[IC] Welcome to Arcadia

[Grey]

Greene Detective Agency, Upper Floor - Wednesday March 23, Mid-Afternoon

Morgan stared at the nigh-empty document on her computer screen, listening to the wall clock tick on and on - a constant reminder of the time she was wasting away while sitting at this table. 'Oh the wonders of academics,' she thought blithely, turning her swivel chair back and forth in rhythm with the clock. With the thick blanket draped over her shoulders and her cross-legged sitting position, she looked like a particularly drab blob with a head. She cast an expectant glance down to the outdated Nokia cellphone on her desk, only to be disappointed by the distinct lack of any notifications. Oh how she wished for a distraction right now - not that she needed one or that one would be particularly beneficial to her academic career. After all, this essay was supposed to be due tomorrow morning.

Morgan typed up a paragraph before deleting it. "No, that doesn't sound right..." she mumbled, burying her face in her palms and letting out a long sigh. 'Curse this stupid bullshit homework deadline rule!' she internally groaned. She could do investigating into the dead hours of night, but as soon as her legal guardian knew that she had a deadline coming up the following day, it was all class work the rest of the day. Couldn't he see that there were more important things to do? She pulled up the internet, revealing a page with the March lunar stages. It was a full moon tonight. That meant wolves. Wolves at night, and people vanishing in the evening. What a horrible time to be occupied.

A short while later, her phone vibrated. She glanced at the caller ID, answered the call, and pinned the cell to her shoulder with her cheek. "I'm in the zone, Greenie. This is not a good time to be bothering me," she answered, eyes darting across the screen as her fingers played a symphony on the keyboard.

"How unfortunate for you, then," the familiar voice from the other side of the phone answered. Immediately Morgan knew she probably wasn't going to like the sound of what came next. "Because I'm going to have to call today an exception to-"
"Oh for fu- for Pete sake! Really? This couldn't have happened an hour ago?"
"Of course it couldn't; the girl just reappeared a short while ago."
"...What."
"I suppose that means you're interested. It's at Hyde Street Station."
"Sweet, I'll head over then. Thanks for the head's up."

---

Hyde Street Station - March 23, Evening

Morgan arrived at the subway station with haste. Her brown hair was done up in a messy bun, the best she could do in the short time between receiving the news and getting out of her house ASAP. Though she looked fairly normal in her dark trench coat and slacks, the truth was that she just threw those over her pajamas and called it sufficient. Besides, it's not as if anyone could tell, even if her frame looked slightly more heavyset than usual.

The station itself was in shambles; it was a lot like a more chaotic version of the scene of one of the past disappearances. It was also surprisingly cold for spring, not to mention the fact that the station was supposed to be at least somewhat warmer than the outside. A layer of frost covered much of the surrounding area, which itself looked like a tornado had come through. The lights flickered, but she could tell that nothing would be wrong with the circuitry. After all, if it was anything like the last few times...

"Dunno what you and Howard'll get from her; everything we got didn't make a lick of sense," the policeman explained, sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he led Morgan to the young lady she was looking to speak to, "But anyone can do it, it's you two." He stopped a bit away and gestured towards Kayla. "There you go."

"Thanks officer," Morgan curtly nodded. She slowly walked up to Kayla. "'Scuse me," she greeted with a casual wave to the girl, "You'll have to come with me. Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I'll just have to ask you a few questions in a more..." She glanced around the disheveled area. "... appropriate setting."

---

Greene Detective Agency, Office

"Uh... Sorry the place looks like shi- Isn't very cleaned up," Morgan apologized as she entered the detective's office with a sheaf of papers in hand. She took a seat on the other side of the large wooden desk. There was a slowly turning desk fan in the corner and a bunch of file cabinets behind her; it was all very cliche, which made the dichotomy between the setting and the detective sitting in the desk all the more jarring. A gruff-looking older male with a beige fedora and a distinct accent, Morgan was not. The room didn't even smell like smoke.

