Edit Log: Logs:Terribly Toxic Thanksgiving Turkeys

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Characters:	[[Char]], [[Char]], [[Char]]
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Summary:	A group of Accorded run into some deceptively delicious turkeys.
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Log:	+----------------------------+ Washington Park +-----------------------------+ This area contains a park of the same name, stretching east-west from Cottage Grove Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expressway, and north-south from 51st Street to 63rd. It is home to the DuSable Museum of African American History (founded in 1961 and moved to Washington Park in 1971). In addition to hosting the museum, the park hosts Fountain of Time, the world's earliest concrete finished art work. +----+ Attributes +----------------------------------------------------------+ Sphere: Changeling Risk: High Claim: None +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ It's a nice evening in Washington Park, the air cold and crisp. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees by this point. The weather in the day was warm enough that any lingering snow has melted away. It's early in the evening, just an hour after sunset. With the upcoming holidays, the park isn't TOO full, but there's a few people milling about here, still lingering from having arrived during the day. Although, it's clear that for whatever reason people don't want to stay out too long in the dark. Slowly but surely the activity seemingly starts to die down other than the various citizens of the night. --------- Arnaud is strolling slowly down a pathway in the park, enjoying a cigarette, in company with Five. Once in awhile he bends down to pick up a fallen leaf if it's particularly vibrant in colors, having already collected a fair few he's carefully holding with his other hand. Almost like a kid, collecting 'treasure'. --------- Sure, he's a citizen. His paperwork says so and everything. Alexander is not, however, actually a citizen of the United States. He's not even a member of the Being Alive club. Still, he's here and probably doing something appalling, as always. Coming across the park from the opposite side from whence Arnaud and company have come, the walking corpse in the tailored suit looks perfectly positioned to be a boulder in the Changeling's road. --------- Wandering along with Arnaud is the short hooded mortal called Five. There's an amused expression on her face as she watches him. Every time the dragon picks up something to his collection, Five questions him curiously about it. "Why'd you pick that one?" or commentary like, "I like the coloring on that one!". Totally nice and a normal mundane things! --------- Thalia has her hands shoved into her pockets as she kicks down one of the lanes in the park, crunching fall leaves underneath her worn Chucks. Her long and dirty blonde hair is worn down and tumbling her back and around her shoulders, which are slightly slumped in the universal affectation of defeated contemplation. --------- Norm's out, bundled a bit more than normal against the cold. His green field jacket remains, but he's got fingerless black wool gloves, a black wool watchcap on his head, and has hands in pockets for extra warm. He comes seemingly out of nowhere to walk beside Five and Arnaud, probably because he knows them and has that inherent I'm With You air about him. No real words for now, and for some reason he's got his eyes casting all around instead of noticing Arnaud and his treasure-leaf. --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (1 8 4 10 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 7 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (6 6 4 5 10 7 7 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (2 2 6 10 1 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 4 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (8 5 5 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (4 8 9 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- As everyone slowly starts to make their way through the park, it's quiet. Almost too quiet. It's the near silence that allows everyone to hear something in the distance. It's hard to tell which direction it's coming from other than probably near the middle of the park. What /can/ be heard though is a 'gobble gobble'. But it doesn't sound like just one, it sounds like dozens, maybe even more, coming from somewhere deeper in the park. --------- '''"Look, the pattern on this one looks a bit like the outline of France. This one looks a bit like my butler - big nose there, big ears,"''' Arnaud explains. Maybe if you squint and look at it from fifty yards away, or this man's imagination is just way out there. '''"This one red. This one is yellow."''' Apparently nice colors is good enough too. He startles a bit as Norman just shows up and walks alongside, and makes sure that he doesn't walk beside /Five/, but Arnaud being in the middle of the now-trio. He keeps his leaves away from the werewolf, pointedly. Those are HIS! Spotting something that gleams golden on the ground he lets out a strangled gasp of excitement and dives for it, brushing away leaves to find... a golden candy wrapper. He looks so disappointed. However, there's a distracting sound from somewhere so he looks up and starts sniffing the air. '''"What is that."''' --------- Thalia squints her eyes when she hears /it/, and looks around at some of the other people about her, checking to see if maybe they hear it, too. '''"Que porra...?"''' --------- Managing to stop right in front of Norman and Five, with Arnaud having scampered off like a miserly hobo into the scrub, Alexander plants his hands on his hips and looks towards the Frenchman's back. He's about to say something pithy and absolutely brilliant that would have to be explained to Norman later, but he's then caught up in the sound of 'gobble gobble', a sound that so often makes up his evenings when he's feeling bored and lonely. He pointedly stands on Five's other side to flank her with Norman, nee ner nee ner. '''"Sounds like dinner,"''' Alexander says. Which, in fairness, describes almost anything as far as he's concerned. --------- '''"I think there's turkeys over that way."''' says Norman, because sometimes it falls to That Guy to state the painfully obvious. He gives a little nod of the head in the gobble-direction, not bothering to get excited. Why? '''"Kinda funny to hear em up here in yankee-land. You might run across a mess of wild turkeys this time of year down in Alabama. This is the season for em too."''' --------- There's a smile when Five sees a bunch of familiar faces. Glancing in the direction of the noise, she raises a brow before looking back at the others. '''"Turkeys? I thought it was just people partying or something."''' Five has never ever heard a turkey apparently! '''"Yeah, maybe they are for the poor or something?"''' she responds to Thalia, completely misunderstanding her. '''"You guys want to check it out?"''' she suggests, a bit curious herself. --------- Arnaud eye-narrows at Alexander, but he can't be on both of Five's sides at the same time, no matter how hard he tries, so he snorts and raises his chin in haughty arrogance. '''"Turkeys?"''' He has never heard their sound either, but he perks up and a slow (unpleasant) smile spreads on his face. '''"Five, we need a turkey for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Let's go grab some."''' He starts off with long strides, passying by Thalia whom he tells helpfully; '''"Turkeys. Big fucking birds that you eat thankfully because some asshole came over here and killed all the natives."''' --------- Thalia flickers her pale green eyes in the direction of the nearby trio, specifically Norman, who seems to have at least semi-accurately identified what could be causing the sound. Why, however, is still a mystery. '''"Thanks, I know what a turkey is,"''' she mutters to Arnaud, sarcasm sloughing off the faux-gratitude. '''"But in the park...?"''' she follows up, loudly enough to be heard. There's a faint color on her words, an accent rounding the consonants and curving the vowels. Five's explanation invites an eyebrow quirk: poor people don't receive live turkeys as acts of charity unless they're extremely misguided. Right? Right... But with nothing better to do, hands still shoved into her pockets, she passes a wary look around the others who have caught the same sound that she has, and she nods. '''"Sure. Let's go look."''' --------- '''"Who eats turkey at Christmas? Christmas is goose season,"''' Alexander protests with a roll of his eyes at Arnaud's haughtiness, with his own noblesse oblige reminding himself that Arnaud is just a fucking mortal and he'll be dead soon anyway. '''"Incidentally,"''' Alex says as an aside towards Norman, '''"there's a decently large wild turkey population over in New York. Wouldn't surprise me if Chicago had a gang of wild urban turkeys."''' He shrugs and follows along with the group, though he doesn't really seem to see much point in investigating wild fowl. --------- Taking a deep breath, Norm grins widely, puts open hands to either side of his mouth to help project, and then emits a very loud, scarily accurate turkey noise. It's pitched slightly differently to the gobbling bird sounds they were just hearing, but it sounds so much like the real thing it might as well be. Once he does that turkey call, Norm puts fists on hips and looks proud of himself, nodding to the others as he says like the country hick he is, '''"Let's see if they wanna come say hello! I ain't gonna hurt no city birds up here."''' --------- '''"In Staten Island,"''' the moody Brazilian rejoins to Alex. '''"That's the Chicago equivalent of Evanston, but worse."''' But she pads along any way at a slight, staggered distance. If the turkeys want smoke, she'll let these guys catch it. --------- +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (2) -- (6 2 4 2 10 8 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Success (2) -- (3 7 6 1 10 6 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 6 7 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 3 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd Result: Success (2) -- (7 4 9 6 8 7 4 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (3) -- (9 10 6 8 1 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- There's a silence for just a couple seconds after Norman calls out to the turkeys. Just long enough for one to question whether the werewolf scared them off! The gathered group then hears the gobbling start back up. It gets louder and more eager sounding the closer it gets. Soon enough, everyone can see the birds come into view! Gobblegobblegobble! They excitedly make their way toward the others. As they get closer... wow, these birds look amazing. One can already imagine them roasting in the oven, the delicious aroma filling their homes, that first bite of a well cooked turkey... Thanksgiving might be a couple days away still but, maybe an extra turkey wouldn't hurt. Maybe even a turkey to eat /before/ Thanksgiving starts to sound like a good idea... --------- Arnaud eyes Norman as if he's not making any sense. He surely intends to catch and kill a turkey if it comes his way. '''"Goose is also good,"''' he agrees with Alexander, no particular attachment to turkey per se. When spotting the large birds, his mouth drops open and there's a tiny bit of drool. He even drops his carefully collected leaves and starts with long steps right at the gobble-gobble birds, flexing his hands and smiling hungrily. '''"Here, here, big bird."''' He tells Five from the side; '''"Watch the flank so they don't run off."''' This is not necessary, because... he walks right up to one of the big birds and just picks one up. The bird even makes a happy-sounding gobble-dook sound! Arnaud look like he won the lottery. --------- Five herself is very amused by all of this, in particular the food conversation going on. A brow raises a bit when Arnaud easily scoops up the bird, ready to tackle it if need be! '''"Wow. All the animals I try to hold usually run away,"''' she admits with a small, slightly envious frown. --------- Thalia pauses as the turkeys come into view. '''"I don't normally like turkey, but those birds look delicious..."''' she admits. The sudden twist of hunger in her stomach and the serendipitous plump appeal of the turkeys is disruptive enough that she nearly forgets how weird it is to see turkeys in the park. Arnaud plucking one off the ground galvanizes her out of her moment's pause. '''"Wait, what are you doing?"''' she asks, though the question has an obvious answer. --------- Let's be honest. Vampires are always hungry. So the strange sensation of hunger washing over Alexander isn't that unusual, and it seems to be something he can control... mostly. He is rather attentive to the vein in Five's throat, though. More than usual that is. When Arnaud gives his instructions, Alexander pointedly doesn't move to cover any flanks. Let la Cosmopolite do his own chores. '''"I'm no animal expert,"''' says the undead monster pretending to be a person pretending to be a Frenchman pretending to be English, '''"But aren't they usually more skittish?"''' --------- Never let it be said Norm knows what he's doing. He knows SOME of what he's doing but there's often some fatal flaw in the plan. Today's plan was to call over out-of-place turkeys, and now he's fully enthralled by the birds and changing his mind about what he just said a minute ago. Given Arnaud's example he too is striding up to take a turkey! '''"You're comin' home with me, buddy. Oh yeah, we gonna get real acquainted with the kitchen..."''' Does this make sense? Does anything?? --------- Arnaud is a man with the brain of a beast, so sometimes it takes him awhile to put two and two together, especially when free delicious fowl just walk right up to him. He hugs the turkey to his body and looks at the rest as if pondering how he could hold two, maybe three, then glances at the turkey's neck with violent intent; if he wrings their necks, kills them first, he can carry maybe ALL of them... It can be read on his face just what he's thinking. However, someone smart asks the question, and he looks at Alexander with irritation because he doesn't like smoeone coming in with LOGIC and ruining the 'hunt' like this. '''"Yes. They would not just walk up to a stranger, would they. Also, why are they even here. Is this some sort of event? If so, I suggest we grab them and run away before someone notices."''' So, on one hand he admits this is strange, on the other, he still wants the turkeys. --------- After Arnaud picks one up, the bird is super happy to be in his grasp! The other turkeys start to wander closer to the ground, going right up to them and practically begging to be taken. Gobblegobblegobble. There is absolutely nothing skittish or aggressive about these birds. There's enough to somewhat surround the group, though it's more like a gentle swarming. The closer they are, the more appealing they look. That hunger continuing to rise up in most of the group. Maybe even a nice evening picnic there at the park sounds nice! Five glances curiously at Alexander, then to Arnaud. As the birds surround, she steps a little closer to the dragon, her back almost against him. She tries to very lightly shoo some away to no avail. '''"Do they have... uh, rabies or something?"''' she wonders. --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 3 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Intelligence +Investigation Result: Failure -- (4 4 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult +3 -2 Result: Failure -- (7 3 5 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 2 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Animal Ken -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Investigation Result: Success (2) -- (1 2 9 5 10 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 3 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Investigation -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 7 10 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 4 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Thalia takes a reflexive step back when the turkeys draw closer. '''"I've never seen a turkey up close, and I have to tell you, papo, you are a lot uglier than I counted on,"''' she buzzes at the nearest and boldest bird. She eyes Five at the conjecture, tonguing one of her back molars. '''"I don't think turkeys can have rabies,"''' she murmurs. But there has to be /something/ to account for this behavior. She creeps her pale green eyes like a vine across the gaggle of them and catches her lip under her teeth, and unmistakable worry creases her otherwise smooth features. She's realized something and it's upsetting to her. She passes another glance at the other people standing around, evaluating them in turn. '''"They're not normal,"''' she attempts to explain to these complete strangers. '''"They don't have rabies, but there's something...weird. Not normal."''' It's vague, but it's gonna have to do. --------- Man, fuck turkeys. Human blood is where it's at, and Five is pulsing with the stuff. Little known fact about vampires: They hear human hearts really, really well. Especially when they're pumping as hard as the anxious little Five and her birdxiety. Alexander doesn't even hear Thalia's assessment over the thumping in his ears from that fragile little chest cavity over yonder, so easy to break open and drink dry. So. Easy. --------- For his part Norm gobbles at the turkey he chooses to pick up, and he says with good cheer, '''"Oh you bet your feathery ass I will!"''' Then he beams proudly at the others gathered around, '''"Get yourself a turkey, folks. They said they wanna get eaten!"''' And somehow that does not strike him as weird. Even though the others are remarking about how weird it is and he's been present for those words. Even though it makes every kind of sense to question it! --------- Arnaud looks at Five. Then he looks at the turkey. Back at Five. Turkey. Five. He narrows his eyes and glances around at the others, tilting his head back and forth to remove tension in his neck, one of those classical psychopath ticks. '''"Something doesn't feel right,"''' he agrees. He's still so very hungry though, so he opens his mouth - like impossibly wide - but then closes it again and shakes his head. Instead he opens his gaze wide and turns in a slow circle, dropping the bird he was holding - from the odd look in his eyes, it's clear he's looking and listening for something otherworldly, or trying to. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Kenning Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 5 4 1 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Five furrows her brows as she listens to the others, taking a glance around her. Catching the look from the vampire, the mortal grows a bit more concerned in Alexander's presence. It /does/ prompt her to say, '''"Things tend to not want to be eaten."''' Her green-eyed gaze lingers just another moment on the hungry vampire before looking at Norman. '''"Usually."''' Then she glances between Arnaud and Thalia, then the group at large again. '''"Should we... leave? Shoo these turkeys somewhere?"''' The turkeys themselves continue to gather up around the group, gobblegobble, wings occasionally flapping but they seem content to be around the people. In fact, some of them jump a little eagerly at Alexander who is wholly disinterested in them. --------- Thalia gives Arnaud a startled glance when he starts to open his mouth, and then exchanges a look with Five and nods. '''"If we leave, then what? They go turkey-charm some little kids on the playground?"''' she asks. She looks down at the turkeys and /damnit/ they do look absolutely delicious. Maybe they should just eat them? No, no, she shakes off the thought. '''"Should we call someone? Like... the Department of Parks and Recreation?"''' That's a real thing, right? Chicago's a big city. It has to be. --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 6 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Presence +Intimidation +Nightmare Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (10 4 9 6 10 8 9 4) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ You know what's stopping him from getting what he wants? These fucking turkeys. So Alexander takes a deep breath in through his nose and, directing his stern attention to the flightless birds, lets out a positively horrendous roar... its repulsiveness matched only by his features, with Nightmare warping them in the minds of all around him into a hideous concatenation of molten scarring, sharp pointed ears, and shadows that seem impossible in their geometry. Evil incarnate. --------- See, Norm was just settling in to being friends (for now) with his turkey that he has most definitely adopted for a ride home. That's when Alex has to go and make a groar, and the groar raises the wolf's hackles in the Iron Master. He glares at Alex and around, and shouts, '''"Hey what'd you do that for they're just bein' birds!"''' Birds that are begging to be eaten. You know. Nothing suspicious at all. He even pets the turkey he has, soothing it as he steps away from Alexander and the others to tell is, '''"Shush now don't you worry, I got you..."''' --------- The aura that pools around Alexander like a black and bloody cloud, intangible except for the knot of fear, gets a visible reaction out of Thalia. She blanches, and peels away from the rest of the group. '''"Caralho. No way. Fuck this."''' The weird hungry looks, the way Arnaud opened his mouth like that, and now this vein-icing dread. '''"Fuck you guys,"''' she says, treating them all save Five with the same skepticism that had been reserved for the turkeys only a moment ago. She takes a few steps back while she leers at them, and then turns and walks quickly away, hands still shoved in her pockets; they never left. --------- Arnaud startles backwards, bird dropped - he moves so Five can be behind him, instinctively and unconsciously, and then looks both impressed and faintly intimidated while pointing at the turkey he just held; '''"These are not normal turkeys. They're some sort of magical turkeys. If we eat them, they might actually be made of sticks, stones and old socks or something."''' --------- After Alexander lets out that inhuman roar, the turkeys take OFF! Sure, they're very interested in being eaten but, they're still birds. They can't control their instinct to RUN! There's a lot of