Chasing Omens [Open]

[Mardvosa (DELETED 9357)]

The goal of this thread is the pursuit of clues for my character for her backstory within a two-months abandoned motel in Harper Rock, called Motel Luna. Though this doesn't necessarily need to have a conclusion or actual clues (I can always find a way to advance the story if this doesn't pan out), and in fact pretty much anything could be there or happen there, which is why I'd like to make this an open thread for collaborative storytelling, and hopefully make something neat out of it! Feel free to hop in/out at your leisure (though please give me a PM poke if you do hop out), add any strange or mundane occurances as you like, no character limit in posts.

The place would be almost entirely quiet, if not for the eerie scraping of leaves on the asphalt carried by the wind. It's difficult to imagine that the place had seen life not two months ago, for it seemed as if deserted for about half a year, decay beginning to creep into the very walls of the vaguely moonlit motel. It seemed like a classic place out of a movie, the left hand side having a large building where the owner likely stayed, and the right hand side with rows of the faces of rooms, most of the windows now broken with their dull curtains occasionally having fallen off entirely. It's neon signs were long busted, and the front entrance was partially blocked off by a toppled, completely irrepairable vending machine with glass littering the floor. Already the place had been defaced with graffiti sprayed across the once white walls, which had now lost their color and had become gray and unappealing in the little moonlight that crept through the thick clouds. A close rumbling could be heard from above, and it would not be long before a veritable downpour might begin, completely unpredicted by weather forecasts. Occasionally, a door from one of the top rooms can be heard and seen opening and closing by the wind, it's lock completely busted, likely by some vandal some time ago. It was hard to imagine there would be anything left to find here, concerning her old friends Mitch and Daniel, whom had come here two months ago in search of their mutual lost friend, Lisa. Maryl remembered the voicemail, the pleading of Mitch to come to this place to speak. She would have been here, if not for the accident, if not for the turning...

But there was little time for regrets, as the downpour steadily began, and Maryl had to run beneath the walkways of the upper rooms for cover from the oncoming deluge. She reached for a small satchel at her side to take out a flashlight, with which she struggled a moment in order to make it lit. She hadn't had any need for one for quite a while now, though if she was going to look for details, light was a necessity. This was not without risk, however. The motel was on the outskirts of town, just at the border of the surrounding wilderness. If she wasn't careful, some unwanted company might ask what she's doing here. Not that she didn't have a legitimate reason to be searching this eerie place at night, but this was something personal. And despite the fact that having some backup would be nice right now, she was never very fond of having to explain herself, a trait she's kept from her younger days. Though, as her mind wandered briefly to the past as she gathered her courage, she couldn't help but reflect that once again she is delving into an abandoned place at night, like the merry excursions that she used to do with her friends, laughing around as amateuristic investigators of the occult. The irony was not lost on her that right now, she would do almost anything to not know the things she knew now, to not be... this.

[Roleplay Trait: Soothsayer]

Maryl took a deep breath as the sky rumbled loudly once more, it's tremors causing glass fragments from a window nearby to clatter on the ground. Instinctually, she turned the flashlight to see naught but the broken glass, though the longer she looked, the more she realised that the shards seemed to have fallen in some kind of shape, strangely almost like a bird in flight. A shiver ran down her spine, which made her freeze in place, for it was a sensation she'd not felt ever since she became what she is, now. The longer her gaze lingered upon the shards, the more uneasy she felt, especially with the addition of the absence of her reflection in them. In her gut, she felt it was some manner of ill omen, though she was not in a state of mind to try and interpret it, instead kicking the shards to disrupt the image. She sharply inhaled as one of the glass shards pierced her right shoe and cut into her toe, digging it out with her fingers. "****, just my luck..." she muttered as she looked over the glass shard in her hand, cursing under her breath. She should've known better than to mess with such omens. Her attention shifted to the reflection in the glass shard as she saw something moving in it, behind her, near the front entrance of the motel, and immediately moved her flashlight there to try and catch what it was.

