Post by Emily on Oct 13, 2015 0:42:28 GMT -8
CAST: Storytelling (lyonsoffire@aol.com), Joshua Gable (offthesbis@aol.com), Tucker North (hesitantlyyours@aol.com), Sybilla Lyons (borningoid@aol.com), Eithne "Enya" McCrae (hellishburden@aol.com), Jade "Jaycee" Cooper (verdantclarity@aol.com), Violet Sterling (incoffins@aol.com), Axton Donovan (irishfighterlunn@aol.com)
SUMMARY: Headmaster has asked Joshua, who is overseeing the renovations at the damaged Lily Hall, to lead tours of an underground burial chamber that was discovered during demolition. A small group of students and locals show up for the first one, only to be trapped by the collapse of its entrance. Joshua leads them down onto the second floor, where another door was found, though he knows not where it leads. Along the way, they encounter perils including aging infrastructure, part of a corpse that's much too fresh to have been interred in the chambers and a mirror unlike any of them have ever seen, before.
TW: mild gore, accidents, death
[Joshua] "I'm an architect, not a carnie, damn it, Cinthie," he grumbled into the cell phone adhered to an ear hidden by dirty blond shag. Joshua Gable, Shepherd University's contracted... contractor, for lack of a better word, was a tall stringbean of a beast with a sharp schnoz and tattoos that spilled out from underneath the sleeves of an old denim jacket to decorate the tops of his hands and his knuckles. He looked like he hadn't slept in two days and he looked like he hadn't shaved in five. It was about par for the course. "I get that it's a find and shit, but why's it gotta be me that makes friendly with the public about it? I ain't one of your boss's fuckin'... subjects, or what ever." Somewhere on the other side of that call, a pregnant Brit cooed something or other that amounted to 'fucking Hell, Joshua, just get it overwith, it's Saturday night and I want hot wings and a skull' at the Texan. His expression softened just before he growled a "Yeah, yeah. See you tonight. Love you, fatty." And then he looked out at the small crowd that had gathered in front of Lily Hall for the tour. PRE-VICTORIAN BURIAL CHAMBER FOUND ON SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, the newspaper had read for a week. GUIDED TOURS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THIS WEEKEND. Click. Call ended. Oh, he'd forgotten to hang up, first, again.
[Tucker] That pregnant Brit really did want her hot wings and her skull and was going to taunt him about how wrangling kids was going to be his next eighteen years. But she had wisely stayed home, because baby. Who had shown up, meanwhile, was Mr. Tucker North. How could he not? A guided tour of a burial chamber? Hell yes, he was all over that shit. Now, he knew this wasn't an official excavation on his part, but nonetheless he had come prepared with a backpack full of supplies. Things like a compass and a camera and a phone, which he was actually hanging on to right now as he pulled himself up in front of Lily Hall. It threw its glow onto his face as eyes went up, and up more, to the guy who was apparently in charge of this whole thing. Now, he'd seen him before, most recently lurking around at Mabon. So Tucker smiled and gave him a lazy sort of salute. "You in charge, then?" he asked. "Don't think we've been formally introduced. Tucker North. Hi." Because introductions were a good thing. The phone was shoved back into his pocket.
[Jaycee] Go out, he said. You have to go to class, he said. Okay, fine. So she couldn't live as a hermit any more, so she might as well go on this thing that Tucker had mentioned to her. She knew that he wouldn't let her get hurt, so she had relented and agreed. It would do her good to not be locked in her own room, right? Even if she wasn't exactly an anthropologist. That was fine, though. She had talked to some of her professors and they'd offered her extra credit to attend in order to make up for the time lost. Sold. Jaycee, in multiple layers of long-sleeved clothing and jeans made her way to Lily Hall, looking for her favorite cambion.
[Joshua] Cell phone shoved into the back pocket of fading blue jeans that were already dirty. Joshua extended a hand to Tucker. "Joshua Gable. And go easy on that 'in charge' shit." Someone does not want this assignment.
[Tucker] "Arguably in charge, then." He took the hand, shook firmly. That was about when Jaycee showed up, and he motioned the littlest witch on over, dropping an arm about her and pulling her into a hug. "Hey there. Glad you made it out."
[Jaycee] Baahhh. She begrudgingly hugged him in return, her arms around his middle before pulling away. "Yeah, yeah. Let's do this quickly so that I can hide back in my blanket fort, yeah?"
[Axton] A Burial Chamber on campus? Why not? It'd be a nice change of pace from school, roof top running and his new hobby of a slightly less legal activity but more on that later. Typical nothing fancy shoes and cloths were worn this evening. Hand stuffed into the front pocket of his Assassin's Creed hoodie as he made his way to the front of Lily Hall. Deep blue eyes scanned the people around the area so far only one face was familiar to him. " Hey Tucker. " He greeted the cambion as he approached.
[Enya] Catacombs seemed just fitting to the blonde im that snazzy business suit. No really, who would risk tarnishing the posh outfit and those Louboutin toes tapping as waited for the tour begin.? Gaze on the phone in her right hand and coffee lid attached to her lip being nibbled on by her front teeth; the guilty pleasure for the unknown banshee. Thumb scrolling across the e-mail that Douglas had sent her about a body showing up in the river. Headless. Right up her ally and how she wanted to go cut up the body. Finding the cause of death, which wasn't becoming headless from what the report was partially hinting at. The phone was put away and she slipped her feet out of the high heel which were shoved into the huge bag hanging off her arm and sneakers were put on. Like she was going to risk getting those bitches scoffed. Enya wasn't that crazy. Those pale gray-blues gaze looked up at Lily Hall and she sighed. What would the past bring up?
[Sybilla] It was in a quiet and unassuming fashion that Sybilla Lyons arrived; immersing herself in the slowly gathering crowd. An appraising once-over was given to the state of construction that had taken over Lily Hall. A shame that such gorgeous architecture had be struck by the fire that would be it's downfall -- but had it not, none of us would be here tonight. Meandering herself up to the front, she slipped her hands into the front pockets of the mid-length dark trench that covered up whatever she was wearing beneath it, save denim tucked into her favored boots. Boots that had sank into burial chambers like this all across the natural world -- and even maybe one or two on the other side, shhh. The Lyons witch was here on special request this eve, and because of it, she inched herself closer to the guy reluctantly running the show, as her uncle would want a recounting of all he had to say, and all he had to show.
[Violet] oh violet you just could not resist the urge now could you? the newspaper was a casual sort of thing to read while sipping tea in some stuffy uptown cafe and that damn headline sure was something that caught her attention. guided tour, now those two words had almost made the girl turn tail and walk away, ahhh but fun would that be? but what fun was a person rambling on about this or that when all she really wanted to do was touch everything in sight? whatever. too late to turn back now. there she was waltzing her way to the entrance as quite as a mouse and dressed in all black. hair had been pinned back with what seemed like a thousand little silver pieces exposing the shaved side of her skull, coat clinched at the base of her neck to keep the lovely cold at bay. while people were making their hellos she would stick back. sorry, not to be rude, she doesn't talk much to strangers.
[Joshua] "Arguably. I can do arguably." Joshua dipped his chin to regard little Jaycee and the blonde who was way damn overdressed for the occasion. She... had read the ad, hadn't she? Underground... burial... chamber? In those shoes? Okay, lady. You do you. Joshua pulled his hand back from Tuckers just to shove it out at the kid in the vidya hoodie with his eyes on the next two ladies who approached; one brown-eyed, one blue, both quiet. More chin dipping.
[Tucker] Damn, there was quite a party turning up for the party. He upnodded the bro in the hoodie, patted Jaycee on the shoulder. Half-shoved, actually, playfully. "Oi, you don't need to be hidin' in your fort. You gotta come out sooner or later."
[Jaycee] You know, Jaycee couldn't help but notice the woman who was over-dressed. She pulled away from Tucker's hug and got a little closer to her... Louboutins.... Unf. Jaycee sighed a little wistfully and the little heterochromatic witch smiled her way. "...I love your shoes," she said quietly. Maybe, just maybe, Jaycee had a girly side?
[Joshua] We're going to pretend that Axton reached out to shake Joshua's hand and introduced himself, here, in the interest of because I said so and it's time to be moving on. A pair of striking blue eyes peered through pieces of dishwater mop. Six. He could handle six, right? Right. ... maybe. Headmaster really should have hired someone who would have been better PR for him. Foul-mouthed American southerners don't exactly inspire confidence in proper English educations. "Y'all are set, then?" Joshua waited a tick or two for responses he didn't really expect to get, beyond nods and brief 'yups,' then turned toward the construction in progress on the near side of Lily Hall, hid his hands in his pockets and sunk a tan steel-toed work boot into the Earth to begin the short trek from where they'd gathered and where they would be entering the old necropolis. "Let's head down. The, uh..." So articulate, Joshua. So articulate. "If you don't already know it, construction started on the university way Hell back in somethin' like 1605. It took 'em fifteen years to build the grounds up, protect 'em from the river, plant new trees to stabilize the Earth so there wouldn't be a buncha mudslidin'. It was rough work. Lotta accidents; somethin' like thirteen guys died. First day of class was in August of 1625. Watch your step." And your heads. Joshua ducked under scaffolding and held a sheet of plastic high so that the six heads that needed to pass it by could do so.
[Enya] The coffee being sipped on with eye rolls each time her phone was going off in her pocket. Blinking when a girl spoke up her gaze turned to the teen with a smile turning the corner of her cheeks. "Thank you, lass." Thick Irish accent tickled Jaycee's ears. Maybe there was something more to the sweetness of her voice? "Enya." Slender white hand was held out her.
[Jaycee] She smiled right on back, a small, shy one. She actually brought a hand up to sort of rub at her ear when it tickled a bit, but she didn't attach it to the fact that it might be her voice. No, it was a breeze or something. She shook her hand. "J-Jaycee," she said, trying to get out of the shy mode. But then the American was speaking up and we were starting, so she pulled away, tucked her hands in her hoodie pocket, and listened up to the -- ugh, southern -- accent talking.
