[IC] Emerald City (Page 2) — Roleplayer Guild

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[IC] Emerald City Page 2

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Purple Robin

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Purple Robin Possible Wizard

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Purple Robin

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03:37AM 5/9 -14

Sunday,smoking in the Pleasure Palace backdoor, hearing music pulsing through the night.

"Damn... You'd think that If you tell a guy "Go fuck yourself" twice, he'd actually do the room a favor, drop his pants and shimmy his way to whatever hole he crawled out from."  Dom fumed as he drew a long drag. The bar was nearing its final call as the morning was creeping ever closer. He squeezed the towel that hung from his waist, letting some of the last drips of liquid seep into the ground. When the towel was new it had probably been quite neat, however, with the years of use it had lost most of its main colors and was now a fine shade of brown with a faded black mark of Jägermeister. "Heck, now I'll never get these stains-"Dom was rudely interrupted in his monologue by a hacking cough followed by a groan coming from the sack laying on the ground next to his feet. A flash of fury overcame Dom as he exhaled the smoke through his gritted teeth and drove his foot in an angled kick straight towards the top of the sack. With a loud "thwack" and a pained groan it slumped. "The fucking nerve." He let out a sigh and flicked his cigarette to the ground, stomping it out and heading back into the bar. 
"Don't show your face here again, snowflake. If you do, I won't ask you to go fuck yourself a third time..."

10:00AM Current Day

Monday,clothes thrown on a chair,staring at the ceiling in his small apartment.

Dom could feel his heavy eyes struggling to keep themselves open, and yet, at the same time, he could not fall asleep. Working nights had a very strange effect on his body. In general, he managed to get enough sleep on a day to day basis, however, from time to time he was struck with a very odd feeling of fatigue. As if his body were made of dense fog, he would be unable to find a comfortable enough position to fall asleep until hours later he would collapse in a sofa, chair, or even on the floor. Screw this... he thought and got up to sit on the edge of his bed. His apartment was dark with slivers of light piercing though his reinforced blinds. The walls were covered in tattered posters of vague rap-artists and the floor was littered with odd socks and worn pants. It would not be far off to label him as a slob, however, when it came to work he was meticulous. Until, of course, someone pissed him off. 

Dom looked down at his hands and frowned. His right fist was covered in the same old rag he used as a bar-towel when working. He unwrapped his hand to find the flesh underneath pinkish and scabbed over. At least this one had it coming.his completely reasonable mind reminded him as he covered the hand once again, grabbed his phone and checked his messages. The glare caught him off guard and he hissed, blinking a few times. 0 missed messages.It was a wonder that his frown wasn't a permanent fixture at this point. This meant that he was without work tonight and he was running out of cigarettes, alcohol and food. His options were limited and they were getting fewer by the hour. With a heavy sigh he roused himself and got dressed in the most casual outfit he could manage. A pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. Dom then grabbed his keys, lighter, the last unopened cigarette-packet and headed out through the door, wondering if maybe, just maybe, today he would meet that billionaire that could sort him out for good. 

An emptied wallet and twenty minutes later, Dom was sitting in a chair outside of the Diamond in the Rough. He ran through his usual routine, smoking and looking through his phone for job-listings.  Security... Bar... Moving-service... Moving-service... God damn, another one? Is everyone coming to Emerald City nowadays? Dom took a drag from his cigarette and sighed out the smoke out of his nostrils. The people in the city didn't mind him at all. Sure, it was getting rowdy and all, but hell, usually he was central to most the fights in the city. Or at least, he used to be. Nowadays, most of the time, as long as he wasn't provoked then he didn't care. Most of the time.  But damn it, if one more guy looks at me funny... Oh, this looks interesting.  he grumbled and started calling the various listings, hoping that maybe he would be able to find a job for the night.

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Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by SkeankySnack

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SkeankySnack Uncle Dr. Beast

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A collaboration between Ollivander@BeastofDestiny & Elizabeth@The Muse

Still perched for the hour plus amount of time he’d stayed on that bench, Ollivander had witnessed the progress of time unfold around him. Initially there was peace, then suddenly the press had encroached upon the location he had so dearly held unto his heart as a safe haven.  Undoubtedly the news stations of not just this town, but from cities far away. Cities that had never once held an ounce of delight to the seclusive town tucked neatly away from the ‘juicy stories’ that they sought after. No, today was just another day of newscasters ready for the next harvest of social curriculum. In the eyes of Ollivander they were nothing more than 3rd graders seeking attention, willing to go outside the norm to be seen by the peers around them.

Ollivander sighed, his hands gently caressing the etchings upon his cane. Had he ever been so cynical? Was it simply his old age, or was it the news of recent events? The possibility was that it was a bit of both, the anchor teams gathering around the community center certainly weren’t helping the old man’s opinion either. Despite everything that was happening to the small town he grew up in and loved, he was a scholar first and a bigot second, and everyone had a history. What may have brought one from point A to point B is their story and their reason for being there. As much as he could judge as the human he was, he had to take some form of logic into account and think rationally. Before he could continue his thought process however, a voice pulled him back into reality.

"Doing okay, Mr. Clarke?"

Startled from the sudden comment, Ollie turned towards his most recent companion. Blinking a couple of times, his mind wondering how she had snuck up on him, only to realize he knew the answer to that. He simply smiled and chortled out. “My dear Elizabeth! That’s my line, don’t you know?” He laughed out in as much earnest as he could produce before that earnest gave way to half-heartedness.  His chuckle fading, his sad eyes setting back in he sighed, “Forgive me my child, I tend to forget that those who are my students are sometimes… adults as well” Resting his chin heavily on his cane he pondered, “No...I suppose I’m not doing ‘okay’ Elizabeth… Ever since I heard the news from you, I’ve mostly just been...in deep thought.”

He still remembered the tears and emotion he felt from his young pupil, how he handled the situation rather quickly amongst the other staff and the dean of office. It wasn’t until he returned to his manor that the full gravity of the situation set in and he broke down himself. He shook his head in earnest, voiding the demons from his mind and the glassiness from his eyes. He’d recommended the young girl to be out of school per his request and formal submittance, but he hadn’t seen her since. Placing an aged hand on her shoulder he smiled softly, noting the tear stained, puffy eyes of one who deeply cared for the loss of her friend, only dreading the news to soon be announced. “As I said my darling, this is a question for me to ask...how are you doing?” She certainly wasn’t a dumb or arrogant girl, and more than likely she knew just how bad he was feeling. That being said, as her elder, he couldn’t help but be concerned for her and only hoped for the best, most likely knowing the truth of the situation; She was devastated.

Immediately, Elizabeth’s green eyes welled with tears. She was not okay and for some reason saying it out loud would have made it worse. She shook her head, unable to speak lest the water works begin all over again. Taking in a deep breath, she looked out over the calm river and patted her eyes with the sleeves of Lily’s hoodie. The care expressed on Ollivander’s face and in the tone of his voice was too much right now. She needed it, but the love felt like it was begging her to crack. She was on the verge of a mental break down and fighting so hard not to completely lose it. 

”Not… very good…” She sniffled and returned his gaze, finally finding her voice once again. ”I’m sure you can tell by my…” She gestured to her face and let out a small chuckle, knowing how bad she must appear. Hopefully the media cameras didn’t intend to film the crowd members… 

Sighing, she relaxed into the bench and anxiously rolled one of the hoodie strings between her fingers. ”What do you think they’ll tell us?” She was fighting tears again, feeling the frog in her throat trying to steal her voice once more. ”N-...no news is good news….. right?”

Instinct was to reach into his vest pocket and produce a handkerchief for the young woman, but she already had her own in the form of the sweater she wore. It looked awfully familiar, he’d seen Lillian come into class wearing it now that he was recalling? Was it perhaps a gift? Maybe just left over from a night of slumber partying? Either way Ollivander had no reason to question why Elizabeth had it, after all the two girls were practically tied at the hip since the first day they met one another. He looked at the young woman as she attempted to regain her composure, the sweater was probably a necessary item at the moment. The bright orange article of clothing, a reminder of someone lost, the amount of nostalgia that it held was more than likely insurmountable, and the weight on Elizabeth’s shoulders… he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

Her next question, however, gave him pause; “No news is good news…”. He looked at her in earnest before turning his head to the reporters, given the pomp and circumstance that was being pulled off...the likelihood of the speech to be of a positive volition… was rather bleak. Everyone wanted the fairy tale ending, the prince kisses the princess, they live happily ever after; Hansel and Gretel make it back home after baking the witch in her own oven. To this girl, however, her happily ever after would be after she reunited with her best friend and he didn’t have the heart to tell her that not only was her friend just missing, but was more than likely gone from her mortal coil. Turning back to face her, a soft smile on his face, he tried to reassure her, “That’s always the hope my dear,” but despite the evasive answer he did want to prepare her in some way, “Whatever happens today though, we must try to be brave, ‘keep a stiff upper lip’ as my father would say. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with the way you feel right now, and no matter what happens I’m here for you, as I’ve always been for you and your family.” His mind had wandered back to her mother’s funeral, a poor unfortunate soul whose life had been cut off far too early from this world. It changed her father, and though Elizabeth wasn’t always as cheerful as she used to be, she still carried on. Ollivander respected her for that, that strength as she carried all the weight of the world on her shoulders. He couldn’t even imagine what would happen to her if Lillian never returned, was never found, or even killed. To have something like that happen, it’d break the young woman’s heart.

Elizabeth nodded in agreement, though his notion of “whatever happens today” made it feel like something was constricting around her heart. It was getting harder to breathe the longer this day went on. The longer her life went on, truly. “Cursed…” the word crossed her mind again; one of those intrusive thoughts you don’t mean to have but they slither out of the darkness and torment you for the rest of the day anyway. 

“You have always been there for my family…” she echoed in confirmation, remembering how her father had crumbled at her mother’s funeral. Ollivander had been there to support them and to remind their father that he still had a family to care for despite the circumstances. He had to stay strong and be present. If not for Ollivander, she wasn’t sure how her father would have pulled through. It had been four years since the accident, and her father had never been the same, but Ollivander had always been there; checking in on them from time to time, making sure her and the boys were doing well and that her father was taking care of himself too. 

Once, on a night that Lily had been out of town and the twins had gone to a sleepover, Elizbeth’s father chose to get belligerent drunk. He became abrasive, saying words he would normally never utter to her. He had been so angry at her, at the world. She had supposed it was his way of dealing with pain, but it was not something she signed up for… so she left. With no best friend to turn to, Elizabeth’s next best option had been her dear family friend Ollivander Clarke. He only lived a couple blocks away and she figured that he would take her in… she had hoped. When she arrived, of course, his door had been locked. It was 2am afterall. Refusing to be rude and wake him, she had resigned herself to spending the night on his porch. At least it was warm outside, considering it was the middle of summer. It wasn’t the ideal sleeping situation, but it was better than being verbally abused inside her own home. However, clumsy as she was, she had tripped over the plant stand outside his door and knocked over a broom. A few of the planters had loudly clinked together and the broom bounced several times against the concrete. Just as she had picked up the broom, the front door flung open. 

“YOU RAPSCALLIONS! I'LL SLICE THE LOT OF YOU, I'LL BUTCHER YOUR SONS! I'LL.... Blinking a couple of times at his supposed intruder, he mouthed, “Elizabeth?”

She yelped and jumped backwards, away from the Afghan cane sword he was swinging around at the assumed intruder. After a few moments of awkwardness, he had invited her inside and brewed some tea to discuss why she was at his house at 2 in the morning. Emotional and trusting, she had told him everything about what her father had been up to and why she had to get away. Shortly after, he allowed her to sleep in his spare room for the night. Not even a full week later, Ollivander had presented her with a key to his house and told her that she was welcome any time; day or night, dusk or dawn. They were truly bonded after that. The man was a saint and her guardian angel - that’s what Elizabeth had called Ollivander in her journal entries. He still lived up to the name, even if he didn’t know it. 

