Lucas Stirling - Awakening

[Anthr4xus]

This is the current active game play thread for Lucas Stirling. Unless invited by @Gremlin or @Anthr4xus, please do not post here.

 

January 28, 2022 - Cold and Overcast, Light Snow throughout the day

The streets of New York were cold and frozen. Light snow had been falling since dawn, adding a white frosting to the concrete and pavement of the city that made it glisten and shine like a rare gemstone in the early light of the morning. It was the first snow in almost a week, and had little impact on the amount of traffic filling the streets in the morning traffic.

Outside of the office door of Lucas Stirling, a small box sat. It was wrapped in plain brown paper and twine, with a simple handwritten message on the top that read:

L. Stirling

PRIVATE!

The other tenants of the small office building had ignored it for the most part, although a small post-it note had been stuck to it admonishing that packages are to be dropped off in the mail room for pickup, not the halls. Everyone in the building new that that would have come from the small marketing firm that dominated the third floor of the building.

[Gremlin]

Lucas walked through the building, brushing off the dusting of snow that had accumulated on his coat and woollen hat during his walk from the train station to the office. He noticed the package as he unlocked the office door, electing to leave it be until he had removed his jacket and checked the office heating was on. After powering up the computer Lucas went to collect the box, reading the message on the post-it before rolling it into a ball and dropping it into the small wastepaper bin. If a package in the hallway was their biggest problem, he figured whoever wrote the note was doing pretty well.

 

Placing the package on his small desk, he rummaged around for a pair of scissors to open the box and wondered who had sent it. Lucas hadn't ordered anything for delivery and as far as he knew, he hadn't been in business long enough to have attracted anyone's attention. The most he'd been expecting was maybe an email or two about a philandering spouse.

[Anthr4xus]

The old air handling system made an rattling clank and a metallic burning smell wafted from the vents for a few seconds after Lucas kicked the system up. Lucas had noticed the noise since his second day in the space, but it only did it for a minute or so when the system first came on. The smell was new, and unpleasant, but faded quick enough. Warm air began stirring the chilly room. Lucas had been careful to not turn the system fully off, just down enough that the bill shouldn't be harsher than a bat to shins. The last week had actually gotten up above freezing for a few days in a row, but this snow was a bad sign.

Looking over the package Lucas noticed that there were no stamps or a return address anywhere on it. The packaging was fairly well done, but obviously wrapped by hand. The box was no more than four inches on a side and made no noise when lightly shaken. It was quite light, and the string was only loosely tied around the box so it was an easy thing to slide the blade of the scissors under it to cut it free.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Anthr4xus (see edit history)

[Gremlin]

Lucas wrinkled his nose at the smell from the heating vent, hoping there wasn't a dead rodent in there getting air fried. When he could no longer notice the smell, he wondered if it had truly gone or if he'd just gotten used to it.

When he was done examining the package and still no closer to figuring out where it had come from, Lucas opened it carefully. For some reason, he couldn't shake the impression that something was going to leap from the box, jack-in-the-box style; so he refrained from peering over at the contents as it opened.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Gremlin (see edit history)

[Anthr4xus]

Lucas cut the string and carefully opened the wrapping to reveal a plain brown cardboard box. An old shipping label covered over by black sharpie marker decorated the top of the box, but only clear scotch tape actually held the box close. Lucas cut the tape and opened the box, cautiously pouring it out away from him on the desk. Much to his surprise nothing fell or leapt from the box. After a few second he risked looking inside and saw a sheet of paper folder over and over on itself to fit it in the small box. It was wedged firmly from corner to corner in the box and part of the paper was crumpled over weirdly were it was slightly taller than the box and got partially crushed as it was forced closed.

[Gremlin]

Lucas sat back for a few seconds before pulling the paper from the box. He looked inside to see if anything had been concealed beneath the sheet, before unfolding it and examining both sides. It seemed odd to him that someone would go to the trouble of packaging the paper like this, rather than pushing it under his door or mailing it.

