A Taste of Magic [O/NA]

[Razpitan]

[Razpitan]

Moshe squinted hard at the flat screen of his phone, eyes trying hard to focus on what at the moment was nothing but an annoying blur of light. Damn, was he tired. He sighed and gave up, resting the phone on his knee as he looked around at the scenery. He was at Verdant Park, just chilling on a park bench. It was the middle of the day and people were taking their usual walks through the most pleasant place of green that Swag City had to offer. He watched couples stroll by hand in hand, parents pushing dual strollers jog by, even an elderly couple shuffling along in the brightest colored clothing he’d ever seen on the face of this planet. The people watching should’ve been enjoyable at least, but he was too jittery.

It’d been a while since he’d received a text to pick up a Bang shipment. Of course, the surprise wasn’t enough to hide his attitude over getting it during the middle of work. The fact that pick-ups had become more sporadic wasn’t excuse for his contact to forget that he didn’t want these calls while he was in the middle of his job. Even though it had been a text, he was still mildly pissed. Whatever. It made sense at least; with the cops lurking around more than ever since the explosions, it was necessary to be as discrete as possible.

Moshe didn’t really care about the cops. Sure, they were trying to get Bang off the streets but he was fairly confident that would never happen. They couldn’t even keep the regular junk away, how would they stop Bang precisely? That’s all he cared about. Bang kept his powers in check for him; let him sleep for more than ten minutes. At the thought he rubbed at his eyes, massaging the dark bags underneath them. He felt his magic shift a bit at the action; it’d become more of an unconscious thing, using it to hide his freckles. It wasn’t really necessary, as if anyone paid him attention anyways, but they were a pretty prominent feature and the less he stood out the better. When was the last time he got a good rest? He’d run out of his own supplies what… three days ago? He could really use more than an hour. It would help him get bitched out less at work at any rate.

His blue eyes glanced around once more, falling on the small electronics store across the way. The various TV displays they had in the window was blaring a news report; yet another case of a Bang explosion. He scoffed a bit. Maybe the idiots shouldn’t have been doing drugs. That was a little hypocritical though… but hey he had his reasons. They were good ones too. Good grief, did he want to just nap.

As the thought of dozing entered his mind, the phone jingled to life. He quirked an eyebrow and squinted at the screen again. ’Pick it up and divvy it out as normal.’ was the entire message. No name, no signature, no witty banter. Just that simple message.

”Finally.” He muttered. A pick up in the middle of the day? He still didn’t know how to feel about it. Either way, he’d do it. He needed his portion or he’d be flat on the floor somewhere, with less than pleasant consequences resulting. With a swipe of his thumb he locked his phone, shoving it into his pocket. He got to his feet, wobbling a bit for getting up to fast. Ya, a nap was in order after this. Giving one last glance at everyone enjoying themselves, he moved out, heading steadily down the sidewalk on the way to his destination.



-
WHERE: Verdant Park – Walking Away WITH: No one. FEELING: Tired, like always.

OOC: I hate first posts.

[Bearaka]

I work in the dead of night, when the roads are quiet and no one is around to track my moves. Get in, get done, and get gone. Never leave a trace, show my face, I get gone. I was a killer, the best they've ever seen.

If Alex is not on a recon mission, he is often found doing one of two things. Reading or playing some sort of game. This time it was playing a game on his phone. A simple match three of the same puzzle game. He was in Verdant Park, listening to the things around him. The only reason he is here was from a somewhat reliable source that mentioned Bang shipment. Why it was in the Park of all places, in the middle of the day at that, was beyond him. He would look up time to time, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary, the only thing was an elderly couple with god awful bright clothes. "Why?" he questioned the couple as if they could hear him.

His blue eyes then fell onto a young man. Judging from all the eye rubbing and overall exhausted look on the man's face, Alex was sure the man would likely pass out. Alex watched as the man almost got to sleep, but his phone seems to have kept that from happening. The man got up rather shakily, then headed off. He watched the young man walk away and something in him said follow. He hesitated for a second, then decided to do it. He stood up, his face still on his phone playing the game.

He followed twenty feet behind the man, enough distance to see him, but not enough to rouse suspicion, unless there was something Alex didn't know about the man.


