2018.10.07 Hot Dog What A Night
| Hot Dog, What a Night! | |
|---|---|
| Two Pentex employees are stuck after hours to deal with chaos. | |
| IC Date | October 7, 2018 |
| IC Time | 8:00 P.M. |
| Players | Rumor, Estrella |
| Location | Pentex, Magadon Offices |
| Spheres | Pentex, Wyrm |
Log
There has been plenty of time for Rumor and Estrella to have run into one another at this point. Between Esty sometimes spending the night curled up underneath the Director's desk, and Rumor running missives, notes and thumb drives hither dither and yon including the warehouse, there is no mistaking the other. Today happens to be one of those days.
Kurt has taken his leave of the office for the evening and Rumor has been left to work late, sorting and making copies of the latest prime directive for the lower peons that don't have high enough clearance to really know what's going on. She is likely bored out of her skull waiting for the light bar to chug back and forth over the originals only to shit out a duplicate split seconds later from the other end of the copier in the demi-office outside of Kurt's office. It only makes sense all the actual office furniture is kept out of his personal space. Meanwhile, sweet Esty was tasked with bringing by the weekly report of the warehouse setup progression to the Director's office.
It is here that our lovely heroines will find themselves set upon by dark and eeeeevil forces. (a.k.a. My God What Is That Smell!)
Estrella has been up late day after day recently. The bustle at the warehouse grows more and more intense every day. Shipments come in, the witch sorts them. Then sets them up. Then tends to her wards--- It doesn't leave much time for sleep and the heaviness of her steps as she heads into the office show it. Rumor is recognized, of course-- it's kind of hard to forget the screaming the day the Major shot her. Even just having so much guts (or folly) to mouth off to the Fomor valkyrie would earn anyone a place in her mind and, oh yeah, she works outside of Kurt's office. That probably helps too.
The witch has abandoned the 'hazmat' suit she was issued to work in the lab almost entirely, although the respirator does go well with her outfit and is a convenient way to partake in the ether that is her constant vice, hands free so that remains. It's slung down around her neck like a pair of headphones, her eyes carry dark rings that she's done her best to account for with darker than usual makeup, and she clutches a clipboard straining against the thick stack of papers it has been tasked to carry. She stalks past Rumor's desk, not noticing whether or not she's there, then knocks on the door to the Director's office and slumps against the doorframe as she waits for a reply.
Leaning against the copier as it rumbles through the monotonous procedure, Rumor sips an energy drink and stares off at the wall blankly before she yawns. Dressed in her usual office attire, white stilleto heels, a black pencil skirt with a slit to her hip, a white blouse, but over it is a black leather underbust corset that cinches in her already defined waist. Long hair has been pulled back into a loose gun, ashy blonde strips spilling around her face in wisps and thicker strands to frame her creamy features.
Hearing the knock on the Director's door she calls, "He left. Probably out pillaging and raping an entire village somewhere, or overseeing a statue being built for him in a shrine." Another sip of that energy drink before she tosses the can into a nearby receptacle. While her words seem less than polite, her tone makes it seem as though she not only approves of these things, but is almost hoping for them. Poking her head from the copier room she looks over Estrella and smiles, "Running you like a dog too, huh?", she asks and then tilts her head and sniffs, "Think someone forgot to take out the trash. You smell that?" Now stepping from the copier room and sniffing like some bloodhound.
Indeed Kurt is off somewhere, erecting monument to honor his magnificence, or perhaps becoming the Warlord of a third world country somewhere. Wherever the Director is, he is not here to be aware of that very pungent scent that is permeating the air around his office. What Rumor gets is something distinctly damp, acrid and certainly flavored with the aromatic freshness of sulfur? Maybe it's balefire, hard to tell from right here. Estrella on the other hand has senses of a different kind, when pointed to a scent on the breeze, what her brain picks up is the distinct ripple of the Umbra, of spirit.