[Anthr4xus]

Lucas unfolded a surprising large piece of paper, larger than one would expect. The paper itself was odd, rough and heavily textured, like it hadn't been fully processed like the paper in Lucas' printer. It made him think of pieces in art galleries and rich people's houses. The size would be about what one would expect from a big sketch pad or something, and given the paper quality, a high-end one at that. Several faint sketches of various vaguely human a visible in various angles and positions over the page, obviously figure practice. In the center of the large page, the only space not covered in either marks or the faint remnants of erased lines, several lines had been written in a broad and sloppy script with some kind of charcoal pencil.

"Mr. Stirling,

I hope that you will be unlike the others I have reached out to and listen to me. I have been experiencing things that cannot be explained and I am terrified for my very life. I own my home, and have a small amount of money that I am willing to offer to one who can help me get to the bottom of this mystery. Forgive the unorthodox delivery of this message, but there are those who are acting against me that search my normal mail. If you would like to know more please take care to not be followed to 3856 Amundson Ave.

Please help,

Marty Mallard Milford"

Edited August 22, 2023 by Anthr4xus (see edit history)

[Gremlin]

Lucas read the note several times before examining the sketches surrounding the text. He turned it face down and leaned back in the chair to think it over before deciding he needed coffee. The communal kitchen for this floor wasn't luxurious by any stretch of the imagination, but it was functional and his allocated cupboard was stocked with the essentials, including tea. Though not a huge fan of the stuff Lucas had quickly found that as a Brit, it was somehow expected that he would offer them tea before any other drink.

After greeting some of the other building tenants in the process of getting their morning caffeine fix Lucas returned to his office to mull over the note some more. In the end, it didn't take a lot of mulling and his coffee was barely cooled by the time the decision had been made. The offer of work for an unknown sum trumped his currently empty inbox and lack of customers queuing for a consultation. Also, he couldn't help but be intrigued by the message. Although there was likely to be a logical explanation for whatever was going on, Lucas couldn't help asking himself "What if...?"

A quick look at Google Maps told him there was a good distance between the office and his potential client. As he finished the coffee and committed the sin of leaving his mug on the desk, Lucas plotted out a cleaning route between the two locations. He intended to cover some of the distance on foot, with a few detours thrown in. There would also be a short tour of the subway system coupled with a few "shit, wrong train" moments and his leaving the train at the last second. The final ingredient was a trip through one of the city parks with multiple entrances. All of which was intended to reveal if the same faces appeared throughout the journey and make it as difficult as possible to stay with him and stay discrete.

Lucas folded the note and placed it in his pocket, shoved the box under his desk, then set off to indulge Mr Milford's paranoia.

[Anthr4xus]

Making his way across town, Lucas did his best to both evade any possible tails and keep an eye out for the same. There were some faces that seemed to follow him for a few stops here or there, but by the time he strolled onto Amundson Ave. he was convinced that either he was not being followed at all or he was being followed by a multi-person team with seamless coordination and communication.

Lucas double-checked the address as he stood outside the rather dilapidated house that bore those numbers. It was a narrow railhouse, barely twelve feet wide but something like fifty or sixty feet long. It was difficult to be sure, as a tall but peeling wooden fence formed an additional wall that bridged the four or five feet between the faded yellow house he was looking at and it's neighbors on either side. The tiny front yard was close-cropped and a small sign that read "Seton Falls Landscaping" was stuck in the yard near the three steps that lead up to the small porch at the front of the house. Two discolored and slightly warped plastic lawn chairs sat on the porch. A large window pane dominated the wall behind them, but thick curtains were drawn closed in the window, blocking view into the house. A large blue tarp was stretched across most of the visible roof, common if roofing work or damage was currently being dealt with.

A battered and dinged twenty year old chevy cavalier sat at the side of the street directly in front of the house. It's rear window was cracked, and the rear passenger window was replaced with tape and black plastic. The hood, roof and trunk were covered with a random spread of dents and cracked paint. It looked like it had either been attacked with a hammer or a hailstorm.

The street itself held several over parked cars, all similarly old and run down, randomly scattered in front of various houses. It looked like most of the houses on the street were single family residences, with no apartment blocks or multi-tenant rentals in evidence. Mr. Milford's house was the most run-down and worn looking in the immediate area, but this was definitely a lower class neighborhood and all of the houses seemed a little tired and worn.

