nevada ♔ tie your own rope

[everyredcent]

WHO || Faye, Tybalt, Miles, Jaina, Solace, and Christos
WHAT || The Knights investigate the neighborhood where the disappearances have been occurring
WHERE || Nevada
WHEN || April 17th [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam

There's nothing sinister whatsoever about Oak Street, as Christos steers the rented van onto the street and parks against a curb. Well watered and neatly trimmed lawns frame cheerful suburban houses, a paper boy rides past on a bike, a couple strolls by hand in hand eating dripping ice cream cones. Down the block, children are visible hooting and whooping as they swing from monkey bars on a small playground while mothers wait on benches and chat politely, happy to soak up the sun and get off their feet for a moment.

Christos frowns heavily through the window, as if the sight of all this contentedness is more unwelcome than an army of invading monsters would have been.

Solace speaks up first, from his place in the front passenger seat. "It may be prudent to split our group to cover more ground. At least one of the homes should be re-examined, and we ought to ask some of the locals for their take on the situation." He unbuckles his belt. "I mean to investigate the area for evil auras."

Christos nods, turning off the engine. "The sun will be down in an hour. I'll scout around the houses for access points. No point in breaking in before then."

Comments

[cuivre]

Well, next time, you should stand up for yourself. They shouldn't be able to tell you what to do like that.

[He glances at the swing, then back at the kid.]

Do you need help up?

[flyingsolo]

[ he shakes his head and clambers into the swing, still staring at them. after a moment, he asks:

"Who are you?" with the wary curiosity of a child. ]

[cuivre]

My name is Miles. I'm kind of a...private investigator. I'm trying to find out what happened to some of the people around here.

[It's not really a lie. He smiles.]

Do you know what I'm talking about?

[flyingsolo]

[ the kid shifts on the seat a bit.

"Maybe."

jaina gives him a raised eyebrow. ] 'Maybe' huh. [ she sounds unimpressed and the kid glances down at the ground.

"Yeah." ]

[cuivre]

What have you heard about it?

[He asks it both gently and with genuine interest. Definitely not trying to be intimidating at this point. Just the nice guy who's trying to help. (Gather info(?) 16)]

[reallywicked]

[Wow, you assume that Faye is going to sit back and let the furball have all the fun??? After watching Tybalt start to skulk around the first house, she stands still for all of two seconds before rolling her eyes and walking off to the house next door which seems equally quiet. Does she know how to break into a house? Probably. Does she know how to do it without detection? Absolutely not.]

[everyredcent]

[ don't think you're going alone, girl. as she starts to stalk away, christos rises up behind her like batman ] Where do you think you're going?

[reallywicked]

[Ugh you are not christian bale. This is so disappointing.]

Sorry? [She stops abruptly and turns, flashing a very bright, very fake smile.] I thought we needed to get this done a little faster than molasses. No offense to Garfield, but we'll be here until dawn unless we divide and conquer.

[everyredcent]

Caution is the soul of stealth. Particularly for the underexperienced.

[reallywicked]

Because standing around doing nothing is helping our mission, how exactly?

[everyredcent]

By not compromising it due to impatience. But if you feel the great need to prove something to yourself, do go ahead. I'll make certain to report to Wynn that I know nothing of what you were doing or where you might have gotten to when the police turn up and drag you off in cuffs.

[reallywicked]

[She stares at him, weighing the pros and cons of defying him just because he's a dick. But she sure has it better in the castle than she did outside of it, so she crosses her arms and stomps back to the first house, fuming silently.]

[everyredcent]

[ BACK TO WAITING ON HEATHCLIFF OVER THAR, but christos will be keeping a sharp eye on you, young lady ]

[flyingsolo]

[ the kid looks past at them towards whether the mothers sit, as if not wanting them to overhear this. a shadow seems to cross his face and he kicks off, swinging slowly, the chain giving an ominous creak-creak noise.

"They've been making deals with some of the kids on the street," he says quietly, staring off down the road. "And then their families go away."

jaina exchanges a Look with miles, concern and a little horror on her face. ] "They"?

[ he looks down again, and then points slowly up the road.

"The kids who don't go to school." ]

[cuivre]

[Miles absorbs that, and his expression is odd, as if he's considering the words, and his head slowly looks over toward Jaina, as if silently looking for her opinion before he looks back at the boy.]

They hang out that way?

[flyingsolo]

[ he shakes his head. "They live there. In the house with no grown-ups."

jaina's frown deepens but she tries to keep from looking like she's going to rat the kid out. ] No grown-ups? They don't have parents?

[ he hesitates a little more, but nods. "They do whatever they want to all day." it's hard to miss the wistful note in his voice. "The grown ups don't know about them." ]

[cuivre]

[The creep factor just seems to be skyrocketing here. Miles turns his head toward Jaina.]

Sounds like something we should check out, huh?

[flyingsolo]

Top of the list, I'd say. [ she's still staring at the little kid as if wondering what he's not saying.

the kid hesitates a little more than shakes his head. "You shouldn't go there." ]

[cuivre]

[Miles looks back over at the kid, eyebrow raised.]

Why's that?

[flyingsolo]

[ he chews on his lips for a few moments and when he speaks, his voice is very quiet, barely audible:

"Because grown ups don't come back from there." ]

[cuivre]

[He smiles confidently.]

No worries then, kiddo. I've always been a kid at heart.

sorry guys I thought I was tracking this APPARENTLY NOT.

[quarrelsomecat]

[Oops, Tybalt is back now guys, sorry about that. Hey there, hi, how are you, there is a cat running back along the top of the fence. He changes back around the corner of one of the houses, going back over to Christos.]

There's a way in through the back in that house over there.

[everyredcent]

What sort of entry?

[reallywicked]

Yeah, spit it out.

[Someone gets angry when they're bored.]

[quarrelsomecat]

A dog door to the back yard. Certainly big enough for me to slip through.

[Meow, Faye. Maybe if you could turn into a cat you wouldn't have to sit back with the babysitter.]