"Okay then," the brunette began, looking over the papers in her hand, "Who are you? What do you remember? Do any of these faces look familiar?" She fanned out the papers to reveal that they were missing person's files. Everyone was within 16-21 years of age, had disappeared during a full moon, and didn't live in town. But other than that, there seemed to be nothing connecting the individuals. "...And I know I might sound crazy, but does the word 'magic' mean anything to you?" The rapid-fire questions hardly seemed professional, but somehow that didn't seem surprising.

@Arista

[Arista]

Greene Detective Agency

Kayla wearily watched the girl that had led her to the office they now stood in. Her hands were in the pockets of her coat and her eyes filtered across the room every few seconds. Her nose wrinkled and a sigh left her lips. She was damn tired and after being integrated by the police, she wasn't in the mood. At the pictures that were laid out before her, Kayla felt her stomach churn unexpectedly and a familiar feeling of something settling just above her skin.

"....No. As I said before, I don't know those people and no matter how long I look at their faces, nothing strikes out as familiar." At the second question, her fingers twitched as a faint pulse of frigid air released from her body. She honesty hadn't meant to freeze the station, her powers had attacked on their own the moment her eyes opened. Instinct drew her to act as she had, and with how suddenly drained she felt, getting away from here seemed perfect. "Maybe, there are books that one can read that relates to magic. Why?" Her tone was clipped and slurred slightly, head shaking minutely as if to clear it, Kayla focuses on relaxing.

She still had to find a place to live and a job to support her spending. The vibration of her cell phone drew her attention away from her study for the wall painting. She really didn't want to be here. "I don't know how I arrive there. I don't know why nothing feels familiar when my name appears on the record as a resident, hell I don't even know if my name is what it says it is. I'm extremely tired and really don't have the patience for this, I have to find a place to live and maybe sleep for a week." She wasn't whining, blonde strands of hair swayed in her face and she blew them away.

@Grey

[Grey]

'You tried, Morgan. You tried,' Morgan thought frustratedly as she tapped her index finger on the top of the desk. Tap tap tap. She regarded Kayla with a hard stare, trying to discern whether or not it was a lie. In the end, she'd managed to ascertain that it was unlikely she was intentionally obstructing justice. Intentionally being the key word here; she was willing to bet that whoever was causing these disappearances would know how to cover their tracks.

"I see..." Her eyes narrowed at the response to the second question. It was as noncommital as they came, that was for sure. But if that was how it was going to be, so be it. "Ah. My bad. You see, it's a bit of a hobby of mine," she answered, that poker face of 'formal informality' still masking her true self. "Just consider my interest one of... personal curiosity." The desk fan began turning a bit too quickly for a room without open windows. "At any rate, we're not entirely done her yet," Morgan continued. She gathered the files up and organized them before getting up to deposit them in a file folder withdraw from a cabinet behind the desk. Behind her, Kayla was going off about her troubles. "That's probably because you've been gone for, say, 28... maybe 29 days?" Morgan nonchalantly mentioned, letting that sink in as she placed the now-filled file back into the cabinet.

As Morgan returned to her seat, the topic of Kayla's 'whining' had ended up broaching a somewhat uncomfortable subject she'd been meaning to get to slightly later in the discussion. How inconvenient. "Yeah... About that..." Her voice was awkward and strained as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was fairly obvious she wasn't making any attempt at hiding her discontent with what she was about to say. For her, this was usually around when these interviews took a more troublesome turn. It made sense; people didn't often enjoy having their activities restricted. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news lass." From across the desk, she nonchalantly pointed at Kayla. "But unfortunately I can't let you do that."

"Consider it something like witness protection," Morgan explained, "We don't know if whoever whisked you away is going to come back, you know? Which means we'll have to keep you here until we get this sorted out. I'd say sorry, but this is really for your own good. Besides, it does solve your little residency problem."

@Arista

[Arista]

An arched brow was her silent reponse. Her fingers twitching and eyes narrowing were the only signs that showed her irritation.