flapping and commotion as they scramble off, determined to get away from the vampire as quickly as possible! It seems that they catch Thalia up in their panic as the mortal makes her escape at the same time. Perahps not so strangely, that nearly overpowering hunger that most of the group was feeling seems to fade as the turkeys distance themselves from the group. Soon enough, that sensation is gone, or at least back to 'normal' amounts of hunger within them. --------- Five is glad to be covered by Arnaud in this moment. She'd been catching the way the vampire was looking her over, and this was just a cherry on the top. Looking between the group, she very quietly asks, '''"Whoa... uh, everyone okay?"''' --------- You know that feeling after a wonderful night out, where you wake up hungover and realise that you have many phone called apologies to make and probably several thousand dollars in damage to pay for? Yeah, that's Alexander right now as his hunger fades. A fraction of a nano-moment later his face returns to normal and the lingering knot of dread fades from the surroundings. "Sorry, all," he says, looking for all the world like an admonished little boy, "I uh... sorry." Not usually lost for words is Alexander, a fact that shows itself as he rallies his senses, "Right. Where the fuck did those birds come from, and what was with that... hunger?" He casts a glance towards Five, but then quickly looks away to find a very interesting patch of ground to look at in the middle distance. --------- Arnaud holds up a hand, and then a finger, standing perfectly still as the turkeys run away - he's thinking. It takes him a few seconds when that happens, and he can't do something else at the same time so he just sort of freezes. '''"Damn it. We should've killed them. I think. Fuck."''' Yeah, so, even when he does think he doesn't have an answer. In the end he decides to drop it for now, but looks at Norman and his possible remaining turkey. '''"I'll give you a bottle of whiskey if you eat it."''' --------- Norman's turkey flees in a flurry of feathers and panicked gobbling and protests. He looks really disappointed! Then as the fog clears a bit, he looks only somewhat disappointed. Less so, but still kind of. '''"Well goddammit now I want turkey anyway..."''' he mutters, crossing his arms and scowling. He glares at Arnaud, clearly turkey-less as he says, '''"I still would. Turkey's turkey. They ain't spirits, I don't think. I get a sense for those things."''' --------- The turkeys eventually fall out of sight, into the darkness of the evening. But, it's a large gaggle of turkeys, it wouldn't be too hard for someone to track them. If one listens hard enough, they might be able to evening hear a light gobblegobblegobble in the distance! Five, the human amongst them that was the only one unaffected by the turkeys, carefully watches the others. '''"What hunger?"''' she questions with a raise of her brow. She can't help but steal a glance at Alexander. Then she quickly looks in the direction of the birds, then back to the others. '''"How do you know those turkeys were magic? Maybe a good thing nobody ate them.."''' --------- '''"Magic turkeys,"''' Alexander muses for several moments, '''"Why can't we have a normal field trip?"''' With the Five? No way! He continues to look in the direction the turkeys have run off to and crosses his arms in front of his chest, reaching a hand up to stroke at his chin, '''"Very curious. If they're not being ridden by spirits, then I have difficulty knowing how they were so docile and yet so... disturbing. There was definitely an aura around them."''' Now that his senses have cleared enough for his memory to kick into gear, he turns towards Norman, '''"You were speaking to them, were you?"''' --------- '''"Let's chase after them, see where they go,"''' Arnaud says, bouncing impatiently on his toes, grabbing for Five's wrist as is his bad habit. '''"They were definitely not normal turkeys, I got a sense for things magical, all Lost can do it. It works half as good as it should half the time, but when it works it's giving us the absolute truth that something magic is going on, but rarely exactly what, because what would the world be like if the Wyrd was giving us clear information? Boring, that's what."''' --------- '''"Yeah I can talk to animals. Most of em are pretty stupid and don't say nothin' important but everything speaks somehow."''' Norman giving a little info to Alexander, though now it's out there! Norm is an animal-whisperer! He points at Arnaud and says, '''"Nothin' in all history ever made more sense than that. Let's go get em!"''' --------- Glancing at Alexander, she can't help but give the vampire a playful smile. '''"You should us next time we go to the Kristelkindle market!"''' There's a look at Arnaud. '''"That's not what it was called, was it?"''' Then her wrist is getting grabbed the dragon and the group is off chasing after the turkeys! There's no stealth in the movement of the flock. Even in the dark only illuminated by poles, it's easy to see their tracks. And since they were running in a panic thanks to Alex, there's some feathers scattered along the way as well! The gobbling gets louder, the group is on their trail! --------- '''"I'll hang back if you don't mind,"''' Alexander says with a side-glance towards Five, '''"I was one badly controlled impulse away from draining Five like a Capri Sun. If I wander back into their aura again... best I avoid it."''' He doesn't look Five's way for long, and it's rather clear by his expression that the poor boy is suffering from some kind of emotional setback. Something akin to shame, maybe. '''"Besides, you two are far better suited for chasing after birds in a park than I. I'm wearing good shoes."''' --------- '''"...did he want to eat you?"''' Arnaud says, finally catching on, and glancing over his shoulder at Alexander - his attention wavers for a moment, caught between wanting to confront the vampire or chasing turkeys. Since Alexander is apologetic, he drops it. Not like he hasn't felt the same thing a time or two. '''"YOU OWE HER A BEER OR FIVE!"''' he calls. '''"IF WE ARE NOT BACK IN AN HOUR... well fuck, I guess you don't care."''' He speeds up, chasing the fowl together with Norman and Five, no particular attempts at being stealthy, yet. --------- Glancing over his shoulder, it's there. That brief look. It's Norm looking at Five and deciding because she's here not to shift into the shape of a wolf. He's off and running though at a fast ground-eating pace that comes almost too easily to him. Norman can run! With a shift of will he puts on the senses of a wolf and follows the scents as well as sounds of turkeys. He doesn't speak or make a sound except from incidental movement. It's a turkey hunt! --------- Following the movement the others seem to be running in, Five glances back at Alexander. '''"You /were/ the one that was able to scare them away,"''' she points out. '''"Maybe hang back and just cut them off if they others don't catch them?"''' she suggests before she gets too far. Although she runs along with the dragon, when the turkeys get in sight, the mortal follows the vampire's example and hangs back a bit. She isn't fearful of the turkeys, but she doesn't want to get in the middle between two hungry supernaturals and a bunch of magical turkeys! The turkeys are easy enough to find. They've found themselves caught on the small 'island' in the middle of the park. If anyone gets close enough, they start to feel that hungry sensation start to rise up again. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (3) -- (10 8 9 1 6 3 2) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- '''"Quite correct,"''' Alexander muses as he's left alone, '''"I don't much care..."''' He sighs and slips his phone out of his pocket and taps at the screen for a few moments, then presses it against his ear. '''"Hello, yes, Animal Care and Control? Yes, I'm well thank you, and you? Excellent. I'm calling to report a rather strange sight, yes... out in Washington Park there seems to be a gaggle, if that is the word, of aggressive turkeys running around. Yes, very unusual, that's what I thought. Oh possibly dangerous, yes, especially to children I imagine. Yes... yes of course. I last saw them in some scrub not too far from the main east-west pathway. Troubling indeed. Yes. Yes, thank you very kind-... oh, certainly I can stay on the line to complete your customer satisfaction survey."''' --------- <spend> Arnaud spends 1 point of his Willpower pool. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 11 Dice +---------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd +3 Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (5 10 5 4 5 8 1 10 2 2 9 9 2) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ '''"I've had it with these foul fowl,"''' Arnaud says, and is now determined to resist the lure of these birds. He leaps, and midleap he is growing fucking /wings/ - they're sort of ephemeral and most definitely strange, but they're like the wings of a dragon. WIth powerful sweeps he is propelled forward, his eyes now glowing strangely as if part of his mien shines through to show his true self, as the powers of the Lost are utilised to give him better senses. He doesn't go all-out dragon, because there's a time and place and this isn't it, probably - though he seems to think the wings aren't so bad. Least it's dark and there's not a lot of people. Right? So, he flies up and then swoops downwards to do a full-out attack in the center of these damnable birds. --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Failure -- (4 6 4 7 6 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Weaponry.Knives +2 -2 -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 1 2 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ He's running and on the hunt now, and Norman retains his two-footed form mainly out of concern for Five. Drawing the knife at his hip, he seamlessly leaps to the attack and falls upon the nearest turkey in an all-out manner meant to drive cold steel into hot turkey meat! --------- +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Brawl.Bite -2 Result: Success (3) -- (4 6 1 9 10 7 10 2 4 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ Arnaud swoops around so he can flank these birds together with Norman - it's almost like he knows how to work in a team! He pounces on one of them and bites down as hard as he can, wings folding up behind him as he lands with a thud pretty much ON the turkey. --------- The turkeys are easy enough to take down, there's just a lot of them! Their delicious, tender flesh is easy enough to slice through with both claw and knives! Blood and feathers splatter everywhere. An occasional last 'gobble' is heard as a bird is taken down. The duo manage to take care of most of the flock, though there's still a few needing to be culled. Five is watching this carnage from a safe distance! Looking over her shoulder toward Alexander as he makes his called, her brows furrow as she calls out, '''"Uh, you might need to make it a clean up."''' She gives a nod toward the bird brawl. --------- '''"Yes, let's kill them all and not actually find out where they're from,"''' Alexander sighs as he watches the battle from the sidelines. Sort of like where the King would actually be in a game of chess. He's hung up the phone by now, having completed the godawful survey. He leans against a nearby and conveniently-placed tree to muse a little more, before noticing that there is a turkey standing on his foot looking up at him like a lost puppy. '''"Oh. Fuck you, bird."''' --------- Norm just lays about himself with the knife, stabbing, twisting, murdering turkeys! Their death-gobbles warm his predator heart! By the end of easy target acquisition he has feathers and turkey blood all over his hands, some of it spattered on his jacket and even a little on his face. He looks like he tried to kill a bunch of bloody pillows. Hungrily looking around, he eagerly searches for more alive birds so he can send them straight to turkey hell! --------- '''"So good,"''' Arnaud growls and jumps onto another bird, but he has resisted their lure and goes to clawing them instead. '''"Don't eat them!"''' he warns, because Lost know too well about eating magical things that wants to be eaten, at least if they resist the magic. He kills another bird, and swings around with wings sweeping out to knock them over while he's at it, raking claws and snarling like the beast he is. Feathers and blood spray all over. Maybe he's enjoying this a little TOO much, and isn't paying attention to Five right now. --------- Five's back is mostly turned toward Alexander! He's stayed back, all the birds are in front of her being slaughtered by the beasts, and she totally trusts him! Hearing his commentary about trying to find out more about the birds, Five cups her hands around her mouth so her shout could be heard over the commotion. '''"Hey! See if you can save one or get some remains that can be looked at?"''' she suggests. Those turkeys had to come from somewhere, right? The turkey on Alexander's foot peers up at him with those big bird eyes that just express how delicious it must be. Just being around the turkey seems to stir that hunger in the vampire again! --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (3) -- (5 9 10 3 8 7) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 1 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Willpower -2 Result: Failure -- (4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ Five is conveniently far enough away that Alexander focuses squarely on the bird. And now he's hungry. The apex predator (sorry Norm, but it's true) just lets out a jet of a sigh from his nose and reaches down to collect the bird in his arms. He's not a big muscle man, but he manages, '''"I don't even understand what the big deal is. You're just an uglier goose."''' He glances at the bird and rolls his eyes, '''"Oh hells, fine!"''' Fangs out, lean in, fangs in, sluuuuuuurp. It probably doesn't take very long for a hungry Daeva to completely drain an unresisting bird. Ah well, better that than downing Five like a cheap beer. --------- Norm stands among the carnage, blood dripping from his knife as he looks around. There are none left! They're all dead, one or two twitching. Maybe they're gobbling down the tunnel toward the light. He looks mystified at Five's request and says, '''"...I think we killed em all."''' Looks to Arnaud and only then does it register. Don't eat them? His knife's covered in turkey blood. Lick. --------- Arnaud whirls around to look for more turkeys to kill, and finding none, he rolls his shoulders and folds his wings back properly. Not that he can hide them, they're fucking huge. He brushes some feathers off of his jacket in a very posch and haughty gesture, totally disregarding the fact he's got blood all over his face and feathers in his hair and looks like a man who just murdered a bunch of birds. '''"Oh right, we were going to look for where they came from."''' He looks over at Five and Alexander. He picks up one of the dead birds that is mostly whole and holds it up helpfully. --------- Five's eyes are WIDE when she catches movement from the corner of her eye and looks to see Alexander feasting upon the turkey. Whoa, she takes a feeeew steps back. There's a look of concern, unsure of how these birds are effecting her friends. '''"Don't you have a friend or know someone that likes to poke at this stuff?"''' Five questions of Arnaud, remembering someone mentioned what happened with the remains of that insect monster they encoutered. '''"Let's grab it and get out of here."''' --------- '''"Wouldn't eat it if I were you,"''' Alexander calls out with a dead turkey hanging from his hand, '''"Tastes bitter. More bitter than usual. Metallic too. But more metallic than usual. Maybe poison? Maybe just weird blood."''' This would be a very weird time for any person of authority to show up, a man in a three piece suit, overcoat, nicely polished shoes holding a dead turkey and talking about poison. '''"Woah... maybe they ate some mushrooms before this... I can SEE sound, my dudes."''' --------- Norm licks the knife and looks scowlingly at the turkey corpses. It's kind of a disappointment, to say the least. He ends up looking around for some mud to clean the blade off before he starts whipping it around, trying to shake off any residual nasty. It's just a suddenly disgusted look. '''"It just ain't right."''' he mutters, looking mainly to Arnaud. '''"I dunno. Maybe just say screw all this and leave em to rot. They ain't gonna bother nobody now."''' --------- '''"Five, BURN THEM!"''' Arnaud suggests, and gestures generally at the bird corpses. '''"Nobody will know what happened."''' Right, because a bonfire like that will not draw attention at all. He thumbs-up at Alexander for the tip, and shows no interest in eating any of these birds, especially not after knowing what they taste like. '''"You really got high from eating it? Anyway, Five is right. Let's go see if my friend Doc Solomon is home, he might know what is up with these."''' He takes his leather jacket off and wraps it around the dead turkey in an attempt to hide it, and then his long scarf too. Besides, if someone asks, he can just say 'turkey'. Don't people walk around with turkeys this time of year? He looks forlorn for a moment, and then shakes his wings out in full glory. For a moment they glow faintly like the sun before they dissipate into tiny motes of light, and then fade into nothing. --------- '''"Norm,"''' Alexander says as he finally makes his way towards the group, '''"If they can poison me... woah..."''' he reaches out to steady himself against one of the many figures of Norman currently in his vision, '''"They'll probably kill anything that eats it, or puts their hands all over it. Like a coyote, or a small child..."''' He sways rather prominently, like a drunkard with none of the slurred speech, '''"We don't get poisoned. Not unless it's got some mystic woo-woo bullshit in it."''' Alexander furrows his brow at the mention of burning, '''"What if the poison comes out in the smoke... gets in the air..."''' He swoons slowly and blinks several times, '''"Ugh, high with a side of my insides feeling like I've got knives up my ass. Christ, Hastings wasn't this bad and I got a hammer to my ribs then..."''' --------- '''"Maybe Arnaud's smart friend can figure it out. You seemed to get hit by it most,"''' she says to Alexander, inviting him along. Five offers to take the bird from Arnaud, watching the dragon with a bit of a smile as he texts his friend! --------- Arnaud pats Alexander on the shoulder. '''"Enjoy it while it lasts."''' Pragmatism at its best. Then he takes off! Sure, he's a citizen. His paperwork says so and everything. Alexander is not, however, actually a citizen of the United States. He's not even a member of the Being Alive club. Still, he's here and probably doing something appalling, as always. Coming across the park from the opposite side from whence Arnaud and company have come, the walking corpse in the tailored suit looks perfectly positioned to be a boulder in the Changeling's road. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Wandering along with Arnaud is the short hooded mortal called Five. There's an amused expression on her face as she watches him. Every time the dragon picks up something to his collection, Five questions him curiously about it. "Why'd you pick that one?" or commentary like, "I like the coloring on that one!". Totally nice and a normal mundane things! ThaliaThalia has her hands shoved into her pockets as she kicks down one of the lanes in the park, crunching fall leaves underneath her worn Chucks. Her long and dirty blonde hair is worn down and tumbling her back and around her shoulders, which are slightly slumped in the universal affectation of defeated contemplation. --------- New Activity --------- Norm's out, bundled a bit more than normal against the cold. His green field jacket remains, but he's got fingerless black wool gloves, a black wool watchcap on his head, and has hands in pockets for extra warm. He comes seemingly out of nowhere to walk beside Five and Arnaud, probably because he knows them and has that inherent I'm With You air about him. No real words for now, and for some reason he's got his eyes casting all around instead of noticing Arnaud and his treasure-leaf. [OOC] Five says, "Okay, everyone roll your Perception" +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (1 8 4 10 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 7 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (6 6 4 5 10 7 7 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman says, "Oh boy" +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (2 2 6 10 1 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 4 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (8 5 5 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman probably should've rolled anotehr 1 but it wouldn't make a diff. +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (4 8 9 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ As everyone slowly starts to make their way through the park, it's quiet. Almost too quiet. It's the near silence that allows everyone to hear something in the distance. It's hard to tell which direction it's coming from other than probably near the middle of the park. What /can/ be heard though is a 'gobble gobble'. But it doesn't sound like just one, it sounds like dozens, maybe even more, coming from somewhere deeper in the park. [OOC] Alexander says, "Are you going to make two Frenchmen, a Dutch-Brazillian, and Norman hunt your thanksgiving dinner, Five?" [OOC] Norman eyenarrows. "...wereturkeys." [OOC] Alexander says, "Oh. We're playing Dwarf Fortress." "Look, the pattern on this one looks a bit like the outline of France. This one looks a bit like my butler - big nose there, big ears," Arnaud explains. Maybe if you squint and look at it from fifty yards away, or this man's imagination is just way out there. "This one red. This one is yellow." Apparently nice colors is good enough too. He startles a bit as Norman just shows up and walks alongside, and makes sure that he doesn't walk beside /Five/, but Arnaud being in the middle of the now-trio. He keeps his leaves away from the werewolf, pointedly. Those are HIS! Spotting something that gleams golden on the ground he lets out a strangled gasp of excitement and dives for it, brushing away leaves to find... a golden candy wrapper. He looks so disappointed. However, there's