Breaking from her thoughts, Elizabeth sat upright, turned to him and stoutly wrapped him in a tight embrace.  “Thank you… I don’t know what we’d do without you.” She lingered there for a moment before pulling away. Hearing a familiar truck, she looked towards the community center and spotted an old beat up Ford F150 from 1990. “My dad and the boys are here.” She felt a sinking feeling in her chest, knowing how close it must be to noon if they were arriving. “I’m going to go meet them so we can sit together. Want to join us?”

Perhaps he had said the wrong words? She had grown quiet, only to mutter the same words he had just used. He let Elizabeth process them, wondering if maybe he had gone too far with his speech, the last thing he wanted to do during this rather dire moment was- … then it stopped, her lithe form making contact with his body in a light, yet endearing embrace. Her words of thanks only floored him as his eyes suddenly moistened to the gratefulness this young woman had expressed.  His own hands had wrapped around her body to return the favor, “You’re welcome my dear...Truly” He felt tears streaming down his face as she let go of him, now it was time to finally retrieve that handkerchief he’d meant for her, dabbing at his own face before returning his gaze to hers.

Noticing where she was looking though, he himself turned to look in that direction only to look at his watch and confirm that the time was nigh. Sighing once again, he pocketed the watch and listened to her simple, yet thoughtful request. Though he wasn’t nearly as worn as his student, his aged face was showing their tell-tale signs of sadness and despondence, yet he wasn’t about to reject such a request from a longtime friend. “But of course,” he readied himself to stand up, mostly using the cane for support so he could right himself. “Shall we go then, my dear Elizabeth?” Ollivander then extended his arm, because having been born English, he was a gentleman first, and a scholar second.

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While You Were Away

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Elliot sat on his bed, auburn eyes staring up at the white ceiling as so many thoughts swirled around in his head. His stomach felt like a bunch of knots, he didn't know he felt so nervous. Perhaps it was because the town hall meeting was growing closer and he was afraid as to what the mayor had to say. Part of him hoped that she was perhaps still missing - that meant there was some sliver of hope that she was still alive. Though another part of him knew that it could be much worse, that they had found a body and everyone's worst fear would come to fruition.

The boy let out a frustrated sigh as he hoped off the bed, though before he could go far his phone dinged. Once glance told him Liz had responded to his text message. A smile tugged at the edges of his mouth as he grabbed the cellular device and quickly responded back.

"I'll be there."
Short and simple.

Not caring much about his appearance Elliot went to his closet and pretty much through on the first few things he saw. A sweater, some jeans and a pair of sneakers. The boy didn't even bother to correctly brush his hair and simply ran his longer fingers through it before going downstairs. Aunt Sabrina was cleaning up after their meal and looked to him curiously. "Uh....Liz wants me to sit with her at the meeting....if that's okay?" He said sheepishly. The older woman stared at him for a moment before smiling, walking up to him and ruffling up his already messy hair. "Of course, she'll need lots of support." Elliot pouted at the hair-ruffling before smiling, his aunt knew his friendship with Liz and Lily was important to him - those two had been with him for as long as he could remember. But now one of them was gone...

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It didn't take him long to reach the community center, upon arriving he saw that there were news vans already prepped and ready to go. He thought it was kind of disgusting how they were so eager to get some sort of information, whether it be simply for coverage or to actually inform the public on what was going on. He didn't even want to bring his own camera for once, this was something that didn't need to be some spectacle. 

The brunette boy looked up at the building, the knots in his stomach growing ever tighter. "Can I do this?" Elliot wanted to be there for Liz, he wanted to support Lily's family for whatever may come...however he felt like that wasn't something he could do....something that he wasn't good enough for. He was just a shy nobody, a face that blended into the background. How could someone like that provide any support for his friends and their family?

-----

Mountain View Elementary School

Elliot fell to the ground, he barely reacted fast enough to catch himself. Three boys snickered as they stared down at the smaller boy with looks of satisfaction, their arms crossed over their chests. “Oh look, the nerd fell down.” One of them said in a condescending manner, the other two laughing. The brunette boy didn’t speak as he simply picked himself off the ground quietly, though he didn’t get far as the boys backed him up against the wall.

THUNK

An empty soda can smacked one of the boys right in the temple of his head, bouncing off and tumbling to the ground. BULLSEYE! 

Before any of them could even find where the can came from, a fiery ball of anger sprinted over to put herself between Elliot and the three boys. “Who the hell do you think you are?!” Her fists clenched, “You have to pick on people just because your daddy don’t love you?!” She took a step towards them, the boys taking a step back from the short raven haired girl, lost for words in the moment. “HUH?! You miserable pricks!”

As Lillian Turner rained her fury upon three unsuspecting bullies, Elizabeth Baker ran to Elliot’s side, behind their body guard. “Are you okay?” She cooed, shooting an icy glare towards the three boys. “Don’t worry about them…” Bending down, the red-head grabbed a book that had fallen to the ground when Elliot had been shoved. “Here you go.” Elizabeth flashed him a warm smile, handing the book over. She looked back to her best friend, who - like a valiant knight - appeared as if she was ready to fight to the death to protect this boy she barely knew. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Lillian hissed, watching as the three disgruntled boys mumbled curses under their breath and left the area. They were not prepared to fight a girl, especially not this firecracker. 

Elizabeth laughed as Lillian turned back to face them, “I can not believe that soda can actually hit him.”

“I know!! I can never hit a target, and yet… ” She shrugged, “Karma came through and gifted me, what can I say?” She giggled along with Elizabeth, both of them delighted with their victory. 

“Hey,” Elizabeth turned her emerald eyes on Elliot once again, “Do you want to come with us to Butterfield's? We’re going to get some milkshakes. I’ll buy! What’s your favorite?”

“Yeah, join us! It’s sssSSSSOOOOO GOOD!”

The memory brought a smile to Elliot's face, it was one of of first encounters with the duo and ever since he had followed them around. They both were so bright and fun to be around. The boy sighed as he maned up and walked into the community center. A few people had already arrived but thankfully Liz hadn't yet. He felt nervous as he at the front where Liz would sit, was he really okay sitting up there? 

 "Why does this have to be so hard? He thought, Auburn eyes staring intently at the hands that were laying in his lap. He could already feel that this meeting was going to be terrible, something that the town wasn't prepared for.

Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by SamaraJayne96

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SamaraJayne96 Just Another Otaku~

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"Excuse me miss? Do you know if you have any Viking Mums in stock?" Sage felt a tug on her sleeve before turning to see a woman in her mid-30's. She had shoulder-length, teal blue hair and was currently juggling a fussy toddler on her hip. Her eyes looked tired, weary. She wore denim overalls with a long sleeved black shirt underneath. The child looked to be about three years old. He had black hair and a grumpy frown that had forced Sage to bite back a laugh. 
In an attempt to look professional, Sage stood abruptly and began wiping the dirt off her jeans.

"Of coarse!" Sage practically sang. She waved her hand over her shoulder and guided the middle-aged mother over to aisle 3 where the other potted flowers were stocked.
"They can be pretty tricky to spot sometimes, despite their brilliant yellow coloring." She gestured grandly towards the flowers. 
Viking Mums reminded Sage of sunshine. She practically memorized all the locations of her personal favorites, Viking Mums included. As the woman knelt to choose her prize, she placed the toddler next to her on the ground. Almost instantly, he bolted towards the aisle that held different pre-made cards for every occasion. At first, Sage was confused as to what he was doing over there... but then she saw it. Over by the cards was an air tank and tied to it, a bundle of balloons. The boy stretched at a futile attempt to grasp one of the strings. Seeming to realize the impossibility of his current situation, the boy then sat down and began to wail. The mother placed one of the plants in her cart and sighed audibly. She had clearly been having a rough morning.

Without a second thought, Sage walked over and plucked a green balloon from the bundle. Shushing him from behind, the woman scooped up her child and placed him, once more, on her hip. The smile on his face was all the thanks Sage needed when handing him his balloon. The woman's relief had been a mere bonus.
"Here. On the house... Is there anything else I can help you with today? Some coffee perhaps?" Sage made a mental note to put a dollar in the register for the balloon she had inadvertently "stolen."

"No thank you hun, I should really take these over to the town meeting. I thought it would be nice have a gift for the Mayor's family." With a final nod of gratitude she made her way to the register at the front of the store. 

Rainn Hartmann, one of the owners of Canis Major, stood as a cashier. He was tall, just over 6-foot, and also in his mid-thirties. He was reading a self-help book on expanding conscious behavior in an environment that was not so accepting. The book had obviously seen many years with its withered and dog-eared state.

"That will be $7.00 even." Rainn smiled softly while simultaneously opening the cash drawer. He set the book face down so he would not lose his page before accepting payment.
"Hey Molly, did you find everything okay?" The Hartmann's made it a point to remember all their customers names. Not only did it promote sales, but it also seemed to make his patrons feel welcome.

"I just wanted to say before I left... That employee over there? The one with the paint-splattered jeans? Rainn's eyebrows rose in mild concern. While he was sure Sage was nothing but sunshine and rainbows... his entrepreneur side could not help but worry. He had always had a hard time taking criticism from a customer. Almost as if he wanted his gardens to be a positive haven for all who enter. In an attempt to brace himself for any complaint, he placed his hands on the counter and waited.

"She was a tremendous help. A real delight. She was even able to make Carson over here smile." Molly gestured over to the toddler who had the balloon tied to his wrist. Carson shrieked with delight as he punched the balloon forward, only to have it slowly float back over to him.
"I would give that girl a raise. You don't see a lot of people going out of their way nowadays."

Rainn visibly relaxed his shoulders relieved. A boisterous laugh escaped his lips while he handed Molly her receipt. 
"That over there is Sage Rivera. Abby and I used to go to high school with her grandmother out in Southern California. When ol' Professor Rivera heard that we had opened a shop here, she practically jumped at the job opportunity for her granddaughter. Sage hasn't been here long, but I am sure she will fit in just fine."

Molly nodded and gave Rainn a short wink.
"Well, just because of her extra effort, I will come back tomorrow to buy breakfast." Molly chuckled as she walked toward the exit.
"I'll see you at the meeting."

"Sage." Rainn said picking up his book once more.
"Would you mind coming over here a moment?"

Sage nodded and placed her watering can on a cart that held other gardening tools. She skipped over and while walking, she drummed a nameless beat on the countertop.
"What's up bossman?" She grinned accepting the fist bump that he promptly offered.

Sage's grandmother (Willow) used to go to school with the owners of Canis Major. The three of them used to "stick it to the man" together and promote rallies for a number of fantastic causes. Some would say that their relationship was inappropriate due to the fact that Willow had been the art teacher at their school. Not a student. In fact, her grandmother lost her job at the institution due to her "unprofessional demeanor." Not that she cared... According to their morals, money had no value. Love and friendship took precedence. Besides the fact that they all seem to share her "hippie-nature", Sage was pretty sure that her grandmother was the only reason she was offered a job here in the first place.

"Another great review from another satisfied customer. I don't know what we would ever do without you." Rainn spoke, snapping Sage out of her thoughts.
Before she could answer however, Abigail appeared and sidled her way next to her husband. She seemed especially radiant today. Her long auburn hair was held up by chopsticks, forming a messy bun at the top of her head. Loose tendrils framed her warm features. 

"Hey Sage, Rainn and I were talking... We are going to close shop early today." As if to emphasize her point, Abby walked towards the front entrance and flipped the "Yes, we are open!" sign to "Sorry, we are closed."
We wanted to go to the town meeting today. They say that it is about Lily and we wanted to pay our respects."
Despair flashed across Abby's face momentarily, and just like that, it was gone. Even so, Sage could not help but feel a pang in her chest at her dear friend's discomfort.