Nothing. Just the rain and the eerie creaking of the wooden walkway above her, straining with the wind. Her breathing had stopped entirely, and for the first time, she conciously noticed that she did not need to breathe. Closing her eyes, and gathering her courage and sanity, she began to step onward with a slight, barely noticeable limp in her step. She completely opened the front door that had been ajar due to the fallen vending machine, and cautiously stepped inside of the reception area. The furniture was oddly still there, papers strewn across the floor, many made blank by water puddles on the ground that didn't seem to have anywhere to go. The wind coarsed eeriely through the room as she began to search, trying to find what happened to the place. Trying to find her friends from another life. Grasping at omens that could well just exist in her own, deteriorating mind.

<wearing>

[Doc]

It was a wet night. A night that one should stay in. But Doc was feeling restless. He had recently turned his businesses over to a business manager, so his time was more relaxed. Less calls were made on his time, as Cyril warmed to his position as business manager. But the thing about having free time, he was alone with his own thoughts far too much.

Yes, he has been planning a more visible role in the vampire community. He had been working on it, steadily. But there were few that seemed to understand and agree with his cause. He wasn’t giving up, it merely meant it would take more time. These type of things could not be rushed. You had to cast the lure, and wait for the appropriate bite, before you set the hook. And right now, Doc was waiting. The irony of the situation was he had more positive re-enforcement from those he had put a bullet in, rather than those that fought beside him. It had been highly disconcerting. Which led him to rethink quite a few things.

Change was necessary for vampire kind. And no one liked change. He didn’t, why would anyone else be any different from him? But it was so very clear in his mind it had to happen, if they were to have a chance in this world where the masquerade no longer protected them. They were just one incidence away from wholesale slaughter and annihilation. He needed to clear his head, to escape the burdening thoughts, and hunt.

So he was out on this wet night, hunting. But not as a vampire, but rather as a more base animal form, a Puma. He wanted to track, follow and finally kill his prey, without having the vampire community blamed for the innocent death that was sure to happen. Therefore he chose the run down derelict part of the city that was butted up to the thickets that quickly turned into the wilderness. But even as an animal, the weather was disconcerting, and so the Puma waited out the heaviest part of the storm in an abandoned building. This type of rainfall would keep all prey inside. No sense being wet and miserable when there was shelter, so the Puma settled down for a quick rest… until he heard the voice. The Puma growled.

[Mardvosa (DELETED 9357)]

Water leaked through a hole from the floor above into a pool as she gazed around what once was a reception area, toppled decaying chairs and junk strewn about the floor, and in between the rumbling of the outside weather, she heard it. At first it seemed like a strange noise, though as it continued as briefly as it did, it was unmistakenly the growling of an animal in the very next room. Was that what she'd seen in the glass' reflection at the front door?

Maryl didn't think she'd be having a fight as she came here, and thus had come unarmed. But an animal was no match for the unnatural physique that now belonged to her, though she had long felt weaker than ever before. She'd learned to take no chances, and from a nearby wooden chair, she loudly snapped off one of it's legs to serve as a makeshift piercing weapon. The irony wasn't lost on her that she was basically holding a wooden stake, and it felt ridiculous to hold it in her hands. Better than nothing. She had no choice but to find whatever critter lingered here and either do away with it, or scare it off, for there was no way she'd be able to search thoroughly without the risk of something jumping her.

Steadily, she crept forward to the next room, certain that the creature lingered there. Anticipating that whatever it was would leap forward at the sight of her, she braced the 'stake' forward in preparation to lunge it towards it's head. Turning the corner, instinctively her vampiric fangs were bared in reaction to seeing a sizeable puma, her amber eyes glinting with the thrill of the hunt, ready for it to make it's move. Something felt off about it's presence, but her untrained fledgeling senses couldn't make sense of it as she stared the puma down...

