Scene: Vals Apartment

Present: Tu and Elanora (Joined later by Emma and Val)

Tu got an odd email from Val the day before, but didn't think much of it. He tried to call her, but no answer.

A yellow cab pulls up to the curb, and Tu steps out. After paying the fair, he glances around, and makes his way to the address named on the note. He carries a small plant with him, tucking it neatly in his one good hand. When he reaches the apartment, he knocks on the door.

There's no one about as Tu enters the building, not even in the lobby, though someone on the floor above this one is playing their music loud enough that the bass line is almost more able to be felt than heard. Apart from this, only silence greets Tu's knock--the door itself is heavy, which may account for this, but as the seconds tick by, no one comes to answer it either.

A slight frown shows on the no-moons face, driven there by a sense of apprehension. He puts the plant on the floor in front of him, and knocks again, this time unhindered by the plant, and loud enough to compete with the music.

You paged Elanora with 'Still no answer, I take it?'.

Rap, rap, rap. Again, seconds tick by, and again, there's no noise beyond the music itself. Moments later, the song ends, which only seems to make the hallway seem that much more silent. Unresponsive.

You paged Elanora with 'Is the door locked?'.

Elanora pages: Tis. How close is he to the door itself?

You paged Elanora with 'Close enough to try the knob. I'm going to pose trying the door, then using open portal to open it.'.

Elanora pages: When he tries the door, he catches a whiff of something faint, but acrid. Not so much smoke, but definitely something burnt.

Tu reaches down and tries to twist the door knob, but it doesn't turn. He tilts his head as an aroma tickles his nose, but can't quite place it. Determined now, he concentrates on the door for a moment, then the soft clicking of the lock can be heard. He twists the knob, and pushes the door slightly ajar, poking his head in.

Emma has arrived.

From afar, to the room, Emma waves sheepishly. Ill wait a pose or two to get in.

From afar, to the room, Elanora pages the previous set to Emma.

You paged the room with 'Okay.'.

Elanora pages: What you can see is a sliver of an apartment that, at least from this angle, doesn't appear to have really been moved into. Directly in front of you, against the far wall, is a mattress with no sheets and two blankets, mussed. Between that and the door where you're standing is a long series of dark spots on the carpet--if you squint, you can tell that it isn't the carpet so much as lack of carpet--those are burn marks, and there are a lot of them, running from side to side.

Elanora pages: The smell isn't faint anymore either, something's definitely burnt, and it smells awful.

Emma was rushing to not be late for her meeting, and in doing so, is not looking all that alert about where she's going. Thankfully, the humans tend to part away for her, but that doesn't stop her from tripping up on a curb grate. "Gah, damnit." She rights herself and gets to the address only to find another familiar face. "Uh.. " she pauses to cough a bit, "Hey.. you here for Elanora?"

Tu glances at Emma as she arrives, standing before a partially open door. He lifts his finger at his lips in a 'Quiet' gesture. Something, surely, is not right. He slips into the apartment carefully, his good hand searching the wall for a light switch.

Tu finds one, just on the right side of the door, but he doesn't need to turn the light on to get a good look at just what's inside the apartment. Directly across from him, in a small, partial alcove formed by the bathroom wall, lies a mattress with no sheets and two blankets, mussed, as if someone slept in them but never bothered to fold them back up. That is, quite frankly, the only benign part of the apartment left. Several feet from the door, the carpet is blackened, eaten away, like someone took a giant cigarette butt and tried to snuff it out several times on the floor. There are pieces of something plastic littering the floor as well, mostly situated to Tu's left, where a corner hides the remainder of what it might be. The door, having opened inward, blocks his immediate view to the right, but judging by what you can see, you can tell the apartment is small--a studio, so there's not likely to be much more space.

You paged the room with 'Do the marks in the carpet? Like they maybe footsteps?'.

You paged the room with 'Do the marks in the carpet seem the have a pattern? Like they maybe footsteps?'.

Elanora pages to the room: Definitely not footsteps, and there's no real pattern. Several big marks, lots and lots and lots of little ones. The little ones mostly radiate around the big ones, but not always.

Elanora pages to the room: They do, however, run from left to right across your field of vision.

Long distance to the room: Tu will move all the way in after emma pose.