"Even though you didn't know Lily, it would mean a lot to me if you could make an appearance. I figured we could handle closing things up while you ran home and got ready."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Sage asked glancing between the two of them.
Sage took a moment to appreciate her habit of always being prepared. Just in case she ever was to get too dirty, she always packed a change of clothes in her bag. 
"I have a change of clothes in my pack. I could help you two before I go and get ready."

Rainn waved her off before turning to count the drawer.
"You have done more than enough today. We appreciate you though."

Sage bit her lip and nodded in compliance.
"If you don't mind then, I'm just going to go change in the bathroom. Do you want me to save you two a seat?"

Abigail shook her head and shooed away any other offer possible.
"That won't be necessary love. We'll come and find you. Now hurry along, you're distracting us."


After washing up in the sink and ridding herself of all the dirt she had collected during her shift, Sage set loose her golden hair from its braided prison. She looked in the mirror shaking out a few tendrils giving her a messy but fashionably casual look. She put on the outfit she had brought and was dismayed to find that her previous attire was too filthy to put in her bag. After rummaging under the sink, a solution was found in the back of the cabinet. She placed her rags in an empty trash bag and placed it in her satchel to throw in the laundry later. Once more, she assessed her appearance in the mirror before deciding she was good to go.

On her way out Sage gave Abby a hug and Rainn a high five in passing. Placing her headphones over her head she listened to "Staying Alive" by the "Bee-Gees", once again noticing the inappropriate nature of the song. It almost seemed to mock the towns gathered despair. Within minutes, she made the short walk over to the community center. Upon entering, she felt a little like an outsider. Everyone here seemed to know each other. Discussion buzzed about the room as citizens talked in their own groups. Having barely known anyone she was unsure of what to do other than stand along the back wall. The only friends she had made in this town were the owners of Canis Major. Even that seemed to be cheating since she had met them through a mutual relationship.

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Emily woke up to the sound of birds chirping. She tried to see if it was a species she recognized, but it was much too early for actual thinking. Emily looked outside and saw that it was 11:00 A.M. A frown fell across her face; she preferred to wake up and see the sun rise. Thankfully she had the day off. Although she could've taken all the time in the world to get out of bed, she thought that it'd be best to get her day started as early as possible. 

When Emily had finished her shower, she wondered what she would do today. Without having work, it was difficult for her to plan anything. Her job was fairly enjoyable for her. While she would make people's orders, she would always get to talk to them. The chance to chat with random people about anything turned her job from one that would simply be bearable to one that was actually fun for her. On top of that, her coworkers were pleasant to be around. She would always go to work first and then do whatever came to mind once she got off, so her days off started to become much more confusing and less eventful than days she had work. However strange it may be to other people, Emily silently wished she worked a shift today.

Emily quickly found out that Ann was gone. Emily had to work her brain to remember, but she did end up remembering that Ann had a flight to catch today. For the next few weeks, Emily would be living alone. Another thing to make her days uneventful. She wondered if she'd even come to her apartment during those weeks. She used to always be at someone else's house, but all of those friends ended up moving out for college right after high school. Emily didn't want to come home just to be bored for hours until she slept.

'Whatever,' Emily thought. She'd figure all the details out later. For now, she ought to get out of the house. When she walked to her closet, she saw a note written in Ann's handwriting that read:

"i couldn't wake you up, so here.
there's a town meeting cause of some girl. i'm not going, so you have to show up for me. have fun finding out if you're late or not!
:)
(p.s. i hope u are)"

"Cool, I guess." It didn't take much thought for Emily to realize that 'some girl' was probably Lily Turner, the mayor's daughter. Emily yawned and stretched before opening up her closet door. She picked out the first three things she saw. A white hoodie, jeans, and some sneakers. She didn't really see how they looked, but that didn't matter to her. It might've been in her best interest to dress better, but she figured most of the town's residents wouldn't have done so. A quick clock-check told Emily that it was 11:45. The light shining into her room from her window told her that it was definitely A.M..

With no car (or bike, scooter, skateboard, you get the gist.), Emily walked everywhere she went. On any other day she probably would've spoken to somebody by now, or someone would've said hello to her. The somber atmosphere of the town gave her the reason why neither had happened yet. The streets seemed a lot less busy than before, and any talking that she heard people do was quiet. It seemed like Emily was the only person who wasn't in a bad mood. Emily was an Adult Link in Castle Town. Hopefully the disappearance of Lily Turner wasn't a sign of things to come. She enjoyed the city much more when it was lively, even though it could get a bit loud. It was part of the reason why she liked the recent developments being done in the city. Putting these thoughts aside, she decided it'd be the best idea for her to make her way to the community center first. 

A sigh escaped Emily's lips before she entered the community center. The groups of people talking was a drastic change from the mood of the town on her walk here. She recognized at least one person from every group. While she could've easily joined any of them, she decided not to. Her goal for today would be to meet at least... what number would be good? Two? Three? Four? Five. She would meet at least five new people. That goal could've been met immediately, but Emily wanted to talk to someone that was alone. She knew that not everyone was as outgoing as her, so some people might not have met anybody at all yet.

Thankfully for her, a girl with long, blonde hair was standing on the back wall. Emily made her way through the crowd, giving people an off-hand 'sorry' if she bumped into them. When Emily finally made her way to the girl, Emily was close enough to realize that she recognized her from somewhere. She looked awfully similar to the gardener from Canis Major. Emily decided to forget about it for now. She would probably find out if she was right eventually. Right now, she'd have to start a conversation. 

"Hello!" Emily said, waving.

Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by AdmrlStalfos19

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11:32am

Genesis could only look towards the boy in shock as he walked right past her with only a single word of goodbye. She could not believe this was someone would not stop to strike a conversation; even if it were only to be brief, it would've been better than what she was just given.

'Did he just blow me off?' she couldn't help but wonder.

While she had half to mind to go after him and demand an explanation, Genesis decided she didn't really have the time to chase the boy. She still had to flip a text to Karter to let him know that school had ended early. She pulled out her phone.

'School ended early. I have the rest of the week off too. Come pick me up, plz?'

With that, Genesis headed out to the parking lot that was at the school's front entrance, and waited for Karter's vehicle to arrive.

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by SamaraJayne96

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SamaraJayne96 Just Another Otaku~

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Lately I've been, 
I've been losing sleep.
Dreaming about the things that we could be...

Sage stood against the back wall of the auditorium waiting for the event in question to begin. Thankfully with the combination of her music playlist and her imagination she was able to keep herself from becoming bored. As she bobbed her head, she glanced around the area noting with interest how people were forming into their own groups. Most of the discussions were of an everyday nature. Questions like; "How are the kids?" or "How is work?" 

At the back where she stood, she also noticed an exit leading outside. Just beyond those double doors, she could see the infamous grounds of the community center. Behind the massive structure was a garden that would put the Garden of Eden to shame. Just past that was a bridge, and just over it, a pathway that leads to a nature trail. Ever since Sage had moved to Oregon she had wanted to explore that particular area. Unfortunately, with having recently moved, she never seemed to have the time. Close by a few citizens were crowded around a fire pit. In between conversation they were roasting what looked to be marshmallows. Her stomach gurgled as she looked at the burning flames with envy. Having bonfires had always been one of her favorite pastimes. Especially when it included making smores. 

Right when she was about to walk over there, a petite stranger appeared with a cute wave of her hand. Her hair was a bright pastel pink that reminded Sage of cotton candy at a state fair. The bandages that covered her face and hands caused Sage to worry, momentarily about the poor girl's personal life. Not that she would ask about it... That would be rude.

"Hello!" She waved cheerily, an infectious grin spreading over her face.

"Why hello there." Sage murmured with a lopsided smile.
"My name is Sage Rivera. I just moved into town not too long ago... Over there at Emerald Lofts? What is your name?" Being naturally shy, her line of questioning came out fast and rather clumsy.

In her nervousness, she removed her shawl and placed it over her bag. This left her in a pair of faded jeans, a lavender pinstriped crop tank, and her favorite crescent moon necklace. A breeze blowing in from outside ruffled her hair causing the scent of her Nag Champa perfume to permeate the air.

Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Aviaire

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Maybe Vanessa had been getting a little ahead of herself when she said that she would be drawing, because that was the complete opposite of what she had ended up doing. Her attention span, or lack thereof, had prevailed once again. It was barely twenty minutes until she got up from where she had sat down, with noticeably more graphite on her hands than on the paper. Vanessa wrinkled her nose at the mess, doing her best to put all of her stuff away without getting it all dirty as well. As soon as she was done with that, she hurried off to the bathroom. She really needed to wash her hands.

On her way, she noted that people were beginning to gather. There were a fair few news vans too. She was pretty sure that she saw Elizabeth Baker too, but she didn't get a proper look. Hope she's alright. Her and Lily are- were- god, I hope it's are - really good friends. Aw man, I really wanna know what's gonna happen at the conference now. Is that bad? I don't think so. So, for the second time that day, Vanessa engaged herself in another moral dilemma. She decided that it wasn't her fault she was interested, because she'd reached the sink.

Vanessa was halfway through washing her hands (which more or less meant violent scrubbing in a fruitless attempt to get the medium of the day off) when her phone chimed. She scowled at her bag, hands coated in soap. "For the love of... ugh, I'll be done in a minute." She rushed through the rest of her washing process and got graphite all over the tissue paper when she dried her hands. Whatever. It was going in the bin anyway. With cleaner hands, she checked her texts.

Nat: Hey.

She audibly groaned.

Vanessa: whats up
Nat: You had breakfast yet?
Vanessa: nah
Nat: Do you want to get something to eat?
Vanessa: yea but am a bit busy rn
Vanessa: going to the conference later 
Vanessa: but we can go eat something another time 
Nat: Yeah, that's fine. Thought that we could chat and catch up.
Vanessa: you do know you can just call me lol
Nat: It isn't the same. I'll be paying anyway.
Vanessa: god you are the best 
Vanessa: just text me whenever and i'll see if i'm free
Nat: Alright. Have a good day.
Nat: Remember to eat once you're done.

Vanessa sighed. Conference is at twelve. I mean, it'll be lunch after then, right? Oh well. It seemed like she wouldn't be getting that breakfast. It didn't matter anyway, just meant that she could have a bigger lunch. By the sounds of things, Natasha wasn't going to the conference. Had Vanessa asked why, it probably would've been due to some stuff about respect.

Vanessa: (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ 
Nat: ヾ(･ω･｡)ｼ

She was looking around for something to occupy the time when someone else caught her eye. He sat down, near the front (was he friends with Lily?) and proceeded to stare down at his lap. On his own too, which was odd. Vanessa couldn't really speak, as she was by herself too, but at least she'd had alone-time plans. Carefully, she approached him.

It wasn't long until she was pretty near. She didn't sit down, assuming that the front row was for those knew Lily better than she did, but she bent down a little next him. Messy brown hair and a casual look that probably didn't take an hour and a half to put together. Vanessa was a little jealous.

She spoke softly, not to startle him. The boy seemed pretty interested in his own hands. "Hey. Are you alright?" If he was close to Lily, then chances were that he was nervous about the conference. A little friendly conversation was sure to help. At least, she really hoped it would.

Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by LovelyComplex

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DDay, Creed, & Mirai 
Collab with @Kitty

In the kitchen, eating a bowl of Lucky Charms and watching Looney Tunes, Damon Day’s ears perked up to the sound of the bell ringing, which was immediately followed by three knocks. He put another spoonful of cereal in his mouth before yelling, “CREEEEEED. WHO IS IT? CREEEEEED. CAN YOU GET THAT? CREEEEEEEED.” His eyes were glued to the television mounted on the wall. Obviously, this boy was too preoccupied to get the door.  Ha, Taz.

“...you know I’m right here.” Creed sat on the built-in-window-chair, having opened it slightly for the gentle morning breeze. His dull gaze silently judging his employer. Years, years they’ve been doing the same-ol, same-ol and for years, Damon still hadn’t broken any of his habits. The rapper was a man of little thoughts sometimes (all the time). Especially when it came to his actions. 