[Enya] Little Miss Jaycee was introverted and it had Enya smiling once more. Reminding her a life before. The inner shake of her head lips parted to speak to the little teen but she was pulling away as their Fearless Southern Studd Muffin Sexyness Leader started to talk. She was sucker for accents. Reaching out, she hooked her arm to slide bewteen Jaycee's arms and tugged her along to keep up pace with her longer stride. "Come along, lassy. We have exploring to get to!" Heartrate picked up with the excitement of the history of the building. Whispering stroked along the shell of her ear and she nearly cooed, but kept the pleasure to herself.
[Tucker] As they began to follow Tall Blonde and American, Tucker pulled his backpack onto one shoulder so he could rifle into it. Out came a small recording device, and he hit record and tucked it into one of his pockets with the microphone part sticking out. There were a few nods offered to the strangers, to the people he knew, to the lady with the killer shoes he knew from Joe's. When Joshua held the sheet up, he lead the charge and stepped within. This was, y'know, his jam. No, not really, he was an evolutionary anthropologist and he doubted they'd dig up any Australopiths down here. But still.
[Sybilla] Tongue pressed to the inside of her cheek in thought, and the petite stature of the woman fell in line to follow beneath the scaffolding and into the building she was oh so familiar with from her years as a student -- what seemed forever ago, when it fact it was only four short years. "Just thirteen?," she quipped, on her way past Joshua Gable, a thin brow lifting up with the question. "I'd heard there were far more. Would you think that's who we might find down below?" It was a thrilling thing, to not know what was down there, and to uncover it from the earth. Sibs was a sucker for that sort. Which is why her uncle had sent her. A side glance was sent towards the cambion in the room when she passed him too. If she couldn't guess who he was by the heat that radiated off him, he reeked of her cousin and that was telling enough.
[Violet] the group, though small, was studied once they had all gathered. new faces, it seemed. after awhile of being gone violet had found that remembering people was a lot harder then it once had been. it was easier to remember the stroke of a brush or when and where it was placed on canvas. no, she didn't know anyone and no one knew her, right? after each individual was given a once over, keeping a small smile plastered across dark lips for common courtesy, her attention turned to the one leading the group. long legs took her to the entrance and through. come on let the journey begin.
[Tucker] Heh. Sorry. Tucker peered at the girl who looked at him, and he nodded, smirking, just a tiny bit. No, he couldn't tell who she was, he just knew she was looking. And that her eyes were a bit familiar.
[Axton] Hands stayed in his pockets as he followed the ground into the catacombs. 1605 was old and old meant there might be some cool stuff right? stuff that might have a considerable dollar value? Well, let's see what happens. " So how many tombs are down here? Think we'll find a zombie? " No he was not talking about Scar.
[Violet, taken over by Storyteller] Violet isn't tall, Jaycee, you're just short. The dark-haired Sterling with the silver in her lip mustered up half a quiet smile for her, but said nothing, because Christian has had to away and I will be half-assedly NPCing Violet until she returns, if she returns.
[Joshua] Joshua lifted an eyebrow at Sybilla as she passed him by. "Thirteen of record, Miss Lyons," he elaborated. He didn't know her from Eve, but there was a gold-gilded picture frame sitting on the corner of a desk in the administrative building with the brunette and a blonde in it. Joshua wasn't Sherlock Holmes, but it didn't take a detective to know that when a man situates a picture frame so, those in it are probably family. He had a similar set-up on his own desk; two firestarters making stupid faces at the camera. "Were more like forty-two went missin', you're not off. No bodies, though. No graves. Just gone." The immediate area just inside the scaffolding had been well dug and could be walked evenly, for the most part. It was lit by propane-powered garage lamps that buzzed indiscreetly, so when Joshua glanced over at Axton-the-funny-man to shoot smart-assery right back at him, he raised his voice a little. "We don't know how many there are, yet. We ain't got to the bottom of it. Three floors deep, so far. S'lookin' like around a hundred markers. Strange thing is, you'd think the older remains would be buried up here at the top, but they ain't. The further down you go, the further back the dates go. Not really sure how they managed it. Don't make any damned sense, at least from a builder's perspective. And if we find any Goddamned zombies, y'all are brain puddin'. I run real fast." No, he doesn't. He has asthma. Onward, not-so-noble Gable. The light dimmed as he lead the hapless group past the first marker. The date of death it listed for one L. LUCAS, BELOVED was 1620. A moment later, the brick overhead began to shift. Its binding cracked, allowing light dirtfall to swirl around the party. Other markers in the area included M. EDLINGTON, OUR MUSE, also deceased 1620. Just as the dirtfall ebbed, a brick popped free of the ceiling and fell to the ground, shattering.
[Tucker] Miss Lyons? Oh-ho. Tucker smirked at Sybilla. "Well well," he muttered under his breath.
[Enya] Side glance to the one asking about zombies. Smirk and back to Joshua, nodding while she listened to the history. Releasing Jaycee, she smiled down to the shy little one before pulling out her phone and texting her boss to bugger off. She was learning history and shit.
[Storytelling] One brick. Then two. Three. Sybilla would be the first hit if she didn't move quickly enough.
[Sybilla] A pleased smile pulled at the corners of her mouth when he answered her by name. Good. Attention to detail was key in a position like his. "Fourty two," she drawled in an echo, the inflection in her perhaps insinuating that she wasn't aware of it. Deeper they went, and Sybilla took it all in; reading the markers as they passed them from what she could see outside of the shadows the light provided. The sudden sound of bricks falling would turn her, but then there were more! Oh noes. She tried to step out of the way.
[Storytelling] Sybilla's quick footwork cleared her from one brick's path. The next fell just over Enya's shoulder.
[Enya] Enya stood before one of the Markers. Tracing her fingers over a name with a tip of her head. A name that seemed almost like she had known it. Blinking when the sounds of shifting stoned caused her to tip her head towards where it had come from. Suddenly there was something falling over her shoulder and she hopefully stepped out to the side so it didn't hit her in the back.
[Storytelling] Unfortunately, Enya was hit. The brick broke in two over the cap of her shoulder, tearing one of the seams in her sharp jacket. Let's see if Axton has any better luck. A brick from one of the supporting wall's corners shot toward his chest.
[Axton] "If zombies start popping up all I need to do is run faster than one other person and I think I'll be ok." Please don't let there be zombies, zombies aren't real right? Brick coming at his chest? Awesome! " The fuck?" A step or two to the left as quickly as he could hopefully cleared him of the path of the brick. Did his parkour like agility do him any good? Let's hope so. Bricks to the chest can hurt.
[Storytelling] Zombies are very real. Axton was able to get out of the way. The brick that had been coming for him smashed into the ground at Joshua's feet. Hey Jaycee, head's up; the next brick is for you, sprinkling more dirt in your hair as a warning signal before it falls.
[Joshua] Joshua turned pale.
[Jaycee] Edlington... That name rang a bell. She was looking at the name before she realized that .. bricks were falling! There was a patented (pending) Jaycee shriek and she jumped her butt out of the way.
[Storytelling] She did not jump her butt out of the way. That falling brick knicked Jaycee right in the ear. She was lucky it wasn't further up; it only left an abrasion over her right temple.
[Joshua] Joshua scowled, grabbing Jaycee by the shoulders and pushing most of the group, including poor NPCed but uninjured Violet, ahead into the chambers as the entrance to them began to collapse. "Go, move," he barked.
[Storytelling] A brick came flying out of the collapse, making a beeline for Tucker's left ribs.
[Tucker] Tucker paused at one of the stones. Pursed his lips. Took a picture. Took two pictures, one with his camera and one with his phone. The latter was sent off to two recipients, a charming alufiend and a clever witch. One word. Breadcrumb. Before he could ask Joshua what he knew of the people buried down here, all hell was breaking loose, brick by brick. He didn't think twice. He just attempted to dodge and get moving.
[Storytelling] The brick hit Tucker's side with some impact, but the sound it made was padded, thanks to his leather jacket and the layers he wore underneath in expectation of a cool evening. He would probably have an ugly bruise there, tomorrow, but nothing was broken.
[Joshua] "Come on, Tucker," the psychic yanked the cambion free of the area by his backpack. The entrance wasn't completely blocked off by the time bricks were done falling, though Joshua didn't trust it. There were propane-powered garage lamps under the debris, somewhere, and propane-powered garage lamps tend to blow up when their integrity is compromised. "We can't go back that way." And he headed into the dark, flashlight unneeded. The rest of you might want to consider a source of light, though. Handy that we have a Cooper along on this trip.
[Jaycee] Jaycee shrieked when the brick hit her in the temple, and it disoriented her a little bit. She shook her head, brought her hand up, and touched her head. .. Blood. Great. Get out of your house, he said. It'll be fun, he said. She was going to take it out on Tucker. She was pushed and shoved out of the way, and into the dark they went. That wouldn't do. With a little flick of her wrist, she created a little ball of light that floated above her and followed them around.
[Tucker] Ow. Tucker hissed in pain as he got his ribs smashed. It wasn't severe. He'd live. But it was an inauspicious start to the expedition. He let Joshua lead him to safety, and once they were somewhere safe, he muttered darkly in response to Axton. "Crumblin' infrastructure, I'd wager," he murmured. "1620 is a long, long time..." Construction had begun in 1605, but 1620 was the name that was etched into his mind's eye. Jaycee's nifty light orb interrupted his attempt at getting his own flashlight free with shaking hands, and he grinned at her, though it was a bit strained. "Neat." Nonetheless, he palmed his own torch, because the additional light couldn't hurt. "Alright then. Miss Lyons, is it?" He said that to Sybilla, offering her a friendly sort of smile. "You alright, then? Everyone alright? We're all breathin', yeah?" Don't take it out on Tucker, Jaycee, he's too pretty to be punched.
