucking reason, the shoe is impregnated with a powerful artificial scent which is, at best, reminiscent of strawberries. Maybe that's what kids like these days?


Scuffed, dirty, but newish. This pair of shoes might be less than a week in use, but they've seen many hours of hard wear already.


Cherry blossoms stuck in crevices. What? Cherry blossoms haven't been on the trees for months now.


---> Liam





Peg smiles in your direction with a twinkle in her eye.


"You can make a start by coming along tonight to the Autumn Ball. I don't suppose you have a suit lying around, hmmm?"


The Autumn Ball....bit grand, really, considering there's like to be less than twenty of the Lost there. Still, Molly Malone's coming into her season, and since there's so few of your kind around, you showing up would be nice.


She glances about. "She's arranged the backstage at the Courthouse."


Which would, in fact, be the theatre. It's been twenty-five years since the place was a courthouse.

 

[PixelWitch]

Zach


He pouts, brow furrowing. he wasn't one of the Autumn Court itself, but it was always a good idea to showgood grace to the other Courts, what with everyone being so tight knit... plus he was never one to turn down a good night out with music and dancing. Even if he danced with all the grace of a duck on ice.


Gus has waddled in from the hall again, now all the hubbub has subsided, nuzzling up to his knees for a scratch, which he recieves behind the ears with a contented whine.

 

[Grey]

Lucas Hood





"Yeah, I hear you. Give me half an hour."


He hangs up, and heads back inside. Tips his head to Mrs. Lincoln and Sage with a mumbled "Mornin'" before finding Red and Robert again.


"Red, gonna need you to clean up and come down to the station with me," he says, glances at Sackcloth, and back. "Need to bring the shoe, too."

 

[risaphoeniix]

Lita the Magpie





Lita wanders back into the kitchen, and stops when she sees Robert holding a little pink shoe. "Isn't that a little too small?" she asks, curiously, still fidgeting with the watch in her pocket.

 

[Ragoza]

"Am I to come on your arm or are we slipping away after a few drinks?" Liam wisecracks. It wouldn't be his scene, normally, but Molly would appreciate the support, and Peg's not too bad once you drone out the gossip.

 

[The Fuzz]

---> Liam





Peg glances back over her shoulder from the sink, where she's abruptly rinsing plates and stacking them in the dishwasher.


"Oh, but people would talk. I'll arrive with you, but I make no promises as to leaving."


Her dreadful purple leather handbag (covered with brass studs, Good Lord woman where is your taste) vibrates once......twice....three times.

 

[Axelgear]

Sackcloth


Ugh... Such a shame... Such a pretty thing lost in the Hedge; so young, so fragile, with so many stories to tell, so much life to live, and now doomed to be forever scarred by the experience.


Plus, there was a girl lost in the Hedge, too. They'd have to set that to rights as well if they wanted any damn peace and quiet around here. Sackcloth didn't need police coming around, asking pesky questions! Didn't need attention! Didn't need people seeing him! He squeeeeezes the shoe in his grip, twisting the fabric, shutting his eyes in a grimacing look that one might reserve for having a dislocated elbow popped back in place.


For a moment, Robert's head manages to clear; there's bigger concerns than himself here. There was a girl lost in the woods and something had to be done. Sorrow creeps into his gaze, and he feels the chill of winter brush his skin as his empathy engages once more.


"I wouldn't advise that..." The brownie murmurs back to Lucas, his voice taking on a curious buzz that sounds as if it's caught between two rather different tones. Slowly, he turns the shoe over and picks delicately at a petal trapped between the folds of the sole's tread.


"Red says he found these out in the Hedge. If you take them in, you're going to have to lie about where you found them." He cautions Lucas, rising slowly to his feet, though keeping his hips against the wall, body forming a bow-like curve.


"Moral considerations aside, there's a worry about drawing suspicion if someone can't keep their story straight. You don't need to be a world-class detective to know that there's at least three people here who have sizable gaps in their personal history, who'd make prime suspects in a child's disappearance." He cautions, setting the personal consideration out first with a gesture at Red, himself, and then towards the hallway.