Sighing to himself, hoping allowing his idol to go to the conference wasn’t a mistake, Creed glanced down at his phone and opened the security cameras app. While he did so and set his blue eyes on Mirai’s impatient-looking face, he noted out loud, “I requested the others to cut their vacation short. I anticipate your friend’s —  whereabouts —  will be nothing but troublesome for us.” He paused and looked up from his phone, “Is it necessary to go, Atlas?” 

“Creed.” The idol shoved more cereal in his mouth. At least chew with your mouth closed, boy. “You know the answer to that question. Lil’ was the best. Just the best. An absolute Angel! I don’t get any sleep anymore. I need to know if I can do anything to help. If they need money for an investigation, I’ll give it to them! If they need more people for a search party, I’ll join! I just… need to know if she’s okay.” His tone briefly showed a glimpse of sadness before he went back to munching away. 

Nodding to himself, not wanting to point out the consequences of Damon getting too involved, Creed stood up and leisurely made his way to the front door, “It’s your neighbor. By the way.” With an unamused expression plastered on his face, the agent opened the door and gestured toward the kitchen, “Good morning, Miss Ito.” 

“YOU WANT SOME LUCKY CHARMS, MIMI?!” 

“Five minutes and then we should leave if we want to make it on time.” Living in the countryside meant a long commute and knowing Damon he’d want to make stops before they got to the meeting hall. Of course, with a friend around, maybe, he could stay focused. Though, standing next to a friend in the Hall would be a dead give away that DDay was in the house. In addition, Creed was never one to helicopter his employer. A celebrity that was twenty three, mind you. A grown man. Old enough to make wise decisions without the aid from his manager. Still, those around him had low expectations.   

"Took you long enough.” Mirai commented as she walked past Creed, taking her mask down off her face and leaving it on her chin. Damon’s loud voice greeted her with that stupid nickname he’d given her, no matter how many times he was told not to use it he just didn’t seem to care. 

A scowl on her face, she entered the kitchen and took off the backpack on her back and put it on the counter. "Aren’t Lucky Charms a kids food? Not to mention full of sugar and brightly colored. Does it really seem like something I would want?” She asked sarcastically — “But it’s fucking good!” — as she began to unload the containers of food out onto the counter. "My grandparents made you food again. Probably enough to last you two weeks. They included fresh eggs as usual. At this rate I’m surprised you haven’t been given a chicken.” She pushed all the containers of food towards Damon before leaning on the counter and staring at him, eyeing his clothing. "You look weird.”

“Awwwwwwww yehhhhhhhh.” Dope. He loved when Gram and Gramps made him food. “They’re the best. Just straight up baller. I’ll need to buy them a car or something.” He contemplated how to pay them back for all their kindness. They did so much for him and what had he done for them? NOTHING. Well, besides being a garbage disposal. Registering the last comment she made, he dropped his spoon in the bowl and eagerly gave her a fast twirl, showcasing all of him, “But is it believable? Do I look like Damon or do I look like some casual priest or uh… an ‘edgelord’ as the internet calls it?” 

Cue the eye roll from Mirai, going to extremes right away for ‘thanking’ her grandparents. "Yeah don’t buy them a car. That’s not normal plus my grandparents wouldn’t like it. Just take what they give you. That’s good enough for them. Simpletons you know?” Shrugging, she stood up straight as Damon dropped his spoon then spun around. She walked around to him and crossed her arms, staring blankly at him. "You’re joking right.” Mirai held her finger up and shook her head telling him not to answer that. "Yeah, no. As believable as calling me an upstanding citizen is. You look like yourself in a dumb outfit. Plus let me guess you were going to wear those glasses?” His aviators were by his bowl of cereal.  

Leaning against the counter, she let out a hard sigh. "You are an idiot. You need a wig and maybe a hat, some fake glasses. Just changing what you wear does not disguise you. It makes you an idiot. Do you have those things I just listed? Who am I kidding you are a rich idol of course you do. Go get those. Chop chop idiot.” Mirai shoved him to get moving. Her patience thin after being asked such a dumb question.

Taking her harsh critique seriously, his mind did a mental checklist and his expression was focused on the exact whereabouts of all the things. Wig. Costume closet. Hat. With his luggage closet. Fake glasses… costume. Yes, costume. Why would they be with his sunglasses? That would be absurd! With the speed of a cheetah, he ran off. 

“You’re too kind. I was looking forward to him making a fool of himself.” Creed jested. In truth, he believed no costume would work. Damon would find a way to be seen. He might be good for some time at the conference, but something will be said that triggers him or he will see someone and break out of character. This wasn’t like a film set. This was real life and Damon was piss poor at blending in when he was still as himself, but dressed differently.  

Hoping up on the counter, Mirai leaned back on her arms. "Knowing him. He still will.” She replied, from what she has observed of Damon. He didn’t know how to not draw attention. He could go some time without it but he would do something to end up with attention on him. She couldn’t lie though, she’s been apart of the reason before but he’s capable enough on his own.

“Yes. Knowing him, indeed.” 

And as quick as he left, Damon came rushing downstairs with a blonde wig on and brown contacts in, “I forgot I had colored contacts from that time we went to that anime convention this year, Creed!” His eyes were always a dead give away. With no surprise at all from Creed, the rapper came in with a whole different look, boasting about his abilities to quick change, although this morning it took him two hours to decide on an outfit. “How’s this? I don’t think a hat would work. It ruins the whole nerd chic.” 

A laugh escaped Mirai’s lips. "Nerd… CHIC?!” She continued laughing. "Sure… Suree. Whatever you want to think, Nerd.” She slipped off the counter. "It works. But damn do you look like the nerds we fucked with for fun.” Her laughter died off and her face became cold again. 

“You should laugh more. It makes you cute.” Damon childishly grinned at his friend. 

Before Mirai could react, Creed started walking toward the door, his nice heeled dress shoes clacking on the tile to wood floors.  “Time to leave. You know the drill.” If you’re not in the car by the time Creed puts his seatbelt on, he’s leaving you. Regardless if the celebrity he’s bringing actually has to be at the engagement he’s driving to. It has taught Damon to move fast and not waste time.  

“Let’s DO THIS!” DDay did a little shimmy in front of Mimi, gesturing for her to go first. Like a gentlemen should! How could she stay mad at him? Like she said, he was an idiot. 

Eyes narrowing, Mirai was ready to lunge and beat the grin right off of Damon’s face. Her hands formed into fist at her side as she gritted her teeth. She barely registered Creed speaking. Damon’s stupid little shimmy only made her angrier at the idiot. She let out a slight growl and turned grabbing her bag off the counter zipping it back up and throwing it over her shoulder. As she walked past Damon she stomped her foot down on his toes. “OWWWW, WHAT THE SHIT?!” When she was at the door she paused and got an evil idea, what if he didn’t make it to the car in time? Turning, she smiled evilly as she leaned against the doorway looking at Damon. Practically challenging him to dare to try and pass by her right now.

Damon’s cheerful gaze turned cross, as he intensely cocked his eye at her. Was she seriously going to play this game, right now? What-a-bitch. Fortunately, this was his swamp and he knew it like the palm of his hand. But first since Grey wasn’t here... he grabbed his bowl and put it in the sink, then quickly put the food Mimi brought for him in his fridge (good boy). Okay. Now he was ready. He thought about his options. He had many escape routes but he only had two minutes. Two minutes to save the world! 

Whistling to himself, he started walking to the back of his kitchen as if he were going to take the back door. Or maybe even go upstairs and jump out onto his garage. Options. There were many. Her eyes watched him like a hawk and he shook his head in annoyance, “Not today, Satan.” And with that, he ran forward quickly and threw himself out the window with the seat, breaking it, and landing in front of Creed’s car. 

SUCCESS! Just like the movies. But, owwwwwwww. “I’ll fix it later!” She would’ve prevented him from seeing Lily! or knowing things about Lily! That was horrible of her. 

Was she surprised he did that? No, he was an idiot. She was curious what could possibly be going through his head to make that seem like the best option. Rolling her eyes at the event that unfolded, Mirai headed out the door and to her motorcycle pulling her mask back up. Starting her motorcycle she drove over to where the idiot and Creed’s car was. "Was that fun idiot? You know you may be dressed smart but you are still an idiot.” She leaned forward on her handlebars. "Ya know I would have given you a ride.” 

“I misread the situation entirely…” Slowly, very slowly, he picked himself up from all the shards. His forehead was slightly bleeding, but surprisingly he did a bang up job… or the window wasn’t fully closed so the damage wasn’t as bad. Did Creed open it up earlier? Eh, it didn’t matter. He only had a mild ouchie. “And yeah… it was fun.” DDay pouted, becoming Mr. Grumpy face now. She was a punk.  

His mood was interrupted when Creed honked the horn, startling him, “Thanks for the offer, babe, but I think I got to stop at a drugstore real quick. Creed’s going to drop me off two blocks away, because I think that would be smart.” He adjusted his fake glasses, before asking, “See you there?” 

A growl escaped her lips as he called her babe, her eyes narrowing as she glared at him with one of her coldest glares she had. Mirai shook slightly with anger as she fought the urge to get off her motorcycle and beat the ever living shit out of him. "Call me babe or cute or anything like that again and you will need to stop at a hospital instead.” Mirai lowly told him, anger piercing through clear as day. 

“Man…” He kept his words to himself. “OKAY THEN, BYEEEEE.” After marching to the passenger’s seat, Damon went in. “Creed, Mimi got a stick up her ass. Do you agree?” 

“No comment.” Creed’s attention was directly on the broken window. He’d need to repair it, sooner rather than later. Not saying there were thieves in Emerald City, but there could be thieves in Emerald City. “Call Jeremy.” He spoke to the car, which subsequently made a dialing noise. The repairman and him were on a first name basis. That means this isn’t an odd sighting at the Day Residence. 

Pushing herself back up and slipping her sunglasses on, Mirai sent one last look towards the car before revving her engine. She peeled out of the driveway flipping Damon off as she drove off. She sped down the road towards the city, dangerously weaving around cars as she let the adrenaline take over and calm down the anger she felt. That boy was a lot sometimes and didn’t seem to understand when he overstepped personal boundaries. She shook her head, revving the engine and speeding up. Letting the wind whip her hair behind her as the country flew past her and the city grew closer and closer.

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Jun

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Kei tried blending into the increasingly growing crowds, consisting mostly of his fellow students walking toward the community center. They were all underclassmen without cars to drive to the event, and Kei was fine with that. After what he had just done, the last thing Kei needed was to try to hold conversation with his fellow seniors, with those that expected him to be on at every moment.

Still, rather than blending in, Kei was uncomfortable with the crowd—his heart was beating fiercely and his walk was shaky. He was out of breath, having alternately run from the scene of the crime and slowed to a fast gait when he saw others on the streets. But most of all, most of all, he smelled—it wasn't smoky, as Kei had left the mansion before the fire was roaring (and in fact, as he looked back occasionally, Kei couldn't tell if there was smoke or not—had the fire department responded that quickly?); the fragrance was of sweat and oil, a musty one that didn't fit with a beautiful and mild morning.

Taking a sharp left from the throng, he moved down one side street, and then took a right at another. Two blocks later, Kei arrived at his destination—the Cosy Bear Cafe. A sign hung out in front with just one simple word: "Closed." Kei wrangled out his keychain, hanging on a lanyard that simply read "D-Day" in black letters against a deep red (a "gift" given to all students at his school), and found the key to the restaurant. The Bakers had been so inviting to Kei, trusting him with a key in recent days when they'd given him the charge to close down, an unusual assignment for a bus boy, but perhaps less so considering the strain on the family for the past two weeks.