As he stood on the sidewalk confirming the address and taking it all in, he saw something besides himself moving on the street. Further down the street by another couple houses, a small orange tabby cat leapt over the fence and began slowly sauntering down the sidewalk in Lucas' general direction.

[Gremlin]

For a few moments, Lucas was remembering being a little kid again. Torn between knocking at the door to the house that obviously belonged to the local serial killer, and returning home minus another football. His dad had been far less than happy at the loss of yet another one.

Now, he could have been stood outside the same creepy damned house with who knew what kind of person living there. Only he wasn't a kid this time, he was an adult, with bills, and no-one else was going to pay them for him.

Just before he knocked, Lucas noticed the orange cat headed his way. He hoped it didn't expect him to feed it, or worse, adopt it. Looking around again, he figure there would be enough small creatures for it to live off and shelter wouldn't be too hard to find.

[Anthr4xus]

Lucas spots the cat and looks around, hand raised to knock, and as he looks back sees that further down the street by another couple houses, a small orange tabby cat leapt over the fence and began slowly sauntering down the sidewalk in Lucas' general direction.

As this sinks in the door in front of him suddenly swings open. Just inside is a surprisingly egg-shaped man dressed in tweed and khaki with slick-down jet black hair in a streaky combover across his nearly pointed head. Huge coke-bottle glasses were balanced on a tiny button nose, and dark green eyes were magnified enormously to blink at Lucas. "Hello," he said, his voice oddly fluted and high-pitched, "Mr. Stirling, yes?"

Edited September 5, 2023 by Anthr4xus (see edit history)

[Gremlin]

Lucas did a double-take when he saw the cat a second time. Although he'd only been a little kid when the film was released, he was familiar with the term glitch in the matrix and thought this might qualify. Before he could watch to see where the creature went, the door opened and the odd looking man he supposed was his client appeared and addressed him. "Yeah, that's me. Are you Mr. Milford?" Lucas looked up & down the street again, "And, do you who's the ginger tabby is?"

[Anthr4xus]

"Indeed", Marty Milford said, "that is me. I'm allergic to cats, so it's not mine. Probably one of the strays from the neighborhood. Would you care to come in? Can I get you some water or coffee?" He stepped back a step, still holding on to the door and gestured welcome to Lucas. Where he stood also put him in front of the steep set of steps that led up to the second floor. A fairly large family room dominated at least half of the space on the first floor.

A sixty inch TV hung on the wall and a grey L-shaped couch sat under the curtained window. A small entertainment center sat under the TV, several gaming consoles on display. A large coffee table of dark wood and metal banding sat in front of the couch, covered in numerous remotes and console controllers all scattered around a large black laptop that dominated the surface of the coffee table. A door led to some space under the stairs and an open archway led back into what looked like a combination dining room/kitchen space. All of the electronics were off, and the smell of coffee and bacon wafted from the kitchen.

[Gremlin]

Lucas took a last look at where he'd last seen the tabby cat before following Milford into the house. He considered accepting the offered coffee, but thought better of it given that it wasn't long since his last one. "Just water, thanks."

Whatever Lucas had been expecting of his client's home, it hadn't been this. The place seemed completely at odds with the neighbourhood and the appearance from the outside. He couldn't help wondering what exactly had occurred to cause Milford to fear for his safety. The mention of unexplained occurrences and mail searching meant that for Lucas, the possibility of the client being mentally unwell was still on the table.

[Anthr4xus]

"Of course," Marty said with a weird little bob. He stepped into the kitchen area and Lucas could see him pull down a glass from the cabinet and filling it from the sink faucet. With the door closed, the living room felt suddenly dark and cramped around him. "Well," Marty said as he brought the glass to Lucas, "I imagine you are wondering why I asked you to come here." He swallowed visibly, seeming suddenly nervous. "Well. I've lately noticed a lot of weird things happening around here in the neighborhood. Things happen and then they don't happen, or they happen again. Sometimes when you set things down they are gone when you look again, or they have moved to somewhere else, or the table they were on is now on the other side of the room from where it was. Little weird things. I've been able to get some video evidence I can show you, but it's only been getting worse as time goes on."