andres ♔ you're gonna catch a cold | from the ice inside your soul

[unhappily]

♬ jar of hearts - christina perri

WHO || Emma, Snow, Regina, Wynn. [closed]
WHAT || Wynn asks some of his Knights to investigate a strange matter on Andres Isle.
WHERE || Andres
WHEN || At the same time as this log ; mid-October
HOW || Actionspam

[ A few weeks into October, Wynn sends a message back to the castle asking Snow and Regina to make their way to the Isle, saying he has a small matter that bears investigation.  When they arrive at the castle, they're ushered by Woodhouse to a small parlor where he's waiting...  And moments later, their other mission partner arrives. :D ]

Comments

[unlost]

For all we know there's victims inside as well.

[She tries to move quietly through the brush as they approach the house, moving toward a window so she can maybe peek in. (move silently 25, spot nat 20)]

[unhappily]

[ The contents of the shack are incredibly sparse, and what is there happens to be noticeably singed, perhaps even relatively recently. there's no movement whatsoever inside, however. ] Well?

[unlost]

It looks like...there might have been a fire recently. I don't see anyone inside, though.

[She motions for Regina to follow her and she heads toward the front door, quietly opening it while staying alert. (listen 28, spot 26)]

[unhappily]

Whoever was here certainly isn't anymore. [ regina follows her inside, not bothering to be quiet about it. and indeed, snow doesn't hear anyone moving around inside either.

closer inspection reveals that the singed areas are the victim of strangely shaped scorched mark, and regina follows her gaze to them. ] That has to be magic.

[unlost]

[Snow just takes her word for it.]

Do you think they were...practicing?

[Or was this malicious?]

[unhappily]

It would seem rather foolish for them to do so inside.

[unlost]

I...yeah, that makes sense.

[Duh. Good job, Snow. She'll just...see if there are other floors. A basement, maybe?]

[unhappily]

[ naw, the house is pretty small as is, and doesn't even have a cellar ] Whoever was staying here may have expected someone to come looking, with the way Swan was tromping about out there.

[unlost]

And maybe they destroyed whatever they couldn't take with them.

[Getting rid of potential evidence?]

[unhappily]

Maybe. [ she doesn't sound convinced ] Again, I'm not sure why they wouldn't have done that outside.

[unlost]

It's possible they didn't have time. Or maybe they really aren't in control of their magic.

[A beat.]

Should we see if there's another trail to follow?

[unhappily]

We can try, although they're likely to have quite a head start now.

[unlost]

There's always the chance that they're still in hiding. A trail could lead us to where.

[And so she heads back outside to do a lap around the small home to try and locate anything they can use to pick up the trail (spot 26, track 24).]

[unhappily]

[ whoever left is no idiot. apparently, they know how to cover their tracks, and she'd find clear signs of their attempts, before it became impossible to figure out where it was going, partway into the woods.

it makes one thing clear at least: they deliberately didn't want to be followed. ]

[uncurse]

Hey!

[ Emma catches up with them out near the woods, looking between them like WOW FUNNY FINDING YOU HERE. WHAT'S UP, LADIES. There's a slight discomfort there, like she's questioning Snow silently about whether her mother trusted her or not.

She doesn't say it out loud, though. Tucks one hand into her back pocket and gestures with her other hand up the hill. ]

Good timing. I think I found something.

[unlost]

[Snow's brows are furrowed at the very well covered tracks, though she looks up with relief and happiness at the sound of Emma's voice.

Her sense motive was garbage again. Yay.]

What is it? We could use some good news. We sort of hit a dead end over here.

[uncurse]

I ... [ She looks Snow in the eyes, balks for a moment, then deliberately turns to look at Regina instead as she explains: ] I headed back to where I lost track of our guy to look around some more, and I think I found where he was squatting. When I turned the place over, I found this ... dagger. It looked magical, so I ran it over to Hasmed. He's got some theories on what's going on. Sounds like the dagger was bleeding magical energy over into him, keeping him from controlling it.

[unhappily]

You didn't think to come tell us about this before you went running off with it to who knows where?

[unlost]

[She's just going to swallow down the whole fact that there's a magical dagger involved in a case where Mr. Gold might be the culprit and focus on the...facts. /cough]

So they really can't control what's happening.

[At least that sort of confirms her theory.]

If they no longer have the dagger, then does Hasmed think these attacks should stop?

[uncurse]

I didn't want to risk futzing around with a dagger that could be causing explosions to wait and see what happened. [ Snapped sharply. She cools off when she looks at Snow. ] That's the idea. Without the magic of the dagger, this guy's probably just ... ordinary. We're gonna try to scry for him in case we're wrong.

But the dagger, it's — [ She waffles. Flounders, trying to muster the best way to explain this. ] It belongs to Gold.

[unhappily]

So he is behind this.

[unlost]

[Snow frowns, looking at Regina.]

Not necessarily.

[No really, how do they explain this.]

I don't think this is how it's supposed to behave. [Her frown deepens.] How is it even here? Shouldn't it have been left behind when he arrived here?

[uncurse]

We don't know.

[ She states that firmly. Whether it's Gold's doing or not, as far as Emma is concerned, remains unclear. So she holds her hands up to pause that line of thought. ]

It must have fallen through the Veil on its own. Hasmed has some ... theories, about why it's behaving like this. Let's just— [ She gestures behind her. ] He's getting set up to scry for the bastard that did this. We should get back.

[unhappily]

Maybe he'll be able to tell us where he got his hands on this in the first place.

[unlost]

[Snow just gives Emma a short nod.]

Let's go then.