agentlelog | CLOSED | a disaster in motion

[ as soon as they'd heard about the murders, nearly stumbled on one of the bodies near their house, it stopped being a question of do we do something, and turned into what are we going to do about this.

which leads to now: a dark alley, leo and jason hiding behind a corner as they can hear a group of young blood men walking along the street, not even bothering to lower their voices as they talk about who to attack next, about how the landens deserve it.

without thinking of it, leo places his hand on jason's shoulder, both reassuring and a warning at once. ]

Remember the plan. They're gonna get what's coming to them. [ read: please don't charge all of them at once. ]

It's actually pretty peaceful here.

[ while leo has never been particularly fond of anything to do with farming, or countryside, or anything of the sort — probably a part of his heritage, that, when one is inclined towards all things mechanical, but there's still some comfort in knowing that farming looks roughly the same, no matter the world.

over his shoulder, he turns and throws lalli a bright grin. ]

You know, aside from the fact there are dangerous predators around ready to eat everything.

[ something nobody ever tells you is just how boring stakeouts are. leo's been here ("here" being somewhere in the middle of the city) for about forty-five minutes, and he's already:

- gotten up, walked around the block, and sat down again for twenty times
- made a music box out of two pipes, a button and a steel plate
- tried his hand at busking with said music box, only to stop when someone tried to throw an egg at him
- thought of a whole business plan and thirty possible names for a taco shop.

it is in the middle of one of these things that molly finds him as leo sits back to the porch he was squatting on and groans, ]

This is so boring, why isn't anyone getting murdered yet?

[ and then, ] Wow, that didn't come out right at all.

Maybe it's a conspiracy, have you thought of that?

[ contemplatively, leo stares out into the fields, currently very un-protected by the fence that has some significant holes in it. ]

Maybe, instead of some wild predators, it's the restaurant owners who come in at night and steal the animals and butcher them and then sell them for great profit the next day.

[ he turns to jonathan, who has very graciously accompanied him here, with a grin that seems to say, hey, might as well be my theory if no one's seen the predators. ]

[ it's not a nice sight, the body of a young man lying on the ground, looking to all intents and purposes as if he were sleeping, if it wasn't for the unnatural way his head was tilted, limbs splayed like a puppet with his strings cut.

the sight makes leo feel vaguely ill — not because he's a stranger to bodies, but more because someone did this, on purpose, to a person who'd done nothing wrong.

(but then, wasn't that the way the world usually worked?)

in the crowd that's gathered around the body, leo spots a familiar head and makes his way around the people, the crying woman next to the body on the ground, and says, ]

Did you hear? This is the fifth body they've found like this.

[ he's not entirely sure how he, of all people, got roped into this.

oh, scratch that, he knows exactly how this happened: because piper has of course mastered the please-won't-you-do-this-for-me look, and because leo still feels guilty for, well, everything that he's utterly unable to refuse her anything.

at least, refuse her something that should, in theory, be very easy.

but here they are, standing near the fateful restaurant, as leo stares at the small, unassuming plant like it's twenty feet tall and about to spit poison at him. ]

... remind me again why it's me here and not your boyfriend who could literally whisk that out of there like nothing? Or Percy who could keep it perfectly watered with like, a snap of his fingers? Is there even a thing such as perfectly watered? Does it need water? [ there's an increasing amount of panic in his voice, this is the worST ]

[ Because you were the first person I could find, and she was crying and tearing up her hands trying to get it.

N o p e. ]

Come on Leo, [ Piper's voice was low enough that hopefully the Blood female she'd literally just managed to pacify with a cup of tea hopefully wouldn't overhear. Vera's daughter was still sniffling, staring at them over the rim of the teacup with some cross of suspicion and hope. ] Who else would I go to to get something out something out of a hard to reach place? The flower is trapped between cobblestones, we just need to figure out a way to get it out without damaging the roots. Then we can put it in a flower pot and give it to Lady Kiera over there.

[ See? Not that hard. They can totally do this. ]

Not really. [Molly feels compelled to throw a silver at him for the music box just on principle, but he doesn't have a whole lot to spare.] And yet strangely relatable. I'm more of a person of action, myself.

[He picks up the music box so he can sit down beside Leo and turns it over in his hands.] At least you've been productive with your time. I've frightened three cats, and as shifty as they were... Not necessarily murderous.

[Farming? Pfft. Lalli knows as much about that as he knows about electric fences (spoilers: incredibly little), but no matter the reason, being outside of Draega's walls like this is... undeniably nice. Comforting, even, despite the fact that the forest he spies in the distance looks nothing like the forests he's used to running about. He's a scout through and through; he'd much rather spend time in these strange outdoors than stay trapped within some half-dead city.

Plus it genuinely is peaceful? For the second time in Lalli's life, he's somewhere the whispers of trolls and spirits and other nasty things can't reach him—and that's enough to put him in a decent mood. Not great, mind you! Not cheery, but... decent. His expression is nice and neutral as he glances back Leo's way, even though the smile aimed his way is blinding. Don't assault him like this!]

Mm.

[A quiet noise of agreement—because he loves this quiet, thanks—before he looks over toward the animals milling about nearby. Predators, huh...]

...They're not close. [He says this with absolute certainty, because hey! Scout's honor!] I'll know when they're coming.

[The remark earns a snort of amusement as Jonathan shifts his gaze from frowning in troubled contemplation at the fence to the young man beside him.]

If that were the case, I don't imagine this fence would stop them if they're especially determined. But it would be an interesting cover; wait until the fences are down and then claim it's the fault of wolves or other creatures.

[He's not entirely certain what might be making off with the livestock, but wolves seems as good a guess as any.]

