Just Like Clockwork: Scene II/VI -- Rose, Ilkin, Erin, Caelan, Rakesh

Rose rubbed the back of her neck contemplating the strange circumstances they had landed in.

She walked slowly but purposefully over to the door frame and leaned against it listening to the other two talk, trying ever so hard not to look obvious.

"Paranormal investigators huh? Sounds like you guys know how to have a good time." she told the dog.

"There's something coming. Here. Tomorrow."

Rose felt the tingle of interest trickle through her spine and cursed. Closing her eyes she waited for the female voice to stop talking while she watched GeGe wiggle with interest his tentacle spine wavering from side to side creepily.

"My name is Rose and there's a naked gigolo with a gambling problem living in the back of my head..." she paused as GeGe cupped his chin happily at his mention. She was talking to a dog, just chatted with a lizard, seen a chick fall off an antique pipe organ, it really didn't make sense not to mention the Geist. "He thinks you lot are the bees knees by the way." she pursed her lips keeping her eyes closed.

"Missing person? Oh, Mr. Meade. He's dead..." Erin trailed off, from where she was looking at the brain.

"He touched the Shafer Movement, and it activated. Tapping it is what starts it moving. Someone might have convinced him to do it. I guess the ghost must have come for him. The two Russian guards took his body and put it in a clock downstairs, last Wednesday. They took him away on Saturday to get rid of him, I guess. His head was sawed off, his brain was missing."

She paused for a moment, flexing her fingers foward (and as Ilkin saw, backward), before uttering another "oh". "Um, there were two others, at least. A red haired woman and a man named David, who worked at a fast-food place. They were both in the clock too, with their heads sawed off. The Russians always took them away at around one or two AM. They took the bodies away in a laundry bag..." Erin trailed off again, staring into space pensively.

"It was funny, but Mr. 'David's head seemed less cleanly cut than the others. And one of the Russians was staring at the clock for a long time after he put the red-haired woman in it," she added.

"We are the absolute life of the party. Remind me to tell you of the time we encountered a spirit-possessed dump truck." Rakesh said, his voice dry. The dog paused and regarded Rose for a moment with dark, liquid eyes. He was a rather big dog. "I am going to assume that you are either a schizophrenic or possessed by some entity? Ghost, demon... likely not a spirit."

It likely said something that this was something the talking dog felt a need to be certain of. He paused, then said to Erin. "Ah... Ms. Lamothe... I take it as a given you are of a paranormal nature yourself?"

"Changeling hunters. Some creature called Wormwood. Russian mafia acting as body disposal for a clockwork Ghost-Mage and watching everything through cameras. And lest we forget, the aforementioned mind-bending ghost. Ilkin, I do not know how, but I am certain this is your fault somehow." Rakesh said, approximately two-thirds joking. The dog stood up and began to pace. "Anyone else have anything important to add, or is this about the shape of it?"

"I guess?" Erin answered the dog. In the end, she still had trouble not thinking of herself as a normal thing.

"Mmm..." she said aloud, somewhat adorably worrying her lip as she thought about it. "There was a pockmarked man in a suit that was here on the first day of filming. I think he must have given Mr. Fletcher the money to make the film. I think he's mafia..." She worried her lip a bit more, looking very uncomfortable with all the assertions she was being forced to make. "I don't have any reason to think that except for the money and the suit," she admitted. "And the security cameras. And the Russian guards. This doesn't really seem normal for such a small movie production."

"Um, if they are mafia, maybe you guys should go," Erin tentatively suggested, her fingers curling up against her mouth. "They might come back here once they see that you're not dead."

"I should get back to work," she added, walking over to retrieve her UV lamp. "Mr. Hammond wants me to fix the Devourer."

"I rather hope they do come," Ilkin murmured crossly, "They shouldn't toy with matters they know nothing about."

The whole matter sounded like some kind of cult to him. Wormwood was undoubtedly some kind of supernatural. The question was why use the movie to kill people -- and what Wormwood got out of it. The two thugs might not even know what was going on beyond the fact that they summon a monster to kill people. Unfortunately, Awakened magic in the hands of untrained Sleepwalkers was dangerous. Even Ilkin, a Libertine, knew that. And if Wormwood turned out to be a Mage anyway, then there were plenty of others that would be happy to see him put down.

