The gloominess of the Friday night is amplified by the sound of crickets lightly chirping outside as well as the bareness of the bar in Seattle. A lone bartender quietly polishes glasses behind the counter as a projector above him shows reruns of old football games prior to the Great Awakening. A young couple sits in the corner booth, giggly softly as they whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears.
The bartender perks up as he hears the only young man in the bar yell out his name. "Ey' Tawny's 'Ow 'bout a beer for me and my gal here 'eh?" Tawny, the bartender nods. He quickly fills two mugs up and throws them down the shiny counter. The mugs swiftly glide across and are quickly met by the young man. Tawny glances around, hoping somebody caught the performance other than him and the young man, but nobody else is in the bar.
Ducks sort of misjudges things and runs into the door before she opens it all the way, then spills in, all tough-looking in her ridin' gear. Helmet under one arm. "Oof," she mumbles on entering properly. Like, not trying to go through an unopened door. Uh-huh. Yeah okay she docks with the bar and claims a stool and finger-waves at the bartender, all chipper and sober (but it's early).
Andromeda kind of shuffles in after Ducks. Her AR has her in some pretty impressively detailed motorcycle gear, but in meat space, it leaves a lot to be desired. Who wears *vendor flats*, seriously? Apparently she does, and doesn't care if anybody notices it... anybody who matters, anyway.. and if they mattered, they'd be using AR to see her snazzy biker gear, wouldn't they? Her eyes are darting from one side to the other as she kind of follows Ducks distracted over to the bar.
Tawny yawns lightly as he finishes polishing the last glass. Looking up at the projector screen mounted on the wall above his racks of alcohol, he notices the news. A young well-dressed troll appears on screen, with the words "LIVE" flashing on the bottom and top of the screen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I just got word...There seems to have been a prison break of famous mass murderer Winnie the Psycho...He's...Apparently he managed to escape the bus during overpass traffic in Seattle...Wait...I'm getting more word..." she presses against her ear, where a barely visible wire can be seen.
Tawny nods at the ladies, but suddenly perks up as he hears about Winnie the serial killer. He looks up at the screen earnestly, subconsciously grabbing up an already-clean glass and polishing it as he watches, a look of worry coming across his face.
Andromeda doesn't even notice the newscast. Her face is frowning as she hunts for the non-existant AR menu for the bar. "Is there any... *any* menu here? What the heck.." She looks toward Ducks for reassurance. "Do you see anything?" Finally breaking her eyes away from her AR she looks around the bar. "Where are we, anyway?"
Ducks tells Annie, "I bet this place makes a decent Red Eye." Isn't paying attention to the news. What? In a bar? No seriously what. "Hey, barguy. Hey, I'll have a Red Eye if you can." It's a cliche orky drink but well. You know. She tells Annie, "I hope they don't use FauxEgg. That makes it all floamy. This is Mulligatawny's. It's famous for..." Trails off. Looks at the barguy. For what? Something? Anything?
A footage plays on the projector screen. "This...this seems to be a video, just in, that Winnie the Psycho had mailed...Wait, what? He escaped two days ago..." Tawny's jaw drops open as he looks with complete horror at the screen. A grainy color video of a suburban home with bad lawn is shown, at what seems to be nighttime, and dated merely an hour ago. Tawny begins to shake uncontrollably as he stares at the screen, completely in shock. "...My, my house! HE'S IN MY FUCKING HOUSE!" A sob escapes Tawny's chest as his knees buckle and he falls to the ground, still stunned at what is being displayed on the projector.
The troll on the news station continues talking. A mug shot of Tawny suddenly appears on screen. "...Thanks to a local bartender by the name of Tawny Mulligans, Winnie the Psycho was apprehended...Seven years ago, Winnie the Psycho was a notorious serial killer who stalked primarily...." Tawny, still stunned, continues to look at the screen, tears welling up in his eyes as he is still clearly in shock. "Please...please help me..." he whimpers loudly. The young man and his girlfriend are looking at him with concern. " 'Ey, Tawny, ya'll right man?" The young man asks. Tawny ignores him.
Ducks gets an "I didn't expect that reaction" blank look, then sort of catches on to what exactly is unspooling via mass media and all. Oh. Well, shit. Straightens up some, glances at her friend as if some sort of explanation or course of action will be put forth. She eyes Tawny again with some nervousness blooming into concern.
