2014.4.6:She Who Listens-1
| She Who Listens-1 | |
|---|---|
| Velok and November go to the Crime Scene | |
| IC Date | Thursday |
| IC Time | 3:00 PM |
| Players | Foster (Storyteller) and November and Velok |
| Location | Apartment Complex/Bastion |
| Prp/Tp | She Who Listens |
| Spheres | Demon and Mage |
Log
(Enter Velok and November)
The apartment itself is fairly non-descript, and not just because the ST is a lazy bastard. The neighborhood's a bit run down, with shady warehouses nearby housing freaky, goth chicks and who knows what else. Better not to know. A large parking lot sits out in front of the worn down building. The building itself, however, has a landing in the center that's open to the air with steps leading up to each floor. The apartment doors open up to the landing and then one is outside. So it's more like condos, but whatever.
Freaky Goth Chicks!? Hot Diggidy Daffodile! When Velok pulls up into the parking lot, he seems to be slightly excited, just at the sight of all of it. "Isn't this great?" He casually asks the small woman sitting next to him. He's wearing dark blue pants and that everpresent hoodie with the hood pulled down. Around his chest is the black leather strap trailing back to the tube bobbing with each step. "Usually I did this kind of stuff alone, but now that you're here, it's way cooler. Velok opens up the door to the back seat for a moment so that the long slender form of an Ocelot can slide down onto the asphalt. "Alright, you're just gonna hang out outside, and pull me out if someone comes. You know the drill." The Ocelot looks up to Velok, then vanishes completely, and Velok starts to trudge up towards the apartment with November presumably with him, and the invisible guarding Ocelot in tow.
"Awesome," November murmurs, quieting herself, quieting her mind. She doesn't seem EXCITED, or nervous, or anything really. She's just calming herself. One never knows what they're going to run into in these situations. She gets out of the car and follows Velok up. She has on a nice, long jacket.. One of those faux trench coats that all the hip goth kids are wearing these days. It hides her BAD ASS SWORD <tm>
See? Freak goth chicks. That's so 1990's, anyway. What the hell is wrong with ya'll? In any case, the pair cross the parking lot after, presumably, parking in a spot marked 'VISITOR'. Or maybe you took the open spot marked '304'. The guy in 304's a dick anyway and plays his drums at night. Mindy's apartment was 102, according to Foster, and so that door awaits once they step on to the first floor landing.
Fuck that guy in 304, Velok parks wherever he wants! 304 was the quickest spot at least, so that's nice. Velok glances over towards November with curiousity on his face. "You don't sound nearly as excited. I understand." He opens the doors for her so they can travel on towards apartment 102. "Investigations are always the hardest part for me, so I try and keep at least something else going. That way I can be more serious for later." The man moves with conviction, finding 101 and deducing where 102 is so Velok can stand right outside the door. He glances back to November with an eyebrow raised. "Should we knock?" Morbid humor is morbid, especially to Velok as he reaches forward to try the door handle.
Locked. Son of a bitch. Waaaaait a minute. Didn't Foster say she was found by her roommate?
November mm hmms quietly. "My mode, historically, has been hack and slash." She isn't hesitating, but her eyes do scan this way and that constantly and she is open to the idea of otherworldly powers that are/have been used recently or right now. Unfortunately, she can't see into the future. She shakes her head at the idea of knocking. "She has a roommate. Of course we'll knock."
Velok scrunches up his face a little bit, glancing over to November. "You always do this the easy way." He casually comments, raising up his hand and closing his fist to rap on the door a couple times. "Your call on our cover story." He casually references, glancing around the ground floor of the condo to take notes of exits and thingsofthatnature.
Exits are pretty easy... the first floor landing is kind of an outdoor hallway. Doors 101, 103, and 104 are on the same landing, but you can either walk out the way you came without even touching a door and just going down a couple steps to get to the parking lot, OR you can head out the back way to a sidewalk that leads around towards the dumpster used by the complex. A set of stairs also leads up to the second floor landing, if one wanted to head that way.
November shrugs just a little bit. "Cover story?" She blinks at him a couple of times and then knocks sharply and then steps back behind Velok. Because she is a REAL bitch like that
Velok pulls his hoodie a little bit more around him, raising his hand to know when November pulls off her surprise dingdongditch-ish maneuver. "That's cold as Ice." He says, but he still stands there at the door at his full height, waiting for an appropriate time to see if anyone's home.