I'd steal your heart before you'd ever hear a thing. I'm an assassin and I have a job to do. I had a job to do, but little did I know, that girl was an assassin too. Suddenly I'm in over my head and I can hardly breath. She's an assassin too and she had a job to do.

Thinking
Speaking
Thoughts: What's this guy's deal?
With: No one, unless stalking counts Moshe
At: Verdant Park-Leaving
((OOC-I understand))

[goldfish_lovin]

▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄☀▄▄▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄ ▄▄▄▄☀▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄

Pop. Hehe. Pop. Kato traced the next bubble with her thumb, heart rate picking up in anticipation. Pop. She grinned. Who knew moving could be so fun? "Hey, Tor. Who's this remind you of?" Kat placed the bubble wrap around her head like a bonnet, wrinkling her nose and pursing her lips. "Get those muddy shews off! Herr grr cough." Toru didn't have much of a reaction to her grandma impersonation, so she gave up and popped a few more bubbles. It'd been a while since either of them had seen the woman, he'd probably just forgotten...

"Hey, you doing anything fun tonight? I can't really go out to bars and stuff yet, but maybe we could have a few drinks here? You know, like a reunion sort of thing?" She asked, glancing up as she pulled some clothes out of a box. Toru was unpacking Kat's extensive board game collection, only half listening. "Hm? Yeah, sure." "Ohh, what if we have a party? I mean... I know this place isn't too big but I'd like to try making some friends or something. Maybe someone will know of a job. Like a networking party! I should be done with the boxes pretty soon so-" Toru's phone beeped, cutting her off from what she was about to say. "Yeah, sure." He said, pulling out his phone. "I'll be back in a bit." What? Kat stared blankly as her brother abandoned the box and disappeared out the door. Well... well she probably shouldn't have expected all that much to begin with. Yeah, Kat. Call up your brother who hasn't tried to talk to you since seventh grade. Yeah, he'll be cool. He'll still ca-

She shook her head, folding her momentary disappointment into a large sweater and tucking it into a drawer. The next article of clothing she pulled out was a pair of jogging shorts. Hm, wouldn't be such a bad idea to explore the area. Maybe she could run to the shopping district and peek around for some help wanted signs. It took only a few minutes for Kato to ditch the mess of boxes and hope down the stairs and into the fresh air of the apartment district. Well, probably fresh. Actually probably not. It smelled like dirty laundry and mousetraps, but hey, she wasn't about to complain about free lodging.

Nuzzling her ears into a headset, she set her ipod to the CARDPOWERRR Playlist and took off. The city was different than what she was used to. Much more crowded, but the people looked nice enough. She jogged past an ice cream shop, eyes glazing over a boy and girl sharing a cone. Can't have ice cream without a job, Kat. As if the black holes in her pockets weren't enough of a reminder that she was as broke as they came.

[goldfish_lovin]

C A L Lx M E x T O R U!






Harry Dunn's corner store was well air conditioned, but Toru didn't feel refreshed until he completely finished off the chilled bottle of water. Hng. Eyes closed, he felt the morning's exhaustion slip from his arms and back. If he had to hear one more pop of bubble wrap he swore he'd- "Hey, you gonna pay for that?" Toru glanced over, then reached into his pocket. "You know I'm good for it, old man. I'm in here every day." Harry Dunn was no friend of Toru's, but you see someone every day for the better part of a year and it kinda hurts when they still don't trust you. "Yeah, yeah, well..." well you look like a goddamn criminal "...well you look tired, wasn't sure you were gonna remember this time." Toru slid the dollar and fifteen cents on to the counter. "How thoughtful."

Toru pulled out his phone, briefly glancing at the anonymous message again. There was going to be a drop off, which meant a welcome income boost.

New Message
To: Mosh
From: Bullwhip
Message: Sis just moved in, throwin a party tonight @ 11.

Moshe was in the same business, and if he'd gotten some of the new shipment too, then there'd be plenty to celebrate tonight. Using Bang knowing you were one of the ones that weren't gonna pop was always a hell of a time. Toru had quite the stockpile for emergencies, but he'd been taking it easy ever since the call came in from his sister. It wasn't that he really cared about her seeing him drugged up, but... well... he didn't really know what he wanted her to think of him. Last time he saw her she had braces and a ******** up hairdo, not to mention about half the height. He didn't think she'd stay that way after he'd left, but her being there all grown up was a weird reminder that his family still existed without him and that he'd essentially abandoned this girl without notice. She brought a certain kind of guilt with her, a guilt that he wasn't particularly happy about.