[Enya] She was feeling the tear of her jacket and getting pissed about it, but she was the one who came here from work all dolled up. The jacket was being taken off but she stopped when the room started to cave in. Booking it with the others to dodged what she could till they were in the clear. Blinking in the darkness, teeth were loudly sucked on. The bag was set down and she pulled off her jacket. Rolling up her sleeves before digging around in her bag. Pulling out pen light and a flash light. Blink when a light appeared over the head of Jaycee. "Oi, nice trick there lassy." Flash light was turned on and she dug deeper. Pulling out small zipped up pack. "Come 'er. I'll take care of the ear." She was kind a doctor....kind of. Standing the bag was puled back on her shoulder. Pen light stuck into her pocket.
[Sybilla] Bricks were flying all about the place, hitting people, and Sybilla put the moves on to get out of the way and on the move. It was clear the entrance was going down, so already she was heading towards the depths of it all. That trench she wore? Had all kinds of handy pockets, and Sybilla? She always came prepared. Digging in to the deepest inner pocket, a small LED flashlight was retrieved, and once everyone started to catch up, she crouched down and loosened her left boot a little. Just in case she had to go for the knife sheathed there. Popping back up, the flashlight aimed at the floor, and the lower part of the walls, careful to not shine it in anyone's eyes. "You said three floors? Found another entrance yet? Sybilla," she gave Tucker a smile back, and nodded her head. "Right as rain." The orb around the Cooper witch showed the blood on her head, and the smile dissolved a little. She was reaching for a hankie she had, but the woman who was so not dressed to be trapped in some caves, seemed to have that all covered. "And you then?," her dark eyed attention shot back to her cousin's mate. "Were you hit?"
[Axton] "Well, That was interesting. " he smirked as he looked around. " Was it supposed to that? " Pulling the hood back he sighed a bit and looked ahead as he fished his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight app. " They usually make these things with more than one way out right?"
[Tucker] He waved a friendly, dismissive sort of hand. "Me? Oh, I'll live. I'll just turn up at Bethy's door and make sad faces at her til she whips up somethin' to take the sting out." A blue eye winked. "Tucker, by the way."
[Jaycee] "I'm fine," Jaycee said by way of checking in. Alright, now how was the American going to get them out of this one?
[Sybilla] "Lovely to have met you," Sybilla murmured; shifting now to shine the light higher, still keeping it out of people's eyes. She looked over the names seen on the markers, taking note mainly of how many she could see, and just how sound things were in here. Boots crunched over gravel and debris when she moved a little deeper, but sticking with the group. A glance over her pint-sized shoulder. "You should let her clean that up. Dirty in here."
[Enya] "Alright." The small med kit was tossed back into her bag and she looked over to Stud Muffin The Leader.
[Tucker] Tucker eyed Jaycee's head, frowned, and gave her that look that said 'do not make me deliver you to the infirmary a second time.'
[Jaycee] HUFF. Fine. She turned towards Enya. "...Maybe not. Will you look?"
[Tucker] A nod. Good. Tucker North: guardian cambion.
[Joshua] Enya is a doctor in the way that Tucker and Sybilla are scientists. They all like their subject matter pre-deceased. "Yeah," Joshua trailed a distracted response back at both Axton and Sybilla. "Yeah, there's some kinda door on the next floor down. We don't know where it goes, but there's light from the other side durin' the daytime. S'gotta get us free." He paused to allow Enya to see to indecisive Jaycee's owie.
[Sybilla] A door, that they didn't know where it went. Spelled trouble, in most circumstances like these -- at least in her experience. A light could mean so many things, but she had no desire to be trapped in a fucking catacomb all night. "I'm all for checking that door then."
[Tucker] Hey, the thing about dead folks is that they didn't sass you. While Enya treated Jaycee's wounds, Tucker moved up to stand beside Joshua. "Well, I suppose we ought to go through the door. It's that or burrow our way out." He nodded at Sybilla. "The layerin' of those markers is odd from an archaeological stance too, by the by. Y'know anythin' about the names on 'em? Edlington? Lucas?" Yeah, no reason, he was just curious, right?
[Enya] The med kit was taken back out and she unzipped it. Pulling out a package it was ripped open and she used the light to look at her ear closer, even with the ball over their head. "Going to sting." Flashlight was held between her teeth and she went to cleaning the wound of the blood and dirt, even if from a small cut. Another small pack was opened and she dabbed on some bactine. And lastly a MY LITTLE PONY BANDAGE. Fluttershy one. "All done."
[Sybilla] "Edlington?" Sybilla turned back to face Tucker then, the light shining up into his face just briefly before she dropped it's shine. Her movement was quick to bring her back to where he'd joined Joshua, and then a little further so she could see the marker herself, shining it over the row of them on both sides until she found it -- pairing the date with the first initial, and a rush of air left her. "It's Marie." Tracing over the first few letters of the surname, and then the dates of one of the first witches burned to bring the Council into creation, the archeologist turned back and crossed the steps to rejoin the two. "Have you two heard of the ghost that lingers at the organ in the music hall? You've found her resting place. They must have exhumed her, all that time ago, or waited to bury here here. She wasn't killed near here at all." Not really. "The other name doesn't ring a bell," she added in, picking her steps back up to keep going now that Jaycee was attended to.
[Jaycee] Jaycee begrudgingly let her treat her wound because Tucker was Mister Mom over there. But when she got a MLP bandaid, the teenager just sort of stared. "...No lolly?" she asked? But hell, they were going to go look at the room while she had a bloody Fluttershy bandaid on her temple.
[Joshua] After a quick evaluation of the party, Joshua decided that everyone was fit to continue, making mental note to himself to buy a life insurance policy once he had WiFi signal on his phone, again. "Nice Band-Aid," he mouthed at Jaycee, then set his jaw, in agreeance with Sybilla and Tucker. "This way." Darker and darker, deeper and mustier. At least the bricks had stopped their millimeter sway. Artificial light blazed bright into all the black, pulling at names on markers that got older and older, less and less ornate.
[Jaycee] Scowl. She shook her head to make her hair cover her bandaid as they walked on.
[Tucker] "Oh! Yeah, I...well, I've heard of her, but I ain't seen her. Ghost-seein' ain't my thing." Marie Edlington! Yeah, he knew that name. "But y'don't know anythin' about L. Lucas? Supposed it couldn't hurt to ask..." Shrug. Positioning himself between a Lyons and a Cooper, he followed Joshua along, his flashlight sweeping about. There was a pause then. "...Wait. No. I have. Kinda seen her. Seen her...uh, I saw her possess Bethy once." He'd forgotten.
[Enya] Chuckling under her breath, she was moving along with the others till she stopped at mark. Almost touching it and moving one. Flickering her light this way and that. Shifting her bag on her shoulder, she was pet it softly. Lou's were still safe. All was well with the banshee.
[Axton] "Go on a tour Axton. It'll be fun, they said....Why wasn't I warned about the bricks...This has the makings of a scary movie. " Looking to Joshua. " Hey boss I want a refund. Being eaten by zombies was not on the brochure.." There was a familiar name. " Hey wasn't Marie Edlington that ghost that did the thing with Beth so we could see the Sphynx kill people? " That was her right? He was pretty sure it was her.
[Tucker] Nod. "Yeah. That was her. Jesus, been a while, ain't it? And those weren't zombies, they were bricks."
[Axton] "Zombie bricks...They were trying to eat us I swear."
[Joshua] He stopped just shy of a marker that read J. SULLIVAN, BROTHER IN PRAYER, deceased 1583. "You ain't been eaten by a zombie brick yet, kid," at Axton. "And the tour was free. Pipe down." It seemed as though he was listening for something, but there wasn't much to hear aside from the usual sounds that creepy underground burial chambers make.
[Storytelling] The cobbles under the party's feet gave way to dirt strewn with rocks that would make things interesting for anyone not sensibly shoed.
[Joshua] "These stairs are packed dirt and old lime," Joshua warned them. "They crumble. Y'all try to step center, y'hear?" And he went down first, followed by Sybilla.
[Sybilla] A brow lifted a little at the mentions of the ghost of Marie Edlington inhabiting her cousin, but she made no comment on it - instead concentrated on following after the tall lanky Texan -- though she could barely see around the man, truth be told. So she kept her light shone on his feet, frowning when the terrain changed; already going carefully when Joshua gave his warning. Steps were light, steps were precise.
[Storytelling] One after the other, they made for the second floor. Sybilla descended free of incident, but it didn't seem to matter that Enya had changed out of her heels and into those sneakers. Her heel sunk into one of the last stairs she had to maneuver, throwing her off balance. She fell into the wall and sigh, scuffed her blouse sleeve up. Jaycee, Axton and Violet got down all right. Then Tucker must have caught the divet that Enya's heel left in one of those bottom stairs, only he didn't get the luxury of a moderate smush into the wall, end of story; he fell forward, after that, stumbling into a faceplant. When he opened his eyes, he would find himself looking into another pair there on the ground. Joshua extended an arm like some kind of a human barbed wire fence, corralling the womenfolk and Axton behind him. A severed head, male, with dark hair stared at the cambion. Now-dry blood had soaked into the surrounding area, and for the assistant coroner's reference, there had definitely been sufficient exsanguination there in order to suggest the end of a human life. "Jesus," Joshua muttered. "Get the fuck away from that." Light filtered into the area from around a doorframe at the opposite end of the corridor they were in.
[Jaycee] The womenfolk. Jaycee would take offense to that, but to be quite serious, when she got a glimpse of the head, she shrieked (patent pending), and that little orb of light above her head fizzled out. No more energy was spent keeping that up because she was seriously scrambling the opposite way. GO GO GO, NEVER FOLLOWING TUCKER'S ADVICE AGAIN.
[Joshua] Joshua is a little bit of a sexist. Not gonna lie.
[Tucker] "Ow! Jesus fuck ow!" Tucker had to lay there for a second with his eyes shut to make the world stop whirling. Once he was done with his Slinky impersonation and sure that he was stable, he cracked his eyes open and shone his flashlight ahead of him. Blues peered into darker eyes. Dead eyes. His response was an unearthly hiss of terror, like a cat plunged into water, and his entire body recoiling as he leapt up to his feet. Joshua didn't have to tell him twice. The cambion was moving as fast as his apparently clumsy body could carry him.
