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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 14, 2010 20:10:28 GMT -5
Tuesday the 17th 12:14 pmInspector Seth Davidson of the Winstone Police Department did not bother to knock. Instead, he twisted the doorknob and nearly fell into the office of Commissioner Williams, who stood up at once. “Davidson!” Without responding, Davidson made for the nearest available chair so that he could bleed on it. Williams was visibly discomforted by this turn of events, and lumbered past Davidson into the outer office to yell “First aid! Davidson’s injured!” “It’s all right, just a…” Davidson held up his right arm. There was a substantial gash running from the shoulder down the forearm. “Okay… Maybe it needs some patching up.” “Jesus, Davidson,” said Williams, not coldly. If this injury had actually led the Commissioner to dispel the other day’s argument from his mind, then Davidson supposed it’d done some good. “Don’t tell me—” Davidson had enough time to nod as a medic from downstairs swooped down upon the wound. Evidently he had heard the shouts, since his first words were “The breakout?” “The breakout,” Davidson said, as the medic pressed gauze against the cut. Williams was at the window in an instant, as if hoping to see the retreating forms of the escaped men. “You don’t mean the guys from the hotel,” he said insistently. “Yeah.” Davidson winced a little; the medic was applying an antibiotic. “They’re gone. Another guy busted them out. This one was a Power for sure. He just blew a hole through the wall and walked in. The boys and I tried to put up a fight, but…” “Damn it,” Williams said succinctly. As if this were a profound insight, he repeated it. “ Damn it,” he added. “Should’ve known those lowlifes’d have a buddy to bail them out. Should’ve just shipped them out of the region last night. There is no making these people account for their actions, Davidson!” Davidson held up his arm to let the medic bandage it. “That’s assuming these two were in any way responsible for the events at the hotel, sir,” he said, in what he thought to be a reasonable tone of voice. “For what it’s worth, they categorically denied all involvement. Didn’t even seem to know there’d been casualties.” But Williams’ knuckles were pale; he was on the aggressive. “Of course they said that, Davidson, they weren’t stupid.” “No, I mean it, Commissioner. I wasn’t getting any tipoffs at all from these two. I really think they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Since this didn’t seem likely to defuse Williams, Davidson quickly added, “And I’ve got some good news, anyway, sir. Before the questioning, I was talking to one of my guys on the d’Arcangel’s case. We’ve picked up a possible lead on the whereabouts of the two men who attacked. I’m hoping we can bring them in within the next couple of days.” Williams seemed to relax a little at this, though his face remained tense. “All work in pairs, huh? I can’t tell them apart.” “If it helps,” said Inspector Davidson, “I’m pretty sure I’ve got the names of our buddies who broke out. Don’t know about their friend, but they were called Joseph and… what was it… Subota?” ISHKABIBBLE SCENE FIVE Joseph and Tsubota’s Vehicular Accident Occurs Five Minutes Off from Being Convenient Monday the 16th 12:48 pmThe traffic light up ahead turned red at the last minute. This was the intersection where they would turn left; after that, it wouldn’t be hard to find the neighborhood in question. Once the perpendicular set of lights turned green, a dark teal sedan with a full back row of passengers drove past, followed by two other vehicles, all of which were keeping fairly close ranks, as if they were moving in a group.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Feb 7, 2010 16:24:19 GMT -5
Two men were seated astride a motorcycle of indeterminate origin. The machine was rumbling with a rough, uneven noise, something akin to a pig grunting into a megaphone. Despite it holding together, it seemed that no two parts had come from the same vehicle. Some would possibly even decide, upon viewing the bike, that the builder had gone out of their way to cobble together an eclectic collection of battered pieces.
“F*cking dumBLAT blew the f*cking light foRUMBLE,” The larger man griped, clenching his fists tightly around the handlebars.
“Say what?” The other man, slender and athletically built had his fingers clutching the underside of his seat.
“The peoplRUMBLE front of us slowed way dowBRM, and the f*cking light switched on us!”
“HuBLAM?”
“You knoRMRMRM, I'll just tell you latRUMBLE.” The larger man sighed, and put a palm to his forehead.
“The earplugs don't help!”
“Pussy.”
“At least I still RUMBLE sense of hearing!”
“Whatever, Tsubota.”
Tsubota sighed inaudibly, and removed a hand from his perch. He ran it through his spring-green hair, tousling it slightly.