a distracting sound from somewhere so he looks up and starts sniffing the air. "What is that." Thalia squints her eyes when she hears /it/, and looks around at some of the other people about her, checking to see if maybe they hear it, too. "Que porra...?" Managing to stop right in front of Norman and Five, with Arnaud having scampered off like a miserly hobo into the scrub, Alexander plants his hands on his hips and looks towards the Frenchman's back. He's about to say something pithy and absolutely brilliant that would have to be explained to Norman later, but he's then caught up in the sound of 'gobble gobble', a sound that so often makes up his evenings when he's feeling bored and lonely. He pointedly stands on Five's other side to flank her with Norman, nee ner nee ner. "Sounds like dinner," Alexander says. Which, in fairness, describes almost anything as far as he's concerned. [OOC] Arnaud apologizes, I didn't respond to you all, cause I suck. [OOC] Norman says, "Responded to me!" [OOC] Arnaud says, "Yes. I had it all planned out what to pose and then promptly forgot half of it when I wrote it. I blame too little sleep and too little coffee." "I think there's turkeys over that way." says Norman, because sometimes it falls to That Guy to state the painfully obvious. He gives a little nod of the head in the gobble-direction, not bothering to get excited. Why? "Kinda funny to hear em up here in yankee-land. You might run across a mess of wild turkeys this time of year down in Alabama. This is the season for em too." <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. There's a smile when Five sees a bunch of familiar faces. Glancing in the direction of the noise, she raises a brow before looking back at the others. "Turkeys? I thought it was just people partying or something." Five has never ever heard a turkey apparently! "Yeah, maybe they are for the poor or something?" she responds to Thalia, completely misunderstanding her. "You guys want to check it out?" she suggests, a bit curious herself. [OOC] Five says, "Do a round of wandering there while I make a phone call real quick! :D" Arnaud eye-narrows at Alexander, but he can't be on both of Five's sides at the same time, no matter how hard he tries, so he snorts and raises his chin in haughty arrogance. "Turkeys?" He has never heard their sound either, but he perks up and a slow (unpleasant) smile spreads on his face. "Five, we need a turkey for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Let's go grab some." He starts off with long strides, passying by Thalia whom he tells helpfully; "Turkeys. Big fucking birds that you eat thankfully because some asshole came over here and killed all the natives." [OOC] Norman says, "Uhm. Five?" [OOC] Five says, "yes!" Thalia flickers her pale green eyes in the direction of the nearby trio, specifically Norman, who seems to have at least semi-accurately identified what could be causing the sound. Why, however, is still a mystery. "Thanks, I know what a turkey is," she mutters to Arnaud, sarcasm sloughing off the faux-gratitude. "But in the park...?" she follows up, loudly enough to be heard. There's a faint color on her words, an accent rounding the consonants and curving the vowels. Five's explanation invites an eyebrow quirk: poor people don't receive live turkeys as acts of charity unless they're extremely misguided. Right? Right... But with nothing better to do, hands still shoved into her pockets, she passes a wary look around the others who have caught the same sound that she has, and she nods. "Sure. Let's go look." [OOC] Norman says, "I recently got Beast Talker. Are the 'gobbles' actually saying anything? :D" [OOC] Alexander says, ""Mind your own business and keep walking"" [OOC] Thalia says, "XD" [OOC] Five says, "sure! I'll page you." [OOC] Norman has this hilarious moment of imaging going to talk to the turkeys [OOC] Arnaud says, "Lol" You paged Norman with ‘eateateateateateateateateateateateateat!’ [OOC] Alexander says, "Norman's turkey voice actually has a really posh accent and nobody else can hear it." [OOC] Norman says, "Oh god they are WISE" You paged Arnaud with ‘Does Kenning detect active effects or just things that are activated in that moment?’ --------- New Activity --------- Arnaud pages: It's either or, but kenning is an active action too. It's not constantly on I think [Public] Amanda has joined this channel. From afar, Arnaud can double check "Who eats turkey at Christmas? Christmas is goose season," Alexander protests with a roll of his eyes at Arnaud's haughtiness, with his own noblesse oblige reminding himself that Arnaud is just a fucking mortal and he'll be dead soon anyway. "Incidentally," Alex says as an aside towards Norman, "there's a decently large wild turkey population over in New York. Wouldn't surprise me if Chicago had a gang of wild urban turkeys." He shrugs and follows along with the group, though he doesn't really seem to see much point in investigating wild fowl. Taking a deep breath, Norm grins widely, puts open hands to either side of his mouth to help project, and then emits a very loud, scarily accurate turkey noise. It's pitched slightly differently to the gobbling bird sounds they were just hearing, but it sounds so much like the real thing it might as well be. Once he does that turkey call, Norm puts fists on hips and looks proud of himself, nodding to the others as he says like the country hick he is, "Let's see if they wanna come say hello! I ain't gonna hurt no city birds up here." <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Arnaud pages: yeah, to use it I have to spend a WP so it's something consciously chosen. So if he suspects something weird, he can use it. Arnaud pages: From the book: Each success reveals the presence of one supernatural creature, item, or active effect (including ongoing effects), assuming any are present. From afar, Norman says in turkey: eateateatoverhere! [OOC] Alexander says, "For the record, Alex is going to assume that Norman thinks he can talk to turkeys." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Norman says, "That's what everybody thinks, it's cool!" "In Staten Island," the moody Brazilian rejoins to Alex. "That's the Chicago equivalent of Evanston, but worse." But she pads along any way at a slight, staggered distance. If the turkeys want smoke, she'll let these guys catch it. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (2) -- (6 2 4 2 10 8 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Five says, "Okay, roll a Resolve+Composure (+power stat if you have one)" --------- New Activity --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Success (2) -- (3 7 6 1 10 6 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 6 7 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 3 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman says, "I bet I just summoned a turkey demon." +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd Result: Success (2) -- (7 4 9 6 8 7 4 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (3) -- (9 10 6 8 1 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Alexander says, "If you did, you can fight it by yourself." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Arnaud says, "Wow, that'd make one damn big thanksgiving turkey" [OOC] Norman says, "If I do, I'm taking it all home and you ain't gettin ANY" [OOC] Alexander says, "Goose is the superior roasted fowl." [OOC] Norman turns up at his pack hauling 500lb turkey and he's a hero. [OOC] Arnaud says, "Aww if I help can't I at least have one leg" [OOC] Norman says, "Yes because we're friends." [OOC] Arnaud says, "Yay!" [OOC] Alexander says, "Keeping the general rule of 15-20 minutes per pound, that turkey will be cooking for 5.2-6.9 days before it's done." [OOC] Norman says, "You gotta cut that bird up, Alex." [OOC] Alexander says, "Don't be ridiculous. Cook it all at once or you're a cowaard." [OOC] Norman removes his glove and swats Alexander across the face. "You have insulted my honor, sir!" There's a silence for just a couple seconds after Norman calls out to the turkeys. Just long enough for one to question whether the werewolf scared them off! The gathered group then hears the gobbling start back up. It gets louder and more eager sounding the closer it gets. Soon enough, everyone can see the birds come into view! Gobblegobblegobble! They excitedly make their way toward the others. As they get closer... wow, these birds look amazing. One can already imagine them roasting in the oven, the delicious aroma filling their homes, that first bite of a well cooked turkey... Thanksgiving might be a couple days away still but, maybe an extra turkey wouldn't hurt. Maybe even a turkey to eat /before/ Thanksgiving starts to sound like a good idea... [OOC] Five says, "So basically everyone but Five has Emotional Aura'd into feeling very very hungry." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Arnaud says, "Not hard" [OOC] Alexander says, "I mean, yeah. Vampire. Always hungry." [OOC] Arnaud is gonna try and catch one! Alexander pages: Point of order: Turkey weren't in Europe before Alexander died. They don't equal food :P [OOC] Norman says, "Well they're made of meat." [OOC] Five says, "And -2 to actions until the effect ends." You paged Alexander with ‘They're peasants food!’ Alexander pages: No I mean Alex died like centuries before they were imported into the old world. :P You paged Arnaud with ‘You can go ahead and pose doing so. Wow, the delicious bird just lets you pick it up. It's super happy that you've chosen it!’ Arnaud eyes Norman as if he's not making any sense. He surely intends to catch and kill a turkey if it comes his way. "Goose is also good," he agrees with Alexander, no particular attachment to turkey per se. When spotting the large birds, his mouth drops open and there's a tiny bit of drool. He even drops his carefully collected leaves and starts with long steps right at the gobble-gobble birds, flexing his hands and smiling hungrily. "Here, here, big bird." He tells Five from the side; "Watch the flank so they don't run off." This is not necessary, because... he walks right up to one of the big birds and just picks one up. The bird even makes a happy-sounding gobble-dook sound! Arnaud look like he won the lottery. [OOC] Norman says, "Now let's fight over how to cook em!" Five herself is very amused by all of this, in particular the food conversation going on. A brow raises a bit when Arnaud easily scoops up the bird, ready to tackle it if need be! "Wow. All the animals I try to hold usually run away," she admits with a small, slightly envious frown. --------- New Activity --------- Thalia pauses as the turkeys come into view. "I don't normally like turkey, but those birds look delicious..." she admits. The sudden twist of hunger in her stomach and the serendipitous plump appeal of the turkeys is disruptive enough that she nearly forgets how weird it is to see turkeys in the park. Arnaud plucking one off the ground galvanizes her out of her moment's pause. "Wait, what are you doing?" she asks, though the question has an obvious answer. [OOC] Alexander says, "Can we stick to the poseorder, please?" Let's be honest. Vampires are always hungry. So the strange sensation of hunger washing over Alexander isn't that unusual, and it seems to be something he can control... mostly. He is rather attentive to the vein in Five's throat, though. More than usual that is. When Arnaud gives his instructions, Alexander pointedly doesn't move to cover any flanks. Let la Cosmopolite do his own chores. "I'm no animal expert," says the undead monster pretending to be a person pretending to be a Frenchman pretending to be English, "But aren't they usually more skittish?" --------- New Activity --------- Never let it be said Norm knows what he's doing. He knows SOME of what he's doing but there's often some fatal flaw in the plan. Today's plan was to call over out-of-place turkeys, and now he's fully enthralled by the birds and changing his mind about what he just said a minute ago. Given Arnaud's example he too is striding up to take a turkey! "You're comin' home with me, buddy. Oh yeah, we gonna get real acquainted with the kitchen..." Does this make sense? Does anything?? +-------------------------+ Whose turn is it? <POM> +--------------------------+ It is Arnaud's turn to pose. Name Last Idle Arnaud 8m 8m Five 5m 0s Thalia 3m 28s Alexander 3m 3m Norman 1m 1m Your alert is currently set to QUIET. +-------------------------------------------------------------- +poseorder ----+ --------- New Activity --------- Arnaud is a man with the brain of a beast, so sometimes it takes him awhile to put two and two together, especially when free delicious fowl just walk right up to him. He hugs the turkey to his body and looks at the rest as if pondering how he could hold two, maybe three, then glances at the turkey's neck with violent intent; if he wrings their necks, kills them first, he can carry maybe ALL of them... It can be read on his face just what he's thinking. However, someone smart asks the question, and he looks at Alexander with irritation because he doesn't like smoeone coming in with LOGIC and ruining the 'hunt' like this. "Yes. They would not just walk up to a stranger, would they. Also, why are they even here. Is this some sort of event? If so, I suggest we grab them and run away before someone notices." So, on one hand he admits this is strange, on the other, he still wants the turkeys. +----------------------------+ Washington Park +-----------------------------+ This area contains a park of the same name, stretching east-west from Cottage Grove Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expressway, and north-south from 51st Street to 63rd. It is home to the DuSable Museum of African American History (founded in 1961 and moved to Washington Park in 1971). In addition to hosting the museum, the park hosts Fountain of Time, the world's earliest concrete finished art work. +----+ Attributes +----------------------------------------------------------+ Sphere: Changeling Risk: High Claim: None +----+ Players +-------------------------------------------------------------+ Five 0s Dark hair, short, hoodie. +----+ Exits +---------------------------------------------------------------+ <PH> Pearson House <TLC> Turning Leaf Center <SS> South Side +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Norman arrives from South Side. Norman has arrived. +---------------+ * CURRENT TIME: Tue Nov 22 13:24:58 2022 * +---------------+ Current Conditions Summary: Clear Moon Phase: see: meteo astronomy Temperature: 72 F (22 C) Feels Like: 72 F (22 C) Humidity: 82% Wind: 10 mph WNW (17 kph) Pressure: 29.7 in Wind Gusts: 20 mph (32 kph) Today's Forecast Tomorrow's Forecast High: 89 F (31 C) 88 F (31 C) Low: 70 F (21 C) 71 F (22 C) Clear throughout the day. Partly cloudy throughout the day. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ [OOC] Norman siskur-dah. Arnaud sent you a +meetme request from OOC Nexus. You have ten minutes to respond to his request. To join Arnaud, use '+mjoin Arnaud' To bring Arnaud to you, use '+msummon Arnaud' To decline the request you needn't do a thing. Alexander arrives from South Side. Alexander has arrived. You sent a +meetme request to Arnaud, notifying him of your location. Arnaud has arrived. [OOC] Five says, "I'll give a quick set. Give a couple poses of everyone wandering in, and for any others that might want to join. Then the fun!" [OOC] Norman says, "uh oh fun" [OOC] Arnaud says, "You're the bestest" Thalia arrives from South Side. Thalia has arrived. It's a nice evening in Washington Park, the air cold and crisp. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees by this point. The weather in the day was warm enough that any lingering snow has melted away. It's early in the evening, just an hour after sunset. With the upcoming holidays, the park isn't TOO full, but there's a few people milling about here, still lingering from having arrived during the day. Although, it's clear that for whatever reason people don't want to stay out too long in the dark. Slowly but surely the activity seemingly starts to die down other than the various citizens of the night. --------- New Activity --------- [Public] Grace considers the RP thing. Arnaud pages: Here together? You paged Arnaud with ‘sounds good! :D’ Arnaud is strolling slowly down a pathway in the park, enjoying a cigarette, in company with Five. Once in awhile he bends down to pick up a fallen leaf if it's particularly vibrant in colors, having already collected a fair few he's carefully holding with his other hand. Almost like a kid, collecting 'treasure'. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Arnaud pages: That work? You paged Arnaud with ‘perfect! :D’ Sure, he's a citizen. His paperwork says so and everything. Alexander is not, however, actually a citizen of the United States. He's not even a member of the Being Alive club. Still, he's here and probably doing something appalling, as always. Coming across the park from the opposite side from whence Arnaud and company have come, the walking corpse in the tailored suit looks perfectly positioned to be a boulder in the Changeling's road. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Wandering along with Arnaud is the short hooded mortal called Five. There's an amused expression on her face as she watches him. Every time the dragon picks up something to his collection, Five questions him curiously about it. "Why'd you pick that one?" or commentary like, "I like the coloring on that one!". Totally nice and a normal mundane things! ThaliaThalia has her hands shoved into her pockets as she kicks down one of the lanes in the park, crunching fall leaves underneath her worn Chucks. Her long and dirty blonde hair is worn down and tumbling her back and around her shoulders, which are slightly slumped in the universal affectation of defeated contemplation. --------- New Activity --------- Norm's out, bundled a bit more than normal against the cold. His green field jacket remains, but he's got fingerless black wool gloves, a black wool watchcap on his head, and has hands in pockets for extra warm. He comes seemingly out of nowhere to walk beside Five and Arnaud, probably because he knows them and has that inherent I'm With You air about him. No real words for now, and for some reason he's got his eyes casting all around instead of noticing Arnaud and his treasure-leaf. [OOC] Five says, "Okay, everyone roll your Perception" +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (1 8 4 10 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 7 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (6 6 4 5 10 7 7 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman says, "Oh boy" +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (2 2 6 10 1 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 4 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (8 5 5 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman probably should've rolled anotehr 1 but it wouldn't make a diff. +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (4 8 9 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ As everyone slowly starts to make their way through the park, it's quiet. Almost too quiet. It's the near silence that allows everyone to hear something in the distance. It's hard to tell which direction it's coming from other than probably near the middle of the park. What /can/ be heard though is a 'gobble gobble'. But it doesn't sound like just one, it sounds like dozens, maybe even more, coming from somewhere deeper in the park. [OOC] Alexander says, "Are you going to make two Frenchmen, a Dutch-Brazillian, and Norman hunt your thanksgiving dinner, Five?" [OOC] Norman eyenarrows. "...wereturkeys." [OOC] Alexander says, "Oh. We're playing Dwarf Fortress." "Look, the pattern on this one looks a bit like the outline of France. This one looks a bit like my butler - big nose there, big ears," Arnaud explains. Maybe if you squint and look at it from fifty yards away, or this man's imagination is just way out there. "This one red. This one is yellow." Apparently nice colors is good enough too. He startles a bit as Norman just shows up and walks alongside, and makes sure that he doesn't walk beside /Five/, but Arnaud being in the middle of the now-trio. He keeps his leaves away from the werewolf, pointedly. Those are HIS! Spotting something that gleams golden on the ground he lets out a strangled gasp of excitement and dives for it, brushing away leaves to find... a golden candy wrapper. He looks so disappointed. However, there's a distracting sound from somewhere so he looks up and starts sniffing the air. "What is that." Thalia squints her eyes when she hears /it/, and looks around at some of the other people about her, checking to see if maybe they hear it, too. "Que porra...?" Managing to stop right in front of Norman and Five, with Arnaud having scampered off like a miserly hobo into the scrub, Alexander plants his hands on his hips and looks towards the Frenchman's back. He's about to say something pithy and absolutely brilliant that would have to be explained to Norman later, but he's then caught up in the sound of 'gobble gobble', a sound that so often makes up his evenings when he's feeling bored and lonely. He pointedly stands on Five's other side to flank her with Norman, nee ner nee ner. "Sounds like dinner," Alexander says. Which, in fairness, describes almost anything as far as he's concerned. [OOC] Arnaud apologizes, I didn't respond to you all, cause I suck. [OOC] Norman says, "Responded to me!" [OOC] Arnaud says, "Yes. I had it all planned out what to pose and then promptly forgot half of it when I wrote it. I blame too little sleep and too little coffee." "I think there's turkeys over that way." says Norman, because sometimes it falls to That Guy to state the painfully obvious. He gives a little nod of the head in the gobble-direction, not bothering to get excited. Why? "Kinda funny to hear em up here in yankee-land. You might run across a mess of wild turkeys this time of year down in Alabama. This is the season for em too." <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. There's a smile when Five sees a bunch of familiar faces. Glancing in the direction of the noise, she raises a brow before looking back at the others. "Turkeys? I thought it was just people partying or something." Five has never ever heard a turkey apparently! "Yeah, maybe they are for the poor or something?" she responds to Thalia, completely misunderstanding her. "You guys want to check it out?" she suggests, a bit curious herself. [OOC] Five says, "Do a round of wandering there while I make a phone call real quick! :D" Arnaud eye-narrows at Alexander, but he can't be on both of Five's sides at the same time, no matter how hard he tries, so he snorts and raises his chin in haughty arrogance. "Turkeys?" He has never heard their sound either, but he perks up and a slow (unpleasant) smile spreads on his face. "Five, we need a turkey for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Let's go grab some." He starts off with long strides, passying by Thalia whom he tells helpfully; "Turkeys. Big fucking birds that you eat thankfully because some asshole came over here and killed all the natives." [OOC] Norman says, "Uhm. Five?" [OOC] Five says, "yes!" Thalia flickers her pale green eyes in the direction of the nearby trio, specifically Norman, who seems to have at least semi-accurately identified what could be causing the sound. Why, however, is still a mystery. "Thanks, I know what a turkey is," she mutters to Arnaud, sarcasm sloughing off the faux-gratitude. "But in the park...?" she follows up, loudly enough to be heard. There's a faint color on her words, an accent rounding the consonants and curving the vowels. Five's explanation invites an eyebrow quirk: poor people don't receive live turkeys as acts of charity unless they're extremely misguided. Right? Right... But with nothing better to do, hands still shoved into her pockets, she passes a wary look around the others who have caught the same sound that she has, and she nods. "Sure. Let's go look." [OOC] Norman says, "I recently got Beast Talker. Are the 'gobbles' actually saying anything? :D" [OOC] Alexander says, ""Mind your own business and keep walking"" [OOC] Thalia says, "XD" [OOC] Five says, "sure! I'll page you." [OOC] Norman has this hilarious moment of imaging going to talk to the turkeys [OOC] Arnaud says, "Lol" You paged Norman with ‘eateateateateateateateateateateateateat!’ [OOC] Alexander says, "Norman's turkey voice actually has a really posh accent and nobody else can hear it." [OOC] Norman says, "Oh god they are WISE" You paged Arnaud with ‘Does Kenning detect active effects or just things that are activated in that moment?’ --------- New Activity --------- Arnaud pages: It's either or, but kenning is an active action too. It's not constantly on I think [Public] Amanda has joined this channel. From afar, Arnaud can double check "Who eats turkey at Christmas? Christmas is goose season," Alexander protests with a roll of his eyes at Arnaud's haughtiness, with his own noblesse oblige reminding himself that Arnaud is just a fucking mortal and he'll be dead soon anyway. "Incidentally," Alex says as an aside towards Norman, "there's a decently large wild turkey population over in New York. Wouldn't surprise me if Chicago had a gang of wild urban turkeys." He shrugs and follows along with the group, though he doesn't really seem to see much point in investigating wild fowl. Taking a deep breath, Norm grins widely, puts open hands to either side of his mouth to help project, and then emits a very loud, scarily accurate turkey noise. It's pitched slightly differently to the gobbling bird sounds they were just hearing, but it sounds so much like the real thing it might as well be. Once he does that turkey call, Norm puts fists on hips and looks proud of himself, nodding to the others as he says like the country hick he is, "Let's see if they wanna come say hello! I ain't gonna hurt no city birds up here." <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Arnaud pages: yeah, to use it I have to spend a WP so it's something consciously chosen. So if he suspects something weird, he can use it. Arnaud pages: From the book: Each success reveals the presence of one supernatural creature, item, or active effect (including ongoing effects), assuming any are present. From afar, Norman says in turkey: eateateatoverhere! [OOC] Alexander says, "For the record, Alex is going to assume that Norman thinks he can talk to turkeys." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Norman says, "That's what everybody thinks, it's cool!" "In Staten Island," the moody Brazilian rejoins to Alex. "That's the Chicago equivalent of Evanston, but worse." But she pads along any way at a slight, staggered distance. If the turkeys want smoke, she'll let these guys catch it. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (2) -- (6 2 4 2 10 8 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Five says, "Okay, roll a Resolve+Composure (+power stat if you have one)" --------- New Activity --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Success (2) -- (3 7 6 1 10 6 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 6 7 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 3 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman says, "I bet I just summoned a turkey demon." +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd Result: Success (2) -- (7 4 9 6 8 7 4 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (3) -- (9 10 6 8 1 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Alexander says, "If you did, you can fight it by yourself." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Arnaud says, "Wow, that'd make one damn big thanksgiving turkey" [OOC] Norman says, "If I do, I'm taking it all home and you ain't gettin ANY" [OOC] Alexander says, "Goose is the superior roasted fowl." [OOC] Norman turns up at his pack hauling 500lb turkey and he's a hero. [OOC] Arnaud says, "Aww if I help can't I at least have one leg" [OOC] Norman says, "Yes because we're friends." [OOC] Arnaud says, "Yay!" [OOC] Alexander says, "Keeping the general rule of 15-20 minutes per pound, that turkey will be cooking for 5.2-6.9 days before it's done." [OOC] Norman says, "You gotta cut that bird up, Alex." [OOC] Alexander says, "Don't be ridiculous. Cook it all at once or you're a cowaard." [OOC] Norman removes his glove and swats Alexander across the face. "You have insulted my honor, sir!" There's a silence for just a couple seconds after Norman calls out to the turkeys. Just long enough for one to question whether the werewolf scared them off! The gathered group then hears the gobbling start back up. It gets louder and more eager sounding the closer it gets. Soon enough, everyone can see the birds come into view! Gobblegobblegobble! They excitedly make their way toward the others. As they get closer... wow, these birds look amazing. One can already imagine them roasting in the oven, the delicious aroma filling their homes, that first bite of a well cooked turkey... Thanksgiving might be a couple days away still but, maybe an extra turkey wouldn't hurt. Maybe even a turkey to eat /before/ Thanksgiving starts to sound like a good idea... [OOC] Five says, "So basically everyone but Five has Emotional Aura'd into feeling very very hungry." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Arnaud says, "Not hard" [OOC] Alexander says, "I mean, yeah. Vampire. Always hungry." [OOC] Arnaud is gonna try and catch one! Alexander pages: Point of order: Turkey weren't in Europe before Alexander died. They don't equal food :P [OOC] Norman says, "Well they're made of meat." [OOC] Five says, "And -2 to actions until the effect ends." You paged Alexander with ‘They're peasants food!’ Alexander pages: No I mean Alex died like centuries before they were imported into the old world. :P You paged Arnaud with ‘You can go ahead and pose doing so. Wow, the delicious bird just lets you pick it up. It's super happy that you've chosen it!’ Arnaud eyes Norman as if he's not making any sense. He surely intends to catch and kill a turkey if it comes his way. "Goose is also good," he agrees with Alexander, no particular attachment to turkey per se. When spotting the large birds, his mouth drops open and there's a tiny bit of drool. He even drops his carefully collected leaves and starts with long steps right at the gobble-gobble birds, flexing his hands and smiling hungrily. "Here, here, big bird." He tells Five from the side; "Watch the flank so they don't run off." This is not necessary, because... he walks right up to one of the big birds and just picks one up. The bird even makes a happy-sounding gobble-dook sound! Arnaud look like he won the lottery. [OOC] Norman says, "Now let's fight over how to cook em!" Five herself is very amused by all of this, in particular the food conversation going on. A brow raises a bit when Arnaud easily scoops up the bird, ready to tackle it if need be! "Wow. All the animals I try to hold usually run away," she admits with a small, slightly envious frown. --------- New Activity --------- Thalia pauses as the turkeys come into view. "I don't normally like turkey, but those birds look delicious..." she admits. The sudden twist of hunger in her stomach and the serendipitous plump appeal of the turkeys is disruptive enough that she nearly forgets how weird it is to see turkeys in the park. Arnaud plucking one off the ground galvanizes her out of her moment's pause. "Wait, what are you doing?" she asks, though the question has an obvious answer. [OOC] Alexander says, "Can we stick to the poseorder, please?" Let's be honest. Vampires are always hungry. So the strange sensation of hunger washing over Alexander isn't that unusual, and it seems to be something he can control... mostly. He is rather attentive to the vein in Five's throat, though. More than usual that is. When Arnaud gives his instructions, Alexander pointedly doesn't move to cover any flanks. Let la Cosmopolite do his own chores. "I'm no animal expert," says the undead monster pretending to be a person pretending to be a Frenchman pretending to be English, "But aren't they usually more skittish?" --------- New Activity --------- Never let it be said Norm knows what he's doing. He knows SOME of what he's doing but there's often some fatal flaw in the plan. Today's plan was to call over out-of-place turkeys, and now he's fully enthralled by the birds and changing his mind about what he just said a minute ago. Given Arnaud's example he too is striding up to take a turkey! "You're comin' home with me, buddy. Oh yeah, we gonna get real acquainted with the kitchen..." Does this make sense? Does anything?? +-------------------------+ Whose turn is it? <POM> +--------------------------+ It is Arnaud's turn to pose. Name Last Idle Arnaud 8m 8m Five 5m 0s Thalia 3m 28s Alexander 3m 3m Norman 1m 1m Your alert is currently set to QUIET. +-------------------------------------------------------------- +poseorder ----+ --------- New Activity --------- Arnaud is a man with the brain of a beast, so sometimes it takes him awhile to put two and two together, especially when free delicious fowl just walk right up to him. He hugs the turkey to his body and looks at the rest as if pondering how he could hold two, maybe three, then glances at the turkey's neck with violent intent; if he wrings their necks, kills them first, he can carry maybe ALL of them... It can be read on his face just what he's thinking. However, someone smart asks the question, and he looks at Alexander with irritation because he doesn't like smoeone coming in with LOGIC and ruining the 'hunt' like this. "Yes. They would not just walk up to a stranger, would they. Also, why are they even here. Is this some sort of event? If so, I suggest we grab them and run away before someone notices." So, on one hand he admits this is strange, on the other, he still wants the turkeys. +----------------------------+ Washington Park +-----------------------------+ This area contains a park of the same name, stretching east-west from Cottage Grove Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expressway, and north-south from 51st Street to 63rd. It is home to the DuSable Museum of African American History (founded in 1961 and moved to Washington Park in 1971). In addition to hosting the museum, the park hosts Fountain of Time, the world's earliest concrete finished art work. +----+ Attributes +----------------------------------------------------------+ Sphere: Changeling Risk: High Claim: None +----+ Players +-------------------------------------------------------------+ Five 0s Dark hair, short, hoodie. +----+ Exits +---------------------------------------------------------------+ <PH> Pearson House <TLC> Turning Leaf Center <SS> South Side +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Norman arrives from South Side. Norman has arrived. +---------------+ * CURRENT TIME: Tue Nov 22 13:24:58 2022 * +---------------+ Current Conditions Summary: Clear Moon Phase: see: meteo astronomy Temperature: 72 F (22 C) Feels Like: 72 F (22 C) Humidity: 82% Wind: 10 mph WNW (17 kph) Pressure: 29.7 in Wind Gusts: 20 mph (32 kph) Today's Forecast Tomorrow's Forecast High: 89 F (31 C) 88 F (31 C) Low: 70 F (21 C) 71 F (22 C) Clear throughout the day. Partly cloudy throughout the day. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ [OOC] Norman siskur-dah. Arnaud sent you a +meetme request from OOC Nexus. You have ten minutes to respond to his request. To join Arnaud, use '+mjoin Arnaud' To bring Arnaud to you, use '+msummon Arnaud' To decline the request you needn't do a thing. Alexander arrives from South Side. Alexander has arrived. You sent a +meetme request to Arnaud, notifying him of your location. Arnaud has arrived. [OOC] Five says, "I'll give a quick set. Give a couple poses of everyone wandering in, and for any others that might want to join. Then the fun!" [OOC] Norman says, "uh oh fun" [OOC] Arnaud says, "You're the bestest" Thalia arrives from South Side. Thalia has arrived. It's a nice evening in Washington Park, the air cold and crisp. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees by this point. The weather in the day was warm enough that any lingering snow has melted away. It's early in the evening, just an hour after sunset. With the upcoming holidays, the park isn't TOO full, but there's a few people milling about here, still lingering from having arrived during the day. Although, it's clear that for whatever reason people don't want to stay out too long in the dark. Slowly but surely the activity seemingly starts to die down other than the various citizens of the night. --------- New Activity --------- [Public] Grace considers the RP thing. Arnaud pages: Here together? You paged Arnaud with ‘sounds good! :D’ Arnaud is strolling slowly down a pathway in the park, enjoying a cigarette, in company with Five. Once in awhile he bends down to pick up a fallen leaf if it's particularly vibrant in colors, having already collected a fair few he's carefully holding with his other hand. Almost like a kid, collecting 'treasure'. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Arnaud pages: That work? You paged Arnaud with ‘perfect! :D’ Sure, he's a citizen. His paperwork says so and everything. Alexander is not, however, actually a citizen of the United States. He's not even a member of the Being Alive club. Still, he's here and probably doing something appalling, as always. Coming across the park from the opposite side from whence Arnaud and company have come, the walking corpse in the tailored suit looks perfectly positioned to be a boulder in the Changeling's road. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Wandering along with Arnaud is the short hooded mortal called Five. There's an amused expression on her face as she watches him. Every time the dragon picks up something to his collection, Five questions him curiously about it. "Why'd you pick that one?" or commentary like, "I like the coloring on that one!". Totally nice and a normal mundane things! ThaliaThalia has her hands shoved into her pockets as she kicks down one of the lanes in the park, crunching fall leaves underneath her worn Chucks. Her long and dirty blonde hair is worn down and tumbling her back and around her shoulders, which are slightly slumped in the universal affectation of defeated contemplation. --------- New Activity --------- Norm's out, bundled a bit more than normal against the cold. His green field jacket remains, but he's got fingerless black wool gloves, a black wool watchcap on his head, and has hands in pockets for extra warm. He comes seemingly out of nowhere to walk beside Five and Arnaud, probably because he knows them and has that inherent I'm With You air about him. No real words for now, and for some reason he's got his eyes casting all around instead of noticing Arnaud and his treasure-leaf. [OOC] Five says, "Okay, everyone roll your Perception" +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (1 8 4 10 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 7 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (6 6 4 5 10 7 7 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman says, "Oh boy" +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (1) -- (2 2 6 10 1 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 4 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (8 5 5 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman probably should've rolled anotehr 1 but it wouldn't make a diff. +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Perception Result: Success (2) -- (4 8 9 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ As everyone slowly starts to make their way through the park, it's quiet. Almost too quiet. It's the near silence that allows everyone to hear something in the distance. It's hard to tell which direction it's coming from other than probably near the middle of the park. What /can/ be heard though is a 'gobble gobble'. But it doesn't sound like just one, it sounds like dozens, maybe even more, coming from somewhere deeper in the park. [OOC] Alexander says, "Are you going to make two Frenchmen, a Dutch-Brazillian, and Norman hunt your thanksgiving dinner, Five?" [OOC] Norman eyenarrows. "...wereturkeys." [OOC] Alexander says, "Oh. We're playing Dwarf Fortress." "Look, the pattern on this one looks a bit like the outline of France. This one looks a bit like my butler - big nose there, big ears," Arnaud explains. Maybe if you squint and look at it from fifty yards away, or this man's imagination is just way out there. "This one red. This one is yellow." Apparently nice colors is good enough too. He startles a bit as Norman just shows up and walks alongside, and makes sure that he doesn't walk beside /Five/, but Arnaud being in the middle of the now-trio. He keeps his leaves away from the werewolf, pointedly. Those are HIS! Spotting something that gleams golden on the ground he lets out a strangled gasp of excitement and dives for it, brushing away leaves to find... a golden candy wrapper. He looks so disappointed. However, there's a distracting sound from somewhere so he looks up and starts sniffing the air. "What is that." Thalia squints her eyes when she hears /it/, and looks around at some of the other people about her, checking to see if maybe they hear it, too. "Que porra...?" Managing to stop right in front of Norman and Five, with Arnaud having scampered off like a miserly hobo into the scrub, Alexander plants his hands on his hips and looks towards the Frenchman's back. He's about to say something pithy and absolutely brilliant that would have to be explained to Norman later, but he's then caught up in the sound of 'gobble gobble', a sound that so often makes up his evenings when he's feeling bored and lonely. He pointedly stands on Five's other side to flank her with Norman, nee ner nee ner. "Sounds like dinner," Alexander says. Which, in fairness, describes almost anything as far as he's concerned. [OOC] Arnaud apologizes, I didn't respond to you all, cause I suck. [OOC] Norman says, "Responded to me!" [OOC] Arnaud says, "Yes. I had it all planned out what to pose and then promptly forgot half of it when I wrote it. I blame too little sleep and too little coffee." "I think there's turkeys over that way." says Norman, because sometimes it falls to That Guy to state the painfully obvious. He gives a little nod of the head in the gobble-direction, not bothering to get excited. Why? "Kinda funny to hear em up here in yankee-land. You might run across a mess of wild turkeys this time of year down in Alabama. This is the season for em too." <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. There's a smile when Five sees a bunch of familiar faces. Glancing in the direction of the noise, she raises a brow before looking back at the others. "Turkeys? I thought it was just people partying or something." Five has never ever heard a turkey apparently! "Yeah, maybe they are for the poor or something?" she responds to Thalia, completely misunderstanding her. "You guys want to check it out?" she suggests, a bit curious herself. [OOC] Five says, "Do a round of wandering there while I make a phone call real quick! :D" Arnaud eye-narrows at Alexander, but he can't be on both of Five's sides at the same time, no matter how hard he tries, so he snorts and raises his chin in haughty arrogance. "Turkeys?" He has never heard their sound either, but he perks up and a slow (unpleasant) smile spreads on his face. "Five, we need a turkey for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Let's go grab some." He starts off with long strides, passying by Thalia whom he tells helpfully; "Turkeys. Big fucking birds that you eat thankfully because some asshole came over here and killed all the natives." [OOC] Norman says, "Uhm. Five?" [OOC] Five says, "yes!" Thalia flickers her pale green eyes in the direction of the nearby trio, specifically Norman, who seems to have at least semi-accurately identified what could be causing the sound. Why, however, is still a mystery. "Thanks, I know what a turkey is," she mutters to Arnaud, sarcasm sloughing off the faux-gratitude. "But in the park...?" she follows up, loudly enough to be heard. There's a faint color on her words, an accent rounding the consonants and curving the vowels. Five's explanation invites an eyebrow quirk: poor people don't receive live turkeys as acts of charity unless they're extremely misguided. Right? Right... But with nothing better to do, hands still shoved into her pockets, she passes a wary look around the others who have caught the same sound that she has, and she nods. "Sure. Let's go look." [OOC] Norman says, "I recently got Beast Talker. Are the 'gobbles' actually saying anything? :D" [OOC] Alexander says, ""Mind your own business and keep walking"" [OOC] Thalia says, "XD" [OOC] Five says, "sure! I'll page you." [OOC] Norman has this hilarious moment of imaging going to talk to the turkeys [OOC] Arnaud says, "Lol" You paged Norman with ‘eateateateateateateateateateateateateat!’ [OOC] Alexander says, "Norman's turkey voice actually has a really posh accent and nobody else can hear it." [OOC] Norman says, "Oh god they are WISE" You paged Arnaud with ‘Does Kenning detect active effects or just things that are activated in that moment?’ --------- New Activity --------- Arnaud pages: It's either or, but kenning is an active action too. It's not constantly on I think [Public] Amanda has joined this channel. From afar, Arnaud can double check "Who eats turkey at Christmas? Christmas is goose season," Alexander protests with a roll of his eyes at Arnaud's haughtiness, with his own noblesse oblige reminding himself that Arnaud is just a fucking mortal and he'll be dead soon anyway. "Incidentally," Alex says as an aside towards Norman, "there's a decently large wild turkey population over in New York. Wouldn't surprise me if Chicago had a gang of wild urban turkeys." He shrugs and follows along with the group, though he doesn't really seem to see much point in investigating wild fowl. Taking a deep breath, Norm grins widely, puts open hands to either side of his mouth to help project, and then emits a very loud, scarily accurate turkey noise. It's pitched slightly differently to the gobbling bird sounds they were just hearing, but it sounds so much like the real thing it might as well be. Once he does that turkey call, Norm puts fists on hips and looks proud of himself, nodding to the others as he says like the country hick he is, "Let's see if they wanna come say hello! I ain't gonna hurt no city birds up here." <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. Arnaud pages: yeah, to use it I have to spend a WP so it's something consciously chosen. So if he suspects something weird, he can use it. Arnaud pages: From the book: Each success reveals the presence of one supernatural creature, item, or active effect (including ongoing effects), assuming any are present. From afar, Norman says in turkey: eateateatoverhere! [OOC] Alexander says, "For the record, Alex is going to assume that Norman thinks he can talk to turkeys." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Norman says, "That's what everybody thinks, it's cool!" "In Staten Island," the moody Brazilian rejoins to Alex. "That's the Chicago equivalent of Evanston, but worse." But she pads along any way at a slight, staggered distance. If the turkeys want smoke, she'll let these guys catch it. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (2) -- (6 2 4 2 10 8 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Five says, "Okay, roll a Resolve+Composure (+power stat if you have one)" --------- New Activity --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Success (2) -- (3 7 6 1 10 6 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 6 7 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 3 4 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman says, "I bet I just summoned a turkey demon." +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd Result: Success (2) -- (7 4 9 6 8 7 4 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (3) -- (9 10 6 8 1 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ [OOC] Alexander says, "If you did, you can fight it by yourself." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Arnaud says, "Wow, that'd make one damn big thanksgiving turkey" [OOC] Norman says, "If I do, I'm taking it all home and you ain't gettin ANY" [OOC] Alexander says, "Goose is the superior roasted fowl." [OOC] Norman turns up at his pack hauling 500lb turkey and he's a hero. [OOC] Arnaud says, "Aww if I help can't I at least have one leg" [OOC] Norman says, "Yes because we're friends." [OOC] Arnaud says, "Yay!" [OOC] Alexander says, "Keeping the general rule of 15-20 minutes per pound, that turkey will be cooking for 5.2-6.9 days before it's done." [OOC] Norman says, "You gotta cut that bird up, Alex." [OOC] Alexander says, "Don't be ridiculous. Cook it all at once or you're a cowaard." [OOC] Norman removes his glove and swats Alexander across the face. "You have insulted my honor, sir!" There's a silence for just a couple seconds after Norman calls out to the turkeys. Just long enough for one to question whether the werewolf scared them off! The gathered group then hears the gobbling start back up. It gets louder and more eager sounding the closer it gets. Soon enough, everyone can see the birds come into view! Gobblegobblegobble! They excitedly make their way toward the others. As they get closer... wow, these birds look amazing. One can already imagine them roasting in the oven, the delicious aroma filling their homes, that first bite of a well cooked turkey... Thanksgiving might be a couple days away still but, maybe an extra turkey wouldn't hurt. Maybe even a turkey to eat /before/ Thanksgiving starts to sound like a good idea... [OOC] Five says, "So basically everyone but Five has Emotional Aura'd into feeling very very hungry." --------- New Activity --------- [OOC] Arnaud says, "Not hard" [OOC] Alexander says, "I mean, yeah. Vampire. Always hungry." [OOC] Arnaud is gonna try and catch one! Alexander pages: Point of order: Turkey weren't in Europe before Alexander died. They don't equal food :P [OOC] Norman says, "Well they're made of meat." [OOC] Five says, "And -2 to actions until the effect ends." You paged Alexander with ‘They're peasants food!’ Alexander pages: No I mean Alex died like centuries before they were imported into the old world. :P You paged Arnaud with ‘You can go ahead and pose doing so. Wow, the delicious bird just lets you pick it up. It's super happy that you've chosen it!’ Arnaud eyes Norman as if he's not making any sense. He surely intends to catch and kill a turkey if it comes his way. "Goose is also good," he agrees with Alexander, no particular attachment to turkey per se. When spotting the large birds, his mouth drops open and there's a tiny bit of drool. He even drops his carefully collected leaves and starts with long steps right at the gobble-gobble birds, flexing his hands and smiling hungrily. "Here, here, big bird." He tells Five from the side; "Watch the flank so they don't run off." This is not necessary, because... he walks right up to one of the big birds and just picks one up. The bird even makes a happy-sounding gobble-dook sound! Arnaud look like he won the lottery. [OOC] Norman says, "Now let's fight over how to cook em!" Five herself is very amused by all of this, in particular the food conversation going on. A brow raises a bit when Arnaud easily scoops up the bird, ready to tackle it if need be! "Wow. All the animals I try to hold usually run away," she admits with a small, slightly envious frown. --------- New Activity --------- Thalia pauses as the turkeys come into view. "I don't normally like turkey, but those birds look delicious..." she admits. The sudden twist of hunger in her stomach and the serendipitous plump appeal of the turkeys is disruptive enough that she nearly forgets how weird it is to see turkeys in the park. Arnaud plucking one off the ground galvanizes her out of her moment's pause. "Wait, what are you doing?" she asks, though the question has an obvious answer. [OOC] Alexander says, "Can we stick to the poseorder, please?" Let's be honest. Vampires are always hungry. So the strange sensation of hunger washing over Alexander isn't that unusual, and it seems to be something he can control... mostly. He is rather attentive to the vein in Five's throat, though. More than usual that is. When Arnaud gives his instructions, Alexander pointedly doesn't move to cover any flanks. Let la Cosmopolite do his own chores. "I'm no animal expert," says the undead monster pretending to be a person pretending to be a Frenchman pretending to be English, "But aren't they usually more skittish?" --------- New Activity --------- Never let it be said Norm knows what he's doing. He knows SOME of what he's doing but there's often some fatal flaw in the plan. Today's plan was to call over out-of-place turkeys, and now he's fully enthralled by the birds and changing his mind about what he just said a minute ago. Given Arnaud's example he too is striding up to take a turkey! "You're comin' home with me, buddy. Oh yeah, we gonna get real acquainted with the kitchen..." Does this make sense? Does anything?? +-------------------------+ Whose turn is it? <POM> +--------------------------+ It is Arnaud's turn to pose. Name Last Idle Arnaud 8m 8m Five 5m 0s Thalia 3m 28s Alexander 3m 3m Norman 1m 1m Your alert is currently set to QUIET. +-------------------------------------------------------------- +poseorder ----+ --------- New Activity --------- Arnaud is a man with the brain of a beast, so sometimes it takes him awhile to put two and two together, especially when free delicious fowl just walk right up to him. He hugs the turkey to his body and looks at the rest as if pondering how he could hold two, maybe three, then glances at the turkey's neck with violent intent; if he wrings their necks, kills them first, he can carry maybe ALL of them... It can be read on his face just what he's thinking. However, someone smart asks the question, and he looks at Alexander with irritation because he doesn't like smoeone coming in with LOGIC and ruining the 'hunt' like this. "Yes. They would not just walk up to a stranger, would they. Also, why are they even here. Is this some sort of event? If so, I suggest we grab them and run away before someone notices." So, on one hand he admits this is strange, on the other, he still wants the turkeys. <Pose Order> It is your turn to pose. [OOC] Norman says, "Arnaud: Is this an event?? What're the drops like?" [OOC] Alexander says, "One turkey per turkey." [OOC] Arnaud says, "Lol" [OOC] Alexander says, "Last week I was out here and I had to kill three before they even dropped one turkey." [OOC] Arnaud says, "Maybe this is like a Quest. We have to gather up all the turkeys and return them to their pen." [OOC] Norman says, "I heard sometimes you get an S-class turkey." After Arnaud picks one up, the bird is super happy to be in his grasp! The other turkeys start to wander closer to the ground, going right up to them and practically begging to be taken. Gobblegobblegobble. There is absolutely nothing skittish or aggressive about these birds. There's enough to somewhat surround the group, though it's more like a gentle swarming. The closer they are, the more appealing they look. That hunger continuing to rise up in most of the group. Maybe even a nice evening picnic there at the park sounds nice! Five glances curiously at Alexander, then to Arnaud. As the birds surround, she steps a little closer to the dragon, her back almost against him. She tries to very lightly shoo some away to no avail. "Do they have... uh, rabies or something?" she wonders. [OOC] Five says, "Make any sort of investigative roll you'd like (or not) to make with what you might be trying to figure out. Wits + WhateverSkill :)" --------- New Activity --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 3 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Intelligence +Investigation Result: Failure -- (4 4 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ [OOC] Norman says, "That is what I deserve." [OOC] Five says, "Doesn't have to be Investigation! Can be Animal Ken or Occult or something!" --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult +3 -2 Result: Failure -- (7 3 5 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 2 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Animal Ken -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Investigation Result: Success (2) -- (1 2 9 5 10 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 3 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Investigation -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 7 10 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 4 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Thalia takes a reflexive step back when the turkeys draw closer. "I've never seen a turkey up close, and I have to tell you, papo, you are a lot uglier than I counted on," she buzzes at the nearest and boldest bird. She eyes Five at the conjecture, tonguing one of her back molars. "I don't think turkeys can have rabies," she murmurs. But there has to be /something/ to account for this behavior. She creeps her pale green eyes like a vine across the gaggle of them and catches her lip under her teeth, and unmistakable worry creases her otherwise smooth features. She's realized something and it's upsetting to her. She passes another glance at the other people standing around, evaluating them in turn. "They're not normal," she attempts to explain to these complete strangers. "They don't have rabies, but there's something...weird. Not normal." It's vague, but it's gonna have to do. --------- Man, fuck turkeys. Human blood is where it's at, and Five is pulsing with the stuff. Little known fact about vampires: They hear human hearts really, really well. Especially when they're pumping as hard as the anxious little Five and her birdxiety. Alexander doesn't even hear Thalia's assessment over the thumping in his ears from that fragile little chest cavity over yonder, so easy to break open and drink dry. So. Easy. --------- For his part Norm gobbles at the turkey he chooses to pick up, and he says with good cheer, '''"Oh you bet your feathery ass I will!"''' Then he beams proudly at the others gathered around, '''"Get yourself a turkey, folks. They said they wanna get eaten!"''' And somehow that does not strike him as weird. Even though the others are remarking about how weird it is and he's been present for those words. Even though it makes every kind of sense to question it! --------- Arnaud looks at Five. Then he looks at the turkey. Back at Five. Turkey. Five. He narrows his eyes and glances around at the others, tilting his head back and forth to remove tension in his neck, one of those classical psychopath ticks. '''"Something doesn't feel right,"''' he agrees. He's still so very hungry though, so he opens his mouth - like impossibly wide - but then closes it again and shakes his head. Instead he opens his gaze wide and turns in a slow circle, dropping the bird he was holding - from the odd look in his eyes, it's clear he's looking and listening for something otherworldly, or trying to. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Kenning Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 5 4 1 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Five furrows her brows as she listens to the others, taking a glance around her. Catching the look from the vampire, the mortal grows a bit more concerned in Alexander's presence. It /does/ prompt her to say, '''"Things tend to not want to be eaten."''' Her green-eyed gaze lingers just another moment on the hungry vampire before looking at Norman. '''"Usually."''' Then she glances between Arnaud and Thalia, then the group at large again. '''"Should we... leave? Shoo these turkeys somewhere?"''' The turkeys themselves continue to gather up around the group, gobblegobble, wings occasionally flapping but they seem content to be around the people. In fact, some of them jump a little eagerly at Alexander who is wholly disinterested in them. --------- Thalia gives Arnaud a startled glance when he starts to open his mouth, and then exchanges a look with Five and nods. '''"If we leave, then what? They go turkey-charm some little kids on the playground?"''' she asks. She looks down at the turkeys and /damnit/ they do look absolutely delicious. Maybe they should just eat them? No, no, she shakes off the thought. '''"Should we call someone? Like... the Department of Parks and Recreation?"''' That's a real thing, right? Chicago's a big city. It has to be. --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 6 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Presence +Intimidation +Nightmare Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (10 4 9 6 10 8 9 4) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ You know what's stopping him from getting what he wants? These fucking turkeys. So Alexander takes a deep breath in through his nose and, directing his stern attention to the flightless birds, lets out a positively horrendous roar... its repulsiveness matched only by his features, with Nightmare warping them in the minds of all around him into a hideous concatenation of molten scarring, sharp pointed ears, and shadows that seem impossible in their geometry. Evil incarnate. --------- See, Norm was just settling in to being friends (for now) with his turkey that he has most definitely adopted for a ride home. That's when Alex has to go and make a groar, and the groar raises the wolf's hackles in the Iron Master. He glares at Alex and around, and shouts, '''"Hey what'd you do that for they're just bein' birds!"''' Birds that are begging to be eaten. You know. Nothing suspicious at all. He even pets the turkey he has, soothing it as he steps away from Alexander and the others to tell is, '''"Shush now don't you worry, I got you..."''' --------- The aura that pools around Alexander like a black and bloody cloud, intangible except for the knot of fear, gets a visible reaction out of Thalia. She blanches, and peels away from the rest of the group. '''"Caralho. No way. Fuck this."''' The weird hungry looks, the way Arnaud opened his mouth like that, and now this vein-icing dread. '''"Fuck you guys,"''' she says, treating them all save Five with the same skepticism that had been reserved for the turkeys only a moment ago. She takes a few steps back while she leers at them, and then turns and walks quickly away, hands still shoved in her pockets; they never left. --------- Arnaud startles backwards, bird dropped - he moves so Five can be behind him, instinctively and unconsciously, and then looks both impressed and faintly intimidated while pointing at the turkey he just held; '''"These are not normal turkeys. They're some sort of magical turkeys. If we eat them, they might actually be made of sticks, stones and old socks or something."''' --------- After Alexander lets out that inhuman roar, the turkeys take OFF! Sure, they're very interested in being eaten but, they're still birds. They can't control their instinct to RUN! There's a lot of flapping and commotion as they scramble off, determined to get away from the vampire as quickly as possible! It seems that they catch Thalia up in their panic as the mortal makes her escape at the same time. Perahps not so strangely, that nearly overpowering hunger that most of the group was feeling seems to fade as the turkeys distance themselves from the group. Soon enough, that sensation is gone, or at least back to 'normal' amounts of hunger within them. --------- Five is glad to be covered by Arnaud in this moment. She'd been catching the way the vampire was looking her over, and this was just a cherry on the top. Looking between the group, she very quietly asks, '''"Whoa... uh, everyone okay?"''' --------- You know that feeling after a wonderful night out, where you wake up hungover and realise that you have many phone called apologies to make and probably several thousand dollars in damage to pay for? Yeah, that's Alexander right now as his hunger fades. A fraction of a nano-moment later his face returns to normal and the lingering knot of dread fades from the surroundings. "Sorry, all," he says, looking for all the world like an admonished little boy, "I uh... sorry." Not usually lost for words is Alexander, a fact that shows itself as he rallies his senses, "Right. Where the fuck did those birds come from, and what was with that... hunger?" He casts a glance towards Five, but then quickly looks away to find a very interesting patch of ground to look at in the middle distance. --------- Arnaud holds up a hand, and then a finger, standing perfectly still as the turkeys run away - he's thinking. It takes him a few seconds when that happens, and he can't do something else at the same time so he just sort of freezes. '''"Damn it. We should've killed them. I think. Fuck."''' Yeah, so, even when he does think he doesn't have an answer. In the end he decides to drop it for now, but looks at Norman and his possible remaining turkey. '''"I'll give you a bottle of whiskey if you eat it."''' --------- Norman's turkey flees in a flurry of feathers and panicked gobbling and protests. He looks really disappointed! Then as the fog clears a bit, he looks only somewhat disappointed. Less so, but still kind of. '''"Well goddammit now I want turkey anyway..."''' he mutters, crossing his arms and scowling. He glares at Arnaud, clearly turkey-less as he says, '''"I still would. Turkey's turkey. They ain't spirits, I don't think. I get a sense for those things."''' --------- The turkeys eventually fall out of sight, into the darkness of the evening. But, it's a large gaggle of turkeys, it wouldn't be too hard for someone to track them. If one listens hard enough, they might be able to evening hear a light gobblegobblegobble in the distance! Five, the human amongst them that was the only one unaffected by the turkeys, carefully watches the others. '''"What hunger?"''' she questions with a raise of her brow. She can't help but steal a glance at Alexander. Then she quickly looks in the direction of the birds, then back to the others. '''"How do you know those turkeys were magic? Maybe a good thing nobody ate them.."''' --------- '''"Magic turkeys,"''' Alexander muses for several moments, '''"Why can't we have a normal field trip?"''' With the Five? No way! He continues to look in the direction the turkeys have run off to and crosses his arms in front of his chest, reaching a hand up to stroke at his chin, '''"Very curious. If they're not being ridden by spirits, then I have difficulty knowing how they were so docile and yet so... disturbing. There was definitely an aura around them."''' Now that his senses have cleared enough for his memory to kick into gear, he turns towards Norman, '''"You were speaking to them, were you?"''' --------- '''"Let's chase after them, see where they go,"''' Arnaud says, bouncing impatiently on his toes, grabbing for Five's wrist as is his bad habit. '''"They were definitely not normal turkeys, I got a sense for things magical, all Lost can do it. It works half as good as it should half the time, but when it works it's giving us the absolute truth that something magic is going on, but rarely exactly what, because what would the world be like if the Wyrd was giving us clear information? Boring, that's what."''' --------- '''"Yeah I can talk to animals. Most of em are pretty stupid and don't say nothin' important but everything speaks somehow."''' Norman giving a little info to Alexander, though now it's out there! Norm is an animal-whisperer! He points at Arnaud and says, '''"Nothin' in all history ever made more sense than that. Let's go get em!"''' --------- Glancing at Alexander, she can't help but give the vampire a playful smile. '''"You should us next time we go to the Kristelkindle market!"''' There's a look at Arnaud. '''"That's not what it was called, was it?"''' Then her wrist is getting grabbed the dragon and the group is off chasing after the turkeys! There's no stealth in the movement of the flock. Even in the dark only illuminated by poles, it's easy to see their tracks. And since they were running in a panic thanks to Alex, there's some feathers scattered along the way as well! The gobbling gets louder, the group is on their trail! --------- '''"I'll hang back if you don't mind,"''' Alexander says with a side-glance towards Five, '''"I was one badly controlled impulse away from draining Five like a Capri Sun. If I wander back into their aura again... best I avoid it."''' He doesn't look Five's way for long, and it's rather clear by his expression that the poor boy is suffering from some kind of emotional setback. Something akin to shame, maybe. '''"Besides, you two are far better suited for chasing after birds in a park than I. I'm wearing good shoes."''' --------- '''"...did he want to eat you?"''' Arnaud says, finally catching on, and glancing over his shoulder at Alexander - his attention wavers for a moment, caught between wanting to confront the vampire or chasing turkeys. Since Alexander is apologetic, he drops it. Not like he hasn't felt the same thing a time or two. '''"YOU OWE HER A BEER OR FIVE!"''' he calls. '''"IF WE ARE NOT BACK IN AN HOUR... well fuck, I guess you don't care."''' He speeds up, chasing the fowl together with Norman and Five, no particular attempts at being stealthy, yet. --------- Glancing over his shoulder, it's there. That brief look. It's Norm looking at Five and deciding because she's here not to shift into the shape of a wolf. He's off and running though at a fast ground-eating pace that comes almost too easily to him. Norman can run! With a shift of will he puts on the senses of a wolf and follows the scents as well as sounds of turkeys. He doesn't speak or make a sound except from incidental movement. It's a turkey hunt! --------- Following the movement the others seem to be running in, Five glances back at Alexander. '''"You /were/ the one that was able to scare them away,"''' she points out. '''"Maybe hang back and just cut them off if they others don't catch them?"''' she suggests before she gets too far. Although she runs along with the dragon, when the turkeys get in sight, the mortal follows the vampire's example and hangs back a bit. She isn't fearful of the turkeys, but she doesn't want to get in the middle between two hungry supernaturals and a bunch of magical turkeys! The turkeys are easy enough to find. They've found themselves caught on the small 'island' in the middle of the park. If anyone gets close enough, they start to feel that hungry sensation start to rise up again. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (3) -- (10 8 9 1 6 3 2) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- '''"Quite correct,"''' Alexander muses as he's left alone, '''"I don't much care..."''' He sighs and slips his phone out of his pocket and taps at the screen for a few moments, then presses it against his ear. '''"Hello, yes, Animal Care and Control? Yes, I'm well thank you, and you? Excellent. I'm calling to report a rather strange sight, yes... out in Washington Park there seems to be a gaggle, if that is the word, of aggressive turkeys running around. Yes, very unusual, that's what I thought. Oh possibly dangerous, yes, especially to children I imagine. Yes... yes of course. I last saw them in some scrub not too far from the main east-west pathway. Troubling indeed. Yes. Yes, thank you very kind-... oh, certainly I can stay on the line to complete your customer satisfaction survey."''' --------- <spend> Arnaud spends 1 point of his Willpower pool. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 11 Dice +---------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd +3 Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (5 10 5 4 5 8 1 10 2 2 9 9 2) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ '''"I've had it with these foul fowl,"''' Arnaud says, and is now determined to resist the lure of these birds. He leaps, and midleap he is growing fucking /wings/ - they're sort of ephemeral and most definitely strange, but they're like the wings of a dragon. WIth powerful sweeps he is propelled forward, his eyes now glowing strangely as if part of his mien shines through to show his true self, as the powers of the Lost are utilised to give him better senses. He doesn't go all-out dragon, because there's a time and place and this isn't it, probably - though he seems to think the wings aren't so bad. Least it's dark and there's not a lot of people. Right? So, he flies up and then swoops downwards to do a full-out attack in the center of these damnable birds. --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Failure -- (4 6 4 7 6 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Weaponry.Knives +2 -2 -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 1 2 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ He's running and on the hunt now, and Norman retains his two-footed form mainly out of concern for Five. Drawing the knife at his hip, he seamlessly leaps to the attack and falls upon the nearest turkey in an all-out manner meant to drive cold steel into hot turkey meat! --------- +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Brawl.Bite -2 Result: Success (3) -- (4 6 1 9 10 7 10 2 4 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ Arnaud swoops around so he can flank these birds together with Norman - it's almost like he knows how to work in a team! He pounces on one of them and bites down as hard as he can, wings folding up behind him as he lands with a thud pretty much ON the turkey. --------- The turkeys are easy enough to take down, there's just a lot of them! Their delicious, tender flesh is easy enough to slice through with both claw and knives! Blood and feathers splatter everywhere. An occasional last 'gobble' is heard as a bird is taken down. The duo manage to take care of most of the flock, though there's still a few needing to be culled. Five is watching this carnage from a safe distance! Looking over her shoulder toward Alexander as he makes his called, her brows furrow as she calls out, '''"Uh, you might need to make it a clean up."''' She gives a nod toward the bird brawl. --------- '''"Yes, let's kill them all and not actually find out where they're from,"''' Alexander sighs as he watches the battle from the sidelines. Sort of like where the King would actually be in a game of chess. He's hung up the phone by now, having completed the godawful survey. He leans against a nearby and conveniently-placed tree to muse a little more, before noticing that there is a turkey standing on his foot looking up at him like a lost puppy. '''"Oh. Fuck you, bird."''' --------- Norm just lays about himself with the knife, stabbing, twisting, murdering turkeys! Their death-gobbles warm his predator heart! By the end of easy target acquisition he has feathers and turkey blood all over his hands, some of it spattered on his jacket and even a little on his face. He looks like he tried to kill a bunch of bloody pillows. Hungrily looking around, he eagerly searches for more alive birds so he can send them straight to turkey hell! --------- '''"So good,"''' Arnaud growls and jumps onto another bird, but he has resisted their lure and goes to clawing them instead. '''"Don't eat them!"''' he warns, because Lost know too well about eating magical things that wants to be eaten, at least if they resist the magic. He kills another bird, and swings around with wings sweeping out to knock them over while he's at it, raking claws and snarling like the beast he is. Feathers and blood spray all over. Maybe he's enjoying this a little TOO much, and isn't paying attention to Five right now. --------- Five's back is mostly turned toward Alexander! He's stayed back, all the birds are in front of her being slaughtered by the beasts, and she totally trusts him! Hearing his commentary about trying to find out more about the birds, Five cups her hands around her mouth so her shout could be heard over the commotion. '''"Hey! See if you can save one or get some remains that can be looked at?"''' she suggests. Those turkeys had to come from somewhere, right? The turkey on Alexander's foot peers up at him with those big bird eyes that just express how delicious it must be. Just being around the turkey seems to stir that hunger in the vampire again! --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (3) -- (5 9 10 3 8 7) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 1 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Willpower -2 Result: Failure -- (4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ Five is conveniently far enough away that Alexander focuses squarely on the bird. And now he's hungry. The apex predator (sorry Norm, but it's true) just lets out a jet of a sigh from his nose and reaches down to collect the bird in his arms. He's not a big muscle man, but he manages, '''"I don't even understand what the big deal is. You're just an uglier goose."''' He glances at the bird and rolls his eyes, '''"Oh hells, fine!"''' Fangs out, lean in, fangs in, sluuuuuuurp. It probably doesn't take very long for a hungry Daeva to completely drain an unresisting bird. Ah well, better that than downing Five like a cheap beer. --------- Norm stands among the carnage, blood dripping from his knife as he looks around. There are none left! They're all dead, one or two twitching. Maybe they're gobbling down the tunnel toward the light. He looks mystified at Five's request and says, '''"...I think we killed em all."''' Looks to Arnaud and only then does it register. Don't eat them? His knife's covered in turkey blood. Lick. --------- Arnaud whirls around to look for more turkeys to kill, and finding none, he rolls his shoulders and folds his wings back properly. Not that he can hide them, they're fucking huge. He brushes some feathers off of his jacket in a very posch and haughty gesture, totally disregarding the fact he's got blood all over his face and feathers in his hair and looks like a man who just murdered a bunch of birds. '''"Oh right, we were going to look for where they came from."''' He looks over at Five and Alexander. He picks up one of the dead birds that is mostly whole and holds it up helpfully. --------- Five's eyes are WIDE when she catches movement from the corner of her eye and looks to see Alexander feasting upon the turkey. Whoa, she takes a feeeew steps back. There's a look of concern, unsure of how these birds are effecting her friends. '''"Don't you have a friend or know someone that likes to poke at this stuff?"''' Five questions of Arnaud, remembering someone mentioned what happened with the remains of that insect monster they encoutered. '''"Let's grab it and get out of here."''' --------- '''"Wouldn't eat it if I were you,"''' Alexander calls out with a dead turkey hanging from his hand, '''"Tastes bitter. More bitter than usual. Metallic too. But more metallic than usual. Maybe poison? Maybe just weird blood."''' This would be a very weird time for any person of authority to show up, a man in a three piece suit, overcoat, nicely polished shoes holding a dead turkey and talking about poison. '''"Woah... maybe they ate some mushrooms before this... I can SEE sound, my dudes."''' --------- Norm licks the knife and looks scowlingly at the turkey corpses. It's kind of a disappointment, to say the least. He ends up looking around for some mud to clean the blade off before he starts whipping it around, trying to shake off any residual nasty. It's just a suddenly disgusted look. '''"It just ain't right."''' he mutters, looking mainly to Arnaud. '''"I dunno. Maybe just say screw all this and leave em to rot. They ain't gonna bother nobody now."''' --------- '''"Five, BURN THEM!"''' Arnaud suggests, and gestures generally at the bird corpses. '''"Nobody will know what happened."''' Right, because a bonfire like that will not draw attention at all. He thumbs-up at Alexander for the tip, and shows no interest in eating any of these birds, especially not after knowing what they taste like. '''"You really got high from eating it? Anyway, Five is right. Let's go see if my friend Doc Solomon is home, he might know what is up with these."''' He takes his leather jacket off and wraps it around the dead turkey in an attempt to hide it, and then his long scarf too. Besides, if someone asks, he can just say 'turkey'. Don't people walk around with turkeys this time of year? He looks forlorn for a moment, and then shakes his wings out in full glory. For a moment they glow faintly like the sun before they dissipate into tiny motes of light, and then fade into nothing. --------- '''"Norm,"''' Alexander says as he finally makes his way towards the group, '''"If they can poison me... woah..."''' he reaches out to steady himself against one of the many figures of Norman currently in his vision, '''"They'll probably kill anything that eats it, or puts their hands all over it. Like a coyote, or a small child..."''' He sways rather prominently, like a drunkard with none of the slurred speech, '''"We don't get poisoned. Not unless it's got some mystic woo-woo bullshit in it."''' Alexander furrows his brow at the mention of burning, '''"What if the poison comes out in the smoke... gets in the air..."''' He swoons slowly and blinks several times, '''"Ugh, high with a side of my insides feeling like I've got knives up my ass. Christ, Hastings wasn't this bad and I got a hammer to my ribs then..."''' --------- '''"Maybe Arnaud's smart friend can figure it out. You seemed to get hit by it most,"''' she says to Alexander, inviting him along. Five offers to take the bird from Arnaud, watching the dragon with a bit of a smile as he texts his friend! --------- Arnaud pats Alexander on the shoulder. '''"Enjoy it while it lasts."''' Pragmatism at its best. Then he takes off! After Arnaud picks one up, the bird is super happy to be in his grasp! The other turkeys start to wander closer to the ground, going right up to them and practically begging to be taken. Gobblegobblegobble. There is absolutely nothing skittish or aggressive about these birds. There's enough to somewhat surround the group, though it's more like a gentle swarming. The closer they are, the more appealing they look. That hunger continuing to rise up in most of the group. Maybe even a nice evening picnic there at the park sounds nice! Five glances curiously at Alexander, then to Arnaud. As the birds surround, she steps a little closer to the dragon, her back almost against him. She tries to very lightly shoo some away to no avail. "Do they have... uh, rabies or something?" she wonders. --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult +3 -2 Result: Failure -- (7 3 5 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 2 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Animal Ken -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 3 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Investigation -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 7 10 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 4 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Thalia takes a reflexive step back when the turkeys draw closer. '''"I've never seen a turkey up close, and I have to tell you, papo, you are a lot uglier than I counted on,"''' she buzzes at the nearest and boldest bird. She eyes Five at the conjecture, tonguing one of her back molars. '''"I don't think turkeys can have rabies,"''' she murmurs. But there has to be /something/ to account for this behavior. She creeps her pale green eyes like a vine across the gaggle of them and catches her lip under her teeth, and unmistakable worry creases her otherwise smooth features. She's realized something and it's upsetting to her. She passes another glance at the other people standing around, evaluating them in turn. '''"They're not normal,"''' she attempts to explain to these complete strangers. '''"They don't have rabies, but there's something...weird. Not normal."''' It's vague, but it's gonna have to do. --------- Man, fuck turkeys. Human blood is where it's at, and Five is pulsing with the stuff. Little known fact about vampires: They hear human hearts really, really well. Especially when they're pumping as hard as the anxious little Five and her birdxiety. Alexander doesn't even hear Thalia's assessment over the thumping in his ears from that fragile little chest cavity over yonder, so easy to break open and drink dry. So. Easy. --------- For his part Norm gobbles at the turkey he chooses to pick up, and he says with good cheer, '''"Oh you bet your feathery ass I will!"''' Then he beams proudly at the others gathered around, '''"Get yourself a turkey, folks. They said they wanna get eaten!"''' And somehow that does not strike him as weird. Even though the others are remarking about how weird it is and he's been present for those words. Even though it makes every kind of sense to question it! --------- Arnaud looks at Five. Then he looks at the turkey. Back at Five. Turkey. Five. He narrows his eyes and glances around at the others, tilting his head back and forth to remove tension in his neck, one of those classical psychopath ticks. '''"Something doesn't feel right,"''' he agrees. He's still so very hungry though, so he opens his mouth - like impossibly wide - but then closes it again and shakes his head. Instead he opens his gaze wide and turns in a slow circle, dropping the bird he was holding - from the odd look in his eyes, it's clear he's looking and listening for something otherworldly, or trying to. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Kenning Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 5 4 1 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Five furrows her brows as she listens to the others, taking a glance around her. Catching the look from the vampire, the mortal grows a bit more concerned in Alexander's presence. It /does/ prompt her to say, '''"Things tend to not want to be eaten."''' Her green-eyed gaze lingers just another moment on the hungry vampire before looking at Norman. '''"Usually."''' Then she glances between Arnaud and Thalia, then the group at large again. '''"Should we... leave? Shoo these turkeys somewhere?"''' The turkeys themselves continue to gather up around the group, gobblegobble, wings occasionally flapping but they seem content to be around the people. In fact, some of them jump a little eagerly at Alexander who is wholly disinterested in them. --------- Thalia gives Arnaud a startled glance when he starts to open his mouth, and then exchanges a look with Five and nods. '''"If we leave, then what? They go turkey-charm some little kids on the playground?"''' she asks. She looks down at the turkeys and /damnit/ they do look absolutely delicious. Maybe they should just eat them? No, no, she shakes off the thought. '''"Should we call someone? Like... the Department of Parks and Recreation?"''' That's a real thing, right? Chicago's a big city. It has to be. --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 6 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Presence +Intimidation +Nightmare Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (10 4 9 6 10 8 9 4) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ You know what's stopping him from getting what he wants? These fucking turkeys. So Alexander takes a deep breath in through his nose and, directing his stern attention to the flightless birds, lets out a positively horrendous roar... its repulsiveness matched only by his features, with Nightmare warping them in the minds of all around him into a hideous concatenation of molten scarring, sharp pointed ears, and shadows that seem impossible in their geometry. Evil incarnate. --------- See, Norm was just settling in to being friends (for now) with his turkey that he has most definitely adopted for a ride home. That's when Alex has to go and make a groar, and the groar raises the wolf's hackles in the Iron Master. He glares at Alex and around, and shouts, '''"Hey what'd you do that for they're just bein' birds!"''' Birds that are begging to be eaten. You know. Nothing suspicious at all. He even pets the turkey he has, soothing it as he steps away from Alexander and the others to tell is, '''"Shush now don't you worry, I got you..."''' --------- The aura that pools around Alexander like a black and bloody cloud, intangible except for the knot of fear, gets a visible reaction out of Thalia. She blanches, and peels away from the rest of the group. '''"Caralho. No way. Fuck this."''' The weird hungry looks, the way Arnaud opened his mouth like that, and now this vein-icing dread. '''"Fuck you guys,"''' she says, treating them all save Five with the same skepticism that had been reserved for the turkeys only a moment ago. She takes a few steps back while she leers at them, and then turns and walks quickly away, hands still shoved in her pockets; they never left. --------- Arnaud startles backwards, bird dropped - he moves so Five can be behind him, instinctively and unconsciously, and then looks both impressed and faintly intimidated while pointing at the turkey he just held; '''"These are not normal turkeys. They're some sort of magical turkeys. If we eat them, they might actually be made of sticks, stones and old socks or something."''' --------- After Alexander lets out that inhuman roar, the turkeys take OFF! Sure, they're very interested in being eaten but, they're still birds. They can't control their instinct to RUN! There's a lot of flapping and commotion as they scramble off, determined to get away from the vampire as quickly as possible! It seems that they catch Thalia up in their panic as the mortal makes her escape at the same time. Perahps not so strangely, that nearly overpowering hunger that most of the group was feeling seems to fade as the turkeys distance themselves from the group. Soon enough, that sensation is gone, or at least back to 'normal' amounts of hunger within them. --------- Five is glad to be covered by Arnaud in this moment. She'd