[Doc]

The Puma’s growling became lower and slower as the sound of splintering wood was heard. Before the growl had been a warning, ‘I’m here.. You should leave. Leave now.’ However, the sounds the Puma heard were not the hurried steps of someone fleeing, but rather the sounds of someone becoming more stealthy and making a weapon or shield of some sort. So the growl had changed timbre from warning to that of softer, more menacing one. The waiting pose became more predatory, the Puma’s body slunk down into a crouch in preparation for a springing pounce. Its gaze was pinned unwaveringly toward the barely audible stealthy steps of its prey.

Odd. The Puma should have smelled the adrenaline induced sweat. Being a hunter, he had become very well attuned to the sights and smells of human prey. Even more attuned since he had been turned, so it was odd, that In a situation as this, the heartbeat should be racing, sweat glands kicked into gear. But there was no discernible smell, or racing heart. Then came the first look at the prey. Female. Vampire. Alone. The Puma’s eyes narrowed as it appraised her. Her path was one he wasn’t overly familiar with. He had learned some of the powers, but it wasn’t in his nature to use them. He preferred the more tactile powers. But most importantly, this vampire was also young. Weak. And alone.

The Puma sighed in an irritated manner. His anticipated fun, tearing into flesh and bone, had just disappeared. Even if she attacked him, there would be no thrill. It would be like swatting a fly. Perfunctory. He had hoped for a group.. Three or four…The Puma canted its head to look past her, perhaps there was another two or three waiting in the wings. But the seconds ticked by, then the minutes, but no other vampires appeared. The Puma’s eyes flicked from past the female to the female’s face, and yawned. It wasn’t a sleepy yawn. It was a yeah. Bored now. It looked toward the sheeting rain, then back at the female. He huffed.

The predatory crouch eased into a relaxed slump, the paws that had been flexed, stretched and then relaxed, re-sheathing the razor sharp claws. The puma had not completely discounted the female. She could still attack him; and if she did, he considered it only proper that he give her the ability to at least try to take him by surprise. The Puma’s head came to rest on the forelegs.

[Mardvosa (DELETED 9357)]

She'd stared down the puma, anticipating it would leap towards her, still. Until it didn't. The staredown between them both seemed anticlimactic for several minutes, up until the puma simply yawned and went to lay down elsewhere with a bored gaze. "... seriously? Not even a hiss? Do I taste -that- bad?" she muttered, lowering the stake and trying to jest at the situation. "Not interested, huh? Story of my life...". Her fangs retreated with a soft sigh, though she was thankful she wasn't going to have to buy new clothes, again. Glancing around, it seemed to be the living room of whomever owned the place, with a torn sofa, some drawers where a presumably now stolen television stood, and tasteless posters on the walls. Her gaze lingered on the puma for a while, still, trying to gauge it's strange behavior and aura. "You're different, aren't you?" she spoke to the puma. "Though I bet, just like everyone else, you don't bother with explanations." she muttered in a defeated tone, frustrated that she was still grasping around in the dark for any sort of explanation of her condition, and all that is attached to it.

The weather began to grow heavier outside, every rumble from the clouds making whatever flimsy windows remained tremble along with the sound. Maryl sighed at the strange behavior of the puma and decided she'd tolerate it peacefully, for now. There were more important things to take care of. For a brief moment, she went back to the reception area and took a dusty ledger she'd spotted after entering, and took it back with her to the decrepit living room where the puma resided. There, she took a seat on a yet relatively clean chair in the corner. Before beginning to look through the ledger with the hopes it was still intact, she continued: "If you know anything about what happened to this place, I'd appreciate it if you spoke up, though. Or you can stay grumpy and mysterious, that's fine by me. I just know something is off about this place..." She contemplated whether she was going even more insane as she was talking to a puma, before opening the ledger, from which dirt fell to the floor and dust sprung up into the air, and began to read as she held the stake handy, and the puma in the corner of her view...

[Doc]

The Puma lifted a lazy eyelid to briefly look at the female, as her comments about ‘not even a hiss’, to which the Puma let out a half hearted huff, that definitely failed as a hiss. Once again closing its eyes, it listened in somewhat grudging amusement as she continued to carry on a one sided conversation. However when she said that he wouldn’t bother with explanations, the puma lifted its head in an affronted manner. He was, in his own opinion, an excellent instructor.