He and Joseph had been sent to Winstone by Miko to look into some incident with a fellow named Terrian Brogue. Helen had mentioned familiarity with the fellow, but hadn't been willing to vouch for his personality beyond that he was a typically helpful fellow... And, more troublingly, he seemed to be friendly with the Powers in Whelkshore.
That wasn't a pleasant thought. Though some of the people from around there were fairly harmless, such as that Emily girl, others were desperate for revenge for various grievances. He remembered running into one of them two years ago, some girl with a wild looking ponytail and green highlights in her hair. They just brushed past each other in a line, and she managed to grab his arm and break his wrist without any fanfare or hesitation.
When he asked her about it, she had simply shrugged and muttered some excuse about green hair making her think he could have been a Summoner. Probably a good thing she didn't get a confirmation on that suspicion, or she would've snapped his neck.
That was what brought them here today. Terrian was supposed to be running some kind of counterfeiting operation or such in Winstone. Considering that he was allied with the people of Whelkshore... That was very bad news. Providing a group of Powers with as much money as they needed to pursue their own personal crusade...
“Joseph, what arRUMBLE going to do?”
“You and I are goiBLAT to talk with him, and see if he'd rather work BRUM us. If he does, we'll have more money to GHGHGH housing for Summoners. That's if he listens. If he doesn't, we'll need me to-”
The engine roared again, louder than before. Tsubota couldn't hear what Joseph had said, but he could venture a guess. If he couldn't persuade Terrian to side with them, there was a good chance Helen's friend wouldn't be willing... or able... to aid Whelkshore ever again.
OOC: Well, I came to this point and felt it was a good, ominous note to end it on. I coulda worked a light change in, but I don't know what you fellows would prefer.
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Post by ch00beh on Feb 9, 2010 15:45:09 GMT -5
OOC: This comes a bit before.
Julia looked at her iPhone intently, tapping the screen on occasion. Sitting in her parked gray sedan, she looked out the passenger window at a fairly unassuming house, as if waiting for someone to exit. She tapped on her screen again, as if sending a furious message, her face showing signs of impatience.
There was nothing on the screen, though. Despite staring at her phone, her real focus was on the house across the street. Well, not so much a house as a mansion, and inside this mansion was a Power and three of his associates, all presumably Powers themselves, and just now, three intimidating looking men, possibly with Mafia ties.
She had her notebook on her lap. There were various words hastily scrawled all over it. The most prominent phrase was "Terian Broge - magic $$." She had gotten a tip off about a Power with a counterfeiting gig in Winstone. Someone with the ability to flood the economy with perfect bills was just asking for trouble. Saeptum needed notes on this guy to decide on if he needed to be contained or not.
Out of the corner of her eye, Julia noticed that the garage door was opening. She didn't look up from her phone, but instead looked back at the house to her right. She had repositioned her rearview mirror earlier so that she could see the mansion, though, and she could see that the man pulling out of the garage matched the description she got of this Terian guy. Just as she thought. He was the Power from the restaurant.
After her mark and his posse reached the end of the road, Julia started up her car. She eased out, taking her time to get to the intersection, waiting for the light to turn. It did, and she watched her mark turn left onto the main street.
Yellow. Oh shoot.
Julia pushed the gas a bit harder and made it across the line just in time for the light to turn red. Well, it was technically legal to run a yellow light if you couldn't stop in time for the red, so-
CRASH
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Post by Tout-Perd on Feb 14, 2010 2:42:16 GMT -5
Joseph had spent the remainder of his red light glaring at it. His shoulder were hunched, tense. The moment it changed, he hammered the acceleration. The engine's growling and protests grew to a full throaty, choking roar. The bike shot forwards, tearing through the intersection, and-
CRASH
The duo found themselves flung from the bike as they decimated the fender of a grey fourdoor. Tsubota tried to catch his balance, shifting his weight as he flew, while Joseph had a more focused approach. While still tumbling through the air, Joseph tugged a shotgun from inside his jacket. A moment before hitting the pavement, he fired. The kick turned him over right before he hit, landing with a sickening crunch on his left side.
Tsubota hit hard, but had managed to control his landing. He rolled twice, and then unfolded, rising to his feet in mid-movement. His friend had rolled back over, and had the shotgun trained on the driver's side of the vehicle. The first shot had blown the driver's side wing mirror off, but hadn't even touched the vehicle proper. Joseph's finger tensed on the trigger for the other barrel.
"Shoot that woman and I won't heal your shoulder..." Tsubota said quietly, a slight iciness in his voice. The bearded man kept the weapon trained on the vehicle.