Toru hopped on a bus to the hospital, casually walking around the perimeter of the perimeter to the back. He pulled a bandana from his back pocket and secured it over the lower half of his face. After placing a hand on the gun tucked into his pants for reassurance that it was there, Toru slipped in through a back door. Pickups were never his favorite part of the job, mostly because there was always a chance that it could be a setup. There was a reason snitches got stitches, cause it only took one person to slip up for everyone in the supply chain to eat s**t. Toru was especially wary after a near bust that required some of his always handy emergency Bang and a bit of bloody hit work. Not his proudest moment, but the lesson stayed with him and now he never goes for a pickup or drop off without full preparation and attentiveness in every step.

The box was marked only with a tiny black "x" in the corner, tucked into the top shelf of an uninteresting storage unit. Toru pulled it down, unpacked the contents into his backpack, and then tossed the box into the trash after folding it up. It looked like he was alone, so he slipped back out of the building and strolled back to the bus stop to wait.


XX

[Razpitan]

Moshe walked along unassumingly, eyes darting every which way out of a diligence born from lack of sleep. He could take the bus and get where he wanted to quicker, but something about the walk kept him mildly focused. Doing anything in any way but the easy way kept him focused. He squinted. The sun was too damn bright.

As he slowly wished the flying ball in the sky would just burn out for a minute, he felt a vibration in his pocket; his phone going off again. Who was it this time? He pulled the thing free, snapping the passcode in quick to display the message. It was a short one from Toru, another member in the syndicate who dealt out Bang, though more for profit, from what Moshe understood.

”A party? Hm…,” It might be nice to do something fun for once. He’d been doing nothing but back to back shifts for his jobs, doing anything to keep himself busy. No rest for the wicked or whatever. He stopped walking long enough to shoot a message back.

Reply: New Message
To: Bullwhip
From: Moshe
Message: Should I bring some party hats and streamers?

Moshe gave a little smirk, tucking his phone away again. He went right back to his stroll, heading down into the shopping district. It took him only a few more minutes to arrive at a little electronics shop. He entered, the little bell ringing as he opened the door. He only lingered a moment, before spotting who he was looking for. Behind the counter was a young woman, a magazine on the counter in front of her as she fiddled idly with a loose piece of brown hair. Moshe walked up to the counter, clearing his throat to catch her attention. She looked up, eyes sparkling a moment in recognition.

”Hey there, Moose.” A sly grin crossing her face at the terse look that crossed his face at the nickname. ”You look like s**t. Luckily, your sound wave machine came in.”

”Ya, I got your message. Thanks, Natalie.” Moshe nodded in response, watching as the girl reached behind the counter and produced a box with a picture of some new-fangle sound wave device. He grabbed the sides of the box, looking it over. To anyone looking, it was just a box for a sound wave machine. Nothing out of the ordinary. Of course its contents were much different; the shipment he was supposed to pick up, carefully packaged. Satisfied, he tucked the box under his arm, digging in his pocket and handing over a twenty dollar bill. Natalie nodded, taking the money and ringing up the register as per usual.

”Try not to burn this one out so quickly, alright?” She remarked. Moshe just rolled his eyes. It didn’t matter how good of a delivery job she did, the girl always managed to annoy him. With a little wave he turned to leave, rubbing tiredly at his eyes once more.


-
WHERE: Shopping District - Electronic Store tab WITH: No one? tab FEELING: Tired but pleased.

OOC: - - -




goldfish_lovin


Bearaka

[Razpitan]

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※ Iɴsᴘᴇᴄᴛᴏʀ Gɪᴅᴇᴏɴ ·´¯`·.¸¸.¤
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Another mess.

Gideon rubbed at his jaw; hand over his mouth to conceal the disappointed frown that had come to cross his face. All around him, other officers worked to contain the scene running police tape the entire length of the area while the photographer snapped away for the records. His green eyes watched people hustle about trying their best to contain the situation.