"Second of all," he continues, leaning away from the wall at last, bringing the shoe over to Lucas to see, "if you do lie, you have to take them somewhere to do a search. If it's somewhere far from here, you waste police time and resources; resources that seem like they might be desirable to have in town if some hedge-critter's on the loose, hm? And if you don't, and bring them nearby, will you take the blame if some good Samaritan sees something they shouldn't? Perhaps gets lost in the Hedge, too?"


Setting the shoe in Lucas' hand, Sackcloth shakes his head, then brushes his feather-hair back and out of his face. His fingers trail languidly over the shoe as he does, not quite wanting to let it go.


"No... Fizzle, pizzle, rain and drizzle... We're the authorities here; we're the only ones equipped to investigate." He concludes, at least turning to face away.


"If you want a place to start," Robert continues as he moves towards a hallway window, "there's a few clues right there. The shoe's recently bought; less than a week, I'd wager, and worn by someone who liked to go outside. There's also cherry blossoms in the shoe; might give you something to hunt for in the Hedge." He adds, gesturing vaguely at the sole of the object.


"Also, give it a sniff." He remarks. The inevitable odd look he gets is followed by an narrowed stare. "The smell; it's weird. No idea what it is. Smells like perfume. Don't think many kids spray their feet with perfume, though."

 

[risaphoeniix]

Lita the Magpie





Lita edged further into the room. "If she's lost we need to go find her. The hedge can be scary at night," she paused for a second, reconsidering "or during the day, or any time at all. I'll help! I'm good at finding things." Which was true. Occasionally uncannily good.

 

[Inari]

Red


In the time it took Lucas to deal with the radio and Robert to do his own examination, Red was able to plop down on the floor cross-legged and wolf down the (now cooled) pancakes. Lucas returned to find his compatriot thoroughly licking the plate clean, pausing only when directly addressed to peer over the edge. Sackcloth beat him to the punch answering, so he took the time to finish off the plate before setting it aside.


”We’ve got nothing to offer the police; I was just hoping you could learn something about her,” he seconded, picking up the twin that Robert didn’t hold and turning it over. ”I don’t need more police attention anyway.” Red had been arrested just the last month for getting into a fight at his favorite bar. Nothing big came of it, but it wasn’t his first trouble since he came to Shearport.


He plucked a petal from between laces and tongue and sniffed it. His nose crinkled. The strawberry smell completely overpowered the gentler natural scent. He flicked the petal away. ”There weren’t any cherry blossoms around where I found it; everything was red and gold. A little green. No strawberries either, but it smells fake anyway.” He paused and pondered. ”Cherry blossoms could be from a greenhouse, if it wasn’t somewhere in the Hedge…”

 

[Grey]

Lucas Hood





"Alright, I'll head over to the office and keep the station off this one, for now. Get the file while I'm at it, maybe." Lucas says, arms folded. "If you can, see if Mrs. Lincoln or Sage know any helpful Hedge-lore. We can start a search when I get back - not before." He glowers, briefly, to make his point, and then heads out to his car.


To the sheriff's office, then.

 

[The Fuzz]

---> Lita





There's a word. It's right on the tip of your tongue. It's like an orphanage for plants. S'got the word "house" in it. Glasshouse? Greenhouse, yeah, what Red said.


Funny that. Glasshouse, greenhouse. Silly terms, really. You know where there's a greenhouse full of flowers, with no glass in it at all. It's a bit of a walk, mind, through a bit of the local Hedge that really made you miss being able to fly. Thorns, etc.


---> Red





Hmm. Your uncle used to own part shares in a gardening centre a few miles out the highway. Not sure if relevant, but maybe.


-----> Hood





The sheriff's office is a smallish redbrick building down a sidestreet. The parking lot has more floorspace than the building does, to be honest.


Inside, it's all old wooden fittings relatively recently upgraded to include plexiglass security screens and the like. It's all magazines, missing persons reports and stale coffee.