Emma blanches at the sight of things and steps in, closing the door behind her so that whatever may show up inside, can be dealt with inside. She looks to the other Garou and nods her head forward, signaling she will follow his lead.

Tu moves across to the right of the door, checking for signs of Elanora, or what may have caused the burning in the rug.

Tu doesn't have to look hard. In fact, he doesn't have to look at all--as Emma shuts the door behind her, there's nothing at all to obscure that corner of the apartment. The first thing you notice is the desk--cheap, probably particle board. Like the carpet, it's covered in burn marks, most especially near the middle and moving to the end closest to the corner itself. It's a wonder the thing didn't catch fire. There's something that might have been a computer tower sitting at the less burned end, but the case is bulging, buckling outward, and the CD drive seems to have been the focus of this strange buckling--the slide itself is missing, the door is gone, and the area all around it is twisted outward. Miraculously, the computer's power light is still on, and you can hear the faint hiss of the fan. The ill fated monitor is lying in front of the desk, it's screen broken, cord yanked out. The mouse is dangling over the edge of the desk itself, and the keyboard, skewed, one tiny corner partially twisted, is only an inch from joining it.

It's the keyboard that catches your eye now--there's color on it, not just burnt blackness, but a very telltale crimson. And now that the crimson catches your eyes, you can follow it over the more fiercely burnt part of the desk, and down, to where, slumped partially between desk and wall, is a very telltale form. It's at this precise moment that the smell really hits you--burnt carpet, burnt hair, burnt flesh, and the coppery scent that even in homid should be recognizable as blood.

Emma pages to the room: Is it a studio apt. or are there more rooms?

Elanora pages to the room: Studio apt. You can tell there's a little more to the room to the left, around a corner. The bathroom door isn't visible just yet.

Emma clenches her jaw together as she takes in the sight of the wounded woman. Her first instinct is to run towards her, and a single step is taken in that direction before she halts and looks to Tu, and the rest of the apartment. She moves quickly then to check the remaining corners and the bathroom, wanting to be sure there is nothing yet here.

"Fuck!" The walker breaks his silence now, and moves to the form of Elanora. He bends down and presses his fingers to her neck, looking for signs of life.

You paged Elanora with 'Dead?'.

Around the corner to the left Emma goes, and there she finds the portion of the room that clearly served as the kitchen--the carpet turns to linoleum, and there's a tiny fridge. The plastic bits are more numerous here, spreading outward from the blackened husk of a roughly cube shaped object lying on the ground. It might have been a microwave, as there's evidence of an inside grate, but the door is gone, as is most of the insides. Her shoe crunches on something small that makes a metallic scrape of protest against the floor. The bathroom door is open, but none of the burn marks go quite that far--there's something on the floor in there, small, grey.

As Tu presses his fingers to Elanora's throat, he finds that she no longer appears to have that basic necessity--everything but the spinal column has been fairly well severed, and he can see that beneath and beyond the body itself, in the corner, is where the blood that was supposed to be inside her went. There are severe burns running along one side of her chin, up her face, but the majority of damage seems to be lower, where her clothes have blackened and turn around her waist. The Walker is very, clearly dead--her eyes are still partially open, but glazed and unfocused, but the muscles of her jaw seem to have ignored this little detail, as they're clenched tightly against each other.

Finds-Stories pages to Elanora, Tu, and Emma: Anyone mind a bird?

Elanora pages to Finds-Stories, Tu, and Emma: Aww. I wouldn't, but we're actually inside an apartment, and I fear the window's blinds are drawn.

Emma pages to the room: BWahhawhat?

Finds-Stories pages: Hey, I know I am massaging things here, but I would really like to get Val involved in something. :P OOCly, I know Elanora kinda bit it. Birdseye does have Val's number and she did tell Cole(Who should have let Birdseye know) that she can eat the eyeballs of the corpse and sometimes see their last moments of life. Avoid misunderstandings and all that.

You paged Finds-Stories with 'Would Tu know about the eyeball thing?'.

Finds-Stories pages: Cole should have told him IC, as that was the whole reason behind Val telling him about it in the first place. So Birdseye would know and they wouldn't try hitting her with the no eating humans law.

Finds-Stories pages: Don't think he would mind. I'd +mail him and say we assumed he has IC for story purposes.

Long distance to Finds-Stories: Tu is good with that. I'm posing a call now.