See? This is what happens when you leave dead sea life in people's bathtubs. There's some movement inside and then a young woman steps out. Dark hair, pale skin, and she's wearing sweat pants and a loose fitting white T-shirt with three frogs on it, each with a word printed beneath them as they're 'croaking.' Blud. Doe. Ner. Aww, ain't that cute? Not that most people will remember the Budweiser frogs. Red rimmed eyes peer out curiously as she stands in the doorway and looks at the Velok suspiciously, and the strange girl behind him. "Can I help you?"
Velok's eyes glance down towards the woman's shirt when she opens the door, just enough to check out the frogs and not enough to be considered perverted. "Good afternoon ma'am." He says, putting on a nice and friendly smile. He steps out a bit to the side so that SOMEONE can't be hiding behind him anymore. "I'm detective Jones, this is Detective Autumn." Velok smiles, turning to look to November (0 success manipulation). "We're here to ask you a couple questions."
November sighs quietly at Velok and shakes her head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. About your roommate. We knew her and we were just a little bit concerned. We wanted to make sure YOU were okay."
The girl's brow furrows as she looks suspiciously between the pair of you. "You're... detectives... who knew Mindy?" Yeah, she doesn't look like she's buying it. "What do you want?" Her tone goes from cautious curiosity to mild hostility as she steps back, preparing to slam the door if necessary.
November tosses in, "We went to church with her."
Velok glances back to November, nodding a bit, though he looks back to the girl. Eyebrow furrowing, mild hostility, yea he totally failed that. "We did, and we're concerned about what happened. We're not here to take you away or hurt you or anything." He says, though his manipulation already failed. He tilts his head a bit as he stares at the woman, that friendly smile still on his lips.
Maybe it's being caught in the lie. Maybe the roomie really didn't like Foster's church. Maybe Velok just reminds her of a skeevy ex-boyfriend. Whatever the case, she looks towards the pair, unconvinced, and starts to slowly shut the door and just speaks through a cat-sized gap between door and frame. "I already talked to the police," she says cautiously. "They said they'll be back today this afternoon, so... maybe you can talk to them when they get here." It's a lie. A rather unconvincing lie, but the message is clear: ZOMG you creep me out, I don't want to talk to you.
November reaches up to touch the door as she closes it. Her eyes, all swirly and strange light on the girl. "Just let us come in and talk about this whole thing."
Velok is apparently just laughably bad at this whole 'get the person to trust us' thing, which makes sense. Euthanatos, creepy death mage, not easily trustworthy. He throws a glance towards November that screams 'help me', and luckily she does do something. Velok just steps out of the way, glancing around nervously, then nodding and looking back to the crack in the door.
Sure, that sounds like a reasonable request. Of course to the poor girl getting lambasted by a command from a Celestial, it sounds more like, **OPEN THE DOOR!** She can't even think of resisting as she opens the door and steps back to let them enter, even as her brow furrows in confusion. Frog girl looks to be silently asking herself why she let these people in, and as Velok and November enter? She looks very nervous and very small as she cowers back against the far wall.
"Why don't you go lay down on the couch and TAKE A THREE HOUR NAP." November offers this in the most gentle of voices. She'll deal with the fallout later. With any luck, the woman won't even remember they were here. SHe HATES doing things this way, but the two of them are just collossally bad at this.
Velok turns a little bit and gestures towards nothing, pointing towards emptiness, then pointing directly in front of the door, then turning and stepping inside. "Thank you." Velok slides his way past the woman and takes several steps fully into the apartment, his eyes darting around. "I love your shirt, saving lives is wonderful." He brushes out his hoodie a little bit, glancing to November. He's not entirely pleased at doing it this way either, but what must be done must be done. "Sleep well." He says with a smile, already heading around the apartment to get a nice layout.
The apartment starts with the main room, with a nearby couch and television across from the door. Further back is a dining room table beside an open kitchen. The whole area's one big room, with only a waist high counter separating anything. A hallway goes further in to the apartment with a few doors down the way, presumably bedrooms, bathroom, and maybe a laundry room or room for the water heater. Frog girl heads over towards the couch in the room, curls up, and closes her eyes as commanded, though she's still shaking a bit. Life? Liiiike how much life? There's the girl, of course. And November's life, of a sort. And YOU! You are alive! Isn't that amazing? There's other little smatterings, like houseflies and the little bugs and insects that like to hide in between the thin walls of this place, but otherwise? Nothing so large as a mouse even. Which is good, because rodents are a pain in the ass in a place like this.