[Sybilla] Yeah, but he was tall. And Sybilla was short, and wiley. The arm that shot out to protect, she just darted beneath and went after Tucker - because, well, she wanted to help! And see. He was already to his feet when she reached him, but Sybilla lingered just a few heartbeats behind him; LED shone directly in the face of the dead. "Oh, he is not going to like this," she breathed out, and though she knew she should have booked it after Tucker's tail ( half demons, amirite? ), she stayed where she was. Needing every detail, and then some. Because her other hand was sliding her phone out, and using the flashlight to it's full advantage, Sibby snapped a picture; slipping the phone back away as the doctor joined her. "Got it," she played along .. and then didn't do that at all. Meandering to the side a little, flashlight scouring the walls to see what else they might find. Heads generally had bodies, after all.
[Enya] OH OH OH OH CHOP OFF HEAD! Enya let out a littel squeal and was forgetting her posh clothing was being ruined. THERE WAS HEAD waiting for her. "Oh, hello there sweetheart." Joshua was keeping her away from the head that caused a pouting of her lovely lower lip. Straighting her shoulder, she smiled towards Joshua and pulled her badge from her hip. "Eithne McCrae. Seems to be in luck..." Pun happening, "Assistant Coroner." The bandge was put away and she gave look over to Jaycee. The light was shone into her bag and she pulled out another small case. The purse was then held out to Jaycee. "Protect this bag with your life lassy." Winking, she headed over to the body slowly. Each step was carefully taken as she scanned the ground. "Everyone please stay where they are till I clear the scene. Thank you."
[Axton] "First bricks, now heads...Yo' I don't like this place. I mean I half expected to see dead bodies but not fresh ones." He kept clear of the head and simply pointed to the light. " Is that the way out? I really want that to be the way out..."
[Jaycee] Jaycee took the bag, hugged it to her chest, and sat down against the far wall, clutching it and paling. She wanted to go back to Nottingham, damnit!
[Joshua] Joshua nodded toward the light, urging Axton onward. GTFOH, kid.
[Storytelling] Well, while Enya is doing her fucking CSI thing, perhaps the rest of the party -- including Sybilla, who will not find a body nearby -- can do as they were directed by Mr. Trailer Park 2015, skitter down the corridor and admire the large, gold-trimmed frame that takes up almost the entire center twelve feet of the brick wall opposite the one that lit-up door is on. Pretty, isn't it? It hadn't been completely restored, of course. Centuries worth of dirt dulled most of its shine. Was there supposed to have been a painting in it?
[Tucker] Tucker stared at the big frame, finding that to be far more interesting than trying to look at dead people. His expertise ended once people developed agriculture, anyway. Instead, he crept towards the frame. "Oi. Corpses not withstandin', what's this?" he asked. Sybilla was on her way over. So he was on his way too, and he gently pulled Jaycee in this direction by the wrist. This was a good place to follow, right? Frames weren't dangerous, right?
[Sybilla] Oh sure. Give the girl something covered in dirt that was once gold and shiny. That's not going to make her want to run away out of murder cave or anything. The white lights of her torch caught the shine of gold, and Sybilla really couldn't disguise the fan girl gasp she made that there was TREASURE. The hankie, embroidered in her mothers intitals and something that had seen better days, was tugged from her pocket, and she wrapped it about her fingers. "Don't touch it!," her hand shot out in Tucker's direction to still his approach, and she turned her attention his way. "Don't touch. It's old." Which meant a whole lot of things. It could crumble under the wrong pressure, oily fingers could mar it, yadda yadda.
[Axton] "Hey, not my fault. I don't kill people in underground burial chambers. I usually spend most of my time outside doing semi-normal things like parkour and...anything not related to killing people." With that he continued on as urged by Joshua. As Sybilla began to clean up, he had a thought. "Hey, uh...I can kinda wash the dirt away. I mean I sometimes control water if that would help."
[Enya] Unzipping the pack, she knelt down before the head and took out a recorder. Turning it on, she let it on her thigh. A pair of gloves were taken out and pulled over the pale digits of her fingers. The recorder was brought up close to her mouth, "Caucasian male. Age...." She leaned in closer using the flash light. "...seventeen to twenty." Pulling back, she slipped a a pair of gloves from a side pocket. Snapping them on, the recorder and case were set down on the ground away from the dried blood. The hair grabbed and she eased the bodyless head off the ground. A sopping sound of wet blood being stuck the jagged edges was heard. "The head was render from the body with a.." Her other hand came out and to play with the edges of the skin, "a irregular edging from the body. Leaving the flesh torn away from the shoulders with mighty amount of force." She brought her bloodied fingers to her nose for a small sniff. "Hmm."
[Jaycee] It was probably a good thing that Tucker snagged her, because Jaycee would have stayed in her little spot with Enya's bag. She got up, hesitantly, and followed along towards the frame. "No mirrors, is there?" she asked, worried that if there were frames, there were mirrors abound.
[Sybilla] So ohhhhh so delicately, she brushed her hankied fingers over the edge of the frame -- the layers of dirt on the long buried thing so thick, it barely made a difference. Dark eyes shifted to the one who spoke up. "Just .. be careful." And y'know, if his water didn't work, she could probably manipuluate the dirt away with magicy fingers. The earth liked to listen to her. But a cleaner approach sounded more ideal!
[Tucker] "I don't think there's a mir--" He was cut off by Sybilla telling him not to touch, and he huffed much the way Jaycee often did. "I ain't touchin' nothin'," he insisted in that Cockney drawl that sounded like he ought to have been trying to steal the damn thing. With Sybilla and Axton tending to the frame, and with the coroner back there doing her coroner thing, he hung back with Jaycee and watched, pulling his coat tighter around himself. "Should've stayed back at Joe's, huh, glowworm?" Seemed Jaycee had a new nickname.
[Axton] "Might wanna stand back a bit. Sometimes this doesn't go as planned and usually that means everything gets wet" With that said he took in a slow and deep breath to gather some focus while placing his hand on the area in need of hydration. The normal dark blue of his eyes changed to a softer and brighter hue as the moisture was pulled from the air around them little by little and collected between his hand and the frame. He was trying very hard not to be a pressure washer at the moment. He still didn't have a good handle on this whole water bending thing yet.
[Enya] The head was lowered back down to the ground and she petted the top of it in thought. "A headless body was just found in the River. This might be a match." Gloves were taken off and laid out beside the dried puddle of mud. The recorder was turned off and she was pulling out a small note book. Making notes in it.
[Sybilla] "Just focus," she said softly to the water witch. "Remember that you control the water, it doesn't control you." She eased back, but not by far. Not at all unphased by the possibility of getting soaked. She needed to see what he was uncovering. The light in her hand remained steady on his hands, shining on what he was doing -- for both of their benefit.
[Storytelling] Slowly, crumbling dirt became thin mud that trickled down the frame and the bricks next to it. It collected in a growing pool on the ground. What it revealed was quite true to Jaycee's fear: Mirror. From Axton's waist down: Mirror. Trimmed in what was not gold, but oiled bronze. Lions danced around the reflective surface. A carbon copy of Joshua leapt into view, then, pressing manic face and palms against what should not have been a window, but acted as one.
[Joshua] Joshua's eyes widened. "Out," he whispered harshly. "Get the fuck out, all of you." The sound of rollers on wood and muffled speech could be heard behind that light-framed door. He threw it open. "Doc McCrae, pack it up, we're leavin'! I'll have Security Director Cavanaugh forward the Goddamn thing to your office!" With that, he was near pushing each of them through the door.
[Storytelling] What they stumbled out into was the restricted area of Veitch Library.
[Tucker] Jesus. Tucker leapt back like he'd just been stung, and again he was snarling. Stepping in front of Jaycee to bare needle-fangs at Joshua's all-wrong reflection, at least until he was instructed to get out. Get out? Oh yeah, he was way the fuck out. OKAYBYE. He dashed through the door, but remained nearby once he was on the other side in the library, to make sure everyone got out safely. And oh boy Security Director Cavanaugh was gonna be thrilled.
[Jaycee] Mirrors. It was something that Jaycee had been actively avoiding for a long while, despite being admonished by Tucker and the Headmaster himself. Now, though, they were essentially stuck in some catacomb things with mirrors and disembodied heads and all of that awfulness. Still clutching Enya's bag, Jaycee fled with Tucker, heart pounding, cheeks flushed.
[Sybilla] The light she held moved lower and lower the more he uncovered -- and there it was. A mirror. The seemingly source of all the woes on the university this past week. Sybilla froze, staring at it as reflection came into view, bearing their tour guides face. A reflection that was clearly not, when it began to move in ways that Joshua was not. "Come, come," tugging on the Donovan gents arm to at least get him moving, the mirror went dark when her light went away and Sibby was on the run -- following after the sounds of feet hitting dirt in a hurried pace ( honestly, music to her ears ). The dark soon gave way to light coming from the door that had been pushed open, and in the light-brunette spilled with the rest into the library. She didn't waste time lingering and asking questions of the rest, instead her mobile was out and to her ear the second they were in the clear. Off she went, hushed and quick words spilling to her uncle of what had been discovered below Lily Hall -- and apparently the library too.
[Axton] "Ok can someone explain what the hell all that was about or are we just gonna roll with it? " Axton was lost. Heads, angry bricks, mirrors? What the fuck Batman? shutting the light off on the now near dead cell phone before putting it back in his pocket he looked around. " Worst. tour. ever .....would have made a good haunted house considering the up coming holiday..."
[Enya] She was all into the head and suddenly Joshua was dragging her out. "What the fairy dust is happening?" She finally looked over to the mirror and her mouth dropped open. Grabbing her things, she went for Jaycee. "Purse, please." Taking it back from her and dropped the to go kit in and pulled it over her shoulder. ANYTHING HIDDEN IN DARK PLACES IS NOT SAFE! WHY YOU MESS WITH IT! She nodded and was going along with the others, "What did you see back there?"