"I mean it."
Joseph slowly lowered the gun, but kept his grip on it.
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Post by ch00beh on Feb 18, 2010 15:47:38 GMT -5
Julia shoved her foot into the break pedal as soon as she hit the motorcycle. Anti-lock breaks meant she didn't dramatically skid to a halt, and in fact since she was turning, she hadn't been going terribly fast in the first place. At least not fast enough to eject her airbag.
Adrenaline was coursing through her system. Her heart was thudding in her chest. This was before her driver side mirror was blown off.
Julia's reflexes kicked in as soon as she saw a presumably angry bearded man pointing a shotgun at her. She did exactly what she always did when someone was pointing a weapon at her: hide behind something thick enough to take the damage. In this case, it was the dashboard.
The woman peeked above the dash and gave the surroundings a cursory glance before quickly ducking down again. There weren't any other bystanders or cars around. Of course there weren't. If it had been busier, Julia wouldn't have let herself become so careless, and if there did happen to be people around, they would have been running away. The doctor also noticed that the man was no longer pointing the gun directly at her.
Hands shaking, Julia fumbled for a crank on her door and slowly lowered her window. She was not going to be getting out of the car.
"I'm sorry!" she yelled, still hiding. A moment later, a piece of paper containing her insurance information flipped out of the window.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Feb 22, 2010 20:24:49 GMT -5
"It's quite alright... We ran into you, really," Tsubota shrugged slightly, his palms outstretched.
"Like hel-" Joseph grunted and then went silent as the healer nudged his back with a boot.
"Drop the gun, and I'll heal you now," Tsubota hissed through his teeth, maintaining his inoffensive stance. There was a clatter as the gun hit the pavement, though Joseph quickly tucked his hand inside his jacket.
Tsubota just shook his head subtley as he dropped to his knees, and put both palms on his friend's back. Even with their agreement and the woman's evident lack of malice, Joseph seemed to want to have some countermeasure or weapon ready. A dim white light poured forth, pooling for a moment over the site of the injury before seeping in.
"You can come out, Miss. We won't shoot..." Tsubota bit his lip, "Well, we won't- we won't shoot again."
OOC: Ugh, short.
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Post by ch00beh on Feb 25, 2010 23:19:59 GMT -5
One of them seemed to be calling the shots. At the sound of the gun clattering to the ground, Julia risked another peek over the dash. Was that a glow coming out of that man's hands? A Power...
Adrenaline didn't stop coursing through her veins. Even if there was no gun, she couldn't be sure either of them had some kind of energy ball up their sleeves. She wasn't getting out of her car just yet... Then again, they could also possibly make her car spontaneously explode.
Julia slowly straightened her back and raised her head. She wanted a full assessment. Body language said they were both obviously on edge, but she could have figured that out without even looking. Not wanting to aggravate the men, the woman cautiously opened her door and stepped out.
She noticed the slip of paper she threw out earlier and picked it up before slowly making her way towards the Powers.
"I'm very sorry about this," Julia said while offering the paper to them. She didn't offer an explanation. Most people didn't like hearing excuses. They also didn't need to know why she wasn't paying attention.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Feb 26, 2010 0:15:33 GMT -5
"It's okay, really. Though you probably should think about what would have happened, had it been-" Tsubota stopped talking. The woman could see his magic, working away at mending Joseph's injuries. He didn't need to be discrete about his nature.
"Normal people. Somebody could have gotten killed, and..." Tsubota glanced at Julia. She seemed distant, even despite stepping out of her vehicle to talk with them.
"Are y-" He was cut off by Joseph lurching up from the ground and suddenly tearing the paper from the woman's grasp. He rocked once, and then teetered to his feet.
"No need for this," Joseph had drawn a lighter from his pocket, and flicked it once with his calloused thumb. A flame shot up, catching the paper, and quickly engulfing it.
"I do my own repairs, and besides, we aren't exactly the type that'll have our claims honored very easily," Joseph jerked his thumb towards Tsubota's green pate. It was common enough knowledge, in the Archipelago. If somebody had green hair, they either were with the Summoners, infamous destroyers of Slateport, or they had a good reason to make everybody think they were the type that would casually commit genocide.
And judging by the behavior of the young man since he had been forcibly ejected from the bike, he wasn't likely to be some roughneck trying to look tough...
OOC: Bah, ending two posts by trailing off in one night. I'm terrible...
