2019.11.21 Bump in the Night III

Bump in the Night
IC Date	11/13/2019
IC Time	Evening
Players	SerenaC, Cole, Emma, Hannelore, Verlaine (ST)
Location	Maple Park, Prospect
Prp/Tp	Bump in the Night
Spheres	Mortal+, Sorcerer, Psychic

Dinner with Jacob went well enough, he's quite the charmer and is more than happy to spend the evening with Serena. He makes no sign or indication of being overly upset about anything. When the suggestion is made of taking an evening stroll through the park he accepts rather readily, offering to give Serena a ride there or just meet her there depending on what she prefers. Once they arrive Jacob continues to chat Serena up in rather friendly terms, his right hand drifting over to rest on the small of Serena's back. "I had a lovely time at dinner Serena."

"Me too," Serena lies as she leads Jacob towards the pre-arranged spot, where the group had encountered Sarah. "That was a lovely dinner, and you're so funny. That story with the judge and the janitor! That had me in tears." She plays the act, moving in a little closer to the creep as he rests his hand on the small of her back. "And I love this park - thanks for humoring me. I jog through here a lot in the mornings. It's so beautiful."

Jacob smiles as Serena steps in closer to him, his hand slipping around to rest on her hip and pull her possessively in to his side. "I'm rather fond of the park as well. A lot of happy memories here." He sighs and looks out over the landscaping. "Maybe we can go jogging together in the morning."

"We're in the park. Mr. Chokey is getting his hands lower on Serena, but doesn't seem to be going for the neck." Cole texts while he lingers in the dark of the park. Lot of shadows here.

Serena smiles, bright and curious. "I would love that," she feigns. "I have a lot of good memories here, too. What's your favorite - if anything comes to mind?"

       Hannelore is dressed for a night out of dancing with Emma. While they wait she runs her hands over the bracelet and speaks in a serious tone as if she is 'speaking' to Sarah, letting her know (if she is listening) that Jacob is on their way and they will soon be reunited. She relies on Emma to know whether they are getting any response from any leftover vestiges of Sarah;s spirit.
       When they get Cole's text, she start moving into position, her demeanor changing to that of a slightly drunk, flirty party girl who is laughing and having a good time with Emma. She even pauses within sight of them to pick a flower in the park and tuck it in Emma's hair flirtatiously.

Jacob doens't seem to pay much mind to the others in the park, his attention staying on Serena as they walk and talk. At the mention of wanting to jog with him in the morning his smile grows. "Oh, I don't know. Just a few fun times here and there." He stops on the path to face Serena, his free hand moving to cup her cheek. "You're a beautiful woman."

       Emma, as of yet, has no contact with the ghost of Sarah Past.

Emma makes her way into the park with Hannelore, a splash of color in her attire tonight as she sports a lacy crimson top but the rest is black, as usual. She rolls her eyes at the drunken display but goes along with it, even managing to stumble a few times herself. While primarily keeping her gaze on Hannelore, she does spare a glance in Serena and Jacob's direction when they come into sight before giving a slight grin as the flower is tucked into her hair. "Nothing yet," she whispers.

Serena looks up into Jacobs eyes, a smile on her lips, her hands coming to his chest as her fingers play with the fabric of his sports coat. She forces a blush at his compliment and says, "Thank you - I'm sure you say that to all the girls, though." She tilts her head, letting her long blond hair fall off her shoulder, exposing a little neck, taking a flirtatious posture - chest forward, chin lifted towards him, her hands lightly brushing along the fabric of his coat.

Hannelore gives a soft curse under her breath and jangles the bracelet. She hisses "Come on you crazy psycho spirit. Your man is making eyes at another woman in the park he killed you in. Wake up!"

Cole still watches, tapping absently against his thigh with his fingers. At least if this didn't work, Serena would be able to say she'd kissed a murderer.

Jacob responds rather favorably to Serena's flirting, a low chuckle escaping his lips as his hand drifts into her hair and grips possessively if she allows it. "Why don't we get out of the park then Serena? I can give you a ride home."