Another case of Bang. Another punk kid messing with something he shouldn’t have. He’d seen this dozens of times before but it never really changed; somewhere, this kid’s parents were probably getting the news of his untimely demise. It was rather tragic, Gideon thought. People spontaneously exploding wasn’t the easiest thing to explain no matter how stone-cold you told it. They’d never understand the what, why or even how of the situation. Someday, he’d change that fact. But for now, the inspector was just as much in the dark as the rest of the Arcane Division.

Gideon shut his eyes and focused. Slowly the scene refocused in a hazy mess of soft colors. The magic was still strong which made sense; the incident had only happened an hour ago. The aura was all over the place as it always was when he tried to ‘see’ it. He could feel a headache already beginning to form. He hated that. If there was anything he was certain of, it was that Bang wasn’t composed of any normal junk.

”Inspector Gideon,” A voice sounded from behind. Gideon snapped his eyes open, the headache dulling as he ceased to use his powers to look at the officer who was addressing him. ”The young woman’s stable sir, if you want to question here.” Gideon gave a nod.

”Of course. Thank you, Hanson.” He smiled and nodded, heading directly over to the nearest cop car. In the back was a young woman, presumably the victim’s girlfriend, bundled up in a blanket. Her hair was frazzled and the expression on her face read of shock. When they’d found her there at the scene, she looked like a deer caught in headlights. It tugged at the strings of his heart to see her in such a state; he had questions to ask though. He placed an arm on the roof of the car, leaning over enough to make eye contact with the girl. He gave the warmest smile he could muster in this situation.

”Hey there, do you think we could talk for a minute?” The girl seemed to jump, eyes wide as she looked at him. Once she was sure he wasn’t out to kill her, she gave a little nod. Alright, that was a start.

“What’s your name?” He asked. She shivered, staring hard at the headrest of the front seat.

”L…Lorie…,” The word was strained and stuttered. She was really shaken. Gideon gave a sympathetic smile.

”Lorie? That’s a nice name-”

”Stan… he… he…, Uh oh, that wasn’t good. He’d have to start talking faster as it was only a matter of time before she relapsed from the shock. ”Listen, Lorie. I need to ask you about Stan, alright? I know it’s not easy right now.” Of course not. It was never easy. He took a deep breath and focused, trying to choose his words carefully. He had one shot at this. ”Did Stan talk to anyone strange lately? Maybe… trading items or something?” The girl was silent for a long while, just staring blankly. For a moment, Gideon thought he’d already lost her. Then she spoke.

He… he met with some guy… named… Bullwhip? Yesterday…I... I don’t know. I thought they were just…” She made a choking noise, eyes beginning to brim with tears. ”I thought… he… I didn’t… why…I… I don’t…” She clammed up after that, face falling into her hands as she busted into sobs. Gideon frowned, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder before leaving her be. He looked to the nearest officer.

”Escort her home once she’s been cleared, alright? Make sure someone’s there with her.” He ordered, the officer nodding before tending to the girl. Gideon sighed, returning to the scene once more.

Bullwhip? What the hell kind of name was that? A cover, of course, but not exactly subtle. These syndicate guys were really something. Gideon frowned. They didn’t give a damn what they were doing; that much was obvious. He had a feeling not a single one would’ve thought twice about what he’d just dealt with. Oh well, back to work. At least now he had some kind of lead to follow, as short as it was…

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WHERE: New Crime Scene - Near the Apartment District

WITH: Other officers

OOC: GJfjklgfjfkgljklfjgklfjdslgjlfdone.
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[Familiar Crow]

♫~♪~╠ HUGO KNIGHT ╣~♪~♫

❝xxxxBut I'm only human
And I bleed when I fall down
I'm only human
And I crash and I break down
Your words in my head, knives in my heart
You build me up and then I fall apart
'Cause I'm only humanxxxx❞

Location: Hospital Bus Stop
With: Toru
Feeling: Concerned

Knight walked out from the hospital, stretching his arms over his head. He should have been pleased. His new medication had returned him to almost perfect health. He wasn't waking in the middle of the night from nightmares, or randomly falling into panic attacks. His nerves were steady once again and his body was getting stronger. The lingering effects of his coma were fading. Yet...other things were getting stronger too, and worse. Just thinking about it made his stomach churn.