He moved quickly toward the break room and opened his locker, taking out the cafe uniform, deodorant, and other toiletries. He quickly cleaned over a bathroom sink and changed. Taking his dirty clothes, he found shearers in the kitchen and clipped them apart quickly in long strips, and fed them down a industrial-use garbage disposal, bit by bit. The sweatshirt went down fine; the jeans and gloves, he stuffed in an empty pick jar, which he closed with a lid that he punched two holes in. Kei dropped a match inside to let the items burns, and disposed of the jar in the dumpster behind the establishment.

Still shaking, and unable to comprehend what he's just done, what he was still doing, Kei locked the door behind him and breathed just a little. There are no security cameras here, he reminded himself. All the clothes are gone, and I'm safe.

The community center wasn't too far from there. Kei arrived to an already filling auditorium space. His friends waved over to him, but Kei was in no mood for small talk—it was all he could do to even breathe. Instead, he spotted a solemn group in the front row and walked over, even though he knew it was not exactly appropriate for him to sit there. Moving in front of the old man, he bowed to him (Kei had never him, though there were surprisingly quite a few folks in town he didn't know, having lived here for only a few short years) and nodded toward Liz's friend, Elliot, and the girl with whom he was conversing.

Then he placed his left hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, squeezing gently for a moment, and letting go before walking behind the group and sitting directly behind Ellie. Working for the Bakers, Kei saw the young woman almost daily, and found a measure of comfort in her; he was the center of attention at school, but at the cafe, he could be the one relying on others, and Ellie—Kei preferred that nickname to Liz—was so kind and responsibly and funny. And of course, even if by happenstance, it was through Ellie that Kei met Lily.

As he saw the sadness exuding from Ellie and the same from the older gentleman, as well as a nervousness, it seemed, from Elliot, Kei's thoughts about the morning flew away. Even his own anxiety did, that built from Lily's disappearance, from his longing for her safety, for her warmth, for her physical touch, and he tried to look for words that would help Ellie, knowing nothing he could say could possibly do that.

It was strange that in this moment, he could find a calmness, a centering. But Kei did, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. He stood Zen as the conference inched toward its start, but his trance ended abruptly. Kei's eyelids suddenly shot open, and like electricity shooting from one conductor to another, a single throught raced through his brain.

My bike. I left my bike two blocks from the mansion...I left it at the scene of the crime.

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by The Muse

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Let Me Down Slowly

@Aviaire@Allycat@BeastofDestiny@Jun

Arm in arm, Ollivander and Elizabeth walked into the community center auditorium. This room that had once been a source of joy was now utterly tainted. Elizabeth's warm memories of watching her brothers on stage during an elementary school play, the occasional "free movie nights", the display of art from artists around the city... shattered. This would be with her for the rest of eternity. When she thought of this place, her mind would go to this moment in time. Always. Oh, how she wished she could forget, but she knew all too well that those pesky negative memories knew exactly how to superglue themselves to the deep recesses of your mind. 

Her legs slowed as they moved through the entrance and for a moment she thought she might collapse. Resisting her bodies temptation to freeze or flee, she gripped tighter onto Ollivander and leaned into him for support. If she couldn't get herself to the front row seat, surely her dear neighbor and friend would get her there. He had pulled her through worse before... right? 

Elizabeth's eyes darted around the room, searching for familiar faces. On stage, a majority of the Emerald City police force sat in an arrangement of chairs and a young political administrative assistant organized note cards on the podium. The curtain at the back of the stage rustled from time to time, indicating that more people were back stage. She imagined that the Turners were a few of those people. Much of the press was already in the auditorium, set up as close to the front row as they could get so that they would be in view of whoever would be answering their dreadful questions. They were camera ready, reading over their notes, holding recorders and microphones. It made her feel sick, so she eventually averted her gaze and found her bed-headed friend Elliot sitting up front. Crap! She had told him to come early and then took longer getting inside herself. She was an awful frie-

Who is that? A dark haired girl was speaking to him, though Elizabeth could only see the back of her and not her face. Short hair, petite frame... 

A shot of adrenaline rushed through Elizabeth's body and she released herself from Ollivander, legs suddenly finding their ground. "Lily?" The name gently escaped her lips as she took off from her neighbor's side and made a beeline for Elliot and the woman speaking to him. If she hadn't gone into tunnel vision, she might have noticed reporters turning their heads toward her; looking quickly from Elizabeth and then back to the girl that she was staring at. 

Out of impulse, Elizabeth grabbed the girls shoulders and swiveled her around so that they were face to face, beginning to force her into a bear hug. "Lily! You're-" She cut herself off as soon as she locked eyes with this woman who was very clearly not Lillian Turner. Her stomach knotted and she recoiled away, taking a few steps back from this stranger. "Oh God, I..." Her face flushed with embarrassment, suddenly feeling a room full of eyes on her. She glanced to Elliot for help, though she was unsure what he was supposed to do in that moment. "I'm s-ssooo sorry... I..." She shook her head, finding it unbearable to speak another word. Elizabeth didn't even know what to say to her. Instead of trying to explain, she glued her eyes to the ground and plopped herself down in the seat next to Elliot, her cheeks redder than her auburn hair.

I'm going completely insane...

It took every ounce of strength she had left not to burst into tears. If she had her way she would have curled into the fetal position and retreated into Lily's orange, over sized hoodie. What a grand idea it was to wear this attention grabbing outfit, looking like she hadn't slept for a month, and audibly saying the name of a girl everyone else knew was dead. Such a fool...

Just then she felt a hand on her shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. She tensed and looked up from the floor, meeting eyes with Kei; the Cosy Bear's busboy. She gave him a halfhearted smile accompanied with a small nod, as if to say that she was thankful that he was here, but she still found herself unable to work up the courage to speak. It was nice of Kei to attend, even though Elizabeth had told him to enjoy his day off. They even paid him for the full day and made sure that he knew that he wasn't required to attend even if the restaurant did close. "Such a sweet kid..." Elizabeth had not expected him to attend, but she supposed it was in support of her and her family. Plus, he had met Lily many times in the cafe; she had made various surprise visits and often enjoyed their chocolate malted milkshakes. Lily had never said much about him, but it didn't surprise Elizabeth that Lily might have made some sort of impression on Kei. She just had that affect on people.

Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Otterpop

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While You Were Away

@The Muse @Aviaire @Jun 
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"Deep breaths, you can do this, you gotta be strong. What if Liz saw you like this? She's probably going through so much worse.....I gotta be a man right? I gotta be there for her....right? Man she'll probably think I'm such a loser! But this isn't about me....this is about Lily. God i'm stupid."

Elliot was having a whole conversation with himself in his head, going back and forth on how he needed to act tough instead of his normal nervous self. Though all that was really doing was making him even more nervous. The boy was so wrapped up in the thoughts in his head that he didn't realize someone had walked up to him until they spoke, a soft voice. Auburn eyes shifted upwards. "Lily?" The thought flashed through his head but vanished just as fast as his eyes focused on the girl who had spoken.

Redness came to Elliot's cheeks as he felt a wave of embarrassment, the boy quickly shaking his head, floppy brown hair shaking about. "Ah..um...I-I, I'm really...I...Fine...." He fumbled with his words for a moment before he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, "I um, I'm fine...thank you."  Stupid! No one would really be fine in a situation like this. While the girl looked vaguely familiar he couldn't put a name to her face. "Thanks for...asking." She said with a small smile, not wanting to seem rude. Behind them he saw Kei Aiba sit down, while he knew of the other male he never took the time to speak to him. He kind of got an odd vibe from him, what it was he didn't know.

Before much more could be said Liz came up in a blur, grabbing the girl's shoulder. Elliot clearly heard her say Lily and his heart ached, as soon as she laid eyes on the other girl he could see the pain her green eyes. All eyes were on the front of the room and he could slowly see realization and a scatter of emotions cross Elizabeth's face, he wanted to say something to comfort her but the words were stuck in his throat. Though when she sat down he laid a hand on top of hers and offering her a gentle smile, he really did feel for her. While he might not say it aloud and didn't show it he had always had a bit of a crush on his childhood friend.

From the first time they met Liz and Lily were bright lights in his life, they were there in some of his hardest time. There were many times where Elliot felt like he didn't know enough for his friends, he felt like that now more so than ever. One of his friends was missing, very possibly dead and the other was grieving. I gotta be strong...for Liz at least. I gotta be there for her, as her friend. And while he knew she probably would never think of him in any way other than a friend it didn't bother him, as long as he could give her some form of comfort it was enough for him.

Elliot squeezed Liz's hand gently, "I'll be right here Liz".

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"Huuuh? Of course I said moseying. That's like, a common enough term people use you know," Pepper said. She cast a look at Lucas with a shrug, as if not believing this newcomer didn't know simple diction. But despite her body language, her smirk remained the same. She continued to listened to the new boy's explanation and what could be surmised as a story before raising an eye at the low-key accusation. "Eh, you look a little scrawny to mug. Wouldn't really have anything too valuable to pawn off." She waited a second or two to observe his face before her smirk somehow creeked wider.

Jeremy drew upon all of his willpower not to remind her that it was not in fact the 40's anymore, and that the majority of people who used mosey commonly only did so because they had long since lost the ability to hear, leaving them with no way to actually know that no one actually said it anymore. Instead, he stubbornly tried to keep his face straight and let her continue.

"Relax newbie, I'm just messing with you. Especially since you sound like some kind of a badass if you're thinking you can take on two strangers. You heavy lift or something? Or do you just make a habit of sounding dangerous-" Pepper paused when the boy suddenly yelled something out in a random direction. When she followed his sight, she spotted a girl who looked like she had her head in the clouds but she she wasn't too far away. "-and apparently loud too. That's some kind of weird cough you got there. Who's she, your girlfriend?" Another smirk, though at this point it was probably a joking one like all the rest. "Name's Pepper Rockwell, newbie. If you're gonna yell in strange directions in this town, you gotta introduce yourself first you know," she said with a hand extended to him.

"I... Badass is a bit strong, I'm kind of just your average guy." He said, shrugging his shoulders awkwardly. "I got in a few fights back home, but it's not like I worked out or anything. I just kind of got less than awful at it, you know? And as for... well, that..."

He gently tilted his head in the direction of the woman he just shouted at.

"It's... I don't actually know her or anything, but when you shout blatant mistruths, you've gotta be prepared for someone to call you out. If I didn't say anything, I probably would've had some kind of allergic reaction...

He kind of trailed off towards the end there, before shaking the weeb out of his head, or at least doing his very best to, and shook the hand Pepper had offered.

"Anyway, good to meetcha Pepper." He said, hoping that this would be the first step to people not treating him like a criminal anyore. It's nice to see that there are normal people here as well, and I didn't just accidentally move into the country-side equivalent of Innsmouth."

Alex continued his approach towards the two when he noticed the complete stranger that they were calling out to. In all honesty Alex was nearly a complete stranger to these two as well based on his memory. He listened to the conversation as he walked near. The sudden outcry of favoring ships was very offputting but Alex understood the desire to say something. What he didn't understand was actually doing it. "Dude, if you're not carful then the Otaku's are gonna come outta the woodworks to getcha for insulting their ships. I have no say in that specific battle though so bring on the fight."

He looked back at the other two realizng that he actually knew Pepper if only a little bit. She worked at the cinema if he remembered correctly. Still couldn't exactly place the other guy, and whoever that girl was that the guy yelled at was, Alex had no clue. "And don't worry, there won't be any supernatural happenings in EC. Not unless you go to the cinema. There's a demonic hound there that assaults you if you badmouth the place. You can call me Alex. And if you're wondering why I just forced my way into your conversation, I'm doing a documentary of the ups and downs of Emerald City for class. Anyone have anything they wanna mention about this place?"