However, the Puma recognized her frustration about knowledge. He had suffered through it himself. Knowledge was the key to everything. How did a person grow, if they did not have the knowledge base to allow that growth. It wasn’t like he could speak to her in this form; and it would really awkward for him to retake his human form, seeing how he would be naked. Then she would attack him, claim he was trying to rape her or something else equally annoying. So Puma form he would stay.

As the Puma mulled over the female’s words, she left the room to go rummage about elsewhere. Curiosity needled him. He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of information she was after? Powers? Well he would not have been much help about her path, he was less than proficient in it at best. To be honest, the only power of the Mystic he really ever used was teleport; and he didn’t use it, that often. Perhaps the history of their kind? He had yet to get any suitable answers to any of his questions about that, so it wouldn’t be like he could tell her that.

Still mulling over what she was wanting know, the female wandered back into the room carrying a book. She made herself comfortable in one of the few chairs that remained in a usable state. Then she spoke again, chiding him for not speaking.

The Puma huffed again. Speak to her? Like a puma form had the vocal chords that could manage human speech. Not ******* likely. The Puma gave her the middle finger. Well, as best as a feline can give someone the middle finger. Felines joints aren’t the same as humanoid joints. But the Puma was sure she got the point. He would choose to be grumpy and mysterious, thank you very much.

Except.

That curiosity was still there. ‘Something is off about this place’ she had said. Was she referring to the hovel? Or the City? What had she found? What did it say? The Puma sat up and looked around the the perimeter of the building that he could see. What was she looking for? What had piqued her interest? Why this place? He did love a puzzle, and this was a puzzle of sorts. Rising to all four paws, he padded over to her, pointedly butting his head at her arm, in order to get a better look at the book that intrigued her.

[Mardvosa (DELETED 9357)]

She looked up briefly from the ledger to see the puma's gesture, and softly smirked: "Well, at least now I know I'm not just talking to myself, here." This unexpected encounter had lightened things up a bit, though there was still an aura of eerieness about the place. And she knew she had seen something. Something that was not this creature she was talking to, in the guise of a puma. She continued perusing the ledger's final pages, until she seemed to have found what she was looking for, and muttered:. "Room 9. Strange... they didn't check out. In fact, doesn't seem like anyone did... something happened to this place, suddenly. But what..." she gently rubbed her forehead in thought before she tore out the page she needed and softly closed the ledger, reaching to stand, again. "I'm headed out there. You do you, I suppose. Just... be careful. I saw something, before we met, though I'm not sure what, exactly."

Maryl began to look for a way up to the motel rooms, quite certain that whatever the puma was going to do, she had no say in it, and within a few minutes encountered the busted back door, which was barely keeping the wind at bay. She opened the door with some effort, and it seemed that would be the last time said door would ever be closed again, as the splintering of wood was heard and the rainy wind rushed into the room. The light-hearted aura had faded as quickly as it had come along, replaced once again by the eerie surroundings. Barely phased, and holding a hand before her face, Maryl determinedly stepped into the foul weather, to ascend the nearby stairs. Though, only a few steps in, her gaze settled upon another, unexpected clue: The side of the building they were just in had a -huge- claw mark against the wall, going up the stairs. The damage to the roof was vaguely visible from there, as well, pieces of collapsed roof, one after the other, almost like a trail of footprints. Her steps slowed down as it all began to sank in, her movement becoming quiet and cautious, even in the raging weather. She did not think to feel such ever again, this palpable sense of... dread.

[Doc]

The Puma eyed her, as she tore the page out of the book and muttered something about Room Nine and she was headed out to Room Nine to take a look. He huffed. Well as least now he had an answer to unasked question. The hovel or the city. The answer was.. This particular hovel. He was staying here were it was dry. Yes this was a form that he could change at will. But they were also very close to the wilderness. And the Wilderness meant.. Faes. They were nasty things. Nasty and deadly. He had been on the receiving end of their ire too many times to risk it again. He had discovered that while in an animal form, the fae overlooks him. But female, she was young. She wouldn't have this knowledge. If the fae were out and about.. They might just attacked her.