"I have to stay here...oh grand." Hee words were hissed between her teeth, the fluctuation of air around her reminded her of just what she was. Pulling the closest chair with a jerk of her wrist, Kayla sat heavily against it and tried to quell the mixture of fear and resignation waring within her mind. She wouldn't be alone, her 'strange' sleeping patterns would be of interest to them. Kayla closed her eyes and slumped against the hard back of the wooden chair, terrific. "And where exactly am I to sleep?" She asks after a moment of silent thought, her head lifting up with pure will alone. Her body felt suddenly heavy, every muscle ached and her eyes were fluttering to keep open.

She'd pass out soon, a frown crossed her features as a thought struck her. Why was she so tired? @Grey

[Grey]

"Oh pish-posh, it could always be much worse," Morgan insisted with a dismissive wave of her hand. If she had noticed Kayla's discontent, she obviously wasn't particularly concerned about it. "You could always be stuck in some seedy motel, worrying about whatever fu- screwed up mother...er... grabbed you in the first place. (...Not that you won't be free of worrying about it either way...)" Morgan's voice became a low murmur as she glanced at the wall clock and yawned.

"As for your question..." Morgan rested her chin on her palms, half-lidded eyes staring off at a random object to the side as she began to concoct an answer to the query. "...We've got a futon I can convert pretty easily, and I'm sure that we have a sleeping bag hidden away somewhere... My bed's pretty big, so I guess if you really wanted to be anal about it, we could share (but I'll probably kick you off)... And uh...There's always the floor." She shrugged. "That answers that. Kind of. Now are you willing to cooperate, or...?"

Morgan lifted an eyebrow as Kayla slouched in her seach. "...Hmm. It certainly seems that you've already cozied up to the idea of sleeping in a chair," she quipped, "Unfortunately this room isn't exactly well-suited for sleeping, lest you want have strange people talk loudly about their business while you're trying to get shut-eye." Morgan rose from her chair. "Up with you now," she gestured. @Arista

[Arista]

Kayla snorted and waved the others 'censored' words away. "I'll sleep in the sleeping bag or futon, I'm not too picky. And as for your next question, I'll cooperate as best I can." As the other rose to her feet and muttered under her breath for her to rise as well. Kayla moved away from her chair and absently gripped the strap of her bag, her eyes blinking as if to focus on something in particular.

"Where to?" She asked afree a few moments, her gaze slipping towards the window where she inwardly panicked when she noticed the faint frost coating the glass. She flicked her fingers and relaxed when it vanished and a cool breeze settled around her before fading. @Grey

[Grey]

Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. A different answer would've been pretty damned inconvenient, that's for sure. That went for both questions, by the way; there was no way in hell she'd be willing to give up the spaciousness of her nice, comfortable bed that easily. She barely got enough sleep as it was. She scratched at an itch on the back of her head. Something in her fey mind told her that she'd be getting a lot less of it for an indeterminate amount of time.

'It could be worse,' Morgan reassured herself as she stepped around the lethargic young lady and pulled open the office door. With a quick hand gesture, she indicated that Kayla leave first so she could lock everything up.

---

Apart from impassive gestures, she'd been mostly silent as she led Kayla outside the office and then over to the side of the building where the door to the apartment itself was. The two bedroom apartment above the office looked like an anachronistic mess. The decor was a peculiar mix of utility furniture, colonial-style woodwork, and retro 50's aesthetic. One might suppose that such a design choice would be an eyesore. Perhaps it would've looked better if it was a bit more organized, but since it was effectively a melting pot with minimum effort put into furniture placement, that was not an incorrect assessment. It was clean and well-kept, though.