been catching the way the vampire was looking her over, and this was just a cherry on the top. Looking between the group, she very quietly asks, '''"Whoa... uh, everyone okay?"''' --------- You know that feeling after a wonderful night out, where you wake up hungover and realise that you have many phone called apologies to make and probably several thousand dollars in damage to pay for? Yeah, that's Alexander right now as his hunger fades. A fraction of a nano-moment later his face returns to normal and the lingering knot of dread fades from the surroundings. "Sorry, all," he says, looking for all the world like an admonished little boy, "I uh... sorry." Not usually lost for words is Alexander, a fact that shows itself as he rallies his senses, "Right. Where the fuck did those birds come from, and what was with that... hunger?" He casts a glance towards Five, but then quickly looks away to find a very interesting patch of ground to look at in the middle distance. --------- Arnaud holds up a hand, and then a finger, standing perfectly still as the turkeys run away - he's thinking. It takes him a few seconds when that happens, and he can't do something else at the same time so he just sort of freezes. '''"Damn it. We should've killed them. I think. Fuck."''' Yeah, so, even when he does think he doesn't have an answer. In the end he decides to drop it for now, but looks at Norman and his possible remaining turkey. '''"I'll give you a bottle of whiskey if you eat it."''' --------- Norman's turkey flees in a flurry of feathers and panicked gobbling and protests. He looks really disappointed! Then as the fog clears a bit, he looks only somewhat disappointed. Less so, but still kind of. '''"Well goddammit now I want turkey anyway..."''' he mutters, crossing his arms and scowling. He glares at Arnaud, clearly turkey-less as he says, '''"I still would. Turkey's turkey. They ain't spirits, I don't think. I get a sense for those things."''' --------- The turkeys eventually fall out of sight, into the darkness of the evening. But, it's a large gaggle of turkeys, it wouldn't be too hard for someone to track them. If one listens hard enough, they might be able to evening hear a light gobblegobblegobble in the distance! Five, the human amongst them that was the only one unaffected by the turkeys, carefully watches the others. '''"What hunger?"''' she questions with a raise of her brow. She can't help but steal a glance at Alexander. Then she quickly looks in the direction of the birds, then back to the others. '''"How do you know those turkeys were magic? Maybe a good thing nobody ate them.."''' --------- '''"Magic turkeys,"''' Alexander muses for several moments, '''"Why can't we have a normal field trip?"''' With the Five? No way! He continues to look in the direction the turkeys have run off to and crosses his arms in front of his chest, reaching a hand up to stroke at his chin, '''"Very curious. If they're not being ridden by spirits, then I have difficulty knowing how they were so docile and yet so... disturbing. There was definitely an aura around them."''' Now that his senses have cleared enough for his memory to kick into gear, he turns towards Norman, '''"You were speaking to them, were you?"''' --------- '''"Let's chase after them, see where they go,"''' Arnaud says, bouncing impatiently on his toes, grabbing for Five's wrist as is his bad habit. '''"They were definitely not normal turkeys, I got a sense for things magical, all Lost can do it. It works half as good as it should half the time, but when it works it's giving us the absolute truth that something magic is going on, but rarely exactly what, because what would the world be like if the Wyrd was giving us clear information? Boring, that's what."''' --------- '''"Yeah I can talk to animals. Most of em are pretty stupid and don't say nothin' important but everything speaks somehow."''' Norman giving a little info to Alexander, though now it's out there! Norm is an animal-whisperer! He points at Arnaud and says, '''"Nothin' in all history ever made more sense than that. Let's go get em!"''' --------- Glancing at Alexander, she can't help but give the vampire a playful smile. '''"You should us next time we go to the Kristelkindle market!"''' There's a look at Arnaud. '''"That's not what it was called, was it?"''' Then her wrist is getting grabbed the dragon and the group is off chasing after the turkeys! There's no stealth in the movement of the flock. Even in the dark only illuminated by poles, it's easy to see their tracks. And since they were running in a panic thanks to Alex, there's some feathers scattered along the way as well! The gobbling gets louder, the group is on their trail! --------- '''"I'll hang back if you don't mind,"''' Alexander says with a side-glance towards Five, '''"I was one badly controlled impulse away from draining Five like a Capri Sun. If I wander back into their aura again... best I avoid it."''' He doesn't look Five's way for long, and it's rather clear by his expression that the poor boy is suffering from some kind of emotional setback. Something akin to shame, maybe. '''"Besides, you two are far better suited for chasing after birds in a park than I. I'm wearing good shoes."''' --------- '''"...did he want to eat you?"''' Arnaud says, finally catching on, and glancing over his shoulder at Alexander - his attention wavers for a moment, caught between wanting to confront the vampire or chasing turkeys. Since Alexander is apologetic, he drops it. Not like he hasn't felt the same thing a time or two. '''"YOU OWE HER A BEER OR FIVE!"''' he calls. '''"IF WE ARE NOT BACK IN AN HOUR... well fuck, I guess you don't care."''' He speeds up, chasing the fowl together with Norman and Five, no particular attempts at being stealthy, yet. --------- Glancing over his shoulder, it's there. That brief look. It's Norm looking at Five and deciding because she's here not to shift into the shape of a wolf. He's off and running though at a fast ground-eating pace that comes almost too easily to him. Norman can run! With a shift of will he puts on the senses of a wolf and follows the scents as well as sounds of turkeys. He doesn't speak or make a sound except from incidental movement. It's a turkey hunt! --------- Following the movement the others seem to be running in, Five glances back at Alexander. '''"You /were/ the one that was able to scare them away,"''' she points out. '''"Maybe hang back and just cut them off if they others don't catch them?"''' she suggests before she gets too far. Although she runs along with the dragon, when the turkeys get in sight, the mortal follows the vampire's example and hangs back a bit. She isn't fearful of the turkeys, but she doesn't want to get in the middle between two hungry supernaturals and a bunch of magical turkeys! The turkeys are easy enough to find. They've found themselves caught on the small 'island' in the middle of the park. If anyone gets close enough, they start to feel that hungry sensation start to rise up again. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (3) -- (10 8 9 1 6 3 2) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- '''"Quite correct,"''' Alexander muses as he's left alone, '''"I don't much care..."''' He sighs and slips his phone out of his pocket and taps at the screen for a few moments, then presses it against his ear. '''"Hello, yes, Animal Care and Control? Yes, I'm well thank you, and you? Excellent. I'm calling to report a rather strange sight, yes... out in Washington Park there seems to be a gaggle, if that is the word, of aggressive turkeys running around. Yes, very unusual, that's what I thought. Oh possibly dangerous, yes, especially to children I imagine. Yes... yes of course. I last saw them in some scrub not too far from the main east-west pathway. Troubling indeed. Yes. Yes, thank you very kind-... oh, certainly I can stay on the line to complete your customer satisfaction survey."''' --------- <spend> Arnaud spends 1 point of his Willpower pool. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 11 Dice +---------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd +3 Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (5 10 5 4 5 8 1 10 2 2 9 9 2) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ '''"I've had it with these foul fowl,"''' Arnaud says, and is now determined to resist the lure of these birds. He leaps, and midleap he is growing fucking /wings/ - they're sort of ephemeral and most definitely strange, but they're like the wings of a dragon. WIth powerful sweeps he is propelled forward, his eyes now glowing strangely as if part of his mien shines through to show his true self, as the powers of the Lost are utilised to give him better senses. He doesn't go all-out dragon, because there's a time and place and this isn't it, probably - though he seems to think the wings aren't so bad. Least it's dark and there's not a lot of people. Right? So, he flies up and then swoops downwards to do a full-out attack in the center of these damnable birds. --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Failure -- (4 6 4 7 6 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Weaponry.Knives +2 -2 -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 1 2 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ He's running and on the hunt now, and Norman retains his two-footed form mainly out of concern for Five. Drawing the knife at his hip, he seamlessly leaps to the attack and falls upon the nearest turkey in an all-out manner meant to drive cold steel into hot turkey meat! --------- +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Brawl.Bite -2 Result: Success (3) -- (4 6 1 9 10 7 10 2 4 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ Arnaud swoops around so he can flank these birds together with Norman - it's almost like he knows how to work in a team! He pounces on one of them and bites down as hard as he can, wings folding up behind him as he lands with a thud pretty much ON the turkey. --------- The turkeys are easy enough to take down, there's just a lot of them! Their delicious, tender flesh is easy enough to slice through with both claw and knives! Blood and feathers splatter everywhere. An occasional last 'gobble' is heard as a bird is taken down. The duo manage to take care of most of the flock, though there's still a few needing to be culled. Five is watching this carnage from a safe distance! Looking over her shoulder toward Alexander as he makes his called, her brows furrow as she calls out, '''"Uh, you might need to make it a clean up."''' She gives a nod toward the bird brawl. --------- '''"Yes, let's kill them all and not actually find out where they're from,"''' Alexander sighs as he watches the battle from the sidelines. Sort of like where the King would actually be in a game of chess. He's hung up the phone by now, having completed the godawful survey. He leans against a nearby and conveniently-placed tree to muse a little more, before noticing that there is a turkey standing on his foot looking up at him like a lost puppy. '''"Oh. Fuck you, bird."''' --------- Norm just lays about himself with the knife, stabbing, twisting, murdering turkeys! Their death-gobbles warm his predator heart! By the end of easy target acquisition he has feathers and turkey blood all over his hands, some of it spattered on his jacket and even a little on his face. He looks like he tried to kill a bunch of bloody pillows. Hungrily looking around, he eagerly searches for more alive birds so he can send them straight to turkey hell! --------- '''"So good,"''' Arnaud growls and jumps onto another bird, but he has resisted their lure and goes to clawing them instead. '''"Don't eat them!"''' he warns, because Lost know too well about eating magical things that wants to be eaten, at least if they resist the magic. He kills another bird, and swings around with wings sweeping out to knock them over while he's at it, raking claws and snarling like the beast he is. Feathers and blood spray all over. Maybe he's enjoying this a little TOO much, and isn't paying attention to Five right now. --------- Five's back is mostly turned toward Alexander! He's stayed back, all the birds are in front of her being slaughtered by the beasts, and she totally trusts him! Hearing his commentary about trying to find out more about the birds, Five cups her hands around her mouth so her shout could be heard over the commotion. '''"Hey! See if you can save one or get some remains that can be looked at?"''' she suggests. Those turkeys had to come from somewhere, right? The turkey on Alexander's foot peers up at him with those big bird eyes that just express how delicious it must be. Just being around the turkey seems to stir that hunger in the vampire again! --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (3) -- (5 9 10 3 8 7) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 1 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Willpower -2 Result: Failure -- (4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ Five is conveniently far enough away that Alexander focuses squarely on the bird. And now he's hungry. The apex predator (sorry Norm, but it's true) just lets out a jet of a sigh from his nose and reaches down to collect the bird in his arms. He's not a big muscle man, but he manages, '''"I don't even understand what the big deal is. You're just an uglier goose."''' He glances at the bird and rolls his eyes, '''"Oh hells, fine!"''' Fangs out, lean in, fangs in, sluuuuuuurp. It probably doesn't take very long for a hungry Daeva to completely drain an unresisting bird. Ah well, better that than downing Five like a cheap beer. --------- Norm stands among the carnage, blood dripping from his knife as he looks around. There are none left! They're all dead, one or two twitching. Maybe they're gobbling down the tunnel toward the light. He looks mystified at Five's request and says, '''"...I think we killed em all."''' Looks to Arnaud and only then does it register. Don't eat them? His knife's covered in turkey blood. Lick. --------- Arnaud whirls around to look for more turkeys to kill, and finding none, he rolls his shoulders and folds his wings back properly. Not that he can hide them, they're fucking huge. He brushes some feathers off of his jacket in a very posch and haughty gesture, totally disregarding the fact he's got blood all over his face and feathers in his hair and looks like a man who just murdered a bunch of birds. '''"Oh right, we were going to look for where they came from."''' He looks over at Five and Alexander. He picks up one of the dead birds that is mostly whole and holds it up helpfully. --------- Five's eyes are WIDE when she catches movement from the corner of her eye and looks to see Alexander feasting upon the turkey. Whoa, she takes a feeeew steps back. There's a look of concern, unsure of how these birds are effecting her friends. '''"Don't you have a friend or know someone that likes to poke at this stuff?"''' Five questions of Arnaud, remembering someone mentioned what happened with the remains of that insect monster they encoutered. '''"Let's grab it and get out of here."''' --------- '''"Wouldn't eat it if I were you,"''' Alexander calls out with a dead turkey hanging from his hand, '''"Tastes bitter. More bitter than usual. Metallic too. But more metallic than usual. Maybe poison? Maybe just weird blood."''' This would be a very weird time for any person of authority to show up, a man in a three piece suit, overcoat, nicely polished shoes holding a dead turkey and talking about poison. '''"Woah... maybe they ate some mushrooms before this... I can SEE sound, my dudes."''' --------- Norm licks the knife and looks scowlingly at the turkey corpses. It's kind of a disappointment, to say the least. He ends up looking around for some mud to clean the blade off before he starts whipping it around, trying to shake off any residual nasty. It's just a suddenly disgusted look. '''"It just ain't right."''' he mutters, looking mainly to Arnaud. '''"I dunno. Maybe just say screw all this and leave em to rot. They ain't gonna bother nobody now."''' --------- '''"Five, BURN THEM!"''' Arnaud suggests, and gestures generally at the bird corpses. '''"Nobody will know what happened."''' Right, because a bonfire like that will not draw attention at all. He thumbs-up at Alexander for the tip, and shows no interest in eating any of these birds, especially not after knowing what they taste like. '''"You really got high from eating it? Anyway, Five is right. Let's go see if my friend Doc Solomon is home, he might know what is up with these."''' He takes his leather jacket off and wraps it around the dead turkey in an attempt to hide it, and then his long scarf too. Besides, if someone asks, he can just say 'turkey'. Don't people walk around with turkeys this time of year? He looks forlorn for a moment, and then shakes his wings out in full glory. For a moment they glow faintly like the sun before they dissipate into tiny motes of light, and then fade into nothing. --------- '''"Norm,"''' Alexander says as he finally makes his way towards the group, '''"If they can poison me... woah..."''' he reaches out to steady himself against one of the many figures of Norman currently in his vision, '''"They'll probably kill anything that eats it, or puts their hands all over it. Like a coyote, or a small child..."''' He sways rather prominently, like a drunkard with none of the slurred speech, '''"We don't get poisoned. Not unless it's got some mystic woo-woo bullshit in it."''' Alexander furrows his brow at the mention of burning, '''"What if the poison comes out in the smoke... gets in the air..."''' He swoons slowly and blinks several times, '''"Ugh, high with a side of my insides feeling like I've got knives up my ass. Christ, Hastings wasn't this bad and I got a hammer to my ribs then..."''' --------- '''"Maybe Arnaud's smart friend can figure it out. You seemed to get hit by it most,"''' she says to Alexander, inviting him along. Five offers to take the bird from Arnaud, watching the dragon with a bit of a smile as he texts his friend! --------- Arnaud pats Alexander on the shoulder. '''"Enjoy it while it lasts."''' Pragmatism at its best. Then he takes off! After Arnaud picks one up, the bird is super happy to be in his grasp! The other turkeys start to wander closer to the ground, going right up to them and practically begging to be taken. Gobblegobblegobble. There is absolutely nothing skittish or aggressive about these birds. There's enough to somewhat surround the group, though it's more like a gentle swarming. The closer they are, the more appealing they look. That hunger continuing to rise up in most of the group. Maybe even a nice evening picnic there at the park sounds nice! Five glances curiously at Alexander, then to Arnaud. As the birds surround, she steps a little closer to the dragon, her back almost against him. She tries to very lightly shoo some away to no avail. '''"Do they have... uh, rabies or something?"''' she wonders. --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult +3 -2 Result: Failure -- (7 3 5 5 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 2 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Animal Ken -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Investigation Result: Success (2) -- (1 2 9 5 10 6) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 3 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Investigation -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 7 10 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Thalia rolls 4 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult -2 Result: Success (1) -- (1 9 2 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Thalia takes a reflexive step back when the turkeys draw closer. "I've never seen a turkey up close, and I have to tell you, papo, you are a lot uglier than I counted on," she buzzes at the nearest and boldest bird. She eyes Five at the conjecture, tonguing one of her back molars. "I don't think turkeys can have rabies," she murmurs. But there has to be /something/ to account for this behavior. She creeps her pale green eyes like a vine across the gaggle of them and catches her lip under her teeth, and unmistakable worry creases her otherwise smooth features. She's realized something and it's upsetting to her. She passes another glance at the other people standing around, evaluating them in turn. "They're not normal," she attempts to explain to these complete strangers. "They don't have rabies, but there's something...weird. Not normal." It's vague, but it's gonna have to do. --------- Man, fuck turkeys. Human blood is where it's at, and Five is pulsing with the stuff. Little known fact about vampires: They hear human hearts really, really well. Especially when they're pumping as hard as the anxious little Five and her birdxiety. Alexander doesn't even hear Thalia's assessment over the thumping in his ears from that fragile little chest cavity over yonder, so easy to break open and drink dry. So. Easy. --------- For his part Norm gobbles at the turkey he chooses to pick up, and he says with good cheer, '''"Oh you bet your feathery ass I will!"''' Then he beams proudly at the others gathered around, '''"Get yourself a turkey, folks. They said they wanna get eaten!"''' And somehow that does not strike him as weird. Even though the others are remarking about how weird it is and he's been present for those words. Even though it makes every kind of sense to question it! --------- Arnaud looks at Five. Then he looks at the turkey. Back at Five. Turkey. Five. He narrows his eyes and glances around at the others, tilting his head back and forth to remove tension in his neck, one of those classical psychopath ticks. '''"Something doesn't feel right,"''' he agrees. He's still so very hungry though, so he opens his mouth - like impossibly wide - but then closes it again and shakes his head. Instead he opens his gaze wide and turns in a slow circle, dropping the bird he was holding - from the odd look in his eyes, it's clear he's looking and listening for something otherworldly, or trying to. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Kenning Result: Success (1) -- (10 7 5 4 1 4) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- Five furrows her brows as she listens to the others, taking a glance around her. Catching the look from the vampire, the mortal grows a bit more concerned in Alexander's presence. It /does/ prompt her to say, '''"Things tend to not want to be eaten."''' Her green-eyed gaze lingers just another moment on the hungry vampire before looking at Norman. '''"Usually."''' Then she glances between Arnaud and Thalia, then the group at large again. '''"Should we... leave? Shoo these turkeys somewhere?"''' The turkeys themselves continue to gather up around the group, gobblegobble, wings occasionally flapping but they seem content to be around the people. In fact, some of them jump a little eagerly at Alexander who is wholly disinterested in them. --------- Thalia gives Arnaud a startled glance when he starts to open his mouth, and then exchanges a look with Five and nods. '''"If we leave, then what? They go turkey-charm some little kids on the playground?"''' she asks. She looks down at the turkeys and /damnit/ they do look absolutely delicious. Maybe they should just eat them? No, no, she shakes off the thought. '''"Should we call someone? Like... the Department of Parks and Recreation?"''' That's a real thing, right? Chicago's a big city. It has to be. --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 6 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Presence +Intimidation +Nightmare Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (10 4 9 6 10 8 9 4) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ You know what's stopping him from getting what he wants? These fucking turkeys. So Alexander takes a deep breath in through his nose and, directing his stern attention to the flightless birds, lets out a positively horrendous roar... its repulsiveness matched only by his features, with Nightmare warping them in the minds of all around him into a hideous concatenation of molten scarring, sharp pointed ears, and shadows that seem impossible in their geometry. Evil incarnate. --------- See, Norm was just settling in to being friends (for now) with his turkey that he has most definitely adopted for a ride home. That's when Alex has to go and make a groar, and the groar raises the wolf's hackles in the Iron Master. He glares at Alex and around, and shouts, '''"Hey what'd you do that for they're just bein' birds!"''' Birds that are begging to be eaten. You know. Nothing suspicious at all. He even pets the turkey he has, soothing it as he steps away from Alexander and the others to tell is, '''"Shush now don't you worry, I got you..."''' --------- The aura that pools around Alexander like a black and bloody cloud, intangible except for the knot of fear, gets a visible reaction out of Thalia. She blanches, and peels away from the rest of the group. '''"Caralho. No way. Fuck this."''' The weird hungry looks, the way Arnaud opened his mouth like that, and now this vein-icing dread. '''"Fuck you guys,"''' she says, treating them all save Five with the same skepticism that had been reserved for the turkeys only a moment ago. She takes a few steps back while she leers at them, and then turns and walks quickly away, hands still shoved in her pockets; they never left. --------- Arnaud startles backwards, bird dropped - he moves so Five can be behind him, instinctively and unconsciously, and then looks both impressed and faintly intimidated while pointing at the turkey he just held; '''"These are not normal turkeys. They're some sort of magical turkeys. If we eat them, they might actually be made of sticks, stones and old socks or something."''' --------- After Alexander lets out that inhuman roar, the turkeys take OFF! Sure, they're very interested in being eaten but, they're still birds. They can't control their instinct to RUN! There's a lot of flapping and commotion as they scramble off, determined to get away from the vampire as quickly as possible! It seems that they catch Thalia up in their panic as the mortal makes her escape at the same time. Perahps not so strangely, that nearly overpowering hunger that most of the group was feeling seems to fade as the turkeys distance themselves from the group. Soon enough, that sensation is gone, or at least back to 'normal' amounts of hunger within them. --------- Five is glad to be covered by Arnaud in this moment. She'd been catching the way the vampire was looking her over, and this was just a cherry on the top. Looking between the group, she very quietly asks, '''"Whoa... uh, everyone okay?"''' --------- You know that feeling after a wonderful night out, where you wake up hungover and realise that you have many phone called apologies to make and probably several thousand dollars in damage to pay for? Yeah, that's Alexander right now as his hunger fades. A fraction of a nano-moment later his face returns to normal and the lingering knot of dread fades from the surroundings. "Sorry, all," he says, looking for all the world like an admonished little boy, "I uh... sorry." Not usually lost for words is Alexander, a fact that shows itself as he rallies his senses, "Right. Where the fuck did those birds come from, and what was with that... hunger?" He casts a glance towards Five, but then quickly looks away to find a very interesting patch of ground to look at in the middle distance. --------- Arnaud holds up a hand, and then a finger, standing perfectly still as the turkeys run away - he's thinking. It takes him a few seconds when that happens, and he can't do something else at the same time so he just sort of freezes. '''"Damn it. We should've killed them. I think. Fuck."''' Yeah, so, even when he does think he doesn't have an answer. In the end he decides to drop it for now, but looks at Norman and his possible remaining turkey. '''"I'll give you a bottle of whiskey if you eat it."''' --------- Norman's turkey flees in a flurry of feathers and panicked gobbling and protests. He looks really disappointed! Then as the fog clears a bit, he looks only somewhat disappointed. Less so, but still kind of. '''"Well goddammit now I want turkey anyway..."''' he mutters, crossing his arms and scowling. He glares at Arnaud, clearly turkey-less as he says, '''"I still would. Turkey's turkey. They ain't spirits, I don't think. I get a sense for those things."''' --------- The turkeys eventually fall out of sight, into the darkness of the evening. But, it's a large gaggle of turkeys, it wouldn't be too hard for someone to track them. If one listens hard enough, they might be able to evening hear a light gobblegobblegobble in the distance! Five, the human amongst them that was the only one unaffected by the turkeys, carefully watches the others. '''"What hunger?"''' she questions with a raise of her brow. She can't help but steal a glance at Alexander. Then she quickly looks in the direction of the birds, then back to the others. '''"How do you know those turkeys were magic? Maybe a good thing nobody ate them.."''' --------- '''"Magic turkeys,"''' Alexander muses for several moments, '''"Why can't we have a normal field trip?"''' With the Five? No way! He continues to look in the direction the turkeys have run off to and crosses his arms in front of his chest, reaching a hand up to stroke at his chin, '''"Very curious. If they're not being ridden by spirits, then I have difficulty knowing how they were so docile and yet so... disturbing. There was definitely an aura around them."''' Now that his senses have cleared enough for his memory to kick into gear, he turns towards Norman, '''"You were speaking to them, were you?"''' --------- '''"Let's chase after them, see where they go,"''' Arnaud says, bouncing impatiently on his toes, grabbing for Five's wrist as is his bad habit. '''"They were definitely not normal turkeys, I got a sense for things magical, all Lost can do it. It works half as good as it should half the time, but when it works it's giving us the absolute truth that something magic is going on, but rarely exactly what, because what would the world be like if the Wyrd was giving us clear information? Boring, that's what."''' --------- '''"Yeah I can talk to animals. Most of em are pretty stupid and don't say nothin' important but everything speaks somehow."''' Norman giving a little info to Alexander, though now it's out there! Norm is an animal-whisperer! He points at Arnaud and says, '''"Nothin' in all history ever made more sense than that. Let's go get em!"''' --------- Glancing at Alexander, she can't help but give the vampire a playful smile. '''"You should us next time we go to the Kristelkindle market!"''' There's a look at Arnaud. '''"That's not what it was called, was it?"''' Then her wrist is getting grabbed the dragon and the group is off chasing after the turkeys! There's no stealth in the movement of the flock. Even in the dark only illuminated by poles, it's easy to see their tracks. And since they were running in a panic thanks to Alex, there's some feathers scattered along the way as well! The gobbling gets louder, the group is on their trail! --------- '''"I'll hang back if you don't mind,"''' Alexander says with a side-glance towards Five, '''"I was one badly controlled impulse away from draining Five like a Capri Sun. If I wander back into their aura again... best I avoid it."''' He doesn't look Five's way for long, and it's rather clear by his expression that the poor boy is suffering from some kind of emotional setback. Something akin to shame, maybe. '''"Besides, you two are far better suited for chasing after birds in a park than I. I'm wearing good shoes."''' --------- '''"...did he want to eat you?"''' Arnaud says, finally catching on, and glancing over his shoulder at Alexander - his attention wavers for a moment, caught between wanting to confront the vampire or chasing turkeys. Since Alexander is apologetic, he drops it. Not like he hasn't felt the same thing a time or two. '''"YOU OWE HER A BEER OR FIVE!"''' he calls. '''"IF WE ARE NOT BACK IN AN HOUR... well fuck, I guess you don't care."''' He speeds up, chasing the fowl together with Norman and Five, no particular attempts at being stealthy, yet. --------- Glancing over his shoulder, it's there. That brief look. It's Norm looking at Five and deciding because she's here not to shift into the shape of a wolf. He's off and running though at a fast ground-eating pace that comes almost too easily to him. Norman can run! With a shift of will he puts on the senses of a wolf and follows the scents as well as sounds of turkeys. He doesn't speak or make a sound except from incidental movement. It's a turkey hunt! --------- Following the movement the others seem to be running in, Five glances back at Alexander. '''"You /were/ the one that was able to scare them away,"''' she points out. '''"Maybe hang back and just cut them off if they others don't catch them?"''' she suggests before she gets too far. Although she runs along with the dragon, when the turkeys get in sight, the mortal follows the vampire's example and hangs back a bit. She isn't fearful of the turkeys, but she doesn't want to get in the middle between two hungry supernaturals and a bunch of magical turkeys! The turkeys are easy enough to find. They've found themselves caught on the small 'island' in the middle of the park. If anyone gets close enough, they start to feel that hungry sensation start to rise up again. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: 6 Result: Success (3) -- (10 8 9 1 6 3 2) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ --------- '''"Quite correct,"''' Alexander muses as he's left alone, '''"I don't much care..."''' He sighs and slips his phone out of his pocket and taps at the screen for a few moments, then presses it against his ear. '''"Hello, yes, Animal Care and Control? Yes, I'm well thank you, and you? Excellent. I'm calling to report a rather strange sight, yes... out in Washington Park there seems to be a gaggle, if that is the word, of aggressive turkeys running around. Yes, very unusual, that's what I thought. Oh possibly dangerous, yes, especially to children I imagine. Yes... yes of course. I last saw them in some scrub not too far from the main east-west pathway. Troubling indeed. Yes. Yes, thank you very kind-... oh, certainly I can stay on the line to complete your customer satisfaction survey."''' --------- <spend> Arnaud spends 1 point of his Willpower pool. +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 11 Dice +---------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Wyrd +3 Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (5 10 5 4 5 8 1 10 2 2 9 9 2) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ '''"I've had it with these foul fowl,"''' Arnaud says, and is now determined to resist the lure of these birds. He leaps, and midleap he is growing fucking /wings/ - they're sort of ephemeral and most definitely strange, but they're like the wings of a dragon. WIth powerful sweeps he is propelled forward, his eyes now glowing strangely as if part of his mien shines through to show his true self, as the powers of the Lost are utilised to give him better senses. He doesn't go all-out dragon, because there's a time and place and this isn't it, probably - though he seems to think the wings aren't so bad. Least it's dark and there's not a lot of people. Right? So, he flies up and then swoops downwards to do a full-out attack in the center of these damnable birds. --------- +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Primal Urge Result: Failure -- (4 6 4 7 6 3) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Norman rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Weaponry.Knives +2 -2 -2 Result: Success (1) -- (9 1 2 5 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ He's running and on the hunt now, and Norman retains his two-footed form mainly out of concern for Five. Drawing the knife at his hip, he seamlessly leaps to the attack and falls upon the nearest turkey in an all-out manner meant to drive cold steel into hot turkey meat! --------- +---------------------------+ Arnaud rolls 8 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Brawl.Bite -2 Result: Success (3) -- (4 6 1 9 10 7 10 2 4 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ Arnaud swoops around so he can flank these birds together with Norman - it's almost like he knows how to work in a team! He pounces on one of them and bites down as hard as he can, wings folding up behind him as he lands with a thud pretty much ON the turkey. --------- The turkeys are easy enough to take down, there's just a lot of them! Their delicious, tender flesh is easy enough to slice through with both claw and knives! Blood and feathers splatter everywhere. An occasional last 'gobble' is heard as a bird is taken down. The duo manage to take care of most of the flock, though there's still a few needing to be culled. Five is watching this carnage from a safe distance! Looking over her shoulder toward Alexander as he makes his called, her brows furrow as she calls out, '''"Uh, you might need to make it a clean up."''' She gives a nod toward the bird brawl. --------- '''"Yes, let's kill them all and not actually find out where they're from,"''' Alexander sighs as he watches the battle from the sidelines. Sort of like where the King would actually be in a game of chess. He's hung up the phone by now, having completed the godawful survey. He leans against a nearby and conveniently-placed tree to muse a little more, before noticing that there is a turkey standing on his foot looking up at him like a lost puppy. '''"Oh. Fuck you, bird."''' --------- Norm just lays about himself with the knife, stabbing, twisting, murdering turkeys! Their death-gobbles warm his predator heart! By the end of easy target acquisition he has feathers and turkey blood all over his hands, some of it spattered on his jacket and even a little on his face. He looks like he tried to kill a bunch of bloody pillows. Hungrily looking around, he eagerly searches for more alive birds so he can send them straight to turkey hell! --------- '''"So good,"''' Arnaud growls and jumps onto another bird, but he has resisted their lure and goes to clawing them instead. '''"Don't eat them!"''' he warns, because Lost know too well about eating magical things that wants to be eaten, at least if they resist the magic. He kills another bird, and swings around with wings sweeping out to knock them over while he's at it, raking claws and snarling like the beast he is. Feathers and blood spray all over. Maybe he's enjoying this a little TOO much, and isn't paying attention to Five right now. --------- Five's back is mostly turned toward Alexander! He's stayed back, all the birds are in front of her being slaughtered by the beasts, and she totally trusts him! Hearing his commentary about trying to find out more about the birds, Five cups her hands around her mouth so her shout could be heard over the commotion. '''"Hey! See if you can save one or get some remains that can be looked at?"''' she suggests. Those turkeys had to come from somewhere, right? The turkey on Alexander's foot peers up at him with those big bird eyes that just express how delicious it must be. Just being around the turkey seems to stir that hunger in the vampire again! --------- +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 5 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure +Blood Potency Result: Success (3) -- (5 9 10 3 8 7) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +--------------------------+ Alexander rolls 1 Dice +--------------------------+ Roll: Willpower -2 Result: Failure -- (4) +-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+ Five is conveniently far enough away that Alexander focuses squarely on the bird. And now he's hungry. The apex predator (sorry Norm, but it's true) just lets out a jet of a sigh from his nose and reaches down to collect the bird in his arms. He's not a big muscle man, but he manages, '''"I don't even understand what the big deal is. You're just an uglier goose."''' He glances at the bird and rolls his eyes, '''"Oh hells, fine!"''' Fangs out, lean in, fangs in, sluuuuuuurp. It probably doesn't take very long for a hungry Daeva to completely drain an unresisting bird. Ah well, better that than downing Five like a cheap beer. --------- Norm stands among the carnage, blood dripping from his knife as he looks around. There are none left! They're all dead, one or two twitching. Maybe they're gobbling down the tunnel toward the light. He looks mystified at Five's request and says, '''"...I think we killed em all."''' Looks to Arnaud and only then does it register. Don't eat them? His knife's covered in turkey blood. Lick. --------- Arnaud whirls around to look for more turkeys to kill, and finding none, he rolls his shoulders and folds his wings back properly. Not that he can hide them, they're fucking huge. He brushes some feathers off of his jacket in a very posch and haughty gesture, totally disregarding the fact he's got blood all over his face and feathers in his hair and looks like a man who just murdered a bunch of birds. '''"Oh right, we were going to look for where they came from."''' He looks over at Five and Alexander. He picks up one of the dead birds that is mostly whole and holds it up helpfully. --------- Five's eyes are WIDE when she catches movement from the corner of her eye and looks to see Alexander feasting upon the turkey. Whoa, she takes a feeeew steps back. There's a look of concern, unsure of how these birds are effecting her friends. '''"Don't you have a friend or know someone that likes to poke at this stuff?"''' Five questions of Arnaud, remembering someone mentioned what happened with the remains of that insect monster they encoutered. '''"Let's grab it and get out of here."''' --------- '''"Wouldn't eat it if I were you,"''' Alexander calls out with a dead turkey hanging from his hand, '''"Tastes bitter. More bitter than usual. Metallic too. But more metallic than usual. Maybe poison? Maybe just weird blood."''' This would be a very weird time for any person of authority to show up, a man in a three piece suit, overcoat, nicely polished shoes holding a dead turkey and talking about poison. '''"Woah... maybe they ate some mushrooms before this... I can SEE sound, my dudes."''' --------- Norm licks the knife and looks scowlingly at the turkey corpses. It's kind of a disappointment, to say the least. He ends up looking around for some mud to clean the blade off before he starts whipping it around, trying to shake off any residual nasty. It's just a suddenly disgusted look. '''"It just ain't right."''' he mutters, looking mainly to Arnaud. '''"I dunno. Maybe just say screw all this and leave em to rot. They ain't gonna bother nobody now."''' --------- '''"Five, BURN THEM!"''' Arnaud suggests, and gestures generally at the bird corpses. '''"Nobody will know what happened."''' Right, because a bonfire like that will not draw attention at all. He thumbs-up at Alexander for the tip, and shows no interest in eating any of these birds, especially not after knowing what they taste like. '''"You really got high from eating it? Anyway, Five is right. Let's go see if my friend Doc Solomon is home, he might know what is up with these."''' He takes his leather jacket off and wraps it around the dead turkey in an attempt to hide it, and then his long scarf too. Besides, if someone asks, he can just say 'turkey'. Don't people walk around with turkeys this time of year? He looks forlorn for a moment, and then shakes his wings out in full glory. For a moment they glow faintly like the sun before they dissipate into tiny motes of light, and then fade into nothing. --------- '''"Norm,"''' Alexander says as he finally makes his way towards the group, '''"If they can poison me... woah..."''' he reaches out to steady himself against one of the many figures of Norman currently in his vision, '''"They'll probably kill anything that eats it, or puts their hands all over it. Like a coyote, or a small child..."''' He sways rather prominently, like a drunkard with none of the slurred speech, '''"We don't get poisoned. Not unless it's got some mystic woo-woo bullshit in it."''' Alexander furrows his brow at the mention of burning, '''"What if the poison comes out in the smoke... gets in the air..."''' He swoons slowly and blinks several times, '''"Ugh, high with a side of my insides feeling like I've got knives up my ass. Christ, Hastings wasn't this bad and I got a hammer to my ribs then..."''' --------- '''"Maybe Arnaud's smart friend can figure it out. You seemed to get hit by it most,"''' she says to Alexander, inviting him along. Five offers to take the bird from Arnaud, watching the dragon with a bit of a smile as he texts his friend! --------- Arnaud pats Alexander on the shoulder. '''"Enjoy it while it lasts."''' Pragmatism at its best. Then he takes off!

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Edit Log: Terribly Toxic Thanksgiving Turkeys