"Before we do anything, I'd best make a call," Ilkin said. "A moment."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked into the hallway.

"Ben?"

"Eh? Wot? Sodding hell, Jay, it's almost midnight. Where the hell are you?"

"Still at the museum. Do me a favor, would you? Call that couple right now, what's their names? The Guardians."

"You mean Mary and Will?"

"Yes, them. Tell them there's something here the Guardians'll need to deal with. Tell them --" He paused and glanced at the brain. "Tell them Sleepers found the Schafer Movement and are using it to kill people. Also mention the name Wormwood, see if that sets off any alarm bells."

"Why can't you sodding sit in your office and conduct your interviews from there?"

"Because if I did I wouldn't keep my handsome figure."

"Oi, you're a bloody loon, Jay. Gonna get yourself killed one of these days." Ben did laugh, though.

"Sod off, you," Ilkin snickered, "I'm sending you a photo of the object. Forward it along, would you?"

"Just don't make me come save your sorry arse, eh?"

"Will do. Let me know or have them call me. Also, Robert'll be coming over tonight so make sure one of the spare rooms is clean."

"Righto. See you later."

Ilkin hung up, then snapped a picture of the clockwork brain and mailed it off.

"Spring's blessings, Ms. Lamothe," he said. Given his knowledge of fey society, Ilkin trusted Rakesh was smart enough to catch on. "Are you certain you'll be safe here? I've a feeling we'd best take Robert to a more protected location. We can regroup at my place and figure out what to do tomorrow. Unless you've an interest in confronting the Russians tonight?" The Mage's eyes glittered with plans he had for those two.

Then something occurred to him. "Ms. Lamothe, you wouldn't know where I might find something that belongs to either of your security guards, would you? Perhaps in the break room?"

Dice Roll: 6d10s8e
d10 Results: 4, 8, 1, 2, 5, 1 (Total Successes = 1)

Improvised Platonic Mechanism
-- To be cast after Erin makes her fix-it check on the Devourer. Platonic Mechanism (Mage 152-3) makes any machine function at absolute perfect, flawless ability as long as it is able and meant to function.

"I suspect it may be wisest to collect Mr. Hammond and depart this place as quickly as possible." Rakesh said, nodding politely to Erin. He caught Ilkin's little hint, though he still gazed at Rose before taking any final actions. "While a part of me insists that a pair of gangsters cannot be any worse than a Ghost-Mage, another part of me considers that I really hate being shot."

"If you are insistent, Ms. Lamothe, however, it may be best that I accompany you downstairs and we reconvene in Ilkin's flat."

The current course of action seems to be to collect Robert Hammond and then all six of you remove yourselves to Ilkin's apartment to await the Guardians of the Veil whom the Mage has called.

There is an optional side-RP for anyone interested in coming along with Erin as she fixes the Devourer in the Basement.

Any objections or alternative plans?

"Ummmm..." Erin chewed it over a bit, clicking through the light spectrum of her UV lamp before it finally turned off. "Probably not," she finally admitted, indicating she had some grasp of reality. Then she walked out the door to head back downstairs anyway, blowing a hole straight through that theory.

"The two security guards prefer the surveillance room in the basement. They don't talk a lot to the rest of us," Erin told Ilkin. "If you wanted something of theirs, it would probably be in there. Mmm... Mr. Sergei is probably in there now, and he'd be able to see you coming. I'm heading down to the basement as well, if you wanted to look."

"Oh..." Erin added after a moment. "When I looked at the cameras, there seemed to be some special sensors for ghosts in them. So Mr. Sergei almost definitely saw everything that happened before I shut them off."

Cae stood and kept wiping at her face, which by this point was coagulated Vitae.

She followed the group a little blearily, though she was glad it was now just a museum and not a weird basement.
"I think I might go to my master's haven. With Robert. It'll be safe." This she announced to everyone and no one in particular, and she turned down a corridor that led back to the man's office.

"Help would be nice," she called.

Blame Neo. Who wants to come with!

Caelan, Rose, and Ilkin can proceed to the new Scene I have just put up, Rakesh and Erin will be joining you shortly.