As she left, the Puma wondered what brought her here? Is this the place where she had been turned? Or did someone she know die here? Or.. wait. She had commented that no one had checked out. The Puma pawed at the book, and flicking out a claw, carefully paged through the register. Even though she had taken the last page, there was still enough information on the next to last page to show him, that the motel had not been empty as long as he had assumed it had.

The Puma looked about the building. It was a shambles. Staring at the pages, the dates were relatively recent. But the state of the building.. Made it appear it had been derelict for decades. Yes. The elements were brutal. Winters in Harper Rock were not easy ones. They would make their marks on a building. But not to this extent, in such a short period of time. The Puma settled down and stared at the blank page after the page the female had torn out. Could he make out the impressions? And even if he could, he doubted he knew any of the people that had their names scribbled there. What was she looking for?

[Mardvosa (DELETED 9357)]

With some effort, Maryl had finally made her way up the stairs, overlooking the row of motel rooms and the nearby, empty parking lot surrounded by greenery and large trees, now eeriely swinging heavily in the strong wind. The wooden boards creaked heavily beneath her feet as she steadily stepped further, her footsteps mostly covered by the noise of the weather and rainfall. Calmly, she began to peer through each and every room's window to see shattered furniture scattered about, a decrepit mattress leaning against the wall, a half-broken door constantly hitting a wall, driven by the wind. The closer she would step to the ninth room, the more she could hear something strange. Something like a rythmic growling, like the puma's, only much deeper...

When finally she stepped closer to the window of the room she was looking for, it felt strangely more bleak than all the others, devoid of colour. As slowly as she could, she peered across the corner and her eyes opened wide, for she saw an almost purely black, shadowy creature with a maw of large, dagger-like teeth, a long neck and no eyes that seemed to be sniffing about the room. Immediately Maryl pulled back, just as the creature began to turn. What was this new horror she hadn't seen before? Swiftly trying to sneak across the wooden boards, she attempted to hide in the room next to it, behind a wardrobe that had seen better days. But the dark creature knew something was out there, sniffing about on the walkway, trying to catch a scent. Maryl briefly closed her eyes, trying to remain calm and pondering on what to do, and on how much of a bad idea it was to come here unarmed...

[Doc]

The book revealed nothing of merit to him. There were names, yes. But the names that he could make were not significant to him. Yawning, a single claw flicked the book closed, and the big feline stretched. The book would tell him nothing. He suspected that the female was hunting for a lost person that she knew. Since she did not share that information with him, he was doubtful that following her out into wind and rain, would do anything for her or him.

Padding back to his previous spot, the Puma once more settled down to wait out the storm. It had been some time since the female left, and still the storm raged. The weather in Canada could be brutal and unpredictable, and he had learned it was best to just relax and chill while waiting for a lull in the storm. Pacing and getting annoyed wouldn’t cause the weather to hasten itself to an ending. However, the wait was a welcome respite from phone calls, and the pressures of world at large. Closing his eyes, in attempt at napping, the destroyed state of the motel tickled his mis thoughts.

This part of the city wasn’t known to be in a rundown area, where gang activity was rampant. Gangs could ruin an empty building in a matter of weeks. But this area, was too close to the wilderness for that to be the cause of the damage. So what had happened here? He had not really given the outside of the building a critical eye when he decided to take refuge from the storm there. It had been shelter, and any shelter in a storm had been his mindset. Now he thought back, what did he remember seeing? Shattered windows. But that could have been the result of vandals, or storms. That wasn’t proof of anything.

Lifting a lazy eyelid, the Puma glanced at the walls, no blackened areas that would denote explosions, no pitting that would say gunfire. But there had been structural damage, curious.