"W-wauh--?!?" Estrella rises with a start off her slump against the doorframe, apparently having started to doze as the sounds of the copier, while unregistered, lulled her to sleep. She blinks wildly and spins around, spine stiff, eyes wide and-- Oh. She flashes a smile, and though her tired eyes remain rather unaffected by it, it seems to be genuine. One could almost mistake the girl for being well-adjusted to her circumstances, the way her spine refrains from stiffening and she doesn't reflexively clutch that respirator and her beloved ether rag to her face.
"Oh-- Yeah. That uhm..." Another flicker across her lips, devilish and amused this time. "Honestly I wouldn't doubt if either of those things were actually where he was at-- Except that he asked for me to deliver this shit late... and that usually means I'm going t--" The witch catches herself just in time to prevent something a bit forward to spill out. The stink hits her at a convenient moment it seems. She dips a hand up under her neck piece and then down in the bust of her dress to produce a brass compact, pursing her lips and looking around between long glances into it, "Jesus," She lifts her face from the mirror to scrunch it in displeasure at Rumor. "Do you smell that? Smells like... mischief."
Already following her nose around, Rumor gives a quick shake of her head, "Nope, mischief is more like sweat, sex, and suckers, this is...", she sniffs again and wrinkles her nose, "bad." A glance of her swirling hellish eyes toward that compact, the respirator, and then she stops and stares at Kurt's door. "Um...I really hope it's not coming from in there. There's been enough drama surrounding his office lately, last thing we need is more. He'll think someone is trying to assassinate him.", she murmurs and then leans in toward the Director's office door to take a deeper inhale.
The very distinct smell of those vapors won't be enough to mask up the scent of what is occuring. And while the two women certainly smell different things, they are getting the sense that it's coming from down the hallway. The Director's door opens up and inside smells sterile, clean and utterly well - scentless. Sure enough it isn't long before there is a yelling scream from down the hallway. Chaos! Panic! Disorder! Papers are flying and men and women are suddenly screaming from the half-cubie farm just down the way. An employee comes running by with a hand full of papers that are smoldering and burning away in his very hands while balefire seems to drip along it leaving a trail back to the scene of the crime.
Estrella shoots Rumor a dark, serious look, then returns to staring into her compact mirror. "Would it really surprise you if someone *was* trying to... assassinate... him?" The door swings open and she squints inside, peering in. No scent. No spirits. Nothing. Down the hall? "Oh, uhm..." She points towards the man running with radioactive flames wreathing his paperwork, "I think maybe something is up over there." That clever grin flashes back over her face, but the joke doesn't last long. She sighs, "Okay... but if I just find him over there pissing balefire on a desk I'm going to camp back in his office and wait it out. You want in on this mess?"
Rumor stiffens a little as though she were expecting a wall of green flame to come pouring from the Director's office when Estrella opens the door. That doesn't happen and she relaxes until that screech of fear and chaos comes from down the hallway and she turns to see the employee running toward them. "Oh hell no. This shit just gets worse, I swear to god this place is completely off the rails.", she growls softly. A glance at Estrella and she furrows her brows, "Does he do that?", she asks and then shakes her head and lifts a hand to indicate, 'never mind don't wanna know.' Taking a deep breath and releasing it in a sigh, "If that's the case then I will just be clocking out for the night and going to get a drink, a line of blow, and hope he gets that shit out of his system before I have to see him again."
The screaming, the absolute panic has hardly ceased as cries of, "Oh god oh god, it's getting everywhere, why!!!???" followed by, "Why don't we have fire extinguishers?!" and then, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" and yet more high pitched noises that prove that no one is above screetching in hysteria man or woman. There is now a full blown fire growing in the office as more people scramble past Esty and Rumor, tripping over themselves and each other before getting as far away as possible. There is a bend at the end of the hallway, preventing any true sight, the girls will need to traverse the trickling employees to find out what the fuck is going on around them.
"It... really wouldn't surprise me if he did." Estrella's tone is flat and unamused, though perhaps that the weight of hours weighing on her mind. She continues checking that mirror and then squinting around the hallways to see if any spooks decide to give up their presence. "Oh and look at you, acting like this shit is crazy when you've got a..." She raises her eyes to Rumor and then shakes her head, "Nevermind. That sounds like a fair plan." Her eyes flash wide at the screams. She trembles. "I-- uhm... okay. Let's... go?" She grits her teeth, taking a breath to steady her feet, and then heads down the hall to figure out what the fuck is going on.