Hannelore's face looks up at Emma with a moment of confusion and then she slooooowly turns her face towards the kernoodling Serena and Jacob. He hands clench and she begins walking towards the two of them with a purpose. As she draws near she shouts, "JACOB!"

Emma's last words are barely out of her mouth when she freezes, head tilting slightly as her brow furrows. She reaches out to grab Hannelore's wrist but the girl is already on the move. "Wait!" she hisses, taking a few quick steps as she tries to stop Hannelore.

Serena is about to say something sultry and witty, that would encourage Jacob to play with her a little more in the park before they traipse off to one house or the other. But Hannelore's shout catches her attention, and she looks over at the woman with a 'what the hell are you doing,' kind of look... but it quickly changes and instead, she mutters, "Sarah," under her breath. Probably only loud enough for Jacob to hear.

Serena is about to say something sultry and witty, that would encourage Jacob to play with her a little more in the park before they traipse off to one house or the other. But Hannelore's shout catches her attention, and she looks over at the woman with a 'what the hell are you doing,' kind of look... but it quickly changes and instead, she mutters, "Sarah," under her breath. Probably only loud enough for Jacob to hear.

This wasn't part of the plan. Cole is no longer idle, pushing away from his dark place to close in on the group without directly colliding with them yet. He just needs to be close enough to act. His fingers tug a small vial of ink out of his pocket, keeping it clutched in his hand while he watches.

Jacob looks over towards Hannelore with a very curious look in his eyes but then his gaze immediately shifts back to Serena when she says 'Sarah'. His hand is already on her cheek and it's a rather simple thing for his grip to shift down to her neck as his eyes go wide. He hisses and his voice takes on an alien quality as he says, "What did you ssssssay?" It doesn't look like she's being choked but her face starts to grow visibly pale as Jacob, on the other hand, looks rather invigorated.

Emma moves quickly to Serena, throwing an arm around her waist and giving a good pull in order to break her free of Jacob.

Serena makes a whimpering noise, as if her will and life force are being sucked away from her. She pushes against Jacob in an attempt to escape and would have likely failed if not for Emma's help. As she's pulled away from his grip, she'll try and move away as quickly as she can in an attempt to create some distance between herself and Jacob.

Hannelore is possessed by the crazy spirit of 'Worst Break-ups Ever' and she's thinking about just as clearly as you would expect. She means well when she tries to jump onto Jacob's back, but you can only jump so high on heels, no matter how kickass they are. It's... not graceful.

Jacob scowls as Serena is pulled away and then quickly ducks to the side when Hannelore comes screaming at him and tries to jump on him. He turns and his eyes fix on that necklace around Hannelore's wrist, a look of rage in his eyes a moment later as he takes a quick swing at Hannelore, his fist glancing off of her cheek but carrying a surprising amount of strength behind it. "You crazy bitch!"

Cole doesn't give Jacob all that much time to dwell on Hannelore or the necklace, though he can't get there in time to stop the man from taking a swing. With Serena and Emma cleared out it's easy for him to grab onto the man's shoulder and twist him around while his fist comes in hard to connect against the man's jaw.

Hannelore's head gets spun to the side when she gets smacked. With what sense and control she has left, she pulls the necklace from her wrist and wraps it around her hand and throws her fist in the general direction of Jacob's face. She has never had to punch someone in her life, so be surprised that she connects and with the strength of a pink knitted hat protest march, punches Jacob in the jaw.

Jacob stumbles back as Cole and then Hannelore both punch him, blood coming from his mouth now as she starts to growl, his eyes having a wild look to them. "What.. Who the fuck are you people?" That necklace seems to have left a nice little impression in his jawline.

Serena takes out her phone and dials 911 as she says, "get your phone," to Emma. "Record this." She looks up when she's done dialing and see's the weapn being drawn and yells, "Gun!" while she tries to dive for cover or - lacking cover - to just move so as to be a harder target to hit.

There is plenty of cover and Serena has no trouble getting behind a tree. Jacob has a bloody lip and he growls as he pulls a pistol out from under his jacket rather suddenly, taking aim at Jacob and firing. The muzzle flash is bright in the middle of the night and the sound echoes through the park. The shot grazes Cole's arm but only does superficial damage.