Velok is heading up and down the apartment already, checking the bedrooms that are unlocked, staring at the rooms that are locked but not trying to force them, Satisfied they're alone, he heads back into the front bedroom, looking back to November. "We're alone, no random boyfriends going to be popping out of the bathroom, though there are two houseflies currently fucking in the kitchen. In case you were interested." Velok certainly isn't interested as he looks back down at the couch towards the woman curled up. "She looks terrified." He says, kneeling down at the couch next to the poor roomate. "I need..clocks, if you have them. I need to keep track of time, here in the living room will do. How's your breathing?" He asks of November as he kneels next to the roomate.
An inspection of the apartment will find two bedrooms, each with a little, rinky-dink, off the Walmart shelf digital alarm clock. Not even a radio alarm clock, but just the kind that makes an awful racket. Both rooms are rather girly in appearance, so it's probably a safe assumption that they belong to Frog Girl and the departed Mindy.
There's also a lock on the microwave, though you might not want to drag a microwave from the kitchen over here.
Velok glances back to November again, then returns his gaze to Frogger. "Sssssh, it's ok. We're not going to hurt you." He whispers, starting to sway a little bit. A low hum comes from the man as he lightly places his hand on Frogger's forehead, the humming sounding almost like a lullaby as he works the effect.
"Thanks for that, pooky," she murmurs softly. "Fly porn. Sexy." She looks around briefly. Clock above the stove, one of those retro ones, maybe? November's old-school watch that she wears out of habit because November didn't really have a cellphone most of the time. A digital one in the bathroom, her cellphone.. CLOCKS EVERYWHERE. She comes back and hands them all over, careful to touch as little as possible. "We just need to make sure she doesn't remember us being here. One of us can probably handle that."
Velok is currently, kinda creepily, stroking Frogger's forehead, but soon she's asleep. "Fly porn, right? I know what gets you all hot and bothered." He's not smiling, even if the tone is fairly joking. "Yea, that'll work, that's fine. Put them...there." He starts to direct towards the middle of the living room, finally pushing himself up from Frogger lady and walking over towards November. "Alright, so, this is probably going to be weird. I've only done this...once, and it was to see who ate my cupcake. Trust me, long story." He says, bringing November towards where the clocks are and standing facing her. "Now you don't have to do this, but it helps. Breathe in slowly, over the course of four seconds. Then hold it for seven seconds, then exhale for five seconds." He nods several times, smiling a bit as his blue eyes stare into her angelic ones. "And don't look away, even if it feels weird." Velok repeats his own instructions after guiding November down to the floor, starting to measure his breathing and try to synch it up with November's if she listens, working the effect.
November does just that, mentally counting one mississippi two mississippi and so on, trying to follow his lead. She has a staring problem on the best of days, so looking up at him isn't all THAT bad. Plus she loves the color. She practices a few times to make sure she's got everything just right, just waiting. She does have SOME knowledge of how these things work. She wasn't magetarded before becoming a demon
Going back to a moment before the murder, you see a rather chunky girl. She's maybe 180 or perhaps 190. Pretty enough in the face, but otherwise unremarkable. Blonde hair and she's also lounging around in sweats with a gold cross hanging around her neck. There's a knock on the door and she opens it without checking the peephole. A deadly mistake, it would seem, as she steps back when a very BIG figure shoulders his way in. He stands easily at 6'5" with a heavily muscled, thick frame. Blue jeans and a long sleeved black shirt are worn along with black leather driving gloves. The figure's skin is almost as white as snow, with just a pink undertone to it along with his eyes. Albino, perhaps? Hard to say since he's bald. Hairless, in fact, as he doesn't even have any eyebrows. He grabs the girl by the throat and lifts her up one handed in what would resemble a chokeslam in professional wrestling, but he isn't slamming and she's actually choking. There's only the faintest grimace of malice on his face, and it doesn't look to be from effort as he easily starts to shake her back and forth with only one arm while his fingers dig in and crush her windpipe. Gasping, she flails wildly, kicking him in the stomach and chest to no effect. Only when her flailing ceases, her body lies still, eyes roll in to the back of her head, and she starts to lose color does the bald albino drop her to the floor. Without another word, he turns and exits the apartment, shutting the door behind him.