[Tucker]There was another Lyons phone call, while he kept his hand on Jaycee's shoulder until he was sure she was okay and not going to piss herself. "Bethy. Bethy you ain't gonna believe what we found down there. It's bad, it's fuckin' bad..."
SUMMARY: Headmaster has asked Joshua, who is overseeing the renovations at the damaged Lily Hall, to lead tours of an underground burial chamber that was discovered during demolition. A small group of students and locals show up for the first one, only to be trapped by the collapse of its entrance. Joshua leads them down onto the second floor, where another door was found, though he knows not where it leads. Along the way, they encounter perils including aging infrastructure, part of a corpse that's much too fresh to have been interred in the chambers and a mirror unlike any of them have ever seen, before.
TW: mild gore, accidents, death
[Joshua] "I'm an architect, not a carnie, damn it, Cinthie," he grumbled into the cell phone adhered to an ear hidden by dirty blond shag. Joshua Gable, Shepherd University's contracted... contractor, for lack of a better word, was a tall stringbean of a beast with a sharp schnoz and tattoos that spilled out from underneath the sleeves of an old denim jacket to decorate the tops of his hands and his knuckles. He looked like he hadn't slept in two days and he looked like he hadn't shaved in five. It was about par for the course. "I get that it's a find and shit, but why's it gotta be me that makes friendly with the public about it? I ain't one of your boss's fuckin'... subjects, or what ever." Somewhere on the other side of that call, a pregnant Brit cooed something or other that amounted to 'fucking Hell, Joshua, just get it overwith, it's Saturday night and I want hot wings and a skull' at the Texan. His expression softened just before he growled a "Yeah, yeah. See you tonight. Love you, fatty." And then he looked out at the small crowd that had gathered in front of Lily Hall for the tour. PRE-VICTORIAN BURIAL CHAMBER FOUND ON SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, the newspaper had read for a week. GUIDED TOURS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THIS WEEKEND. Click. Call ended. Oh, he'd forgotten to hang up, first, again.
[Tucker] That pregnant Brit really did want her hot wings and her skull and was going to taunt him about how wrangling kids was going to be his next eighteen years. But she had wisely stayed home, because baby. Who had shown up, meanwhile, was Mr. Tucker North. How could he not? A guided tour of a burial chamber? Hell yes, he was all over that shit. Now, he knew this wasn't an official excavation on his part, but nonetheless he had come prepared with a backpack full of supplies. Things like a compass and a camera and a phone, which he was actually hanging on to right now as he pulled himself up in front of Lily Hall. It threw its glow onto his face as eyes went up, and up more, to the guy who was apparently in charge of this whole thing. Now, he'd seen him before, most recently lurking around at Mabon. So Tucker smiled and gave him a lazy sort of salute. "You in charge, then?" he asked. "Don't think we've been formally introduced. Tucker North. Hi." Because introductions were a good thing. The phone was shoved back into his pocket.
[Jaycee] Go out, he said. You have to go to class, he said. Okay, fine. So she couldn't live as a hermit any more, so she might as well go on this thing that Tucker had mentioned to her. She knew that he wouldn't let her get hurt, so she had relented and agreed. It would do her good to not be locked in her own room, right? Even if she wasn't exactly an anthropologist. That was fine, though. She had talked to some of her professors and they'd offered her extra credit to attend in order to make up for the time lost. Sold. Jaycee, in multiple layers of long-sleeved clothing and jeans made her way to Lily Hall, looking for her favorite cambion.
[Joshua] Cell phone shoved into the back pocket of fading blue jeans that were already dirty. Joshua extended a hand to Tucker. "Joshua Gable. And go easy on that 'in charge' shit." Someone does not want this assignment.
[Tucker] "Arguably in charge, then." He took the hand, shook firmly. That was about when Jaycee showed up, and he motioned the littlest witch on over, dropping an arm about her and pulling her into a hug. "Hey there. Glad you made it out."
[Jaycee] Baahhh. She begrudgingly hugged him in return, her arms around his middle before pulling away. "Yeah, yeah. Let's do this quickly so that I can hide back in my blanket fort, yeah?"
[Axton] A Burial Chamber on campus? Why not? It'd be a nice change of pace from school, roof top running and his new hobby of a slightly less legal activity but more on that later. Typical nothing fancy shoes and cloths were worn this evening. Hand stuffed into the front pocket of his Assassin's Creed hoodie as he made his way to the front of Lily Hall. Deep blue eyes scanned the people around the area so far only one face was familiar to him. " Hey Tucker. " He greeted the cambion as he approached.
[Enya] Catacombs seemed just fitting to the blonde im that snazzy business suit. No really, who would risk tarnishing the posh outfit and those Louboutin toes tapping as waited for the tour begin.? Gaze on the phone in her right hand and coffee lid attached to her lip being nibbled on by her front teeth; the guilty pleasure for the unknown banshee. Thumb scrolling across the e-mail that Douglas had sent her about a body showing up in the river. Headless. Right up her ally and how she wanted to go cut up the body. Finding the cause of death, which wasn't becoming headless from what the report was partially hinting at. The phone was put away and she slipped her feet out of the high heel which were shoved into the huge bag hanging off her arm and sneakers were put on. Like she was going to risk getting those bitches scoffed. Enya wasn't that crazy. Those pale gray-blues gaze looked up at Lily Hall and she sighed. What would the past bring up?
[Sybilla] It was in a quiet and unassuming fashion that Sybilla Lyons arrived; immersing herself in the slowly gathering crowd. An appraising once-over was given to the state of construction that had taken over Lily Hall. A shame that such gorgeous architecture had be struck by the fire that would be it's downfall -- but had it not, none of us would be here tonight. Meandering herself up to the front, she slipped her hands into the front pockets of the mid-length dark trench that covered up whatever she was wearing beneath it, save denim tucked into her favored boots. Boots that had sank into burial chambers like this all across the natural world -- and even maybe one or two on the other side, shhh. The Lyons witch was here on special request this eve, and because of it, she inched herself closer to the guy reluctantly running the show, as her uncle would want a recounting of all he had to say, and all he had to show.
[Violet] oh violet you just could not resist the urge now could you? the newspaper was a casual sort of thing to read while sipping tea in some stuffy uptown cafe and that damn headline sure was something that caught her attention. guided tour, now those two words had almost made the girl turn tail and walk away, ahhh but fun would that be? but what fun was a person rambling on about this or that when all she really wanted to do was touch everything in sight? whatever. too late to turn back now. there she was waltzing her way to the entrance as quite as a mouse and dressed in all black. hair had been pinned back with what seemed like a thousand little silver pieces exposing the shaved side of her skull, coat clinched at the base of her neck to keep the lovely cold at bay. while people were making their hellos she would stick back. sorry, not to be rude, she doesn't talk much to strangers.
[Joshua] "Arguably. I can do arguably." Joshua dipped his chin to regard little Jaycee and the blonde who was way damn overdressed for the occasion. She... had read the ad, hadn't she? Underground... burial... chamber? In those shoes? Okay, lady. You do you. Joshua pulled his hand back from Tuckers just to shove it out at the kid in the vidya hoodie with his eyes on the next two ladies who approached; one brown-eyed, one blue, both quiet. More chin dipping.
[Tucker] Damn, there was quite a party turning up for the party. He upnodded the bro in the hoodie, patted Jaycee on the shoulder. Half-shoved, actually, playfully. "Oi, you don't need to be hidin' in your fort. You gotta come out sooner or later."
[Jaycee] You know, Jaycee couldn't help but notice the woman who was over-dressed. She pulled away from Tucker's hug and got a little closer to her... Louboutins.... Unf. Jaycee sighed a little wistfully and the little heterochromatic witch smiled her way. "...I love your shoes," she said quietly. Maybe, just maybe, Jaycee had a girly side?
[Joshua] We're going to pretend that Axton reached out to shake Joshua's hand and introduced himself, here, in the interest of because I said so and it's time to be moving on. A pair of striking blue eyes peered through pieces of dishwater mop. Six. He could handle six, right? Right. ... maybe. Headmaster really should have hired someone who would have been better PR for him. Foul-mouthed American southerners don't exactly inspire confidence in proper English educations. "Y'all are set, then?" Joshua waited a tick or two for responses he didn't really expect to get, beyond nods and brief 'yups,' then turned toward the construction in progress on the near side of Lily Hall, hid his hands in his pockets and sunk a tan steel-toed work boot into the Earth to begin the short trek from where they'd gathered and where they would be entering the old necropolis. "Let's head down. The, uh..." So articulate, Joshua. So articulate. "If you don't already know it, construction started on the university way Hell back in somethin' like 1605. It took 'em fifteen years to build the grounds up, protect 'em from the river, plant new trees to stabilize the Earth so there wouldn't be a buncha mudslidin'. It was rough work. Lotta accidents; somethin' like thirteen guys died. First day of class was in August of 1625. Watch your step." And your heads. Joshua ducked under scaffolding and held a sheet of plastic high so that the six heads that needed to pass it by could do so.
[Enya] The coffee being sipped on with eye rolls each time her phone was going off in her pocket. Blinking when a girl spoke up her gaze turned to the teen with a smile turning the corner of her cheeks. "Thank you, lass." Thick Irish accent tickled Jaycee's ears. Maybe there was something more to the sweetness of her voice? "Enya." Slender white hand was held out her.
[Jaycee] She smiled right on back, a small, shy one. She actually brought a hand up to sort of rub at her ear when it tickled a bit, but she didn't attach it to the fact that it might be her voice. No, it was a breeze or something. She shook her hand. "J-Jaycee," she said, trying to get out of the shy mode. But then the American was speaking up and we were starting, so she pulled away, tucked her hands in her hoodie pocket, and listened up to the -- ugh, southern -- accent talking.