As panic stricken people begin fleeing the scene Rumor turns to Estrella and sighs, "We'd have to be crazy to run toward somethi...okay and so we're crazy then.", she says as Estrella buttons down and heads toward the chaos. Bumped and jostled by a few of the late nighters, of which Pentex seems to have a lot, Rumor starts to get pissed and shoves right back as they careen into the wall, or fall and still scramble back to their feet and run away. "Chicken shits!", she calls over her shoulder as she falls in step behind Estrella and rubs her temple. "We don't get paid enough for this, hell, I am not even sure I get paid!", she grumbles, which would be about the time they come to the L turn and the "problem" comes into sight.
Rounding the corner of the hallway, Esty and Rumor run face first into a scene straight out of an end times movie. Lights dangle from the ceiling with sparks that set off, further proving that there is no actual fire alarms or sprinkler systems to keep people safe. Desks and half cubicles lay in disarray as people scrambled. There are indeed a few fires here and there, smoldering the same balefire as smoke lifts in lazy whorls. A few things beep incessantly, tiny alarms of power having failed to computers as a melted radio plays Today's Hits in warbled tones that harken to Satanic chanting. Through the haze there is movement, a distinct whoosh through the smoke before whatever made it disappears again.
"Yeah, crazy maybe. I'm just more terrified of what happens after an incident like this if we were around for it and didn--" Estrella glances up from her mirror just as they turn the corner, and then freezes. Her eyes flash wide, every nerve in her body suddenly on fire. "Wh-why *don't* we have fire supression systems on this floor?" Not that they would do much against balefire. The lights flicker overhead, and whatever is messing with the radios comes head-to-head with the ominous static that follows the witch around. "Uhm.." There's a pulse through her aura, the same green as the motes of the Father's napalm smoldering away on desks. "Can you...?" She looks to Rumor and shrugs, "You know: Stop fires?" She taps at the subdermal radio in her neck, "Fire outside the Director's office. Can we get a fucking fire extinguisher up here? Anyone? Hello?"
Poking her head around the corner before the rest of her body will follow, Rumor wrinkles her nose, "Man, I really do need that drink and a line, maybe 2...or 3.", she bemoans and looks at Estrella with a furrowed brow, "Hey, here's an idea, call Zora, let her sort this shit out. Surely she can kick the ass of...", she narrows her eyes at the movement through the smoke, "whatever the fuck that thing is." She motions toward the possible shadowy movement through the smoke and then to Estrella again, "Put out balefire? Um, well, I do sort of have to pee now, think that'll work?" Falling silent while Estrella gets on the subdermal with a distress signal, the Enticer keeps staring at the smoke where that movement was hoping something isn't going to sneak up on them.
Scittering, scratching, there is something with them, and the response that is both lazy and uncaring comes with all the answer they need - they are on their own. "Yeah...uh...someone's like, on their way I guess," the apathetic soul on the other end says with a heavy sigh. And indeed help is on the way! Just yanno, it won't really be there in time to help them if this thing is big enough to eat them. The poor ladies miss the slip of the thing creeping up behind them. Dun dun dunnnnn.
"I don't know who this is-" Estrella's aura roils in a wash of green flames. The poor workers fleeing around her must be awfully confused. The first joint of her finger is white with the pressure she's got on her implant. "--But I'll let him know you were so on top of things. Thanks." And then she drops her hand to her side and her eyes back to her mirror with a frustrated sigh.
Rumor rolls her eyes at the apathetic voice from the subdermal and shakes her head, "Seriously, going to talk to the Director, this is ridiculous. You would think with what we do here that the security would be on their toes." Hitting her subdermal she growls, "Put down the Hustler and call someone, Jerry, don't be a douche or I'll tell your wife about that hummer I gave you in the break room." She nods to Estrella as if both of their bitching, and some sexual blackmail, was going to actually get anyting done. "OK! So how about that drink now? I'm sure someone will be along soon to clean this up.", she tells Estrella with a smile.