I mean, let's be real, Hannelore comes off as kind of a girly girl. All heels and fashion and not wanting to get dirty. Whatever has come over her now though - is feral. With a snarl she hops up on Jacob's back and wraps the necklace around his neck and begins to choke him, digging the metal of the necklace into his windpipe. "How..do you... like it... babe?"

Jacob's eyes bug out as Hannelore hops on his back and begins choking him, starting to gag and thrash about.

Emma no sooner has her phone pulled out and is fiddling with it to get to the record mode when Serena's warning of the gun greets her ears. She crouches down - as if that might help! - but the gun is fired before she can actively start recording what's going on. The phone finally gets raised when she sees that Cole isn't terribly injured and Hannelore begins to choke Jacob, but her arms are shakey. No telling what this footage is going to look like.

Bitches be crazy. Hannelore's eyes are wide with anger. She is NOT herself. At least, let's hope this isn't herself. That would be an uncomfortable conversation later. She continues to pull, her knees pulled up on Jacob's hips, trying to push him forward into the ground.

The gun clatters to the ground as both of Jacob's hands go up to the necklace around his throat. There's a gurgling noise from his throat as he slumps to his knees and then falls face first against the pavement. Seemingly unconscious.

Serena is hiding behind the tree like someone who doesn't want to get shot as she speaks into the phone, "My date attacked me! He's got a gun! I'm in the park... some park, the... just send help! PLEASE!" Yeah, for all the crazy shit she does, this isn't the kind of thrills she likes. She looks out from behind the tree to asses the scene.

Hannelore pushes herself up off of Jacob, giving him a few swift kicks to the ribs until her shoe goes flying off somewhere into the park (watch out Cole!). Then she stumbles back and looks a bit dizzy and drunk. "Wha-? What happened? Emma?"

As Jacob goes down, Emma takes a few slow steps forward as she continues to record but pauses on seeing Hannelore proceed to give him a few swift kicks. The phone slowly lowers as she shakes her head. "No! We won't kill him!" there's a tremor in her voice as she yells this, but it doesn't seem aimed at anyone in the group. She gives Hannelore an odd look before looking to Serena. "Are the cops coming?" she asks at length.

This altercation has only been going on for less than a minute, but the police are on their way Serena is told.

Cole just got brushed by a bullet, falling hard to the ground in the process. He was getting swiftly to his knees and dragging that vial out of his pocket again when he realized that Hannelore was choking and then kicking the shit out of the man. He gets entirely to his feet, moving to stop her - but she stops herself. Instead he finds where the gun was dropped and carefully boots it to the side so that Jacob can't get his hand back on it. Then he sweeps his eyes around the group. "That got real in a rush. What the actual fuck, Hannelore?" He says, barely containing his anger. Running out and assaulting Jacob was not what they'd all agreed upon.

Serena hangs up the phone once she hears the cops are on their way and steps out fully from behind the tree. She stares at Jacob, her hands - her whole body - trembling with adrenalin. "They're coming..." she mutters. "Is he dead?" She She looks over at Emma and asks, "Are you still recording?"

Jacob is wheezing for breath, the kicks to his ribs didn't help, but he seems to be still alive.

Hannelore puts her hand to her head and then looks at her hands, noticing that her knuckles seem to be bloodied where she hit Jacob in the jaw. The necklace is not longer in her hands. "Is everyone all right? What happened? I think I blacked out."

Emma lifts the phone again, giving a quick look before aiming it back in Jacob's direction and nodding at Serena's question. She takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she tries to calm herself a bit. "I can't promise how good it will be though." her gaze drifts to Hannelore. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Blacked out?" Cole almost sputters the words. "That didn't look like blackout to me." He puts his hand on his leg where he'd felt the bullet thankfully only nick him and gestures toward Emma's phone where there is plenty of evidence that Hannelore was very active for the last few minutes.

"Wait, stop... just..." Serena says, her breath unsteady with the aftermath of fear, though it helps the role she starts playing. "Cole, it's fine. she was just scared, like the rest of us. Thank you. Thank you both for helping. He was going to kill me. Kept calling me Sarah or something. He just went crazy."