Yesterday he broke his window by sending his laptop through it after a bad League of Legends match. He hadn't thrown it on purpose. It had just happened. In class it was the clock. Somehow he always ended up causing the hands inside of it to mess up. He'd always been able to do small little things, but nothing like this, and worse, now other things were happening. He'd created a barrier during dodgeball that had sent the ball flying back towards its origin. Thankfully nobody had been looking too closely to that. Then there were the dreams. No, not dreams. He didn't even know what they were. He just knew that it scared him.

Knight walked towards the bus stop, noting there was already another person there. He sat down on the sidewalk, staring off at the pavement. He hadn't driven a car since the accident. Even if his parents hadn't forbidden it, he still wouldn't. He still couldn't ride in a car without feeling something twisting in his gut. Buses didn't bother him as much, but they were still a challenge, a test even. If he could get used to buses, then he could move on to cars again.

He just wanted things to go back to normal. He wanted his parents to not have to worry about giving him medicine every few days. He wanted his mother's eyes to stop watering every time he came into the room. He wanted to be able to talk to his father about the newest movie project he was working on, not about the latest case at work.

Knight knew he was being unfair, but he didn't care. Most kids would have loved to suddenly have powers. Then they could be Spiderman. The reality would probably be more like X-men. He hadn't told his parents that his abilities were getting stronger. What would they think? They already hushed up the small things growing up. This? Who knew what they would do.

[Headline Babe]

• How do you go about explaining to a boy’s parents that their son popped like a grape? Hint: Not by saying that. You got to put a delicate touch on it, almost like you’re dealing with a piece of glass that has been twisted into the shape of a thin tree, and if you drop it then it’ll explode (a bit like that boy did) into a million pieces. Of course, sitting down and gently laying it on them didn’t stop the mother from screaming in despair and the father from giving out demands that couldn’t be answered with a simple: “Yes, you’ll be able to see the body at the station once an autopsy has been preformed,” because there wasn’t one to present. Odette has had to do this on a few occasions, and explaining to them the effects of Bang on a normal person never got easier. Some people just didn’t grasp the concept that a drug could cause such a nuclear reaction that was the entire person bursting.
  
  “We’ll do our best to make sure you are able to have as much of a normal funeral that you need.” The woman sniffled deeply, trying to clear her voice of the sobs she has been making moments before. “T-Thank you.” The husband pulled his wife back over to the couch. Odette trailed after them, eye-balling the stairs the entire time. She wanted to check the victim’s room, but the mother refused the first time she asked and insisted that she wouldn’t find anything in the room, seeing as Stan only ever used it when he came to visit from college. Odette was skeptical, to say the least. The father approached her after settling his wife on the couch.
  
  “I’m sorry about Helen, she is just so shaken up about this, but, you’re allowed to look through his room. It’s in the basement, first door on the right.” He said and motioned towards another stairway that lead downwards. She smiled gently at him, “Thank you, Mr. O’Connor.” She turned towards the door and the other two officers that were with her sprang to life. They had been standing off to the side, having not been given permission originally to search the house. Now, however, it was free game.
  
  “Let’s get looking, boys.” Odette called to them before she descended down the stairs. Her heels clicked against the wooden steps and the temperature was chilly compared to the upper level. She entered the room first and gave it a once over. It looked like every college boys room. She was sure if she looked hard enough she would find the stash of porn mags. Her companions entered the room after her and started the search. Odette helped lift the bed up, but they found nothing. After minutes of searching it seemed like this was a dead end, till the Investigator’s blue eyes landed the vent in the wall. She narrowed her eyes at it. She saw this once in a movie, except it was money and not drugs, but it was a good idea none the less if all you were doing was hiding it from your parents.
  
  Odette walked up to the vent, catching the attention of the two other officers. They both watched as she climbed up on a desk and pulled the vent cover off. “Ah, found you.” Odette sang as she pulled a bag of pills out of the vent. She tossed them over to the male officer, who fumbled in surprise to catch them. She reached her hand back into the vent and pulled out a small piece of paper. An address was scribbled onto it. She squinted, trying to read the handwriting. It was atrocious, and probably written by Stan. Odette hopped off the desk and pulled her phone out, with a swipe of the finger it unlocked and she held it up to her ear as she called the other end of this investigation.
  