What Rumor and Esty see are two very different things. What they both know is the same though. There is a whoosh of air behind them just before something lunges from the darkness. Rumor gets those spidey senses just in time to step to the side before a shadowy thing careens right into her backside. It isn't much bigger than a dog and it tumbles with an obvious yelp of surprise at not being able to rake the pretty Enticer down. What Esty sees is something that is indeed the shape of a dog, and entirely made out of scales trapped somewhere between the Umbra and here a manifestation gone perhaps awry? Rumor certainly hears the yelp, sees the shadowy thing and then the whine that comes after.
Estrella closes her compact once she's got sight of the creature, tucking it safely back into her bust. But what is it? She tilts her head curiously as it flies past Rumor with a yelp of surprise, apparently far more interested in the trans-Umbral event than her coworker's safety. Canid... scales... balefire. If only she knew someone with those three qualities! And had enough of her usually sharp wit about her to put 2 + 2 together.
Maybe it was the heat of the creature, the feel of the shift in air, or just woman's intuition, but the hair stands up on the back of Rumor's neck and she ducks off to the side as something flies past her and careens into the mess of the office. "What the actual fucksicle was that?", she cries and quickly pushes her back against the wall. Those Wyrm filled eyes wide and spiralling quickly into defense mode, "For fuck sake, how many times do I have to mention I am a lover, not a fighter. I hate this place.", she whines. "Is that a dog? I don't think that's a dog, Estrella? Hey, hello, what the fuck is that?"
Fuck their co-workers! What is interesting is the thing that is now no longer moving really, having clearly done more harm than good in that pounce that went terribly wrong. Instead the creature is remaining hidden underneath the desk it slid under. Cowering perhaps? The smell on the air is less mischief and now more lost. It's a funny thing when you combine someone with the light, and someone with the sight of the Father. While Estrella's general glowiness is being forced out of her, the unholy glow of balefire shines from her forehead glyph, Rumor's eyes are blazing to life in tangent to use the guiding light that Estrella gives off. What they see between the two of them is a thing about the size of a German Shepherd currently favoring a hind leg while its scaley tail thrashes a little.
"Uhm--" Estrella blinks, pulling herself from that moment of entrancement and looking over to Rumor as she begins to freak out. "It's kind of caught in a frequency shift. Halfway between here and the otherside. Not a dog obviously, but like a dog? With scales... that belches..." She sighs, folds her arms over her chest and brings a hand up to her face to pinch at the bridge of her nose, then squats down. She stares unblinking at the creature as she draws her lip into her mouth, and bites down. It's not a flirtatious gesture, and her lip goes white-- And then she whimpers and releases the lip, red and sticky with a coat of fresh blood. "Fuck my life..." She sigh then reaches under her neck piece and rubs the skin on her shoulder, holding it out to the demon pup and hopes, maybe just maybe, this thing belongs to Kurt and that there is enough of his scent on her for it to make a difference.
Still holding up that wall like she was the only thing keeping it from falling over, Rumor leans down just a bit to get a better look. The miasma of balefire green, gassflame blue, a hellfire orange swirl around pulsatying pupils of blood red and infinite abyssal black. as she peers down at the creature cowering under the desk. "So like...wait....fur and scales, dog like creature with scales...oh my fucking god, is that the Director's kid?!", yes, she is completely serious. "Poor puppy.", she coos and then watches Estrella with a furrow of her brows, "Um, alright." She slides her back down the wall to sit against it, one long leg stretched out in front of her, the other, where the slit is in the skirt, is pulled up, knee bent. "Fucking rats in the walls, Director is a sadistic psycho, Major wants me dead, and now this. I wanna go back to YouTube and Instagram.", she whines and actually looks like she might start to cry.
While Kurt would be crowing from the skies if he had spawned that creature, instead he will only be able to take credit for it coming around to sniff about in the first place, being attracted to the bigger scaled wolf. The hellhound is sticking to the shadowy cubby underneath the desk as it staaaares at Estrella dropping down to its level, and then Rumor is sliding down against the wall. A sharp whimper comes but it does eventually crawl up to its feet and gimp a few steps closer, sniff-snuffling towards the two women before taking a hesitational step forward. Of course that temporary calm and almost tender moment is immediately interrupted by the arrival of that fire extinguisher, and suddenly their new friend is turning about with a snarl and growl. Will they do something to save the poor bastard who brought what they want?