With time rewinding around them, Velok shivers a tiny bit but continues with the breathing while the effect takes hold. As they find their way to the correct time he finally starts looking around. As the scene starts to play out he turns his body to watch it, glancing towards the now empty frogger-less couch, before he turns back to look at the choking. He's not grimacing or anything and, well..he's Velok. "Well I guess I was wrong about the domestic dispute, that guy is fuck ugly." He comments, legging go of November's hands so he can step forward towards the man and hanging struggling woman. "Huh. No monologue, no introduction. He obviously knew who she was, but..." He searches for recognition in her eyes from a viewpoint standing next to the albino man. "What'cha think? Ever seen the Yeti here before?"
November watches every moment, every movement. She studies the man. That isn't a natural strength. She's a big girl. He might be a big guy, but he isn't THAT big. Can't be. Not naturally. She moves over toward them as well, frowning, looking the man over. She WANTS to like.. kick him in the balls just to see what happens. SHe doesn't of course. This is hands off. "No. I haven't." But does he look like something she might KNOW? Even just a guess.
He is definitely NOT a vampire. BUT! He's about as freaking strong as one. He could probably hold his own in an arm wrestling contest with a Brujah. A neonate, anyway.
"Horrible form though. I wonder if the police took DNA we could get, or I dunno." Velok ponders, glancing over towards where the sofa is, then back to November. "Think Frogger knows?" Yes that's her official name now. Frogger. "She didn't really strike me as a girl that paid much attention to Mindy's life, or went to the crisis center." He ponders, though he does shiver a tiny bit. "I don't recognize him at least. I could like..take the image and implant it into Frogger's memory, see if she recognizes him." Velok suggests.
"Not a vampire. That was my first guess." She shakes her head. "But it isn't right." She frowns up at the guy and yes, she peeks down at his crotch. Then back to Velok. "Isn't that dangerous? Implanting memories like that?" She looks at him for a long moment and a shudder passes through her. "Can you... like... keep her under and do a hypnotism thing? Make her answer our questions?"
"Yes?" Comes the shaky, curious question from Velok. "I mean, I guess I can. I don't really want to as I've already tempted reality enough at this point, but.." Velok shrugs a little bit, looking back to where he knows, in his own time, Frogger is. "It's hard as shit too, can't you just have her answer your questions? I can put the image in her head, but then maybe you could ask the questions?" Cause that wouldn't draw him more paradox or anything. "Let's watch it again though." Velok says, as there's a bit of rewind and they view the entire thing again, just in case there's something they didn't spot before. It's like a shitty movie, but they can totally yell at the screen...to which Velok does. "No don't open the door!" But, alas, she opens the door.
November nods just a little. "I can. I don't want to wreck her mind, though. I don't know how much she can take. Maybe if we convince her it's all a dream." She lets out a little sigh as she watches things again. She isn't queasy. She's seen MUCH worse. She just watches, taking in all the details. "Can we follow him out? See where he goes?"
Same murder. Not a whole lot of change from last time.
Velok shakes his head a couple times as he watches the murder again. He does reach his hand into his pocket, but he stops and returns it out to his side. "Not right now, unfortunately. I could later, but not right now." He pauses, rewinding a section of the brute's entrance as he steps forward, looking into the man's eyes. "Yea, ugly fucker." Velok says quietly as he stares.
--That's the small, fat one. Kill the small, fat one. Still moving... still moving... still moving... ... She's dead. Good. Nobody here to see anything. No one else. Done. Leave... close the door so nobody looks in. Lay low for a day. Maybe two. Unless she calls, of course.--
Velok looks back to November curiously. It's a Mind 3 trance, so she heard it just as much as Velok did, but the thought causes Velok to shrug. "Gives me an idea, I guess. But that would depend on how good you can end up mimicing her voice. Maybe lure the poor guy out to finish the job, and kill him. I dunno." He scoots over next to the albino again so he can stare into Mindy's poor, lifeless, beingchokedtodeath eyes now.
That ones much easier. --OMG who is this guy, oh God he's so strong! Getoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoffidontwannadiestoppleasestop...--
This time Velok actually does look sad. Death is all fine and dandy when it happens to people that deserve it, but this poor girl, Velok reaches out and ghost touches her shoulder. "No one really does, it's ok." He whispers, then drops his hands back. "Well Foster's going to be pretty pissed off." Velok shrugs and goes back to where November is standing, nodding. "I've seen all I'm interested in, if that's all you'd like, I have all I need from this.