Andromeda doesn't notice the newscast so much as how Ducks is reacting to the bartender she hadn't really noticed either. Once he nearly collapses though it's harder to ignore him. "Ummm... are you okay?" She glances between him and Ducks, then stands up on her tiptoes to look over the bar.
ooc It is. I just realized how to compromise this run. I've got the plot entirely fleshed out. This will be a definitely unique run.
The projector continues to blare as the troll spokeswoman continues explaining that the cops are trying to identify where the house is, as well as any forensic evidence they can on the tape. Tawny is now laying on the ground in the fetal position shaking. "They're dead...they're all dead...he whimpers softly, as he shakes violently. The young man and woman look at each other and nod. They hurriedly leave the bar, leaving just Tawny and the two ladies.
Andromeda turns back to Ducks. Her face is mostly blank. Over Ducks' AR, she asks the big question. <<..what's going on with him? Who is he talking about?>>
This isn't normal, the ogress decides. She watches the couple hurry out. She watches Tawny. Well, where he was standing. Til she sort of gets to her feet to try to see what he's up to, which isn't looking good, not really. "What," she starts to say out loud at whatever the hell's going on. Answers Annie's call via proper DNI access to AR so she doesn't even have to think about it much, <<I think he's having a bad day and he probably needs an ssist and a calming-down. He just got some bad news.>>
Tawny stops whimpering and begins to stand up before the phone mounted behind the counter rings. He stares at it, ghoulish like for a second, before he reaches over and picks it up, a look of complete death on his face, as if he wasn't fully there. "Hello?" he whispers, softly. His hand trembles violently as he listens to the phone. "Please...Please, I'll do anything..." he whispers softly again. The phone is held briefly, before Tawny stands up fully erect and turns around to face the ladies, his eyes glazed over and clearly something wrong with him. He reaches down underneath the counter and produces a Ruger Super Warhawk and cocks it.
Ducks says, distinctly, expression more strongly in the "didn't expect that" region of the spectrum as she stares at the huge handgun: "Fuck." She doesn't move or blink. Well okay. Blinks a few times in succession. No srsly wut. <<What I do?>> she ARs at Annie with split-second speed as she maybe fears for her own safety like a big cowardly thing..
Tawny shudders violently as he raises the Ruger towards Ducks, and points it at her, his hand trembling. He continues raising it, and places the muzzle on his temple. Tawny chokes and sobs as he cries out, "Please...somebody...I have to do this...save my wife and chi-"
Ducks's eyes get big and she raises gloved hands and she says, she says real fast "Nononono!" and makes like she's about to make a diving tackle to keep what looks like it's about to happen from happening.
Ducks waves her hands frantically as she tries and fails to figure out what to do in this odd situation and then just covers her face with her arms and squeals like a little girl. "Don't do it! Shit! Nononono ew!"
Tawny pulls the trigger. The enormous pistol explodes loudly as the slide racks back and the casing ejects. The bullet bursts out the muzzle and directly into Tawny's head, searing the outside flesh and pulverizing the insides of his head before bursting out the other side and spraying as far as the booth where the young couple sat with blood, bone, and gray matter. Fortunately, none of it gets on Ducks.
Ducks stands still for a while after the collapsing tumbley sound of a corpse hitting the floor. Messily. The paralysis doesn't last forever because: "What. The fuck." She looks down behind the bar. She looks at the grossness splattered here and there. The smell! She looks at the news broadcast if it's still up.
The projector has changed news to a rerun of the day's previous news. However, the mentioning of a certain serial killer escaping is displayed on the bottom Ticker. The blood around Tawny's corpse begins to spread. A noticeable bulge can be seen on his back pocket. Possibly a pocket book of some sort.
Ducks presses the heels of her palms to her closed eyes. She mouths repeatedly "this is not normal" and with sudden decisive activity the black-outfitted Ducks moves to pass behind the bar and this is not normal this is not normal reach for the pockety-book thing in Tawny's back pocket. A couple of "ew" flinches are made though.

The black leatherbound pocket book seems well maintained, with its own case. Inside you flip through the pages and notice the address, and quickly make a note of it. You flip to the back page, and something catches your eye as you flip, but it's too late, you didn't open the page in time. Something tells you it would probably be a good idea to re-look through the pocket book later.