[Enya] Little Miss Jaycee was introverted and it had Enya smiling once more. Reminding her a life before. The inner shake of her head lips parted to speak to the little teen but she was pulling away as their Fearless Southern Studd Muffin Sexyness Leader started to talk. She was sucker for accents. Reaching out, she hooked her arm to slide bewteen Jaycee's arms and tugged her along to keep up pace with her longer stride. "Come along, lassy. We have exploring to get to!" Heartrate picked up with the excitement of the history of the building. Whispering stroked along the shell of her ear and she nearly cooed, but kept the pleasure to herself.
[Tucker] As they began to follow Tall Blonde and American, Tucker pulled his backpack onto one shoulder so he could rifle into it. Out came a small recording device, and he hit record and tucked it into one of his pockets with the microphone part sticking out. There were a few nods offered to the strangers, to the people he knew, to the lady with the killer shoes he knew from Joe's. When Joshua held the sheet up, he lead the charge and stepped within. This was, y'know, his jam. No, not really, he was an evolutionary anthropologist and he doubted they'd dig up any Australopiths down here. But still.
[Sybilla] Tongue pressed to the inside of her cheek in thought, and the petite stature of the woman fell in line to follow beneath the scaffolding and into the building she was oh so familiar with from her years as a student -- what seemed forever ago, when it fact it was only four short years. "Just thirteen?," she quipped, on her way past Joshua Gable, a thin brow lifting up with the question. "I'd heard there were far more. Would you think that's who we might find down below?" It was a thrilling thing, to not know what was down there, and to uncover it from the earth. Sibs was a sucker for that sort. Which is why her uncle had sent her. A side glance was sent towards the cambion in the room when she passed him too. If she couldn't guess who he was by the heat that radiated off him, he reeked of her cousin and that was telling enough.
[Violet] the group, though small, was studied once they had all gathered. new faces, it seemed. after awhile of being gone violet had found that remembering people was a lot harder then it once had been. it was easier to remember the stroke of a brush or when and where it was placed on canvas. no, she didn't know anyone and no one knew her, right? after each individual was given a once over, keeping a small smile plastered across dark lips for common courtesy, her attention turned to the one leading the group. long legs took her to the entrance and through. come on let the journey begin.
[Tucker] Heh. Sorry. Tucker peered at the girl who looked at him, and he nodded, smirking, just a tiny bit. No, he couldn't tell who she was, he just knew she was looking. And that her eyes were a bit familiar.
[Axton] Hands stayed in his pockets as he followed the ground into the catacombs. 1605 was old and old meant there might be some cool stuff right? stuff that might have a considerable dollar value? Well, let's see what happens. " So how many tombs are down here? Think we'll find a zombie? " No he was not talking about Scar.
[Violet, taken over by Storyteller] Violet isn't tall, Jaycee, you're just short. The dark-haired Sterling with the silver in her lip mustered up half a quiet smile for her, but said nothing, because Christian has had to away and I will be half-assedly NPCing Violet until she returns, if she returns.
[Joshua] Joshua lifted an eyebrow at Sybilla as she passed him by. "Thirteen of record, Miss Lyons," he elaborated. He didn't know her from Eve, but there was a gold-gilded picture frame sitting on the corner of a desk in the administrative building with the brunette and a blonde in it. Joshua wasn't Sherlock Holmes, but it didn't take a detective to know that when a man situates a picture frame so, those in it are probably family. He had a similar set-up on his own desk; two firestarters making stupid faces at the camera. "Were more like forty-two went missin', you're not off. No bodies, though. No graves. Just gone." The immediate area just inside the scaffolding had been well dug and could be walked evenly, for the most part. It was lit by propane-powered garage lamps that buzzed indiscreetly, so when Joshua glanced over at Axton-the-funny-man to shoot smart-assery right back at him, he raised his voice a little. "We don't know how many there are, yet. We ain't got to the bottom of it. Three floors deep, so far. S'lookin' like around a hundred markers. Strange thing is, you'd think the older remains would be buried up here at the top, but they ain't. The further down you go, the further back the dates go. Not really sure how they managed it. Don't make any damned sense, at least from a builder's perspective. And if we find any Goddamned zombies, y'all are brain puddin'. I run real fast." No, he doesn't. He has asthma. Onward, not-so-noble Gable. The light dimmed as he lead the hapless group past the first marker. The date of death it listed for one L. LUCAS, BELOVED was 1620. A moment later, the brick overhead began to shift. Its binding cracked, allowing light dirtfall to swirl around the party. Other markers in the area included M. EDLINGTON, OUR MUSE, also deceased 1620. Just as the dirtfall ebbed, a brick popped free of the ceiling and fell to the ground, shattering.
[Tucker] Miss Lyons? Oh-ho. Tucker smirked at Sybilla. "Well well," he muttered under his breath.
[Enya] Side glance to the one asking about zombies. Smirk and back to Joshua, nodding while she listened to the history. Releasing Jaycee, she smiled down to the shy little one before pulling out her phone and texting her boss to bugger off. She was learning history and shit.
[Storytelling] One brick. Then two. Three. Sybilla would be the first hit if she didn't move quickly enough.
[Sybilla] A pleased smile pulled at the corners of her mouth when he answered her by name. Good. Attention to detail was key in a position like his. "Fourty two," she drawled in an echo, the inflection in her perhaps insinuating that she wasn't aware of it. Deeper they went, and Sybilla took it all in; reading the markers as they passed them from what she could see outside of the shadows the light provided. The sudden sound of bricks falling would turn her, but then there were more! Oh noes. She tried to step out of the way.
[Storytelling] Sybilla's quick footwork cleared her from one brick's path. The next fell just over Enya's shoulder.
[Enya] Enya stood before one of the Markers. Tracing her fingers over a name with a tip of her head. A name that seemed almost like she had known it. Blinking when the sounds of shifting stoned caused her to tip her head towards where it had come from. Suddenly there was something falling over her shoulder and she hopefully stepped out to the side so it didn't hit her in the back.
[Storytelling] Unfortunately, Enya was hit. The brick broke in two over the cap of her shoulder, tearing one of the seams in her sharp jacket. Let's see if Axton has any better luck. A brick from one of the supporting wall's corners shot toward his chest.
[Axton] "If zombies start popping up all I need to do is run faster than one other person and I think I'll be ok." Please don't let there be zombies, zombies aren't real right? Brick coming at his chest? Awesome! " The fuck?" A step or two to the left as quickly as he could hopefully cleared him of the path of the brick. Did his parkour like agility do him any good? Let's hope so. Bricks to the chest can hurt.
[Storytelling] Zombies are very real. Axton was able to get out of the way. The brick that had been coming for him smashed into the ground at Joshua's feet. Hey Jaycee, head's up; the next brick is for you, sprinkling more dirt in your hair as a warning signal before it falls.
[Joshua] Joshua turned pale.
[Jaycee] Edlington... That name rang a bell. She was looking at the name before she realized that .. bricks were falling! There was a patented (pending) Jaycee shriek and she jumped her butt out of the way.
[Storytelling] She did not jump her butt out of the way. That falling brick knicked Jaycee right in the ear. She was lucky it wasn't further up; it only left an abrasion over her right temple.
[Joshua] Joshua scowled, grabbing Jaycee by the shoulders and pushing most of the group, including poor NPCed but uninjured Violet, ahead into the chambers as the entrance to them began to collapse. "Go, move," he barked.
[Storytelling] A brick came flying out of the collapse, making a beeline for Tucker's left ribs.
[Tucker] Tucker paused at one of the stones. Pursed his lips. Took a picture. Took two pictures, one with his camera and one with his phone. The latter was sent off to two recipients, a charming alufiend and a clever witch. One word. Breadcrumb. Before he could ask Joshua what he knew of the people buried down here, all hell was breaking loose, brick by brick. He didn't think twice. He just attempted to dodge and get moving.
[Storytelling] The brick hit Tucker's side with some impact, but the sound it made was padded, thanks to his leather jacket and the layers he wore underneath in expectation of a cool evening. He would probably have an ugly bruise there, tomorrow, but nothing was broken.
[Joshua] "Come on, Tucker," the psychic yanked the cambion free of the area by his backpack. The entrance wasn't completely blocked off by the time bricks were done falling, though Joshua didn't trust it. There were propane-powered garage lamps under the debris, somewhere, and propane-powered garage lamps tend to blow up when their integrity is compromised. "We can't go back that way." And he headed into the dark, flashlight unneeded. The rest of you might want to consider a source of light, though. Handy that we have a Cooper along on this trip.
[Jaycee] Jaycee shrieked when the brick hit her in the temple, and it disoriented her a little bit. She shook her head, brought her hand up, and touched her head. .. Blood. Great. Get out of your house, he said. It'll be fun, he said. She was going to take it out on Tucker. She was pushed and shoved out of the way, and into the dark they went. That wouldn't do. With a little flick of her wrist, she created a little ball of light that floated above her and followed them around.
[Tucker] Ow. Tucker hissed in pain as he got his ribs smashed. It wasn't severe. He'd live. But it was an inauspicious start to the expedition. He let Joshua lead him to safety, and once they were somewhere safe, he muttered darkly in response to Axton. "Crumblin' infrastructure, I'd wager," he murmured. "1620 is a long, long time..." Construction had begun in 1605, but 1620 was the name that was etched into his mind's eye. Jaycee's nifty light orb interrupted his attempt at getting his own flashlight free with shaking hands, and he grinned at her, though it was a bit strained. "Neat." Nonetheless, he palmed his own torch, because the additional light couldn't hurt. "Alright then. Miss Lyons, is it?" He said that to Sybilla, offering her a friendly sort of smile. "You alright, then? Everyone alright? We're all breathin', yeah?" Don't take it out on Tucker, Jaycee, he's too pretty to be punched.
[Enya] She was feeling the tear of her jacket and getting pissed about it, but she was the one who came here from work all dolled up. The jacket was being taken off but she stopped when the room started to cave in. Booking it with the others to dodged what she could till they were in the clear. Blinking in the darkness, teeth were loudly sucked on. The bag was set down and she pulled off her jacket. Rolling up her sleeves before digging around in her bag. Pulling out pen light and a flash light. Blink when a light appeared over the head of Jaycee. "Oi, nice trick there lassy." Flash light was turned on and she dug deeper. Pulling out small zipped up pack. "Come 'er. I'll take care of the ear." She was kind a doctor....kind of. Standing the bag was puled back on her shoulder. Pen light stuck into her pocket.