  “Gideon, I found some pills in a vent.” She didn’t exchange hellos because there was no need to, “And I also found a card with what I suppose is an address. It has got to be the worst handwriting I’ve ever seen.” She dropped the card into the evidence bag that was held out to her. “How’s it going on your end?” She asked, maybe the girlfriend will have more insight to the Bang incident. She waited for him to finish up as she took both evidence bags in her hand. She was almost tempted to pop in a joke about bringing enough back for Chris to poke at, but she held it back. “I’ll see you back at HQ, Gideon.” Odette finished, before slipping her phone back into her pocket.
  

SSooc

I hope this is fine ^_^
SSSSwith where: me, myself and i
SSSSSSsong: xxx

[goldfish_lovin]

C A L Lx M E x T O R U!






It started with an itch. An annoying little twitch under Toru's skin had him absent-mindedly scratching at the scar tissue on his wrist, picking a few of the more recent scabs. As soon as he realized what he was doing, Toru stopped, shoving his hands into his pockets. He wasn't alone at the bus stop anymore, and the backpack was weighing heavy on his nerves. When Toru's phone buzzed, he was glad for the distraction. A response from Mosh, sarcastic per usual.

Reply
To: Mosh
From: Bullwhip
Message: Dumbass.

Toru put his phone away and pulled out a blunt and a lighter, torching it and inhaling deeply. ******** sobriety, Kat wouldn't know the difference. His arm was itching like hell, and all he could think about was how much he wasn't looking forward to going home. Maybe I'll pick up a cake or something... For the party. Kat liked cake, right? What little girl didn't like cake?

Toru was about to pack the rest away when he glanced down at the sidewalk. His fellow bus stop dweller looked like s**t. A sad sack, much like every other youth on the street these days, annoyed at the expectations of society. In Toru's eyes, he saw a potential source of income.

"Here." He took one more hit and then held out the blunt, looking the other way as the smoke found its way out his nose. The itching was gone, and the bag felt ten pounds lighter.




XX

[Bearaka]

I work in the dead of night, when the roads are quiet and no one is around to track my moves. Get in, get done, and get gone. Never leave a trace, show my face, I get gone. I was a killer, the best they've ever seen.
The man had stopped to check his phone, so Alex stopped as well, acting as if he got a phone call. Once the man started walking, he did too, still talking. The man entered an electronics store and Alex followed in suit. He turned a corner and went to the phone chargers. He had a nasty habit of losing all of his, so any chance he got he would get another one just in case.

He listened as the man spoke with the young female.

"Hey there, Moose. You look like s**t. Luckily, your sound wave machine came in."

The hell kind of name was Moose? Nickname maybe?

”Ya, I got your message. Thanks, Natalie.”

Was her name really Natalie? Of course her name tag said that, but again this is Swag City so anything and everything is a lie.

”Try not to burn this one out so quickly, alright?”

The man seemed to be annoyed with her, handed her a twenty and made his way out. While Alex didn't have probable cause to suspect anything, he just had this gut feeling. He went up to the counter, bought his charger, and made his way out. The girl had looked him over, trusting him just as much as Alex trusted her. Not at all. He looked at his phone, no messages. He knew Miss Rain and the Inspector (as he often referred to Gideon as) were working yet another young person explosion due to Bang. He continued to follow the young man, keeping his distance, often stopping as if responding to a message or to look at something. Years of doing this taught him a few things, along with the acting he took as a child, helps him tremendously with cases.

A low hum came in his throat, as he started to hum one of the annoying pop songs that play that get stuck in his head and drives him insane.

I'd steal your heart before you'd ever hear a thing. I'm an assassin and I have a job to do. I had a job to do, but little did I know, that girl was an assassin too. Suddenly I'm in over my head and I can hardly breath. She's an assassin too and she had a job to do.