"Mistruths? Buddy, you're a real weird fellow, you know that?" Pepper shook her head but accepted the handshake anyway. "But this whole town's weird when you think about it so you're bound to fit right in. But, uh, you know, you really should remember to say your name too. That's kind of how you meet people with first impressions?" Her smirk turned sly and she cocked her head a little. "Or maybe you just like me calling you buddy, Buddy."

In any case, someone new had decided to join their little gathering group. If Pepper had noticed the third boy prowling around, she hadn't mentioned so. But she did recognize him and so turned in his direction when he approached. "Yo, you're Alex...something, right? Long time no see I guess," she said. However, the smirk she was holding for the majority of the conversation deepened into a slight frown once the cinema was mentioned. "Heh, very funny there. But there's no use in scaring the newbie like that, is there? Besides, that's just exaggeration." Choosing to ignore that little remark, Pepper went silent and listened as Alex explained himself.

All the same, she flipped out her phone to check the time. Whoah, had time really sped up that fast? They still had a few minutes before they actually had to be anywhere but they might as well start walking off to the community center now. "Eeeeh? You mean the theater, Alex or just in general?" Pepper asked when she was finally paying attention to him again.

The creature which had been stalking Luke seemed to have reconsidered as more and more people arrived on the scene. Had he noticed this, he would have breathed a sigh of relief, but his own attention had been focused on the group in front of him. The young man hadn’t been silent up until this point intentionally- it was just that he was more hungry than talkative. So, he’d busied himself crunching on his granola bars while Pepper did the heavy lifting in the conversation. Was it a rude thing to do? Probably. Did he care? Probably not.

“Pep’, you calling someone weird is the blackest pot trying to insult the whitest kettle.”

The fact that Luke was weirder still was left unsaid, it would probably be obvious to anyone that gathered there.

“As someone whose spent a bunch of time at the cinema though- it’s less of a hound and more of a demon. You see a flash a red and then BAM, lights out.”

Then, with a look towards his old coworker that might have been a sly taunt- or perhaps begging for mercy- he added;

“Which is why you should buy a bunch of tickets to the place and start calling out insults, a meeting with a demon’s a hell of an event to experience you know.”

This Alex fellow also felt familiar to Luke, but he couldn’t quite place the guy. Certainly not someone he knew in any real capacity, but it was a deceptively small city. Everyone knew everyone at least a little bit if you lived here long enough.

Jeremy was a little confused when Pepper asked him to tell her his name, because he was... pretty sure he already had. Then again, he didn't always have the best memory, so maybe he was just wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. Still, he didn't think he was this time, and he planned to make it known.

"I mean, sure, if you really want to, but I'm like ninety percent sure I just introduced myself. If I didn't though, then I'm Jeremy Lindall.Nice to meetcha again, Pep. And it is blatantly untrue, she's talking about a relationship between two characters whose chemistry is hollow at best, and non-existant at worst. You can't just let something like that slide, ya know?"

And then he turned to face the new addition to their rapidly expanding conversation.

"Also, I think it's better not to call them Otaku these days, what with all the negative connotations from the Otaku Murders and all that crap. Plus it just kinda sounds weird. I think it's a lot more appropriate to call them weebs, or gremlins... Or degenerates... Or trash... Like Kobaru..." 

After once again reiterating that Kobaru is, in fact, an absolutely trash ship, and thoroughly eviserating any hopes of pretending he wasn't a disgusting weeb in the process, he sort of just trailed off, listening to the others as Alex and the other guy tried to warn him about some demonic entity haunting the local cinema, and Pepper tried to downplay the whole thing.

"So I talk shit about the cinema and a demon appears? That actually sounds kind of interesting..."

Unfortunately, common sense had a tendency of sticking it's head into Jeremy's life whenever his imagination let him think he'd stumbled across something fun. In this case, it was the emphasis on the word 'red', and the looks the other two were giving Pepper as they spoke.

"Oh. Oh... I was actually really excited for a second there..." He sighed, shoulders slumping. "I guess the 'demon' is just you, huh? Is that like your nickname or something?"

And then he sighed even harder as the guy whose name he still didn't know talked about what an event it was to actually meet a demon.

"Man, I spent ten years being dragged into trouble by a demon. At this point, it's more of an event when I'm not meeting one."

And then he felt a vibration in his pocket, and pulled out his phone, a visibly ancient and battered flip phone from some point to the mid to late 2000s. He took one look at it and his brow creased.

"Uh, are you guys going to this town meeting? Because it's gonna start soon, and I'd better get moving if I wanna make it. I stillkindalike the idea of talking more, because you guys are the first people I've met here other than my sister who haven't not-so-subtley accusedmeof kidnapping and/or murder."

One time was fine enough to slip past, especially since Alex was more an acquaintence than anyone close. Two times, and Pepper gave a very distinct glare right at Luke for invoking the supposed demon that hounded around the local theater; her thoughts were too occupied to notice the alien terms like "weeb" and "otaku" anyway. Luke only spared himself a darker stare because he more than instantly back peddled with his words, even offering the suggestion that the newbie buy some tickets to the theater. For a moment, all was well and good as far as Pepper was concerned but then the newbie, Jeremy started catching on and this time addressed the elephant in the room without beating around the bush.

"Huuuuuh? And what makes you think I'm this inflated demon these two bozos are talking about?" Pepper switched her stare onto Jeremy now with a bit of a twitch in her expression, her lips craning into an annoyed sneer. "Look, there ain't no demon in the theater, end of story. Don't listen to these two cause they hardly know anything for as long as they've lived in this town," she said with a huff. "Besides, if supposedly you were to meet this demon, I can tell you they'd give you more than a black eye for ticking them off, especially on theater grounds...."

More than just a little bit peeved by now, Pepper would stew in her annoyance for the seconds of silence it took for Jeremy to whip out his phone. Mention of the town meeting was a nice change of topic as far as Pepper was concerned and she shrugged at the question. "Eh, I was gonna head down there Buddy. By the way, I'm calling you Buddy cause you look like a buddy more than a Jeremy. But yeah, I got nothing better to do and I know this bozo's got nothing too so yeah, might as well." Pepper nudged Luke gently in acknowledgment before letting her feet begin to take her away in the direction of the Community Center. It was better they walk and talk anyway, assuming the others followed.

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Aviaire

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Things were not going too well for Vanessa.

The first thing she had done was try to comfort the guy on the front row. He seemed pretty nervous, though that was probably just the kind of person he was. She wasn't really sure what she expected. She opened her mouth to drop some life changing, inspirational advice on him (which meant she was improvising and hoped it worked), when all of a sudden she felt two hands grab on her shoulders and pull.

A second later, she was staring right into the eyes of Elizabeth Baker. She couldn't move, still shocked by the sudden movement, watching as a name that wasn't hers escaped from the lips of the shorter girl. And she continued to watch in stunned silence as her expression fell. Elizabeth recoiled, and Vanessa couldn't help stumbling backwards too, still staring at the other girl.

Was anyone watching them? Absolutely. Vanessa turned red too, embarrassment clear as day on her face. There were so many people there and she was at the front. Not to mention Elizabeth's outfit, and she'd just ran at her! God, people were going to talk. She hoped she was hard to recognise, but somehow she could see herself identified as 'vaguely looking like Lilian Turner'. The list of people who would bring it up when they saw her was looking longer than she liked.

Oh jeez, maybe that shouldn't be my priority right now.

Vanessa looked back at the girl, watching the other two boys try and comfort her. She supposed she should do the same, and reached over to awkwardly pat her shoulder. "Hey, uh, don't worry. It's fine, I'm fine, just... keep it together. Cool? Right, I'll be on my way now. See you 'round." That was one line of conversation she really did not want to continue. She turned and hastily walked off, face still flushed red. Way to go, two months into living in her new home and she'd been mistaken for a (possibly) dead girl.

As quickly as she could, she took a seat near the back. Maybe it wasn't a great place to sit, and she could definitely go somewhere better, but she just didn't want to be anywhere near the front after what just happened. Vanessa groaned audibly, her mood drastically different to how it had been earlier. Best case scenario: get the damn conference done with, and then go home.

Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by The Muse

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12 PM

&

Standing near the entrance of the community center, Sheriff Thomas Spade snubbed out a cigarette with the heel of his shoe. For the past hour he had been watching the townspeople flow into building, making a mental note of every face that he could. Many he knew, but many he didn't. This large gathering had quickly made him realize just how many new faces had flooded into Emerald City recently. Once there had been a time when he knew everyone in town by name. Now, that just wasn't feasible. It was unfortunate, but he understood why people were attracted to this humble little city. It was too bad that it would be ultimately ruined by them all if this "fad" continued, though. In no way was Thomas happy about the disappearance of Miss Turner, but deep down he did hope that it stopped or slowed this influx of people. Maybe some would even leave if they thought a serial killer was on the loose... 

"Sir."

Thomas looked to behind him to find his deputy, a younger man who had been his partner for at least a decade. He nodded, knowing what was being asked of him without having to speak. Reluctantly, he headed to the back stage where the Turner family waited.

"Here he is. Fashionably late, as always. Hmph." William Turner raised his hands in the air in exasperation, clearly not happy that Thomas had waited until the last minute to arrive. 

"Apologies." Thomas barely muttered out the word as he passed by the mayor, unfazed by William's impatience. The two had a long history with each other; both good and bad, though he didn't like to discuss it often. His deep blue eyes then found Jackie Turner, who had been chain-smoking in the corner by herself for what seemed like hours. She had been a wreck, though she hadn't said it out loud. She dealt with these sort of things in silence, while William huffed and puffed like the Big Bad Wolf. He loved to let everyone know when he was unhappy. 

"Isn't it time to go out there? Lets go!" William glared at Thomas from across the room now, gesturing to the curtain. Beyond it, the voices of hundreds of people filled the room as they all talked over one another.

Thomas nodded, his eyes moving from Jackie to Nathan Turner, who sat near his mother and kept silent as well. However, the look on Nathan's face told him that he was just as impatient as his father. "Let's get this over with..." He put a hand up to stop William in his tracks as the older man began to cross the room, "Remember... I speak, you speak, then I speak. Don't answer any questions...please."

"Of course, of course. Do you think I'm a goddamned idiot, Spade?" William's glare turned colder as he shoved Thomas' hand from his path, though he stayed frozen in place for the moment, eyes locked with the sheriff. 

Thomas kept his gaze, giving him a look of knowing. William was normally composed during public appearances, but this was different than some political debate. Emotions were high for everyone. 

"Then lets go." He pushed open the curtain, making way for the Turners to appear on stage. 

Immediately the crowd fell silent aside for the unmistakable sound of camera shutters going off one after the other. The Turner family quickly took their front row seats on stage, next to the majority of the Emerald City police department. Thomas, on the other hand, made his way to the podium. Being sheriff had been nice, once, but now it involved being the front-man for things that he was never truly prepared to handle in this small town... good thing his term was nearly over. 

"Thank you all for coming." He adjusted the microphone height, seeing the notes left on the podium for him to go by. He cleared his throat and looked up, scanning everyone who was sitting in the front row of the audience. Nearly all of them looked like they had been through hell. Although Thomas felt empathy for each of them, he also knew in the back of his mind that killers typically showed up to these sort of events. They offered help, they acted innocent, and they liked to show up to the scene of the crime; this was all entertaining to them. Anyone in the room could be Lillian's murderer. 

"Our community has been gutted recently and I know many of you are asking for answers. Trust me when I say that we have been working tirelessly, day and night, to try and get those answers for you. Lillian Turner meant a lot to so many of us..." He let that sit for a moment, moving his eyes to the people who stood further in the back of the auditorium. 

"Today, we are calling upon our towns people for help in solving this case." He could hear whispering spread throughout the crowd, seeing people looking to one another. No doubt they were being reaffirmed in their speculation that Lillian was dead by now, especially if the police hadn't found her yet. "Lillian Turner was last seen on the night of March 13th. If you heard or saw anything, I urge you to call our office. Our tip hotline will be completely anonymous." He glanced down at his notes for a brief moment, "Within the next few days we will be sending out a few teams to conduct interviews with many of you. Please don't be alarmed if police show up at your door. We ask that you please cooperate with them. You are not being specifically targeted if we interview you, we're only trying to piece together any information we can for this investigation." 