Estrella seems entirely unphased by Rumor's little breakdown. She's been tending to Fomori in the warehouse for over a week now-- Crying, sobbing, begging for a return to an older, easier life: It's all just part of the job at this point. One that brings her satisfaction, at that. A smile spreads across her face as she reaches out for the creature, and happily little coo spilling out of her throat as it steps forward. She beckons encouragingly and then-- Damnit. Is that Bob? From accounting? Estrella purses her lips, then reaches into her mouth with a wince as she wipes out blood from her self-inflicted wound. She hestitates, all too curious to see what the hellhound is capable of, but then comes forward onto one hand and her knees, wiping a smear of blood across its back as she pets it and begins a soothing litany of wordless sounds.
Hands come up to her face and then remember not to mess up her makeup, so Rumor takes a deep breath and looks up. "Oh he's hurt, wait, is it a he?", she asks as the creature comes limping out from under the desk. "Can you fix it? Don't let Ivanov get ahold of it, she'd likely shove a tentacle up its ass and it would go carnivore homicidal on the whole base and it would be a...", she looks up as the creature snarls and a warm body with a fire extinguisher has shown up.
Rumor jumps up from her spot and stands in front of the employee, her height improved by those stilettos, she blocks his view, "Hey Larry.", she purrs and steps in toward him, the succubus immediately taking over and dropping that veil over her victim's eyes. One hand on the extinguisher, the other reaches up to cup his cheek, "We got this, baby. It's almost all taken care of anyway and you should go back and watch that cooking show you like so much.", she winks and then leans in to kiss him ever so tenderly. "Don't worry about a thing, I will tell the Director how helpful you were.", her voice a seductive sotto voce purr. "Run along, baby.", she spins him back around and slaps his ass to get him moving. "I'll come see you later, lover.", she calls. Spinning back around to Estrella, "We have to get him out of here or hide him somewhere unless we want him caged. Somehow I think that would be a really bad thing."
With blood comes power, and Estrella proves that rather easily as she smears her vital essence along the smooth scales of the shadow-beast. That little bit of power is enough to sooth the snarling rather quickly with some startlement that comes in the form of twittering muscles and a flinch in Estrella's direction, that lashing tail knocking over the shelf right behind it. The noise gets Larry-Bob's attention with a grunt, but then there's Rumor looking amazing and actually looking AT him. It is unlikely that the man knows what is happening to him, only that this gorgeous woman is approaching him and she has the entirety of his attenion sounds be damned. A stammar comes and he nods a little bit, "Y-y-yeah, sure, no problem, if there's ANYthing else I can do for you Miss.." he doesn't remember her name, too much blood shooting southward for that brain function. At the command to run along, he is turning about and scampering off. Meanwhile the beast, no longer threatened, turns and headbutts into Estrella enough to knock her on her ass, though it is looking at Rumor rather expectantly, this is when she pets him now!
"Yeah-- its a he, I'm pretty sure. I mean... it's a *spirit.* I'm just going by feeling here." The mention of Dr. Ivanov and her proclivities brings her eyes up to Rumor, another dark, unamused stare. "I can't, no. But it's a Bane: It doesn't heal the way we do... I'm almost entirely sure that counts on this side to---" She clamps her mouth shut, teeth between her lips, a startled wince coming as she's met with a sudden spike of pain. She lets the Enticer work her little bit of unearthly magic, watching with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes and then-- She's on the floor, tumbling backwards onto the volume of her skirts behind her, a playful giggle spilling forth from her throat. She braces herself with one hand against the floor and continues to pet at the beast, a shrugging with one shoulder as she looks nearly as expectantly up to Rumor.