November shrugs a little. "Maybe. I don't know. I'm not an actor. Clearly." She recoils from Mindy's thoughts. Totally and completely. She had thoughts not unlike those not very long ago, herself. She remembers all that. November fought. Fought like a goddamn champ, her mind racing and reeling up until the very end. She's fighting not to break and run. It shows in her thoughs. She's DONE. She's just fucking DONE.
Velok nods several times as he goes to stand back where November was. He smiles a little bit, turning to stand directly facing her. "It's alright. Remember the breathing." Velok has done meditation before, he knows how measured breathing is supposed to work. With that they return to normal time, going back to how things were, albeit real time having passed just as much as time passed in the dream. "Anything else, or would you like to go?"
November is shaken visibly. She keeps on breathing, but it's a little more forced. "Can you make her think this was all a dream? Can you find anything we touched and wipe it down?" Deep breaths. Force herself to stay calm. She's winning the battle. It's a tough one. Once we get everything wiped down, you go outside, I'll lock it and walk through on the other side while she's still asleep."
Velok hesitates, then shakes his head. "I can't manipulate her memory, no." He says, going about helping November wipe down the clocks and what not, though he does look to Frogger several times. "She's going to be out for a while, she'll probably just think it was a dream anyway. Sleepers are like that. Two strange people show up in her apartment and she falls asleep on them? Yea, dream." Velok shrugs, though he does look uneasy at the lack of ability. When they're done he carefully opens the door using his shirt so no fingerprints get on it, sliping out to the otherside and pulling it closed behind him.
The door doesn't beat November's ass.
This little spot up in here? This be HER turf, yo. Ain't no wraiths or peeps gonna tell DIS bitch where she can and can't go. Nuh uh. Fuckdat. November comes through the door and reappears in the mortal world REALLY easily.
Velok is waiting there, though he's not staring at the door. Even though he fully expected to hear a 'whap' on the other side of the door, to which his sides would have been broken. He's calling out randomly. "Let's go Fearless." To the nothingness, even as he readies with November to leave.
November slides her hand into Velok's as she comes back to reality. "Let's get out of here. Please. Like for real. We'll go tell Foster what little bit we learned, then follow up with Tiny." November calls Foster. "We've done a little looking into things. You want the info over the phone or at the club house?""
"Not over the phone," Foster replies. "I'll see you shortly."
On their quiet way back to the car, when they get to the actual parking lot, Fearless becomes visable again. "You're going to have a fun night tonight." He casually comments to the cat. Velok glances to November several times during the phone call when he gets the news that they're going to the clubhouse instead of home. "Oh..." He says carefully, eyebrows raising a bit, then he nods again. "You're driving. It always hurts, every time. Always, and I don't want to be driving when it does." He unlocks the car electronically, then tosses the keys over towards November. The backseat is open for Fearless to hop up into and nestle up on the interior, then Velok goes over to the passenger side.
November nods, sliding into the driver's seat, pulling the seat forward, grabbing the... um... phone book... from under the seat.... because she's fucking short. Maybe he won't notice. She adjusts herself around and gets all buckled in and heads off for the bastion.
(November and Velok head to the Bastion to meet Foster)
Velok looks a little concerned when they pull up outside Zykov's house. He was /nervous/ the entire trip, always looking around him every which way, though when they pull up, he calmly asks, "Can Fearless come in too?" He looks over towards November, looking back to the cat, then back to November.
November drums her fingers on the steering wheel for a moment, then picks up the phone to call Foster. "So Velok has a bound animal spirit. Can it come in too?" November also looks apologetically to Fearless
Foster pauses... rather confused. "Umm... is it intelligent and capable of free will and action? If so, I'd... want to interview it first. That is the strangest thing I've said this week," the preacher comments with an amused snort.
November has it on speaker phone to make it easier
Velok looks back to Fearless, staying quiet so he can listen in on the phone call. His eyes widen a bit at November, then dart over towards Fearless immediately. He can't help but smile a little bit, but that's already set the kitty off. In an obviously female English voice, the cat talks. "More intelligent and capable of free will and action than you, jerk." Over the phone it could be confused as a third human in the car, though unrecognized, but everyone in the car knows it's Fearless that said it, and that's when Velok smiles wide. "It's ok, it's fine. Stay close, though, in case I need to head back outside. Hunt Aleksei's grounds. Though I think they have like a small cat or something, don't kill that."