"Make yourself at home, I guess," Morgan said as she stripped herself of her coat and threw it on the rack next to the door, revealing the pajamas she'd thrown it over. She pointed to a short hallway with one door at the end, two the right, and one to the left. "Centermost is mine. Left is Greenie's," she explained, "He's the one who actually owns everything. Bathroom is the first on the right." She paused. "...Don't touch the computer. I'll start setting up stuff." And by that, she meant she would go into the closet, and flick her hand down to cause the wind to drop down a rolled up sleeping bag. It was late and she was tired; as magical as she was, she wasn't going to put in the extra effort to set up a futon when there was a perfectly good bag a few steps closer. With it under her hand, she walked to her room.

As for the design of the room itself, it didn't look as sporadic as the rest of the apartment. It was mostly wooden utility furniture, with slight flourishes from a time long past dotted about here and there, like the art deco clock and the old movie posters. The technology choice was equally peculiar; while there was a fairly recent laptop model on the desk, there was also a hybrid DVD and VCR player beneath a boxy television and an antennaed radio sitting on the shelf. Morgan unrolled the bag out on the floor. "Anyway, I expect you to stay for the time being," Morgan yawned, "We've got cable don't worry. If you need anything else, I can stop by the store tomorrow."

"Now if you'll excuse me," she said, picking the laptop off her desk and carrying it to her bed, "I've an essay to write." @Arista

[Arista]

After being led into the apartment and then I to the roon, Kayla found herself alone. Her gaze focused on the window and then the futon she was to sleep in. Pale fingers teaching out, she touched the cool bedding and felt a cool breeze fill be the room. Glancing up and finding a light coating of frost on the glass, Kayla moved forward and peered outside. Darkness had fallen and the shops, homes and streets were filled with light, people walking below had her interest.

Kayla didn't remember much upon opening her eyes, only that she'd ached and felt like every heath was being punched out of her chest. Looking down at herself, she found herself dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a large brown jacket, her feet covered in black boots. Blinking her eyes and turning, she made her way back to her 'bed'. Another burst of frigid air had her stilling and half-turning, a gasp falling from her lips. The room was now shrouded in mist, the window glass completely frozen solid.

What is- How the hell- Her mind went blank as another, stronger gust filled the room. Her head tilted to the side as her hand slowly lifted up, the mist that filled the room surging towards her hand. It solidified and formed figures, a blink showed them to be two wolves. Kayla lowered her arm and stiffened when the ice-wolves turned and peered up at her, their heads tilting as if in question. Exhaustion faded as a strong urge to venture put and explore filled her, the wolves seemed to sense the change because they barked softly.

"You don't seem dangerous...but how did I create you...?" She asked softy as she approached the wolves, hesitantly laying a hand on each head. They both chuffed and wiggled almost excitedly under her touch. When Kayla had expected cold, she found the wolves heads warm, she ran her hand down until her fingers touched their muzzles. She glanced up and with a blink, the window was surrounded in ice, Kayla rose to her feet and moved forward. When she reached the 'window' she expected to hit a hard, solid all, instead it parted as if silk.

Your special...you have an ability that normal people can't hope to grasp. Now just...relax. The words had Kayla stopping, her gaze focused on the activity below. The wolves whined softly at her side, jerking her out of the daze she'd been in. She offered them both a smile and when her gaze focused below, she swallowed as uneasiness filled her. The wolf on her right chuffed slightly before jumping, Kayla reached out as if to grab it. Her eyes widened when it vanished into nothingness, the wolf on her left rubbed its head against her left arm.

Watching as it lowered itself onto its belly, Kayla blinked as it gestured for her to hop on. Curiosity had her lifting a leg and hoisting herself atop the wolf's back before it really processed in her mind. When she noticed, she only had time to offer a soft squeak before the wolf leaped. It occurred to her that screaming might be a good option, to bad her gaze was scanning the ground below as she drew closer to it, she didn't feel scared. Kayla landed on her feet with a soft exhale, jumping when two soft barks came from behind her. The wolves that had vnssihed were sitting with their heads tilted, a soft giggle escaped Kayla as she spun on her heel and began to walk. No one seemed to notice the wolves that walked at her sides, Kayla's smile grew as she moved away from the apartment and deeper into the crowds of people.