Emma looks in the kitchen area and the into the bathroom. She stays a fair distance from it, and tries to figure out what it might be. Her pulse begins to race as she surveys the damage.

Emma pages to the room: What's it look like? Small grey, furry? Plastic, metal? Bomblike? :p I cant believe you are dead!!

Tu glances back towards Emma, making sure the other Garou is still moving about. He stands, wiping his fingers on the back of the chair, removing any blood or other fluids. He tries to take in all of the apartment at once, puzzling together the Walker's last moments. "She's dead", he says to Emma, in case the Get was unsure. After a moment, he slips his cell phone from his pocket and dials a number.

Finds-Stories pages: thankyouthankyou. :)

You paged Finds-Stories with 'Of course, when her corpse shows up sans eye, I'm going to have to explain it to TD.'.

It's easy enough to figure out, once Emma gets closer. It's a cell phone, the cheap sort--or at least it was. The screen is dark, the keypad slightly blackened. No one will be making calls from that again. Keys of a different sort lie not far from the bathroom door, skidded into a corner of the kitchen--apartment keys, or car keys. Probably both.

Elanora's last moments don't look to have been pleasant--that burnt flesh smell is coming from her, and there are massive rents in her clothing along both sides, again situating around the waist and upper stomach. No blood--all of the blood seems to have come from her missing throat, and most of it has been spattered, if not on the floor, then on the corner wall and the side of the desk she was facing.

From afar, Finds-Stories grins. Shall I show up, or shall you page me your end of the convo?

From afar, to the room, Elanora is a great big meanyhead.

Long distance to Finds-Stories: Tu willpage you in a sec. Waiting for a pose...

You paged the room with 'From blood pattern and what not, does it look like she was attacked from beind, or maybe via the computer?'.

You paged Finds-Stories with 'The phone rings. Hello. It's Tu.'.

Emma looks back to Tu, her face a debate between horrified palor and burning rage. "What the fuck happened!" she demands of no one in particular. She takes another peek around the place, touching nothing, but trying to find answers.

Val pages: Hey, Tu, right I remember you. Seen you around. What can I do for you? Think this is actually the time one of you has ever called me, you know. At least, I think it is.

Elanora pages to the room: No, it was definitely from the front, and with something pretty damned big, if you're talking about the throat wound. The others, mostly the front and sides, no really obvious back injuries.

Long distance to Val: Tu is all business on the phone. Brief, and to the point. "Yes, I'm sorry to call. I need a favor. Are you available?"

Val pages: I'm always available. Actually, was just about to head out for a late lunch? What do you need? Actually, availability depends on where you are. Kinda in the business district of downtown right now.

Tu doesn't look any surer than Emma about what has gone on here. The person on the other side of the phone apparently has picked up, as Tu starts to speak. "Hello. It's Tu." Tu is all business on the phone. Brief, and to the point. "Yes, I'm sorry to call. I need a favor. Are you available?"

Emma pages to the room: If this happened from some weird ass wyrm weaver computer shit, Emma is going to really really dislike Walkers from now on. ;p

From afar, to the room, Elanora hehs.

Emma sighs, beginning to pace back and forth. She looks at everything again, shaking her head, "Makes no fucking sense... none." She sighs, "The microwave in here, if that's what it was, looks like it blew up or something."

Long distance to the room: Tu knows the damage is on her front, but I could rip your throat out from the back. :) Does it look like, maybe, a series of things. Microwave, phone, ending with computer?

Elanora pages to the room: Poor, Emma. I didn't really intend the timing to come out that way, but...there you are.

Elanora pages to the room: There's a definite burn trail between the microwave, computer, and the corner where she's at. No burn trail near the phone, or in the bathroom at all. Also none of the burn marks are really very close to the mattress.

"Bridge street.", Tu continues to say to the phone, then gives the apartment address. "The door is probably best if you can come - I'd like to keep the windows closed."

In the apartment above, someone starts up their music again, causing the air to once more throb with the barely wall muted bass line.

Val pages: Huh. Okay. Sounds like you've got something pretty interesting going on. Okay, I'll come. Be there in a few minutes. There is a building across the street with a external fire escape. That'll work nicely. See you soon.

Emma pages to the room: Yay, instead of helping her nightmares, you've now given her more to dream about haha

From afar, to the room, Elanora --meany.