Yes. Leave Titania's kitty alone. It won't be Aleksei you'll have to deal with. Titania will fry Fearless and Velok and Foster just for the hell of it and then she'll go on a psychotic rampage and make the ocelots as a species extinct. DO NOT HUNT THE KITTY. <Translation: Titania's pussy is sacred> November shrugs a little bit and speaks at the phone. "Nevermind. She says she'll stay outside this time."
There's a moment's paws (see what I did there?) and then Foster replies, "With those manners? You'd better believe it." The preacher snorts and then repeats, "See you shortly," before hanging up.
It's Velok's cat, be surprised it has any manners. Velok gets out of the car and opens the door, nodding to Fearless. "Go for it." Velok says, and Fearless hops down, looking up to Velok with those bright blue eyes. "You know where to find me. Actually.." The female voice says, and it almost seems like it could be smiling. "No, you don't." With that the cat disappears, Velok still staring at where it was. That female voice talks once again. "It's almost unfair to the rabbits and rats. Really. They don't even know what's coming." Velok turns and starts to head towards the Bastion with November.
November just shakes her head and hangs up the phone. She waits for Velok's pussy to disappear and then turns to head into the bastion. She gives the password and heads on down. She HAS managed to calm herself. She was pretty out of it for a little bit, but that's completely gone now.
Foster is sitting in wait in the bastion, his sheathed sword resting against his leg as it often does when it's not cleaving through the necks of traitors or the entire bodies of biker gangers looking for cocaine. Don't ask. He's rather relaxed and laid back as the pair enter after giving the passphrase. "And you can tell that mangy animal that I amongst the first beings in the universe ever granted free will," he adds with a dry smile towards Velok. "I take it you're here to give me some insights, if not exactly good news?"
Velok seems to be slightly wary on his way down the stairs again, but so far so good. "Oh, I'm not going to tell it, I'd watch out though. First beings in the universe or not, she can give you wicked bad luck. Absolutely wicked." Velok says carefully, though he waddles his way towards one of the comfy pillows, plopping down onto it and looking towards Foster. "We went to the apartment complex. Good news? Eh."
"Not to mention what she'll do to the couch if you piss her off." November descends and flops into a seat. "Well, we have more questions than answers. First the facts, then we'll fill in any greater detail. It was an assassination, not domestic abuse. It wasn't a vampire. He was looking for her. He killed her. He left. He's going to lay low until SHE calls.... or unless SHE calls.. but we don't know who SHE is.. yet."
Foster purses his lips, listening with some concern before nodding. "My concerns are validated then," he says with a frown. "She was a simple girl. Going to college for a psychology degree, and probably would have changed her major two or three times before settling on Early Childhood or some such," the pastor drawls with a sigh. "No call for setting a hitman on her unless she knew something she wasn't supposed to or managed to piss off an utter sociopath." He thinks for a moment to himself before glancing up at the pair. "What's your next step?"
Velok nods several times in agreement with November. He scoots around on the seat to get a little comfortable, though he does happen to pull another cushion and put it right next to him, directly to the side of his cushion. He hesitates, standing up and making a plus symbol with the cushions, sitting down in the middle one. "Yea, we don't know who she is. Could be the girl he was choking to death, could be some other woman. He was a big burly motherfucker too, pure white, no hair anywhere. It could be a good idea to lik----" Velok is cut off mid-sentence, mouth still open. The man is completely frozen, and has stopped moving. Not like 'oh he's holding his breath and trying to remain still though he's shaking.' The man is completely still, eyes fixed spookily staring towards Foster. Chest isn't rising, no shifting, nothing, like time has stopped for Velok but continues on normally for everyone else.
November was going to wait for Velok to answer, but then he freezes like that. She waits... and waits... and waits. "Quit fucking around..." she mutters, giving him a little poke. She looks at Foster, then back to Velok, then back to Foster again.
Foster stares at Velok for a long moment before turning his attention to November. "Does this happen often," he wonders, curious. "Or is this one of his jokes, like the bathtub thing?" That gets him thinking for a moment before he adds, "And none of my business, but are you in an open relationship? If you aren't, I figure you'd find out eventually and he's probably safest here with me where I can keep you from killing him outright."