Thinking
Speaking
Thoughts: Moose, Natalie, Electronics on 5th. I'll give this to the crew later.
With: Just stalking this Moose character
At: Electronics Store-Shopping District
OOC

[Loonamist]

Emma-Christi Jones

"Phew." Christi stepped up beside Gideon, looking the scene over with her hands on her hips. She still had her lab jacket on-- she rarely wore anything else-- and clothes she didn't really care about underneath. "Never really changes," she remarked, stepping forward as her assistant hovered a few feet away. She glanced back with a raised eyebrow as Gideon got a phone call, absently listening while carefully maneuvering around the scene as she looked it over. This was something she had done plenty of times at this point, but it didn't make her careless. She stepped to avoid smearing blood, heck, she even wore booties on her shoes just in case there turned out to be something interesting in the area. The whole situation was absolutely absurd, people exploding, but here she was, circling the center of the mess where there was a small void surrounded by a heavy amount of blood and a whole lot of blood spatter. It went up the walls, skidded over the grounds... Really, there was just too much blood in the human body. There was enough here to paint the Sistine Chapel all over again, in red. Well, maybe not really... she would probably need a few more bodies to accomplish that.

She shook her head. Maybe she was getting a bit too numb to this. She knelt down next to a small pile of flesh, a long, metallic stick appearing in her hand to prod it, turn it, and lift it slightly. Skull fragment, with the skin and hair still attached. The actual explosion had never been something she personally witnessed, but from the carnage, it seemed like it happened... everywhere. There were no real intact limbs, or body parts, that suggested it originated from the torso or a singular part. The whole body just... combusted. Maybe it was the blood itself that blew? It could explain the uniform destruction, and why fresh crime scenes often still had a red sort of... mist settling.

She dropped the skin back down, then motioned to her assistant to try and gather some of the fragments. There really wasn't much for a coroner to do here, but there were still some benefits to coming out, not the least of which being to just get some fresh-- ish -- air. "Any news?" she asked Gideon, putting her tool away and taking off her gloves. The first time she had ever been introduced to this whole mess was when her boss brought her the remains of one of the early victims to 'diagnose'. At the time, she had assumed it was necessary to define what an 'autopsy' was for her him, which he did not find amusing at all. When he explained the situation, her own annoyance only dwindled a bit, and she did what she could.

The problem was, this was magic. This was something science had ignored and humans hadn't really dealt with in a long time. It was something everyone-- well, most people-- assumed just to be something made up. But it was becoming ever more prevalent, with kids going crazy from their sudden new abilities, or just up and exploding in alleyways, like this poor sob. It hardly made sense, but there had to be some logic to it. It was just a matter of... figuring out what. Besides the obvious magic-no magic thing, that is.


[[ So lazy with posting formats.... >> ;; ))

[Familiar Crow]

♫~♪~╠ HUGO KNIGHT ╣~♪~♫

❝xxxxBut I'm only human
And I bleed when I fall down
I'm only human
And I crash and I break down
Your words in my head, knives in my heart
You build me up and then I fall apart
'Cause I'm only humanxxxx❞

Location: Hospital Bus Stop
With: Toru
Feeling: Concerned

Knight took out his phone, glancing down at the cracked screen. He'd gotten a new one ages ago, but he had yet to swap the SIM card and activate it. It would take ages to put all his music on the new one though, hence his lack of willingness. There were no new calls or texts, which was surprising. Normally his parents would have texted him at least three times by now and called to see how the appointment went.

Knight blinked and looked up as he heard the man beside him speak. He frowned, confused for a moment by the singular word, then his eyes focused on the blunt. Oh. Had he done drugs before? Sure. His parents were cops, so of course he'd tried them just as a 'screw you' thing. Knight reached out and took it without much of a second thought, nodding his thanks as he took a quick hit, then handed it back. He held the breath for a moment and felt his emotions slowly start to numb, his worries fading away. Then, he let the breath go. "Long day too?" Knight inquired, arching his eyebrow.

Knight was supposed to head back to school after his appointment, but he wasn't too keen on it now. In fact, he hadn't really planned to go back, but not he definitely was not. He'd head to the library or maybe the mall. They were used to him cutting class and wouldn't report him to his parents. His parents would be upset when he got home after the school called, but oh well. "They expect ya go move on, you know? Like everything's completely chill, even when it's not and they're still freaking out about it. Then they dope you up and throw you back into the world." Knight put his phone back into his pocket and gazed back out at the road, waiting for the bus, "Doesn't make sense. Does it?"

A breeze lightly tugged at his hoodie and Knight pulled his hood up over his white mop of hair. He almost made a barrier against the wind, instinctively, but checked himself before the molecules around him so much as twitched. He could see the bus coming in the distance, "You taking the 28 too?" he inquired, getting roughly to his feet. "I'm Knight by the way."