The bar is dead silent, with only you in it. Andromeda had taken off as soon as she had seen the gun. No sounds of sirens are heard, near or far, and only the gloominess of the world permeates the very air inside.
ooc Nobody has called the police. And you can do -whatever- you want. You have the address.
Ducks against her better judgement hangs onto the leatherbound wallet, looks around. Gets to her feet. Who saw this happen? Have the police been called? But there's nothing but quiet and the reek of coppery-warm blood and worse. Grits her teeth. This is not how things are supposed to be going. Leaves the place, gets to her dusty gray motorcycle quick enough. Pauses a moment to think.
Ducks is pretty thorough; she spends a few moments formulating some quick messages to useful people explaining, well, what the fuck she's up to and why and what to do with her adorable corpse if it comes to that. And adds that if she sees the dawn somebody better just smack her upside the head for this. Pulls on her bike helmet. The motorcycle's engine catches swiftly and there's that fast whiney racey-bike sound as she revs it unnecessarily a couple of times. Building up courage maybe? "Oh, Annie," she mutters, and with that she pulls the bike out onto the road and toward that mysterious destination.
<OOC> Lex says, "roll perception again please, threshold 3."
<OOC> Ducks says, "Crikey."
GAME: Ducks rolls 8 dice: 1 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 (2 Hits) <pass>
You arrive at a quiet suburban home quite oddly placed in the middle of a relatively low-class neighborhood. The lawn is dead from lack of care, and the front door is wide open. The screen door is torn, as well as some of the wood that makes up the threshold of the front door. You can tell there is a basement, but inside, the house is all dark. The air is gloomier than ever, and a certain sense of dread hangs in every breath you take.
She glides the bike to a halt, lights off as she coasts. Yeah, dressed in black on a dark bike, nothing to see here. Perfect. Ducks does not seem happy with this turn her life has taken. Takes off her helmet and she had the presence of mind to tune her colorchanging fiberoptic hair to a dim, lightless color. Dark brown-black. Makes her look almost pale in comparison. Dismounts. Surveys the house. Out of habit she gives the area a quick wireless poke to see what's what but she suspects she's going to just have to... wander in? She's packing -- her concealed holster isn't very, and she draws her Cavalier Deputy, big ol' chunk of iron that it is. Nice revolver. Odd. But nice.
Andromeda follows Ducks on her own old reliable Scooty Puff Jr. Yep, just the thing to keep up with Ducks' zoomy Bike o' Shiny New Doom. This is not a fun neighborhood.. not really any worse than her own, though. Grimacing, she checks the clip on her taser. Yep, still four darts in it. She's, uh.. packing, yeah, like Ducks. <<Well. So... uh.. serial killer, huh? And why are we here again?>>
Andromeda rolls perception(3) 4 hits
GAME: Andromeda rolls 9 dice: 1 2 2 4 4 5 6 6 6 (4 Hits) <pass>
You paged Andromeda with 'You notice the upper window on the house seems to have some kind of streak on it, like somebody slid their fingers down on it from the inside. The substance is dark, though difficult to figure from out here.'.
Unlike Ducks, Annie can't see in the dark naturally. Fortunately those unnecessary glasses do the job. <<Right. Wallet. Okay. Uh... mailbox?>> She looks around. Said box is missing; its lonely post long suffering from missed swings in mailbox baseball. <<..or not. So inside? Uh.. ew.>> Her eyes are on the second story window. <<..that doesn't look good.>>
Ducks eh?s, follows Annie's gaze. <<Should we go in the, uh, the front door, or look for... look for some other door...? Wait, what are you looking at?>>
Andromeda makes a face. <<Ick.. that.>> In Ducks' AR, a big honkin' red arrow hovers over the window along with neon lettering: BLOOD HERE. Subtle.
Net perception test to see if authorities have deciphered location from tape:
GAME: To (Ducks, Lex) Ducks rolls 10 dice: 1 1 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 (5 Hits)
Ducks succeeds.
You paged Ducks with 'By some twist of fortune you manage to overhear some authorative voice mention the address you are currently at. Something about a SWAT and forensic team enroute, and an ETA of one hour.'.
