The Beginning

[ice9004]

Ian sneers at Priela after her comment, saying nothing but spitting on the ground in her direction. He simply nods at Mihaly. 

Bogdan notices Mandy’s hurrying motions and follows her more quickly.

Shortly you make your way to the spot and see the rest of the patrol. First thing you see a short dark skinned woman speaking kindly to another woman who looks distressed. Next to the short woman is a pale middle aged man in priest garb and an Asian woman in lamellar armor with Chinese ornaments. From behind a tree a skeleton in modern army fatigues with a shotgun on his back is peeking from behind a tree.

You would know these people in order of mention, save the distressed woman, as Aleah, Friedrich, Caihong, and Dijon. You would also know that Aleah and Dijon are brother and sister.

As the distressed woman speaks, she spares a glance toward you as you arrive, before turning back to the woman she was talking to. But then she turns toward your group again with wide eyes and reaches her and toward Bogdan. She staggers forward slowly but quickly picks up speed to a full run. Bogdan copies his mother and runs to meet her where they embrace each other.

Aleah walks up beside Mandy and says sweetly “I wish we had more moments like this.”

 

[ToDream]

"Let's hope for more then." Lastolva quietly states. "And maybe the most radical dream will come true."

[Ultima]

Pleased to see Bogdan reunited with his mother, Atma wears a pleased grin. He didn't dwell on it for long though as he began scanning those present for anything of interest. Scanning the crowd, he found himself disinterested, and wary at worse. Priest class types were often annoying to the young inventor. Templars and hunters were one thing, as slaying demons, undead, and other evils is an easy topic to bond over, but idle eyes and idle hands make for paranoid ones, and Atma didn't like being under scrutiny, so when he spotted the skeleton watching everyone from a decent cover, garbed in modern fatigues with a shotgun, Atma's interest was piqued.

Unperturbed by Dijon's ghastly appearance, Atma approached him with a friendly wave. Do I spy another connoisseur of firearms? A shotgun? What model is that?! Atma respected Dijon's personal space but was as close as one could get while trying to take a peek at his firearm.

[Sundust]

     Mandy

 

"So we did a good job then?" I wink at Aleah."

"At first, we were worried it was a trap! Boy screaming in the middle of the darkness, calling for help..." I wave my arms in exasperation. "And then we see this gremlin - the ugliest little cretin you ever saw - until Priela's sword slices its head clean off!" I make a wide, strong motion as though swinging a great, heavy sword.

"I hope his cat is ok." I look with puppy-dog eyes toward the animal. "I tried to heal it."

 

"Hey Mihaly..." I twist my face with thought. "Can you ask the boy whether he saw anything else? Or heard anything else? Like, does he have any other information for us?"

"I'm also wondering if we should head back there and try to track where that thing came from..."

 

Edited May 3 by Sundust (see edit history)

[rorytheromulan]

 Priela

Priela avoids eye-socket contact with the undead, as no good could possibly come from it. She joins the representative from the church and bows at the waist.

"Good evening, Father Friedrich. May I ask why the boy's mother is here? He told Mihaly that some members of the Church had paid his father a visit. Was she missing?"

OOC:

[wwaugh]

Mihaly nods at Mandy. "Good thought. He doesn't think there's any other nuglubs around: I already asked about that. And if he saw any monsters that weren't nuglubs, I assume he'd have mentioned that. But he might have seen something else of interest."

Mihaly waits for the mother and child to finish hugging. While he waits, he looks between the reunited pair and the skeleton, hoping that Bogdan won't see Dijon and freak out again... and winces when he sees Atma drawing attention to him.

Edited May 3 by wwaugh
misunderstood what Sundust was suggesting I ask (see edit history)

[ToDream]

"Worried we were being set-up." Lastolva states brusquely. "Kid seemed like convient bait."

[Sundust]

     Mandy

 

"HEY DIJON!" I wave a pistol toward the skeleton in the back. "He always thinks he can hide..."

 

I step closer to Priela and face Father Friedrich. "I'm also wondering about the mother. Any news?"

 

 

[wwaugh]

Mihaly sends Dijon, who Mihaly thinks was clearly hoping to avoid attention, an apologetic glance.

[ice9004]

Lastolva, Mandy

Aleah nods as she listens to Lastolva and Mandy, "Let's just hope that radial dream is worth it..." She looks sadly at the ground for a second before instantly smiling again "Oh Lastolva! You got some mail back at the base."

---

Priela

The man smiles kindly at Priela "No need to be so formal," he spoke with a slight German accent, "I'm not of the Catholic church. After what Ian did to Sister Lucia's habit, they thought it better to put a Lutheran pastor with this team. From what the mother said when she noticed the boy was missing she left the house and ran into the forest to look for him. The father is in the town working."

---

Atma, Mandy, Mihaly

When Atma began to speak to him he turns quickly and puts his skeletal hand over Atma's mouth, he then takes his hand away and stares at it in annoyance, "Can't cover a mouth very well with no skin. Look I don't want to scare anyone so-"

Mandy's shout rings though the forest and Dijon slowly turns his head towards her with frustration pouring from the pin-pricks of light that are his eyes.

The mother holds her son tightly to her chest with fear on her face, the woman in lamellar quickly walked up to them, "Come, I will take you home." She takes the mother by the hand and walks toward the forest.

[Sundust]

     Mandy

 

I hustle over to the woman and boy, sheathing my pistol and holding my hands out for calm. "He's perfectly harmless, I promise," I sputter in English. "I mean... To the right people..." My face gets scrunched up with effort.

 

I make a horizontal circle in the air with my hands, as though to point to all of us all at once. "We-e-e..." I put both my hands on my chest. "Lov-v-v-e..." I then point straight at Dijon. "Dijon!"

 

Edited May 11 by Sundust (see edit history)

[rorytheromulan]

 Priela

Priela rolls her eyes at the popstar. "May the Lord bless me with His evergreen patience and perseverance." Then she tells Friedrich her account of the excitement at the end of their patrol, and that the next patrol did not show up. She makes sure to explain that the demon was apparently a fae, though she also adds that this is a distinction without a difference.

(Even though she wiped her sword clean, there should be some resonance or residual trace left behind that forensics or a seasoned diviner or sorcerer can detect.)

"Any update from the base?"

OOC: Dijon is an interesting character. Must be an African remnant from the World Wars. How well do we know him and other members of the team?

[wwaugh]

Mihaly just stands there shaking his head as Mandy follows Aleah, Bogdan, and Bogdan's mother.

"So... at this point, what are the odds that we'll actually get to converse with that family again without them frantically making the Sign of The Cross at us?"

Edited May 11 by wwaugh (see edit history)

[Ultima]

Atma immediately freezes, not uttering a word the moment Dijon's bony fingers cover his mouth, immediately understanding where he is coming from. When Mandy began an attempt to assuage the family's fear, trying to dissolve the fear over Dijon's appearance, he thought about opening his mouth to chime in with Mandy, almost feeling the urge to try and match her energy. Still, he thought better of it, not wanting to make it worse for Dijon, and choosing to restrain himself to at least wait to see if Mandy can clear the air on the enigmatic skeletal soldier.

Edited Tuesday at 07:10 AM by Ultima (see edit history)

[ToDream]

Lastolva blinks, and switches into 'bot' mode. "Mail? Me?" The goat-construct looks around. "I don't have that many people who I would think would send me mail. I'll have to check that out."