[Sybilla] Bricks were flying all about the place, hitting people, and Sybilla put the moves on to get out of the way and on the move. It was clear the entrance was going down, so already she was heading towards the depths of it all. That trench she wore? Had all kinds of handy pockets, and Sybilla? She always came prepared. Digging in to the deepest inner pocket, a small LED flashlight was retrieved, and once everyone started to catch up, she crouched down and loosened her left boot a little. Just in case she had to go for the knife sheathed there. Popping back up, the flashlight aimed at the floor, and the lower part of the walls, careful to not shine it in anyone's eyes. "You said three floors? Found another entrance yet? Sybilla," she gave Tucker a smile back, and nodded her head. "Right as rain." The orb around the Cooper witch showed the blood on her head, and the smile dissolved a little. She was reaching for a hankie she had, but the woman who was so not dressed to be trapped in some caves, seemed to have that all covered. "And you then?," her dark eyed attention shot back to her cousin's mate. "Were you hit?"
[Axton] "Well, That was interesting. " he smirked as he looked around. " Was it supposed to that? " Pulling the hood back he sighed a bit and looked ahead as he fished his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight app. " They usually make these things with more than one way out right?"
[Tucker] He waved a friendly, dismissive sort of hand. "Me? Oh, I'll live. I'll just turn up at Bethy's door and make sad faces at her til she whips up somethin' to take the sting out." A blue eye winked. "Tucker, by the way."
[Jaycee] "I'm fine," Jaycee said by way of checking in. Alright, now how was the American going to get them out of this one?
[Sybilla] "Lovely to have met you," Sybilla murmured; shifting now to shine the light higher, still keeping it out of people's eyes. She looked over the names seen on the markers, taking note mainly of how many she could see, and just how sound things were in here. Boots crunched over gravel and debris when she moved a little deeper, but sticking with the group. A glance over her pint-sized shoulder. "You should let her clean that up. Dirty in here."
[Enya] "Alright." The small med kit was tossed back into her bag and she looked over to Stud Muffin The Leader.
[Tucker] Tucker eyed Jaycee's head, frowned, and gave her that look that said 'do not make me deliver you to the infirmary a second time.'
[Jaycee] HUFF. Fine. She turned towards Enya. "...Maybe not. Will you look?"
[Tucker] A nod. Good. Tucker North: guardian cambion.
[Joshua] Enya is a doctor in the way that Tucker and Sybilla are scientists. They all like their subject matter pre-deceased. "Yeah," Joshua trailed a distracted response back at both Axton and Sybilla. "Yeah, there's some kinda door on the next floor down. We don't know where it goes, but there's light from the other side durin' the daytime. S'gotta get us free." He paused to allow Enya to see to indecisive Jaycee's owie.
[Sybilla] A door, that they didn't know where it went. Spelled trouble, in most circumstances like these -- at least in her experience. A light could mean so many things, but she had no desire to be trapped in a fucking catacomb all night. "I'm all for checking that door then."
[Tucker] Hey, the thing about dead folks is that they didn't sass you. While Enya treated Jaycee's wounds, Tucker moved up to stand beside Joshua. "Well, I suppose we ought to go through the door. It's that or burrow our way out." He nodded at Sybilla. "The layerin' of those markers is odd from an archaeological stance too, by the by. Y'know anythin' about the names on 'em? Edlington? Lucas?" Yeah, no reason, he was just curious, right?
[Enya] The med kit was taken back out and she unzipped it. Pulling out a package it was ripped open and she used the light to look at her ear closer, even with the ball over their head. "Going to sting." Flashlight was held between her teeth and she went to cleaning the wound of the blood and dirt, even if from a small cut. Another small pack was opened and she dabbed on some bactine. And lastly a MY LITTLE PONY BANDAGE. Fluttershy one. "All done."
[Sybilla] "Edlington?" Sybilla turned back to face Tucker then, the light shining up into his face just briefly before she dropped it's shine. Her movement was quick to bring her back to where he'd joined Joshua, and then a little further so she could see the marker herself, shining it over the row of them on both sides until she found it -- pairing the date with the first initial, and a rush of air left her. "It's Marie." Tracing over the first few letters of the surname, and then the dates of one of the first witches burned to bring the Council into creation, the archeologist turned back and crossed the steps to rejoin the two. "Have you two heard of the ghost that lingers at the organ in the music hall? You've found her resting place. They must have exhumed her, all that time ago, or waited to bury here here. She wasn't killed near here at all." Not really. "The other name doesn't ring a bell," she added in, picking her steps back up to keep going now that Jaycee was attended to.
[Jaycee] Jaycee begrudgingly let her treat her wound because Tucker was Mister Mom over there. But when she got a MLP bandaid, the teenager just sort of stared. "...No lolly?" she asked? But hell, they were going to go look at the room while she had a bloody Fluttershy bandaid on her temple.
[Joshua] After a quick evaluation of the party, Joshua decided that everyone was fit to continue, making mental note to himself to buy a life insurance policy once he had WiFi signal on his phone, again. "Nice Band-Aid," he mouthed at Jaycee, then set his jaw, in agreeance with Sybilla and Tucker. "This way." Darker and darker, deeper and mustier. At least the bricks had stopped their millimeter sway. Artificial light blazed bright into all the black, pulling at names on markers that got older and older, less and less ornate.
[Jaycee] Scowl. She shook her head to make her hair cover her bandaid as they walked on.
[Tucker] "Oh! Yeah, I...well, I've heard of her, but I ain't seen her. Ghost-seein' ain't my thing." Marie Edlington! Yeah, he knew that name. "But y'don't know anythin' about L. Lucas? Supposed it couldn't hurt to ask..." Shrug. Positioning himself between a Lyons and a Cooper, he followed Joshua along, his flashlight sweeping about. There was a pause then. "...Wait. No. I have. Kinda seen her. Seen her...uh, I saw her possess Bethy once." He'd forgotten.
[Enya] Chuckling under her breath, she was moving along with the others till she stopped at mark. Almost touching it and moving one. Flickering her light this way and that. Shifting her bag on her shoulder, she was pet it softly. Lou's were still safe. All was well with the banshee.
[Axton] "Go on a tour Axton. It'll be fun, they said....Why wasn't I warned about the bricks...This has the makings of a scary movie. " Looking to Joshua. " Hey boss I want a refund. Being eaten by zombies was not on the brochure.." There was a familiar name. " Hey wasn't Marie Edlington that ghost that did the thing with Beth so we could see the Sphynx kill people? " That was her right? He was pretty sure it was her.
[Tucker] Nod. "Yeah. That was her. Jesus, been a while, ain't it? And those weren't zombies, they were bricks."
[Axton] "Zombie bricks...They were trying to eat us I swear."
[Joshua] He stopped just shy of a marker that read J. SULLIVAN, BROTHER IN PRAYER, deceased 1583. "You ain't been eaten by a zombie brick yet, kid," at Axton. "And the tour was free. Pipe down." It seemed as though he was listening for something, but there wasn't much to hear aside from the usual sounds that creepy underground burial chambers make.
[Storytelling] The cobbles under the party's feet gave way to dirt strewn with rocks that would make things interesting for anyone not sensibly shoed.
[Joshua] "These stairs are packed dirt and old lime," Joshua warned them. "They crumble. Y'all try to step center, y'hear?" And he went down first, followed by Sybilla.
[Sybilla] A brow lifted a little at the mentions of the ghost of Marie Edlington inhabiting her cousin, but she made no comment on it - instead concentrated on following after the tall lanky Texan -- though she could barely see around the man, truth be told. So she kept her light shone on his feet, frowning when the terrain changed; already going carefully when Joshua gave his warning. Steps were light, steps were precise.
[Storytelling] One after the other, they made for the second floor. Sybilla descended free of incident, but it didn't seem to matter that Enya had changed out of her heels and into those sneakers. Her heel sunk into one of the last stairs she had to maneuver, throwing her off balance. She fell into the wall and sigh, scuffed her blouse sleeve up. Jaycee, Axton and Violet got down all right. Then Tucker must have caught the divet that Enya's heel left in one of those bottom stairs, only he didn't get the luxury of a moderate smush into the wall, end of story; he fell forward, after that, stumbling into a faceplant. When he opened his eyes, he would find himself looking into another pair there on the ground. Joshua extended an arm like some kind of a human barbed wire fence, corralling the womenfolk and Axton behind him. A severed head, male, with dark hair stared at the cambion. Now-dry blood had soaked into the surrounding area, and for the assistant coroner's reference, there had definitely been sufficient exsanguination there in order to suggest the end of a human life. "Jesus," Joshua muttered. "Get the fuck away from that." Light filtered into the area from around a doorframe at the opposite end of the corridor they were in.
[Jaycee] The womenfolk. Jaycee would take offense to that, but to be quite serious, when she got a glimpse of the head, she shrieked (patent pending), and that little orb of light above her head fizzled out. No more energy was spent keeping that up because she was seriously scrambling the opposite way. GO GO GO, NEVER FOLLOWING TUCKER'S ADVICE AGAIN.
[Joshua] Joshua is a little bit of a sexist. Not gonna lie.
[Tucker] "Ow! Jesus fuck ow!" Tucker had to lay there for a second with his eyes shut to make the world stop whirling. Once he was done with his Slinky impersonation and sure that he was stable, he cracked his eyes open and shone his flashlight ahead of him. Blues peered into darker eyes. Dead eyes. His response was an unearthly hiss of terror, like a cat plunged into water, and his entire body recoiling as he leapt up to his feet. Joshua didn't have to tell him twice. The cambion was moving as fast as his apparently clumsy body could carry him.