Deputy Hawes is at the desk. You're pretty sure you saw him slip a gameboy into his pocket as you came in the door.


"'sup Lucas."


Hawes is young, about thirty, white, tallish, bit of a gym nut.


-----> Everybody Except Hood, who's busy right this second





What's the plan, from morning into afternoon?

 

[Alexandra]

Sage


Sage's amusement at the exchange between Liam and Peggy fades as the whispering from the group just outside the door grows more urgent, punctuated by Lucas' leaving the building.


Setting down her teacup, she heads for the remainder of the group.


"Is there a reason it's looking more and more like this morning brought some kind of problem to our doorstep?"

 

[Ragoza]

Looks like the old suit is coming out. God help us all.


"Alright Peg, yeh've twisted me arm. Best answer that phone in yer bag, I've work to catch up on about the house. I'll see yeh around 8."


Liam leaves Peg to her own devices, breathing a small sigh of relief as he heads into the kitchen with the rest of the group.


"Right, what did I miss?"

 

[risaphoeniix]

Lita the Magpie





Tired of being ignored, Lita marched over to Red and poked him, hard, in the arm, almost reminiscent of a largish, aggravated bird pecking at something. "Greenhouses usually have glass, right? Well I know one that doesn't, and it always has flowers. Maybe even those ones!"

 

[PixelWitch]

Zach


Busying himself with washing the dishes, he replies offhand to Sage, keeping his voice low and watching the punters eat their breakfast out of earshot, "Well, from the rumours, there's some kids missing, possibly in the Hedge..."


He turns, hands still in the sink, "Though from the looks of it everyone's headin' out to look for them... guess I'll be here to look after the Inn while everyone's off gallivanting in the Hedge..."


Not like I've other stuff I've been needing to tend to... like my garden... maybe if the folks head out for the day I can nip in and see to it before the hikers arrive...

 

[Inari]

Red


The distracted Red shook his arm in Lita’s direction when she poked him, grunting as if he were shooing off some annoying insect. Before he could rebuke her, though, her words seemed to make something click, expression turning thoughtful. ”My grandpa had a stake in this big gardening store a few miles out of town. Those usually have some greenhouses aren’t, right?” he wondered, before cocking his head at Lita in a rather canine fashion. ”What kinda greenhouse doesn’t have glass?” he inquired, agitation vanishing in favor of curiosity.


Everyone but Lucas had come into the hall or the kitchen by this point, most curious what was going on. ”That’s the idea. I was following those prints from out back and found a kid’s mixed up with them after a while. And these,” he held up the lost shoe for Sage and the others to see, forlorn without its twin. ”Lucas said there’s a report on a missing kid, and there’s this weird stuff all about it…” He sniffed at the shoe again and wrinkled his nose, before a thought struck him.


Red plucked the lone thorn from his pocket (and felt a sympathy pain of the prick he’d given himself grabbing it earlier) and turned it over in his fingers, shutting his eyes.

Spoiler

Bwah! Sorry for ignoring, Risa. Think you posted while I was working on my previous Red post; totally failed to notice the new one or I would’ve edited to have him respond…


Also, gonna have Red use Pathfinder. Didn’t think of this earlier, but…would like to check if there are cherry blossoms in the local Hedge.


[dice]2793[/dice]


No good, looks like. Oh well; was worth a shot.


Edit: Derp, Pathfinder only works in the Hedge, doesn't it? Well, doesn't make a difference. Maybe ignore the thorn bit.

 

[The Fuzz]

To Errybody





It would be mad helpful if everyone would note at the top of their posts where they are, in the sense of


Liam


The Kitchen





or


Sackcloth


The Back Hallway





Would probably remove a lot of the confusion.

 

[risaphoeniix]

Lita the Magpie - Kitchen





"Well the hedge is funny like that sometimes," she said, matter of factly, fidgeting with one of the many bracelets on her wrist . "It's a little hard to get to when you don't have wings," she added, sounding very sad for a moment, but then she perked up "but I'm going to go look there. You can come if you want."