Emma clenches a fist and looks to Tu, "Who you calling? Someone to help us get her out of here?" A hand runs over her head, fingers stroking through her hair with agitation.

"Thanks", Tu says, then hangs up the phone. "An associate who maybe able to help us figure out what happened." He turns his attention back to the room around him. "Did you get the email too?", he asks Emma.

Emma narrows her brow, "No. I was coming here because I had an arranged meeting with her. I was- running late though." And as she admits that, something seems to momentarily haunt the young Ahroun.

From afar, to the room, Val will wait a bit before arriving. Tacke her 15minutes to get here IC.

ElanoraDEAD pages: Having touched her, it will have been obvious that she's been dead a while. Her body's cold. Pretty stiff.

"I thought, you know, it was just a glitch." He takes a breath, steeling himself. "Anyway. It looks like the electronics went haywire. I've heard that there's a mage in the area that sometimes does that." He looks back at the body. "Though, the wounds seem like it could be a dancer. Ripping throats out is generally a sign of some sort of Garou attack, though I guess a vampire could do it too."

Emma just tightens her lips up, "How the hell do we find out? A mage that can attack people through ... computers? Microwave ovens? And if it was a Dancer, where the hell is it now? How long ago do you think this happened?"

Time passes as the two Garou converse and eventually, someone knocks at the front door.

"I got an email from her last night. It just looked like it was a mistake", Tu says to Emma then crosses to the door and opens it, quickly shuttling the Corax inside. "Thanks for coming." he says to Val, letting the scene speak for itself.

You paged the room with 'Does the computer system itself seem intact, even though the monitor is blown? Tu is having visions of a 'The Ring' type attack via the monitor, but he tends to drink.'.

ElanoraDEAD pages to the room: The computer's case is buckled outward, mostly in the front, and especially around where the CD tray should be. It is, however, operational--you can hear the fan whirring inside, and the power light is miraculously still on.

Val lifts one hand and wriggles her fingers at Tu, before stepping into the room. She pauses when she sees the body, blinking repeatedly. Umm, you know, I'm not really all that good at disposing of bodies. That is more of your department. Rather small moon to loose your temper at someone." The woman sniffs at the acrid scent in the air, then she scowls at the computer.

Emma glares at the bird, "It wasn't us." She eyes the computer and then the microwave, "This thing looks completely blown up. Nothing functional over here."

Jeremy pages: Yo.

Tu's eyes narrow at the Corax. "It's my tribemate. I didn't kill her, I'm trying to find out who did. Cole mentioned to me that you have a way of telling how someone died. I has hoping you could do that here." His tone suggests that, small moon or not, Tu is not in the most patient of moods.

You paged Jeremy with 'Yo.'.

Jeremy pages: Hey, what killed Ela off? :/

Long distance to Jeremy: Tu doesn't know yet. He found her dead. I'm guessing she died around when she sent the email.

Jeremy pages: Give Jeremy a call?

Long distance to Jeremy: Tu has 2 Garou and a Corax trouncing around in the apartment. I probably wouldn't call Jeremy just yet.

"Ohhhs," as realization dawns. "You want to know why she died. Does look rather odd in here. What is her name? Knowing a name helps, considering I have to ask the poor woman if she minds me eating one of her eyes and all. Not the best of ideas to 'drink eyes' from an unwilling body. Liable to give you the worse trip then any drug out there. They dead are generally not a group that you want to mess with."

Jeremy pages: Well, call me later IC? I get back from the dentist hopefully around 4.

Jeremy pages: Trent and I can hop on it if necessary and do total CSI on the apartment for you guys.

Long distance to Jeremy: Tu nods. I'll probably need you to check over her computer.

Val pages to the room: the dead, even. J

eremy pages: Cool. Trent has a background in this, so.. I dunno, don't touch the apartment IC? Leave it as is and have him scour it from head to toe? He's like the young Grissom.

You paged Jeremy with 'I looked for Walkers before calling Val but none were about.'.

Jeremy pages: Yah, Trent is IN FUCKING BED AT TWO IN THE NOON because his ass was playing Morrowwind to 6 a.m, so I just woke him up.

From afar, Jeremy tells him to log on. LOL

ong distance to the room: Tu waits for Emma?