"Let's just...explore for a bit." She whispered to her two companions, slipping her hands I to the pockets of her jacket. The wolves yipped and Kayla decided to take that was agreement. She felt oddly had for just..jumping out the window but...she wanted to explore. And even if she didn't understand it, the wolves that walked beside her had her relaxing. She instinctively knew they'd protect her, a dull throb had her wincing as it raced down her skull. She paid it no mind as she weaved through the crowd of people, her gaze scanning the shops and poeple in almost child-like wonder.

She'd just explore for a bit and return. With that in mind, Kayla continued on her quest. @Grey

[Grey]

Cityscape RIP - Arcadia Wilderness, Mid Night

Night had fallen upon Arcadia, and with the setting of the sun, the atmosphere of the city had completely changed. It was a night life in the purest sense of the word. It was in these liminal hours that the heartbeat of the land could truly be felt. The congregate shine of glowing neon signs, streetlamp halos, and illuminated rooms cast the city in an artificial daylight; the time was distinguished only by the full moon above like an eye of god, staring down on the world below. Droves of people below walked the streets like flowing blood. Their destinations were unknown, each following a different sort of indeterminable desire. It was through the vein-like streets of the city that Kayla wandered, her magical beasts at her side. Peculiarly, such an odd sight was one nobody noticed. Or perhaps, did nobody care?

As this stranger in a familiar land traveled onward, the city streets made way for beaten pathways, the buildings made way for trees, and the only light shining was the moon above. Far behind her were the city lights glimmering off in the distance, looking all the world like the stars had descended to earth - beautiful, and yet at the same time, grotesque in its nature. The forest directly east of Arcadia was a far cry from this image of underlying abnormality, but it too was a peculiar place, loud, lively and enchanting in its own ways. It was here that Kayla found herself wandering. The lunatic moon cast the world in silver light, increasing the ethereal quality of this enchanted wood. However, the wilderness was not at peace. These woodlands were not a safe place, and this was something Kayla's wolves picked up on quickly.

But considering that fact, Kayla was assuredly very fortunate person to have had traveled this far into the wilds and remained unharmed. But still, there was something wrong: it was dead silent. There were no chirping insects, no rustling leaves or light breeze. There was only the eerie repetition of her footsteps upon the beaten trail and her increasing awareness of her own heartbeat. Soon, however, the sounds of nature began rushing back in. Just what was that peculiar experience? Before she could dwell on it for too long, her senses began picking up on things that she hadn't noticed before. The sounds of something quickly tearing through branches and leaves, the crackling of a glowing campfire off in the distance, and a voice crying out from the wilderness: "Hey! Hey you! Over there!" Considering the implicit nature of her surroundings, Kayla opted to explore the latter option.

Now as far as voices went, one could describe it as melodic, childlike, and definitely female. It was also rather easy to pinpoint by virtue of being rather loud, so Kayla followed a deer trail towards the source. "Yes! Closer... CLOSER...ASFERWJTRWFUDVRCFSHCDUSIFEFEFUEGW!!!!"

The cacophonous sound of the being's strange... cry..? was left hanging in the air as Kayla was left to look upon the speaker. It - or rather, she - was a creature reminiscent of a tree in the rough shape of a short - shorter than Kayla, at least - humanoid figure. Under the moonlight, she could note green skin on a fairly normal looking face and torso. However, that was where the truly human qualities ended. The being's arms and legs became more and more tree-like as one got closer to the extremities. Her trunk-like legs ended in what could most aptly be described as a child's attempt at drawing human feet by putting a circle with five lines around it. In comparison, her hands looked rather normal, even if the fingers were a bit clumpy and vine-like. Though unclothed, her "hair" - really a mass of vines, branches, and a flower or two - protected her implicit modesty - if that even meant anything for a creature that obviously wasn't human.

Oh, and she was also trying to make a scary face, which didn't look all that scary. @Arista