<<Annie,>> comms Ducks, <<I would say just considering the neighborhood and not necessarily -- did you just see that wireless traffic?>> Cos there was some. Huh. Ducks looks neither more nor less apprehensive about this insane scheme her sober mind has come up with. <<If we're going to like look into this I think our time is limited. Should we... ew, blood, seriously, more blood? Hey, I mean, seriously?>> She Xes out the lettering that says BLOOD HERE.
Andromeda nods quickly to Ducks. <<Yeah... seriously. Well, kinda. I think we're going upstairs? Unless they're downstairs..>> Frowning a little in that way that she does when she's being all serious and stuff she looks up at the high window. <<..yeah.. still, should probably try that first. Uh, if you want to go, that's cool.. I sorta didn't.. Im not dressed, you know?" True that.. flats are *not* good armor.
Ducks may not be particularly athletic but she's not entirely graceless as she carefully advances on the open front door, revolver heavy in her hands. <<Obviously things have gone to hell and someone, um, might need help.>> That and judging from her expression she kind of thinks the idea of illegal entry onto private property is kind of cool.
Ducks enters the house warily. She's an ogre, ogres are tough and scary. Perfect. Perfecto. <<Watch my back.>> She looks the place over quickly, looks for stairs. The gun, she knows how it works, and she moves like it. Not like a professional enforcer, nah, but she knows which end is which. <<If anything moves I'm going to scream I'm letting you know.>>
page Duck=Immediately past the front door is another door, and a closet to the left, probably for shoes and jackets. The door directly in front is closed. To the right the room opens up to sort of a living room area, with a shelf, two couches, and a glass table. Past that is what seems to be the opening to the kitchen. Across from the living room is stairs going both up and down. There seems to be absolutely no signs of disturbance at all. The carpet floor is warm, and the central air is working perfectly.
Andromeda checks her taser again. Still four darts, just like a couple of minutes ago. <<Don't do that, people will think you're a little scaredy girl.>> She moves after Ducks quietly and actually somewhat stealthily despite her size and apparent lack of athletic ability.
Ducks surveys the little entry-room. Dark? She's okay with that. Well mostly. She creeps in, little shuffling steps, glint of light off the heavy revolver. Doors, closet, right, living room with glass table and a couple couches, right. Ah, there: stairs. And so far, no sign of anything unusual in here.
Loud sirens can be heard from far far away. The cold dead air in the house suddenly becomes slightly colder, and a soft stirring can be heard, though the direction is unknown. The sirens seem to be coming this way, perhaps five, ten minutes away at the most.
Ducks heads up the stairs quick and careful as she can be. <<Crap, they have security. Er... or had? Whatever.>> Confidence fades. <<C'mon, quickly before I scream like a scaredy girl.>>
<OOC> Lex says, "roll intelligence threshold 2 please. And Annie too assuming she is going upstairs."
<OOC> Ducks says, "That, um, what. Edge + Int is, uh, 10."
GAME: Ducks rolls 10 dice: 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 5 6 6 (3 Hits) <pass>
page ducks=You pause. You recognize that handle. That's a woodcutter's saw handle. Giant saws made for cutting down redwoods, or something to that effect you saw on tV once. What's saw like that doing here? Intuitively, you sense that you should turn around and walk away.
You paged Ducks with 'You pause. You recognize that handle. That's a woodcutter's saw handle. Giant saws made for cutting down redwoods, or something to that effect you saw on tV once. What's saw like that doing here? Intuitively, you sense that you should turn around and walk away.'.
Andromeda watches carefully around as she follows Ducks through the house. Nothing seems to be stirring on the lower floor.. not so good, but probably not as bad as what could be upstairs. <<..huh? Uh.. what are you talking ab..oh.>> A pause. <<....hey! Hang on a second..>> Stowing her taser a second, she rummages in her cloud of hair and withdraws a tangle of curls and octopus. <<..let's see what's up there?>>
<OOC> Andromeda says, "I have a little drone, and I'm going to send it up forward to see what it can see in that scary room."
You paged Andromeda with 'To your utmost horror and disgust, the handle was indeed the handle of a treesaw. The blade is drenched with blood, along with every inch of wall in the bathroom. The mirror is bloodstained, and worse of all, the sink is full of what seems to be like internal organs. The shower curtains are closed over the bathtub, but you can tell what's inside there. Corpses. Hewn up, sawed up, multiracial corpses. The window that you saw earlier is in this room, and you recognize what the mark on the wall was. A handprint, streaking downward as the person bled or was hacked to death.'.