"I..." Hannelore stumbles again and looks down at her feet. She reaches down and pulls off her other high heel, scanning around for the one she lost. She still seems confused. "I was..." she vaguely points towards Emma, "was with Emma..." She see Jacob lying on the ground and her eyes widen and she slowly starts backing away from his body.

It had rained earlier in the day. Hannelore's other heel went flying and landed in a pool of mud.

Emma nods slowly, her gaze fixed on Hannelore. "You /were/ with me and then it was like you decided you needed to move things along."

"Yeah, the fucker shot at me. And was attacking you, Serena. I don't mean he didn't need to go down - just the way - It's fine. It's fine. Everyone is alright." Cole is clearly just a bit on edge after almost taking a bullet. Always wakes you up. "What - what now?"

"The cops are coming," Serena says. "I think we just wait here and make sure crazy asshole doesn't try and kill anyone again" She looks at Jacbo and asks, "Is he dead...?" She occasionally glances just above him, too, as if looking through the emptyness that is there.

Hannelore spots her other shoe and picks her way around the body and daintily picks it up out of the mud. Yeah... these are ruined. Well, the good news is she likes shoe shopping and now she has an excuse. Her hair is a mess. What did she do with her clutch? This is like the worst hangover. And OW...her face hurts. "I... think... " she shakes her head. She isn't thinking anything. Her brain is fuzzy and she feels really exhausted.

Sirens. The police will be here soon. If anything else is going to be done before they show up on scene now is the time.

"I don't think so," Emma replies to Serena, lowering the phone one last time in order to cut the recording off. "He seems to just be...really fucked up at the moment." She tucks the phone into a back pocket. "I just hope the cops buy our story over his."

Serena walks back over to where Emma is standing. "Ok, does anything need to change with our story? I think we can tell like 90 percent of the truth, but... just, not that we planned this. I guess we can say we're casual acquaintances? That's not totally untrue. But any other details we should add, or make sure we leave out. Like... oh... I think I'm going to be sick...." Serena is quite pale. The adrenaline has run out, and her stomach is a sour knot of pain and nausea.

Hannelore arrives next to the other two women and reaches down instinctively to hold Serena's hair back. "There is nothing connecting us," she says a little groggily. "You were here with him. He attacked you. He called you Sarah. You don't know who Sarah is. We were here and we helped." She furrows her brow. "Did we help? I still don't... the last thing I remember is trying to talk to Sarah's spirit and..."

"She was here," Emma says quietly, clearing her throat lightly as she then directs her next words at Hannelore, "But you called him Jacob. How will you explain that if he mentions it when being questioned?"

Shouts in the park, running boots. The police are moments away.

"Was that on camera?" Serena asks, another wave of nausea washing over her. "If so, the we don't mention the recording. Just our testimon..." and then she has to turn away from the other two women and dart for the tree she was hiding behind earlier as the contents of her dinner is brought back up for executive review. "Ugghhh..." Serena says. "Shrimp fettuccini..." She spits out the taste of yuck and slowly sinks to her knees, her limbs weak in the aftermath of the confrontation. She's really not used to dealing with this kind of stuff.

Hannelore looks to Emma apologetically. "Maybe I overheard Serena? Here they come now." She looks past Emma as the first of the officers start to arrive. Thinking quickly she points towards Cole, "I think he's been hurt!"

Emma's attention moves towards the arriving officers after sparing Serena a brief glance to make sure she's not about to completely pass out or anything. "We can talk about all that later. Let's just focus on getting this moment over and done with so we can get out of here."

The police split everyone up as this is a right mess and they need to figure out what's happening here. Cole and Hannelore keep their cool and give the story they practiced, the interviewing officers nodding along. Perhaps troubling is that Jacob is also roused by medics and is being wheeled off, presumably, to an ambulance. He'll of course have a chance to give his story as well. The officers interviewing Serena and Emma seem dubious about their stories. It seems like Serena and Emma are going to be taken to the station for additional questioning.

<OOC> Verlaine says, "Okay! So I don't really want to turn this into Law and Order: Prospect. ;) So you're all aware that there's pending litigation, Jacob is out on bail, and none of you are locked up. Unless this solution isn't agreeable to anyone?"