[Razpitan]

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※ Iɴsᴘᴇᴄᴛᴏʀ Gɪᴅᴇᴏɴ ·´¯`·.¸¸.¤
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~Ringalinglingling ringaling ringaling~ Gideon perked up as the rather overly cheery ringtone of his phone played, incredibly out of place in this grizzly scene. He tugged it from his shirt pocket and answered to be immediately greeted to an overview of Odette’s findings.

No one says hello anymore. He kept that to himself of course, instead considered what he was told. Pills? That made sense of course; the kid had been using the junk. The mention of a potential address however, now that was music to his ears. Terrible handwriting aside, it was a lead; if they could link the information they’d gathered here and from other cases together, they’d have themselves a suspect to follow. He gave Christi a little nod as she walked by to survey the scene. He felt a bit bad for her; there wasn’t much to look at when the person exploded.

"Good job, Rain. One of the analysts might be able to figure out what it says.” He watched Christi as she poked around the remains.”Not much here. Girlfriend gave me a name. Bullwhip? Business name no doubt, but I’ve got a feeling it’s the same guy from our last case.” He hoped so at least. There seemed to be many faces to the syndicate. ”Either way, it’s something. We’ll figure it out back at base. See you soon.” With that he hung, glancing to the blonde.

”Rain found the kid’s stash apparently and maybe an address. Says the handwriting is atrocious though. We’ll have to hope for the best.” Gideon remarked, pausing a moment. ”She’ll meet us back at HQ once we’re done here.” He gave a little gesture to the carnage. ”I take it you didn’t find anything new? It’s best we get back and compare intel.”

Speaking of which…

Gideon glanced to his phone, zooming through his contacts list until he found Alex’s number. If he recalled correctly, the man was checking in a tip about a Bang delivery. Of course, the inspector was iffy about it (who made deliveries in the middle of the day exactly?) but still, it was a source that needed checking. He considered for a moment what to do, before tapping the auto-dial button. Gideon didn't want to compromise whatever Alex was doing, but it was just too unprofessional to be shooting text messages, especially for situations like this. The ring went on until the phone was finally picked up.

"King, we need you back at HQ. We've got some more information; might be able to finally piece together a perp."

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WHERE: Crime Scene - Near the Apartment District

WITH: Christi, Officers

OOC: - - - -

”Bearaka”

”Loonamist”

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[goldfish_lovin]

C A L Lx M E x T O R U!






Toru took the blunt back and snuffed it out, dropping the remainder into a ziplock in his pocket. He could already feel the frame of his world slipping out of focus, pulling his priorities with it. "Long day too?" Toru didn't answer, his thoughts bubbling to the back of his tongue and just kinda... swimming there. It was kiddy pool. The cool kid kiddy pool. "They expect ya go move on, you know? Like...blahhh words hmmm" Yes, quite. "Doesn't make sense. Does it?" Preach it. After a moment it occurred to Toru that maybe this kid was standing in front of the hospital for some kind of serious reason that didn't involve a deadly crime ring. Right, that was a thing people did. Serious hospital things. Toru stared at the boy lazily. He didn't look very old, high school maybe- first year out at most.

At the mention of the bus, Toru straightened up. Course he was taking the bus. Dumbass kid. "Yeah." Ugh, as much as Toru liked the money in his pocket, it was always annoying pulling in new buyers. Still, a few of his last guys had gone, well... ya know. Pop. To stay profitable you had to stick your neck out every now and then. Toru also wasn't the only distributor out there. Though he had no idea who his employer was, he knew for sure that competition on the streets was picking up. Turfs had been roughly established, but the lines were very blurry and nobody in the syndicate was really into picking fights when there were drugs to do. Oh wait that was just Toru. "Strangers call me Bullwhip. " The bus pulled up and Toru made sure to nab the seat next to his new pal. The bus was nearly empty except for a sleeping old woman and a well dressed man on his phone.

"I'll be straight with you kid, you look like you could use some help." Stretching his arms, Toru pushed back the growing desire to itch his wrist. God he needed something stronger. Something stronger and some money. "So how about a change of pace, huh? You give me a few bucks and I give you a game changer. Yeah?"

ooc: hope getting on the bus wasn't an auto, lemme know if you want me to change



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