Poor Velok is frozen still, and doesn't respond to November. It's not right, nor normal. He doesn't look at her, doesn't move, doesn't pull away or flinch or anything, remaining statue-esque!
"I... don't... know?" She frowns a little bit and waves her hand in front of his eyes and then actually pinches the hell out of his cheek. No reaction? No reaction. She FROWNS but then her attention is ripped over to Foster. "Mm.." Her lips are pursed together tightly. "Met her, did you?" Her expression is tight and she looks back to Velok. Can he HEAR her? Who knows. "Long, complicated story. But I'm fine with it." She's a fucking liar, too.
Foster frowns faintly and gives a light nod, dropping that rather sensitive subject as he returns his attention to Velok for a moment, head tilted askance. "Well... short of experimenting on him with my Lore, I suppose you have some new, living statuary. Temporarily, one hopes." Mages. Freaking weirdos. "Well, do you know what he was getting at? Regarding your next move?"
Velok does unfreeze quickly, but the unfreezing is almost as strange as the freezing. He picks up midsentence, and his sentences are all strung together, like time for Velok is speeding up and reality is catching up for him. "--e call the crisis center and see if it's possible to mimic her voice and make the guy or whoever think they didn't finish the job in killing her and draw him out into the open." Velok smiles politely, looking around at November and Foster as if nothing at all happened, though he does open his mouth and stretch his jaw a bit, reaching up with a hand to rub his cheek where November pinched. Either something weird happened, or Velok is a damn good actor. "We also met the roomate." He glances to November despite her frowning face. She wasn't frowning when he looked at her last, and his eyebrows furrow a bit. She does frown a lot though, maybe he just didn't notice.
November does NOT frown a lot. She does NOT! See, THAT makes her frown. Damn men. She blinks when he starts talking again and looks back to Foster, then back to Velok. "Oh... wait.. he... did a thing.." she waves her hands all abracadabraesque. "Maybe this is.... I don't know. it's a thing. But what he said, yeah. I also suggested that maybe he go back to the moment and follow the guy. See where he goes.. where he came from. Work it from that angle."
Foster gives Velok a curious stare, eyeing him like the true weirdo he is, and then turns and nods to November. "Alright... the second angle has potential. The first... it would have to be extremely convincing considering her obituary in the paper. Not so certain you'd have as much luck with that one," he admits. "If Jenny saw him, she could probably track him down with the Patterns," he suggests. "Find out where and when he'll be the next time he eats a meal... takes a bathroom break... goes to kill again. Whatever."
Velok nods a few times, though he's looking confused between November and Foster. "This is what?" He says carefully, following it up with "A thing?" Velok looks around the room a little warily, returning his gaze to Foster. It seems pretty obvious that Velok has no idea at all that anything is different or wrong. "Does Jenny need to..how does that work? Does Jenny just have to know what he looks like in her head? Or physically meet him?"
November nods her agreement with Foster's words. "Talk to Jenny. Yes. I don't know her very well, but I don't dislike her, which is saying something around here." She looks at Velok and gives his hand a little squeeze. "I'm choosing to ignore it because I'm not sure if you're just fucking around or if something's really wrong. But you just like.. froze for about 5 seconds and then picked up right where you left off."
Foster answers Velok's question about Jenny... because oddly enough she is NOT the strangest or most difficult topic to understand in this. "She'll need enough to distinguish the subject from the morass of humanity. Honestly? Knowing that he's a giant, bald albino who murdered Mindy Farsh on such and such a date in Prospect, California? Kind of narrows it down so that she won't have to worry about false positives. It's a useful gift, and one I've learned a bit from her and used to monitor the Court on occasion," he admits. "Effective, too. I'd suggest you ask Abdiel about how effective, but you cannot." There's a bit of chilling finality in that confession.
Velok stares pretty dumbfounded at November, though he appreciates the hand squeezing. There's no signs of deception or anything on his face, plus Velok's jokes usually have some sort of pattern behind them, or at least he's smiling, and now he doesn't seem to be smiling at all. "Oh...OH..." Velok says, nodding. "Thank god actually, I fucking hate headaches." Velok reaches over and takes November's hand, scooting closer to her. Velok glances back to Foster and nods. "I can put the image in her head, and she'll be able to pinpoint him easily. I..." He turns a little red in the cheeks, looking down. "If she can't, I can. Not..now though, but...yea. I can put the image in her head and have her find him. That way I can share the fun." He seems pretty serious about that, even though a smile spreads across his face.