"With that said, I'd like to give the stage to the Turner family." Thomas stepped back and stood off to the side, hands behind his back in an "at-ease" position and his eyes continually scanning the audience. 

The family of three made their way to the podium, Jacqueline to the mayor's right and Nathan to his left. 

"Thank you all for coming, from the bottom of our hearts... I know Lily would appreciate this- will... will, appreciate it." William looked down for a moment, gripping the edges of the wooden podium while he mentally tried to pull himself together. He refused to think of his daughter in past tense. 

Beside him, his wife leaned into him for support. Her eyes were bloodshot as she dabbed a tissue at them and occasionally sniffled, but she was trying her darnedest not to openly cry in front of the entire town. Nathan stood in silence, rigid and cold, just as he had been for the past week. 

"Please, if you know anything... call the police department. Anything at all. We know someone out there must know something. There just has to be... someone."

"Please, someone find my baby! Tell me where she is!" Jacqueline suddenly burst out, pushing her husband back a bit in order to get closer to the microphone. Her eyes welled with tears once again as she pleaded, looking to the audience and then to all the media cameras. 

"Mother..." Nathan moved from his fathers side and grabbed her shoulders, taking her into an embrace. Jackie broke down then, sobbing into her sons chest. 

William frowned, watching his family for a moment before stepping back up to the podium, "As... as you all know, Lillian was deeply involved in the community. For months, she has been planning an event for the town. A fair. She has already planned for many game vendors to come in, for roller coasters to be set up, for a variety of food to be served." He paused, sighing heavily as if the words were weighing heavy on his soul. "In her honor, we have decided to keep the fair going. All of the proceeds are still going to be going back to the town, specifically to help fund our school systems." More whispers spread throughout the crowd as people shared their opinion on this news with one another. "Everything should be set up by tomorrow. Some of you may have noticed things being set up already..." 

Suddenly, William realized he had no idea how to end this. There was no good ending to this. No script for him to read off of. "Just... please, help us if you can. Keep us in your prayers." He turned and put an arm around his son and wife, caressing them and gently nudging them to return to their seats among the police force. 

Sheriff Thomas stepped up to the podium once again, "I will take questions now..."

The media members all yelled out their own questions at the same time, a mishmash of voices blending into white noise with only a few standing out above the rest. 

"Sheriff Spade! Has there been any evidence found as to Ms. Turner's whereabouts?!"

"I'm sorry, we cannot answer that at this time. Next?"

"Is it true that an article of clothing was found within the forest not far from Opal lake?!"

Thomas stared at the man who had asked the question for a moment, wondering where they had gotten their information from. Who in his department was answering questions they shouldn't have been? "This is an open investigation, I cannot confirm or deny any information that may or may not help a suspect in getting one step ahead of us. I'm sure you all understand." His voice was cold, clearly losing his patience with the media quickly. 

"Sheriff! What is being done to find Lillian?"

"Everything in our power. We have also begun communications with the FBI to request their assistance. Things are in the works... Next?"

"Sir," Thomas heard that familiar voice behind him once again. He turned away from the media, finding his deputy with a stern look on his face. The deputy leaned in closely, trying to whisper so that his voice didn't pick up on the microphone. "We have an emergency. The mayor's house is on fire."

Thomas was taken aback for a moment, then looked to his police force. Most of them were here aside for a handful of people to man the station. "Fire department is on their way, but I think we should check this out."

Thomas nodded, "Tell William. We'll give them an escort." He turned back to the media as his deputy walked towards the Turners, trying to whisper the news to them as well. 

"I'm sorry, everyone. We have to cut this short. There's been an-"

"My WHAT? MY HOUSE?!" William jumped to his feet while his other two family members stared at the deputy in disbelief. "What the fuck. Let's go, Spade!" 

Apparently all public formalities had gone out the window. Thomas couldn't say he blamed him. "Thank you all, again. Call the hotline, it will be passed out on business cards near the entrance of the buildin-"

"SPADE!"

Thomas spun around and gestured for the Turners to follow him back through the curtain. "My car is around back."

Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Kitty

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Turner House → Secret Place → T(B)urner House

Was Mirai really going to go to the dumb press conference? Of course not. She didn’t really care, it didn’t concern her. Plus she didn’t need to be around the idiot when he most definitely would make some sort of outburst or scene. People were suspicious of her enough so him drawing attention to both of them was a no go in her book. 

Instead the delinquent was driving on her motorcycle looking for a place to smoke and drink the bottle of sake she had just bought. When she was driving around she saw smoke and being, well her, she went to where it was to find two of her favorite things. One a chaotic scene of a house on fire and two a nice bike that she could sell.

Mirai parked her motorcycle near where the bike was and got off her cycle and onto the bike. She then rode off to see her favorite person, an annoying dude she wanted to punch, who bought anything she acquired illegally from her. The location was a secret and like hell she’d sell out the best way to make cash in the city. After she sold the bike, Mirai spent the walk back to the burning house smoking and glaring at anyone who dared to get too close.

By the time Mirai got back to the scene of the fire, firefighters were on the scene. It was a disappointment in her eyes but at least the fire was still going. Leaning against her bike, she pulled out her sake and began to drink it while staring into the flames of the building across the street. The firefighters tried and failed to make her move further away, she was too content watching the fire. What could she say, watching it was a bit therapeutic. Although beating people up was definitely much more therapeutic, that was just much more illegal.

The delinquent was in no way aware of who's house she was watching burn nor exactly how bad she was looking just sitting there watching the fire. In her eyes, she was simply doing whatever the fuck she wanted and enjoying it. Things Mirai enjoys tend to backfire on her a lot though.

Mirai took a swig of her sake as she watched a cop car pull up. When she saw the Turner's in said car. Well that is when she began to see that maybe sitting at the scene of the fire was not a good idea. Especially since she knew the Turner's already didn't like having her in their city. "Well this will be fun." Mirai muttered as she downed the rest of the sake, going back to watching the fire.

Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by Rabidporcupine

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@alexfangtalon@TheWindel@Snagglepuss89

Jeremy Lindall

Jeremy fought hard to not say something hilarious when Pepper threatened to give him a black eye. The specific retort that was currently floating around in his head was something along the lines of "If you could even reach it." He managed to keep it in though. Barely.

"Well, alright..." Jeremy said when Pepper decided she was going to keep calling him Buddy. Not that he was entirely against having a nickname, and at least it wasn't... Jerry... Eugh. It still wasn't preferable though, so that meant he had to give as good as he got. "If we're gonna do this though, then I'm sure you won't mind if I give you a nickname of my own, right?"

He nodded when she agreed to walk with him, also volunteering the unfortunate other guy in the process. He might've asked for a name or something, but at this point he wasn't sure if the poor guy actually had introduced himself during the conversation, and he'd just forgotten or not listened in the first place. So, deciding to avoid that potential train wreck, his new plan would be to just wait until someone else says his name, and then claim he knew it the whole time.

More importantly though, revenge.

"Sure, lead the way Little Demon."

Eh, sounded better in his head, but whatever. The important part was for it to annoy her. And if this one didn't work, well, he'd be sure to get it right next time.

You know, if he was being honest, Jeremy was feeling a little cheated when the mayor didn't turn out to be Orlando Bloom like he was promised. Instead, this William Turner turned out to be a strong contender for the most untrustworthy-looking politician he'd ever seen. That being said, he didn't want to seem too pessimistic of anything considering the guy was getting up to talk about his missing daughter, who by all accounts sounded like a real stand up person.

"Hey Pep, whaddaya know about this Lillian girl? What kinda thing are we looking for?" He asked, leaning over to quietly ask the girl next to him. Of course, he had to lean over fairly far, on account of her being so short, but thankfully, he managed to do it in a way where he didn't have to fold his body in half. 

Honestly, he may have actually been exaggerating the gesture a bit, but hey, he had to make sure that if she was going to keep calling him Buddy, he would give as good as he got and more.

Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by TheWendil

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If Jeremy was intending to annoy her, Pepper wouldn’t fill the satisfaction of his goal. Instead, she twitched her eye in a slight glimmer of irritation but ignored it all the same. Better to let the newbie in town get a feel for things before putting him in his place. And besides, he hadn’t badmouthed the theater directly, so all was well and good. With a shrug, she led the group on over to their destination.

Needless to say, getting into the community center was easy, seeing as everyone was expected to file in. It was leaving that felt more like a prison, Pepper feeling like the authorities all around were judging them. Maybe she was just psyching herself out, but it was a fair enough assertion. After all, the mayor’s daughter was probably dead and that meant full face there was a murderer in their quaint little town. A place as small as this and there was high chance the killer was among them even now…

Or maybe she was just giving herself an excuse not to listen. That was a fair judgement too because by the time Pepper realized what was happening, it sounded like the speeches were all over anyway. There was questioning and updates given but all was rendered moot when the mayor had to run for something. Maybe he left the stove on, as cliché as that sounded. Hands behind her head and leaning back, Pepper yawned before catching Jeremy’s eye.

“Eh?” She slowly straightened up her posture, ignoring how fake-looking his leaning was coming across as. “Dunno. Personally, I was never close to her. She seemed like she was on a pedestal sometimes, what being the mayor’s daughter and all.” A pause as Pepper considered her words, thinking harder. “But I mean like, she was a nice enough person from what I heard. Came to the theater so you know, decent enough. Didn’t deserve whatever happened to her, if that’s what you’re poking at.”

Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by The Muse

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@Aviaire@Allycat

"Hey, uh, don't worry. It's fine, I'm fine, just... keep it together. Cool? Right, I'll be on my way now. See you 'round."

Elizabeth nodded in acknowledgement, though she refused to look up from the ground as the Lily look-alike left the vicinity. She was too embarrassed and didn't exactly trust herself not to burst into tears the moment she met the woman's gaze. 

"Keep it together?" She pondered on that sentence, wondering what that was supposed to mean. How was she supposed to keep it together? Was that supposed to be reassuring? To help her in some way? She had been trying so hard to keep herself in check, but... 

Feeling Elliot place his hand over hers caused her trail of thought to break. She looked up and gave him a small smile, trying her hardest not to look as sad as she actually felt; a futile effort. Gingerly she interwove her fingers with his, grateful for his offered support. "I'll be right here Liz" As he squeezed her hand, Elizabeth leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you." She whispered back in response, closing her tired eyes and focusing on the clean smell of Elliot's clothing. It was a small comfort in a time where she felt so chaotic. 

Hearing a hush come over the crowd aside from camera shutters, Elizabeth snapped her eyes back open. Those few moments of serene tranquility with her friend was instantly shattered as she was dragged back into her miserable reality. Heart pounding, Elizabeth sat up straight and locked her eyes on the sheriff as he approached the podium with the Turner family. Unconsciously she gripped Elliot's hand a bit harder when the sheriff began to address the audience, anxiously awaiting any sort of news. 

"Within the next few days we will be sending out a few teams to conduct interviews with many of you. Please don't be alarmed if police show up at your door. We ask that you please cooperate with them."

The police had already spoken with her a day or two after Lily had disappeared, though she vividly remembered them not taking anything seriously. A bitterness toward the Emerald City police department had settled in her that day. Maybe they would actually ask important questions and stop cracking jokes this time around. Despite her hopefulness, to her this only meant that they had failed in their search for the past week. Had they even taken it seriously during the most important hours? If they had taken this as a real case, would Lily be here right now? 

As the Turner family took the stage, Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her heart ached seeing them. They all had their own "quirks" but she knew they loved Lillian in their own way. Seeing how distraught Mrs. Turner looked hit her the most. Jacqueline typically looked so well put together, but today...