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Post by ch00beh on Mar 7, 2010 22:50:42 GMT -5
Julia stumbled backwards as the bearded man ripped the paper out of her hand. She really didn't want to be around these two much longer. Not just Powers, but Summoners, or at least associates of such. People often touted stereotypes as being a terrible thing, but they really did help a psychiatrist-on-the-go construct a possible persona without having to sit down and talk for a while.
Also, as the bearded man was demonstrating, people usually didn't defy expectations too much.
They were both relatively polite, especially considering that they had just been knocked into the pavement. Despite their demeanor, Julia wanted to leave them be. She also had to get back to her mark.
"Oh. I guess that's fine then..." The woman looked back at her car. Poor thing had a nice dent in the front bumper and a shot off mirror. "Anyway, if we're not exchanging insurance, then I'll be on my way." She took her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. "I'm about to be late to a very important meeting."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Mar 8, 2010 0:49:26 GMT -5
"Go slow. You don't know who else you might run into around here," Joseph growled, sauntering around the van to where his bike lay. He grabbed the handlebars with one hand, and grunted, heaving it back to a stand in one movement.
"I'm sure she will. I don't think anybody would go tearing off right after an accident..." Tsubota paused, angling his gaze towards Julia. His reassuring smile darkened for a flicker of a moment, "Right, ma'am?"
Without another word, he rounded the vehicle, and jumped astride the bike, behind Joseph. The engine gave a shuddering, protesting roar, but failed to start. Joseph sighed, an oddly delicate gesture for a man of his bearings, and then began examining a few especially battered points towards the front of his motorcycle.
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Post by ch00beh on Mar 12, 2010 18:06:43 GMT -5
"Of course," Julia said as she began walking back. At the sound of the sigh, however, she paused for a moment as the bearded man revealed a small bit of compassion for his bike. Nothing you can do, nothing they want you to do for them. Just go.
As she opened her door, she briefly examined the stub where her mirror used to be, then looked up and made eye contact with the calmer man, the summoner. She smiled at him before getting in the car, then she shut the door and started the engine. Unlike their vehicle, hers started up without too much protestation, and she was quick to get on the still mostly deserted road.
Where too...? She had obviously lost this 'Terian' kid. Where could he possibly be going? Well, three possible Mafia members had entered his house, and Julia did not see them come out. Two possibilities for that: they were in someone's trunk, or they were still in the house. Also, the doctor only saw two of the Powers' associates leave with him. Maybe one was guarding the house and the recently-turned hostages?
Or they were all dead. Powers were dangerous, after all... that was it. Julia realized the road she was on led to the Hotel Ansonia. Mafia goons and an angry Power. Or maybe just a mildly annoyed Power. Either way, a Power was a Power. They were allowed to make demands. Something was going to happen at the hotel.
Julia realized she was speeding again. She eased up on the gas.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Mar 15, 2010 2:00:13 GMT -5
The bike idled momentarily at the intersection, until the van had pulled more than a block away. The duo then slowly pulled out, going straight through the intersection and then turning at the first side road the reached.
“This isn’t the way to Brogue’s house!” Tsubota found that he actually could hear himself over the engine. Whether he was acclimatizing to the sound of the beastly mechanism, Joseph’s ministrations fixing some key flaw in the vehicle, or the impact simply annihilating some misbehaving aspect of the patchwork, it no longer was loud enough to hurt his ears. Still unpleasant, though.
“So? That Brogue fellow ain’t a fruit fly. He’ll still be around if we take an hour long detour.”
“But Miko-“
“Meeks can go fuck himself for all I care. I’ll help him on important stuff, but this is fucking fool’s errand. If he doesn’t want any side-trips and personal outings getting in the way, he shoulda gone himself.”
“Joseph, let’s just get this whole thing over with.”
“Okay. But first, we see what’s going on here.”
“You aren’t the curious type.”
“Not when it doesn’t matter. But that chick was way too friggin’ calm for what was goin’ down. Most people would have just booked when they saw a Summoner and a guy with a gun.”
“So you think there’s something up with her?”
“Of course I think there’s somethin’ up with her. Not sure what it is yet, but it bears following up. Maybe good, probably bad,” Joseph shrugged, his leather jacket rustling.
The engine began coughing and bellowing again, as he put some more gas to it. They turned once more, merging onto the street that Julia had taken. OOC: Eh, not my best. But it works.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Mar 15, 2010 9:57:16 GMT -5
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