That's way out of her league. She knows nothing about all THAT, so she stays silent and lets the two men discuss it. Oh, she isn't upset about it. She knows her strengths. This isn't it. She does peer at Velok briefly and gives his hand another squeeze, though
Foster grunts and nods once. "Alright, get her help if you can. She's expressed an interest in checking out the crisis center already, so it wouldn't hurt for you to have a group effort," the preacher decides. "Anything else to bring forward?"
Velok's eyes dart around the room a little bit, scooting a little bit closer to November. "Checking out the crisis center could be interesting, if she comes to court tomorrow I can talk to her about it as well, and maybe go and see if I can spot the guy or something, I dunno." He looks around and considers, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't really have anything else, nothing major anything. I have a couple interests about demons in general, and abou----" Welp, there it is again. Shit. Right in the middle of his sentence, mouth hanging open, he freezes completely, turning into a statute. Though now this time he's holding November's hand, and his hand immediately becomes rigid. She can't move it or mess with his fingers or anything, though she can wiggle her hand out if she tries, but he really does seem frozen.
November nods. "Yeah. That's the next step is the crisis center. It would look bad if we all checked it out together. Jenny might actually make the most sense to do THAT route, though I can explore it through the Land of Shadows." She falls silent to listen to Velok and then SIGHS when he freezes again. "Ogoddammit." November FROWNS again and starts counting off the seconds
Foster is reminded of the episode of Better Off Ted where Phil randomly freezes and gives a piercing scream after being cryogenically thawed. It's kind of funny, if this wasn't... you know... real. The preacher stares at Velok another moment before adding, "I normally deplore pantsing anybody in anything akin to public, but in this instance it might actually be funny," he allows with a light smile.
Velok is still frozen, yep. Though no doubt it will be similar to last time, and he should be unfrozen pretty soon. Besides, what he was going to say wasn't that important anyway.
November is stuck. She gives her hand a little tug, but isn't TOO keen on getting away. She can't help but chuckle at Foster and rather than pantsing him, she just lifts the bottom of his shirt up over his head. That should at least be weird, right?
Velok's eyes start to look around again as he once again starts talking mid-sentence, picking up exactly like he left off. He doesn't even notice the shirt as he catches up. "---t how to potentially notice a demon without having to go up to them and ask to see their apocalyptic form, but it's not really that improtant tonight." Only now does Velok seem to notice something's ridiculously different. "Hey, who turned out the lights?" Haha Vashta Nerada. "Oh god fucking dammit." He moves his hoodie back down into place since it was so meanly messed with, turning to look immediately at November. There's that similar thing in his eyes that she sensed before, but otherwise it's just Velok. "Yea, definitely not that important now. I need to......" Velok cuts off as he reaches a hand behind him to his back, slowly rubbing his lower back. "Yea, that's all I have to report, Commander." Oh look, he called Foster commander.
November is innocent! Totally and completely innocent! LOOK AT HER! She really is. She points at Foster. "He made me do it. I was just following orders." She grows at least a LITTLE more serious and nods. "I think that's it, yeah. I don't think there wsa anything else."
Foster nods once at Velok, smiling faintly with amusement. "I'll answer one query now: there is no clear method of knowing one of my brethren from an ordinary mortal, barring a display of some sort or a confession. It has made finding each other rather difficult, hence why I released my book to publicly out myself," the preacher explains. "I have received contact on occasion from old comrades who remembered my Name and invoked me, but outside of that? No, we are not so easily identified." He pauses to look Velok up and down once before giving another nod.
Velok's eyebrows raise, though he nods quickly. "Surprisingly that answered my question pretty well. It's been a curiousity of mine how demons found each other, but that makes sense." Velok then pauses, tilting his head a little bit, eyes widening, and then he looks up at Foster. The man blushes, yep, then just nods and smiles politely. "I think it's best if we get going though, so I don't sleep through court tomorrow. I'm already worried about if my..." He hesitates, not entirely sure how to phrase it avoiding explanation, so he settles with the basic. "Thing...will keep acting up." (Hint. It totally will. Maybe.)