"Please, someone find my baby! Tell me where she is!"

Elizabeth grimaced and her eyes welled with tears as she listened to the plea. That was undoubtedly the most emotion Elizabeth had ever heard in Mrs. Turner's voice. Taking in a deep breath, Elizabeth wiped her eyes with her free hand. "Keep it together." She reminded herself, echoing the Lily look-alike. 

Impatiently, Elizabeth waited through what the mayor had to say. It all seemed so irrelevant and it was making her more anxious. She just wanted answers! Something, ANYTHING. 

"In her honor, we have decided to keep the fair going. All of the proceeds are still going to be going back to the town, specifically to help fund our school systems."

This felt strange to Elizabeth. She eyed the mayor suspiciously, glancing at Elliot briefly to try to read his reaction. How could anyone enjoy a fair during a time like this? 

Finally, the sheriff was back at the podium and began to take questions. Eagerly she waited, glancing from journalist to journalist as they fired off questions. While the sheriff avoided the important questions, anxiety built higher within Elizabeth. How could they host this press conference and give the public absolutely no information? They hadn't found ANYTHING? How? She bit her lower lip, almost as if she was physically trying to stop herself from screaming out the questions running through her mind. 

"Is it true that an article of clothing was found within the forest not far from Opal lake?!"
"This is an open investigation, I cannot confirm or deny any information that may or may not help a suspect in getting...."

Suddenly all Elizabeth could hear was a high pitched buzzing in her ears, her mind zoning in on what a journalist had just asked. An article of clothing had been found in the forest not far from Opal lake. An article of clothing... an article of clothing?? Everything being said on stage began to sound like white noise, drowned out by her own thoughts. The question repeated in her head over and over again. Opal Lake? Who had found it? What type of clothing? When was it found? Did they search the area? 

Her green eyes stared forward, seemingly at nothing. A cold chill began to spread throughout her body despite the weather outside. Something inside was telling her that this was not good news. 

"My WHAT? MY HOUSE?!"

Elizabeth was jolted back into reality by the mayors voice. She glanced around, looking to the sheriff and then back to the Turner family. What had she missed? As Lily's family, the sheriff, and the entirety of the police department left the stage, Elizabeth looked to Elliot in confusion. 

"Fire! There's a fire at the mayor's house! Quick, lets go!" A nearby journalist yelled, excited about his new "scoop", and hurried into the news van with his camera crew. 

"A fire?" She frowned and looked around, watching all the news stations pour out of the community center. Even curious townspeople began to hightail it, wanting to see the disaster for themselves. This was all too much. How could there be a fire? Did they leave the stove on? Was this done on purpose? Thoughts bounced around her head again.

Nervously, she looked back to Elliot. "They... didn't tell us anything.. did they?" Her voice struggled to stay strong. "And the fire? What do you think happened?" Her heart couldn't take another tragedy. She wanted to rush to the scene, but she didn't think she could physically allow herself to see it. Her mental state couldn't handle it. Sighing, Elizabeth removed her hand from Elliot's so that she could place her face in her hands. She felt so defeated, fatigued and confused. Today was supposed to give her answers. Instead she felt more lost than before. 

Without Elliot's hand to hold, Elizabeth realized her own hands were shaking. "I just..." She sighed again, not even wanting to finish the sentence. She leaned back, taking her hands away from her face and looked to her friend once again. "Do you want to go eat?" She had been too nervous to eat anything this morning and she was at a loss of what to do, but knew she didn't want to be alone right now. "I saw Mario's Pizzeria was open..."

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by SkeankySnack

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Mentions: Elizabeth @The Muse, Elliot @Allycat, & Vanessa @Aviaire

So much activity, in such a short amount of time. Arm in arm with Elizabeth, walking down the aisle to the front row, only for her to dash away and mistake someone else for Lillian. He could see the embarrassment, the anxiety, the general lack of concern from surrounding eyewitnesses as they stared and murmured. Ollivander’s heart felt like it was in a vice grip as he watched his pupil… his friend; she didn’t need to go through this, not again.

He watched Elizabeth as she made her way to a seat next to a young man, one who Ollivander easily recognized as the third of the trio of Elizabeth’s friend group. Elliot might not have been as tied to the hip as Ellizabeth and Lillian, but he was certainly around for a large majority of their childhood. Feeling somewhat more at ease knowing Elizabeth had a close friend nearby, Ollivander made his way towards the front as well just as her father and brothers made it to their seats. He stopped by their seats to greet them, the boys first, who greeted Ollivander back in kind, then there was, “Hello John,” the older man smiled softly, greeting the Senior Baker. Despite how disheveled the young man looked, he certainly looked better than...on that day…

Johnathan Baker stood up to greet the older gentleman, “Hello Ollie,” his smile was almost as weak as he extended his hand out. Ollivander closed his eyes briefly before reaching his own hand out to firmly shake his friend’s, “Thank you for coming, our family really appreciates it.” He briefly examined John’s face, light stubble had begun to form, whereas on most days the man was clean shaven, and his eyes were puffy and red, tears shed from the tragedy that struck the Baker family. “Of course John, it was the least I could do, after all we’ve known each other for how many years now?” Ollivander was trying to make light of the situation as he gripped his friend’s hand, but given the circumstances now really wasn’t the time. Reaffirming himself, Ollivander took his other hand and placed it on top of John’s, “I am truly sorry for your loss my friend… she was a good woman.” John nodded in affirmation, unable to speak lest he choke up again.

Ollivander’s eyes wandered over to the rest of her family, distraught faces weary with exhaustion from all the emotional turmoil they had endured. Even though he was familiar with the deaths of friends and family, given the circumstances, he couldn’t even begin to fathom what everyone was going through. His eyes finally rest on the closed casket, due to the collision, everyone thought it best to keep it shut, best so that they remembered who for what she was and not how she looked now. Ollie excused himself from John so that he might pay his respects. Making his way over, he leaned his cane up against the bench and shakily knelt down in front of the casket, staring at the picture of Mary Baker, ever so carefully placed atop it. Ollie had known the Baker family for a long time and Mary almost as long as he had attended their wedding, the birth of their children, family and neighborhood gatherings and now...her funeral… To say that this moment was surreal would be an understatement. Now that he was here, what was he to say? Ollie knew of many gods, and while this was a Christian funeral he wanted to allow Mary the safest passage he could...so he prayed to all of them.


“The harvest has ended, and the fields are bare. 
The earth has grown cold, and the land is empty.
The gods of death are lingering over us,
keeping a watchful eye upon the living.
They wait, patiently, for eternity is theirs.”


The cold air whipped around them as the priest gave his last rites of passage for Mary, a prayer to the Lord above. It was April, overcast, a bitter chill in the air as winter had barely given way to spring, the bite of the air only more pronounced because of the occasion. The sky had barely opened to give way to rain, and though it was a light drizzle it only added to the rawness that surrounded them all. As the priest spoke, Mary’s casket was carried by a handful of men, one of them being Johnathan himself, barely able to keep his own composure as he carried his dead wife to her final resting place.


“Hail to you, Anubis! O jackal headed one,
guardian of the realm of the dead.
As her time has come, I hope
you may deem her worthy.

Hail to you, Demeter! O mother of darkness,
May your grief be abated
when your daughter returns once more.”


As the men set the casket down unto the device that would lower her down, Ollie felt a grip tightening around his arm. He looked down to find the form of Elizabeth clinging to him, tears flowing freely as she and many others cried openly at the loss of this wonderful woman. Even Ollie had a hard time keeping his composure as tears silently streamed down his face, but he remained in his resolve to finish his prayer.


“Hail to you, Hecate! O keeper of the gate,
between this world and the underworld.
I ask that when she crosses over,
you may guide her with wisdom.

Hail to you, Freya! O mistress of Folkvangr,
guardian of those who fall in battle.
Keep the souls of her ancestors with you.”


Opening his eyes as he tried to look beyond his own tears, he saw the casket sinking below the earth as the priest finished his prayer as asked the flock before him to ‘Go in peace, in the arms of the Lord’. Some stayed behind as others began to walk away towards their waiting vehicles, Ollivander was one who stayed, his prayer not yet done. The church bell tolled in the distance, a fitting finalization to this event and the epoch of Mary’s life.


“Hail to you, O gods and goddesses,
those of you who guard the underworld
and guide the dead on their final journey.
At this time of cold and dark,
I honor you, and ask that you watch over Mary,
and protect her as her day has arrived
As she now takes her final journey.”


Closing his eyes one last time, Ollivander suddenly snapped to attention as a small commotion broke out. Gazing around it seemed that the mayor was in a panic as the police chief moved him towards the back. In the background of the commotion he heard someone shout that the mayor’s mansion was on fire; how much time had actually passed? In reality it must have only been a ten to fifteen minutes at most, but to Ollivander, it might as well have been a lifetime as he relived that moment in time not so long ago. Turning towards Elizabeth he tried to gauge her reaction, not really having heard what went on during the meeting, that was the plan until he felt a slight buzzing in his pocket. Reaching in his coat pocket, he pulled out a phone, something the school had given him to keep in contact and inform him of any updates. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a simple flip phone with texting capabilities, anything beyond that was far too advanced and he was fine with that; let him live in the past and the youth could live in their future. Opening the device he put on his spectacles to read the message he received.


“All Faculty and Staff are to return to the University at the end of the press conference to discuss changes in this year’s curriculum in light of recent events.”
Office of the Dean, Silas Nugent

Ollivander’s eyebrows furrowed as he read the message, “Damn you Silas, did you even bother to attend the press conference?” A rhetorical question at best, Silas was more concerned about keeping the school open with hundreds of students, willing to spend thousands of dollars than actual community politics. That being said, with the disappearance of Lillian Turner, he had been acting more nervous than usual and micromanaging every aspect of all professors curriculum. Initially he had even opposed letting Elizabeth skip classes just because “her little friend ran away”, fortunately the other professors weren’t idiots and backed Ollivander up, leaving Silas to begrudgingly allow this decision.

Sighing in frustration Ollie stood up and put his phone back in his pocket giving a glance over to Elizabeth. At least she was with someone she could, at the very least subconsciously communicate on a more personal level, but he didn’t want to leave without letting her know he was. Making his way over he stood in front of the two students, “I’m sorry to be leaving on such short notice Elizabeth, I’m needed back at the university to attend to some business.” He looked slightly somber, though he perked up when his eyes fell over to Elliot, “Though I trust Mr. Herring is more than willing to keep you company in the meantime,” He gave a lighthearted wink to the young man before returning to Elizabeth, “We’ll get through this my dear,” he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, “A day at a time.” He gave a small comforting smile before releasing his grip, “You know where to find me if you need me, take care now.” Without another word he began walking off towards the entrance, a lot on his mind as he tried to recount just what had happened during that meeting, but failing to gain any ground, his mind truly having wandered away.

As he approached the entrance he noticed the young woman that Elizabeth had ran towards and… at first he understood why she had run towards her, but now that he was close as he was, the similarities between her and Lillian were coming further into focus. If she was sitting at the back though then perhaps she didn’t want to either see Elizabeth or let Elizabeth see her. Ollivander wasn’t one to pry into other people’s business when it didn't concern him, however in the case of Elizabeth, he might be able to help the two of them at the same time. “Excuse me, miss?” Ollivander began to approach her, keeping a respectful distance away. He didn’t recognize her, but she seemed old enough to be a student, perhaps she was new to the town and university? “I don’t suppose you’re one of the students at the university? I’m one of the professors there and was just on my way back if you were as well.” Looking over his shoulder, he was relieved that Elizabeth and Elliot hadn’t left their seating yet, “If nothing else, it may give you a reason to blend into the crowd while there’s still a crowd left.” He nodded politely and began walking towards the door again, he wasn’t sure if the young woman would follow or not, if she did then she was welcome in his company and hopefully would help her avoid any other awkward confrontations.

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