[Sybilla] Yeah, but he was tall. And Sybilla was short, and wiley. The arm that shot out to protect, she just darted beneath and went after Tucker - because, well, she wanted to help! And see. He was already to his feet when she reached him, but Sybilla lingered just a few heartbeats behind him; LED shone directly in the face of the dead. "Oh, he is not going to like this," she breathed out, and though she knew she should have booked it after Tucker's tail ( half demons, amirite? ), she stayed where she was. Needing every detail, and then some. Because her other hand was sliding her phone out, and using the flashlight to it's full advantage, Sibby snapped a picture; slipping the phone back away as the doctor joined her. "Got it," she played along .. and then didn't do that at all. Meandering to the side a little, flashlight scouring the walls to see what else they might find. Heads generally had bodies, after all.
[Enya] OH OH OH OH CHOP OFF HEAD! Enya let out a littel squeal and was forgetting her posh clothing was being ruined. THERE WAS HEAD waiting for her. "Oh, hello there sweetheart." Joshua was keeping her away from the head that caused a pouting of her lovely lower lip. Straighting her shoulder, she smiled towards Joshua and pulled her badge from her hip. "Eithne McCrae. Seems to be in luck..." Pun happening, "Assistant Coroner." The bandge was put away and she gave look over to Jaycee. The light was shone into her bag and she pulled out another small case. The purse was then held out to Jaycee. "Protect this bag with your life lassy." Winking, she headed over to the body slowly. Each step was carefully taken as she scanned the ground. "Everyone please stay where they are till I clear the scene. Thank you."
[Axton] "First bricks, now heads...Yo' I don't like this place. I mean I half expected to see dead bodies but not fresh ones." He kept clear of the head and simply pointed to the light. " Is that the way out? I really want that to be the way out..."
[Jaycee] Jaycee took the bag, hugged it to her chest, and sat down against the far wall, clutching it and paling. She wanted to go back to Nottingham, damnit!
[Joshua] Joshua nodded toward the light, urging Axton onward. GTFOH, kid.
[Storytelling] Well, while Enya is doing her fucking CSI thing, perhaps the rest of the party -- including Sybilla, who will not find a body nearby -- can do as they were directed by Mr. Trailer Park 2015, skitter down the corridor and admire the large, gold-trimmed frame that takes up almost the entire center twelve feet of the brick wall opposite the one that lit-up door is on. Pretty, isn't it? It hadn't been completely restored, of course. Centuries worth of dirt dulled most of its shine. Was there supposed to have been a painting in it?
[Tucker] Tucker stared at the big frame, finding that to be far more interesting than trying to look at dead people. His expertise ended once people developed agriculture, anyway. Instead, he crept towards the frame. "Oi. Corpses not withstandin', what's this?" he asked. Sybilla was on her way over. So he was on his way too, and he gently pulled Jaycee in this direction by the wrist. This was a good place to follow, right? Frames weren't dangerous, right?
[Sybilla] Oh sure. Give the girl something covered in dirt that was once gold and shiny. That's not going to make her want to run away out of murder cave or anything. The white lights of her torch caught the shine of gold, and Sybilla really couldn't disguise the fan girl gasp she made that there was TREASURE. The hankie, embroidered in her mothers intitals and something that had seen better days, was tugged from her pocket, and she wrapped it about her fingers. "Don't touch it!," her hand shot out in Tucker's direction to still his approach, and she turned her attention his way. "Don't touch. It's old." Which meant a whole lot of things. It could crumble under the wrong pressure, oily fingers could mar it, yadda yadda.
[Axton] "Hey, not my fault. I don't kill people in underground burial chambers. I usually spend most of my time outside doing semi-normal things like parkour and...anything not related to killing people." With that he continued on as urged by Joshua. As Sybilla began to clean up, he had a thought. "Hey, uh...I can kinda wash the dirt away. I mean I sometimes control water if that would help."
[Enya] Unzipping the pack, she knelt down before the head and took out a recorder. Turning it on, she let it on her thigh. A pair of gloves were taken out and pulled over the pale digits of her fingers. The recorder was brought up close to her mouth, "Caucasian male. Age...." She leaned in closer using the flash light. "...seventeen to twenty." Pulling back, she slipped a a pair of gloves from a side pocket. Snapping them on, the recorder and case were set down on the ground away from the dried blood. The hair grabbed and she eased the bodyless head off the ground. A sopping sound of wet blood being stuck the jagged edges was heard. "The head was render from the body with a.." Her other hand came out and to play with the edges of the skin, "a irregular edging from the body. Leaving the flesh torn away from the shoulders with mighty amount of force." She brought her bloodied fingers to her nose for a small sniff. "Hmm."
[Jaycee] It was probably a good thing that Tucker snagged her, because Jaycee would have stayed in her little spot with Enya's bag. She got up, hesitantly, and followed along towards the frame. "No mirrors, is there?" she asked, worried that if there were frames, there were mirrors abound.
[Sybilla] So ohhhhh so delicately, she brushed her hankied fingers over the edge of the frame -- the layers of dirt on the long buried thing so thick, it barely made a difference. Dark eyes shifted to the one who spoke up. "Just .. be careful." And y'know, if his water didn't work, she could probably manipuluate the dirt away with magicy fingers. The earth liked to listen to her. But a cleaner approach sounded more ideal!
[Tucker] "I don't think there's a mir--" He was cut off by Sybilla telling him not to touch, and he huffed much the way Jaycee often did. "I ain't touchin' nothin'," he insisted in that Cockney drawl that sounded like he ought to have been trying to steal the damn thing. With Sybilla and Axton tending to the frame, and with the coroner back there doing her coroner thing, he hung back with Jaycee and watched, pulling his coat tighter around himself. "Should've stayed back at Joe's, huh, glowworm?" Seemed Jaycee had a new nickname.
[Axton] "Might wanna stand back a bit. Sometimes this doesn't go as planned and usually that means everything gets wet" With that said he took in a slow and deep breath to gather some focus while placing his hand on the area in need of hydration. The normal dark blue of his eyes changed to a softer and brighter hue as the moisture was pulled from the air around them little by little and collected between his hand and the frame. He was trying very hard not to be a pressure washer at the moment. He still didn't have a good handle on this whole water bending thing yet.
[Enya] The head was lowered back down to the ground and she petted the top of it in thought. "A headless body was just found in the River. This might be a match." Gloves were taken off and laid out beside the dried puddle of mud. The recorder was turned off and she was pulling out a small note book. Making notes in it.
[Sybilla] "Just focus," she said softly to the water witch. "Remember that you control the water, it doesn't control you." She eased back, but not by far. Not at all unphased by the possibility of getting soaked. She needed to see what he was uncovering. The light in her hand remained steady on his hands, shining on what he was doing -- for both of their benefit.
[Storytelling] Slowly, crumbling dirt became thin mud that trickled down the frame and the bricks next to it. It collected in a growing pool on the ground. What it revealed was quite true to Jaycee's fear: Mirror. From Axton's waist down: Mirror. Trimmed in what was not gold, but oiled bronze. Lions danced around the reflective surface. A carbon copy of Joshua leapt into view, then, pressing manic face and palms against what should not have been a window, but acted as one.
[Joshua] Joshua's eyes widened. "Out," he whispered harshly. "Get the fuck out, all of you." The sound of rollers on wood and muffled speech could be heard behind that light-framed door. He threw it open. "Doc McCrae, pack it up, we're leavin'! I'll have Security Director Cavanaugh forward the Goddamn thing to your office!" With that, he was near pushing each of them through the door.
[Storytelling] What they stumbled out into was the restricted area of Veitch Library.
[Tucker] Jesus. Tucker leapt back like he'd just been stung, and again he was snarling. Stepping in front of Jaycee to bare needle-fangs at Joshua's all-wrong reflection, at least until he was instructed to get out. Get out? Oh yeah, he was way the fuck out. OKAYBYE. He dashed through the door, but remained nearby once he was on the other side in the library, to make sure everyone got out safely. And oh boy Security Director Cavanaugh was gonna be thrilled.
[Jaycee] Mirrors. It was something that Jaycee had been actively avoiding for a long while, despite being admonished by Tucker and the Headmaster himself. Now, though, they were essentially stuck in some catacomb things with mirrors and disembodied heads and all of that awfulness. Still clutching Enya's bag, Jaycee fled with Tucker, heart pounding, cheeks flushed.
[Sybilla] The light she held moved lower and lower the more he uncovered -- and there it was. A mirror. The seemingly source of all the woes on the university this past week. Sybilla froze, staring at it as reflection came into view, bearing their tour guides face. A reflection that was clearly not, when it began to move in ways that Joshua was not. "Come, come," tugging on the Donovan gents arm to at least get him moving, the mirror went dark when her light went away and Sibby was on the run -- following after the sounds of feet hitting dirt in a hurried pace ( honestly, music to her ears ). The dark soon gave way to light coming from the door that had been pushed open, and in the light-brunette spilled with the rest into the library. She didn't waste time lingering and asking questions of the rest, instead her mobile was out and to her ear the second they were in the clear. Off she went, hushed and quick words spilling to her uncle of what had been discovered below Lily Hall -- and apparently the library too.
[Axton] "Ok can someone explain what the hell all that was about or are we just gonna roll with it? " Axton was lost. Heads, angry bricks, mirrors? What the fuck Batman? shutting the light off on the now near dead cell phone before putting it back in his pocket he looked around. " Worst. tour. ever .....would have made a good haunted house considering the up coming holiday..."
[Enya] She was all into the head and suddenly Joshua was dragging her out. "What the fairy dust is happening?" She finally looked over to the mirror and her mouth dropped open. Grabbing her things, she went for Jaycee. "Purse, please." Taking it back from her and dropped the to go kit in and pulled it over her shoulder. ANYTHING HIDDEN IN DARK PLACES IS NOT SAFE! WHY YOU MESS WITH IT! She nodded and was going along with the others, "What did you see back there?"
[Tucker]There was another Lyons phone call, while he kept his hand on Jaycee's shoulder until he was sure she was okay and not going to piss herself. "Bethy. Bethy you ain't gonna believe what we found down there. It's bad, it's fuckin' bad..."