Emma stares at the bird and looks about to charge her. It is only after an intense force of will that she halts and pushes herself further away. The seething rage she struggles to hold is not at all hidden from view.

Tu's frown deepens. "If you're going to help, you can start by adopting a more respectful tone here. My fucking tribemate was torn apart by something and I want to know what it is. If you can't help without seeming like you're putting in a fucking DSL line, then it was a mistake to call, and you're free to leave." He too, seems just on this side of losing it.

Val blinks a few times, then suddenly becomes very serious. "I always ask the dead if they mind, before I do anything to a body. If you want to know what happened to her, you will have to let me do my thing. Believe me, if I didn't give the dead the respect they disserve, I'd suffer for it in ways you couldn't imagine."

Emma works hard to keep her tone slow, thought the words sneak from her mouth like great steam out of a stressed fissure. "Can you please get started with it then? We may be at risk even now, and it would be nice to know, from what."

"Elanora", Tu says rather tersely, "...is her name. Talk to her. Ask her for permission. Whatever it is you want to do." He take another breath, trying to get his anger under control. "Obviously, I'm not really at my best right now. Please bear that in mind."

Val walks over to the body and crouches down beside of it. "Hello there," she talks directly to the corpse, completely ignoring the Garou. "Your friends would like to know what happened to you, Elanora. I would like to bare witness to your life and view your last moments. I know its not the most pleasant of things, but it may help them. THe choice is yours." The small frail woman falls silent, eyes fixed on Elanora's dead face.

The face, quite obviously, doesn't move--Elanora's eyes are still fixed in their half open state, and to the watching Garou, those don't move either. Nothing visible at all happens.

Emma pages to the room: Skip me.

You paged the room with 'Me too.'.

Val's eyes close briefly and she murmurs thanks, before slowly shifting into her corvid form. The large raven hops onto the body and ends up looking down into Elanora's face, before the large beak deftly slips past the eyelids of the dead Walkers' left eye. The beak dives deeply into the socket, then pulls the eye free. The eyeball is placed on Elanora's forehead and released, as the raven takes a moment to yank the optic nerve out of the dead woman's skull. Left eyeball completely free, Finds-Stories picks it up and with a few jerks of her head, swallows it down. The corax goes still, staring off into the middle distance.

Emma ends up having to close her eyes as she witnesses the deed, even going so far as turning her whole body away and putting her back to bird and fallen Garou. Her shoulders rise and fall as she laces her arms across her chest.

Tu watches the events unfold unflinching. Under different circumstances he might look on with wonder, but his current expression is closest to impatience. Still, he keeps quiet and lets the Corax do her work.

Emma pages to the room: I have to go soon...

Emma pages to the room: Like 3 minutes soon. I can pose out, but I want to know what happened!

ElanoraDEAD pages to the room: Eep!

The raven doesn't move for a good five minutes, then it hops off the body and turns back into a woman. Somewhat pale, Val puts a hand over her own eyes and rubs at them.

Long distance to the room: Tu is open to picking up again tomorrow? I have to go in 30 as well.

From afar, to the room, Val could do that.

You paged the room with 'I'm here all day. Otherwise, Tu was hopinh he could pass off to another Walker. I would skip elder moot tonight too, for this, but I have to be awol 4-7.'.

You paged the room with 'All day tomrorrow, I mean.'.

From afar, to the room, ElanoraDEAD can do as well, if that's what you guys want.

Emma pages to the room: Im around all days. Hugs. Gotta fly! Thanks for neat scene all.

You paged the room with 'Why don't we do that. We'll pick up tomorrow - 11am? Same time?'.

Val pages to the room: That MUSH or EST time?

You paged Val with 'Mush time.'.

You paged the room with 'Mush time. :)'.

From afar, to the room, Val can be here. :)

ElanoraDEAD pages to the room: Works for me.

You paged the room with 'Cool. Thanks guys - this is a neat scene, though I'm sorry to lose Elanora.'.

ElanoraDEAD pages to the room: Thanks muchly for coming! Sorry it was somewhat...different, from what at least Emma expected, heh.

Val pages to the room: Thankyou for allowing Val to be involved. Don't get to use her very often.

Long distance to the room: Tu should probably skip elder moot anyway - so as not to cause problems. See you tomorrow.