Now how do you fix these fences again? I cannot seem to manage it.

Are you sure?

[ he doesn't seem too upset by the loss of the music box — if anything, it frees his hands to fiddle with the pieces of metal that are left, the archimedes sphere that he compulsively pulls out from what used to be his magic toolbelt but now seems to be powered by his jewel. ]

I'm just saying, I'm pretty sure cats would murder us all and take over the universe if they could.

Right? I mean, doesn't explain how they've been getting the meat before this, but it's something to consider.

[ though the grin on his face says he's 1000% joking. ]

Oh, uh, I don't know. I mean, I know how to fix them, just not in the jewel magic Craft way they told us to do. But I've always operated on the principle of "fake it till you make it", so if we just pretend we totally know what we're doing, it'll probably be fine.

[ or not. it could also be very, very not fine. disastrous, actually. ]

Seriously?

[ there's only a mild degree of surprise in leo's tone, and it's less for lalli and more that he's never really heard of anyone with an accurate predicting talent for approaching predators. ]

Man, that's useful. I wish I could tell when monsters are approaching, it'd have made my life so much easier.

[Alex has seen dead people before. Suicides, death by violence, death by exposure, starvation... and that's even before counting the people she's seen die daily in Valhalla. It should make it easier.

It doesn't]

A shame.

[To someone not listening closely, her voice sounds almost flippant, as if she doesn't care. But in truth she's just got her emotions on a choke-tight leash]

Someone needs to do something.

You just listen for them. And watch.

[Sure, there's magery involved? Seeing spirits and whatnot, but hey! Keeping an eye out for man-eating monsters is his job, which is why he shrugs. It's easy peasy to him...]

Don't you have scouts in... America? To warn you when things get too close?

[His tone suggests that America-as-a-place is still a WILD thing to wrap his mind around.]

Yeah, [ his answer is similarly quiet, almost like he can't quite decide on whether to be angry or devastated, and the mixture just makes him... still. ]

Someone. Because it seems like none of the local authorities give a damn.

[ he's not saying it, but... someone, or someones. ]

... right.

[ he narrows his eyes slightly, mostly because that sounds way too easy, and thus is probably way harder. especially to a group of people who all collectively suffer from adhd. ]

Uh, I guess? Not in the same way, though, I mean, we have monsters but they only hunt those with the right kind of blood, so most people never even see them. And we can't really see the monsters, they're not like predators who run out of the woods, they can pretend to be people and then... not be people. Uh. It's weird.

Somehow that doesn't surprise me. [The term landen might be new to her, but she's all too familiar with the idea that some people apparently matter less than others to those in charge.

It sounds like Leo might understand that too. And, well, in the end, Alex didn't become an einherji by sitting by idly when people were in danger. So, quietly,]

Maybe we should be the someone?

I trust anything that can do a blep on command. [He sticks his tongue out as if to prove this, and while his tongue is the same pinkish-red of a normal person's tongue, there's a perceptible cleft at the end to form a tiny fork.] Or maybe I'm just used to wizard's familiars.

[A wizard's familiar, anyway. Man, he misses Frumpkin. And also Caleb. To avoid thinking about that, he turns his full attention to the music box, turning it over in his hands.] Is this part of your scheme to blend in while waiting for something to happen?

[That is... a pretty wild summary, to be honest, but Lalli does the only thing he knows how: he compares what he's heard to what he's lived. Give him a second here, before—ah, yep, he's nodding.]

Aha. They hunt mages. [He feels it, he feels it.] And the monsters are... spirits? Not trolls.

[This makes perfect sense in his mind! He's even proud of the connections he's made here, which is why he decides to go for broke.]

Are you a mage?

Oh no, it has roots, [ is what he mutters next, seemingly even more horrified.

it's only then that he seems to notice lady kiera, and he looks from her to piper and back to the lady, and then attempts the sunniest smile he can possibly muster. ]

I mean, we got this! Totally. Your plant is safe-o!

[ maybe????? if he doesn't burn it first by accident ]

Me neither.

[ because in what world aren't those who can't protect themselves actually protected? uhhh, that's nowhere.

alex's quiet suggestion earns a smile out of him, though. ]

I was thinking that, too. I mean — if no one else is about to do anything... at least we can. [ at least we're a bit better suited for the task than totally normal people, he means. ]

Edited (italics my nemesis) 2019-03-06 19:00 (UTC)

Well, giants and chimeras and empousa and stuff, but —

[ his interjection is quick, and not all that relevant, since it doesn't really matter that he meant "they use a mist so that normal people see them as normal people and not monsters" instead of "they're incorporeal", and then lalli is asking him a question and leo stops.

and thinks. ]

... sort of? We have a different word for it, but I guess the idea is the same.

[ in that he can use what could be called "magic". ]

This whole place is just messed up from top to bottom. Least we can do is try and keep random folks from getting killed.

[She gives a grim smile]

Got any specific ideas or should we just start nighttime patrols?

[ Lady Kiera mutters something that they should both probably be glad they don't hear into her tea, as she casts a baleful look at Piper. Piper has a feeling that they'd better get moving or else she'd be needing to the young woman down again. ]

I'll dig the plant out if you help me figure out a way to get at it through the stone.

[ Honestly, how it grew through the pavement makes no sense to Piper. ]

CLOSED | a disaster in motion

FOR JASON 🔥 playing big damn heroes.

FOR LALLI 🔥 countryside callin'

FOR MOLLY 🔥 the first rule of fight club

FOR JONATHAN 🔥 did someone say vegetarian vampires

FOR ALEX 🔥 detective demigods

FOR PIPER 🔥 gardening for dummies

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