"I think he likes you." The suggestion in her tone is syruppy and thick, and she bites the tip of her tongue as she collapses back into a giggle, raising herself off the ground and smoothing out her dress. "... Yeah, so: I say we take him to the warehouse, where I work? I've got everything he should need there. He'll heal up, get a few solid meals in, and then... I mean," She contemplates what it would take to stuff such a creature into a human. "...Something better than experiments, I'm sure."
Setting the extinguisher down, Rumor arches a brow at that expectant look and then smirks, "I am not a chew toy.", she tells the hound. A few steps forward and she crouches down and runs a hand up under its neck and chin. Looking over at Estrella, "You going to tell the Director? I mean this thing is probably here for him, right? I mean...", her brows furrow, "Isn't it?", she smiles as she strokes the creature and makes ridiculous baby cooing sounds at it.
"Yeah," Estrella responds with an affirmative nod as she glances around and considers the best route out of the building. "And the Major, too." She points up to the security cameras in the corner, "They're gonna see it regardless. And it's not my place to speculate but: I'd say so. Probably attracted by the smell of balefire in his Umbral reflection. If he had a message-- Well, he's probably not going to give it up for anyone but the Director anyway." She squats again and takes the beast's face into her hands, "What do you say, boy? Wanna come get a meal?" She glances up at Rumor inquisitively, "Why? Got a soft spot for dogs?"
Rumor is still busy cooing and talking baby talk to the hellhound, "Who's a good boy? hmm? You are, yes you are." she purrs as she scratches under his chin and strokes up and down his chest, one of those sweet spots that dogs can't resist. She looks up toward the cameras and grumbles, turning back to the hound she reverts to baby talk, "Security cameras in every corner, but took us forever to get a fucking fire extinguisher, go fucking figure." Watching as Estrella pulls the pup's gaze away and she rolls a shoulder at the question, "People are surprised I'm not a cat person considering we share a lot of moody traits, but I definitely prefer the dogs."
The creature sniffs curiously after the tumbling girl and her skirts. Giving a low growl sound at her while she giggles aloud. Rumor pulls its attention back to her and that little touch makes its head lift up easily loosing a low sound of appreciation. It ends up nearly tail thrashing poor Estrella like an over grown Pitty puppy to headbutt Rumor over onto her ass and promptly. It goes for the licks on her face but gets caught up by Estrella's hands and its molten yellow eyes match hers. It understands enough of the tone and inflection to agree with a yap and a searing slurp of Esty's face as its ass wiggles furiously and it starts prancing in place unsure of which woman it wants to affectionate more!
Estrella stands back up and purses her lips, squinting down the hallway as she prepares a mental map of the complex in her head. "Yeah, cats..." She is thoroughly distracted, her tone aloof and exhausted. "Me too. Dogs are great." At least she seems to have heard what Rumor said. She doesn't look back down, simply gesturing with her hand and a click of her tongue before heading down the hall and hopefully to a quick escape. Maybe the Enticer can do that thing again if they run into anyone? And as long as her lip is bleeding, she needs only to touch someone with a bloody hand to pull a dram of her internal infinity out and deposit it into someone else's mind.
Tumbled backward onto her ass, Rumor takes that moment to just lay out on the floor, laughing as the hound goes to lick her face, but is caught and pulled away. That slobbering tongue gets Estrella instead and Rumor lets out a long low breath. "Alright then, we aren't taking him out the front door. The back exit only has 1 guard at this hour and I can distract him easily enough while you take Puppy her out the door. You have a keycard, right?"
Estrella reaches into her jacket pocket and silently flashes her keycard, eyes still fixed down the hall, ears primed for the sounds of approach. She does, in fact, have one. Project Manager is a nice gig, and the aura she bears makes it entirely too easy for management to want her to slip in and out the back entrance whenever possible.
It doesn't take the power duo much trouble to get through the winding maze of the facility and past the few peons they encounter. Esty and Rumor are quite the team when they are trying to rescue a poor puppy. The shadow-creature seems enthused, he is just happy to be rid of the facility itself. In fact once they manage to leave the grounds, the stuck-thing releases and it crosses over entirely into the Umbra. Yet it still follows them trotting happily between the two women, bumping its shoulder against their legs as they walk in the most feral way of singing 'We're off to see the wizard'.
