First Degree Commotion [MM]

[Storyteller]

Title: First Degree Commotion
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Characters: Lionsheart Steel, Karina

Lionsheart Steel must post first, outlining a story on the following theme (feel free to get creative):

Setting: A murder scene in a large office building
Backstory: The group were out (alone or together) enjoying some down time (some or all characters).
Occurance: You come across a ghost who needs help.
Variable: You feel something is amiss.

Participants: 2
ARES: yes
Speed: very slow
Chapter: no
Minimum Words Per Post: none
Maximum Words Per Post: none

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This thread was generated via the Roleplay Matchmaking System.

[Lionsheart Steel]

Lions found himself going somewhat stir-crazy, it had been quite some time since he'd last really ventured out for anything more than to pop to the shop across the road for 'supplies'. 'Rina had given him quite a lot of crafting material and some easy to follow instructions too: 'Stay here, make stuff, stay off the 'net and stay out of trouble.' Clear, concise and incredibly simple to follow... or so you'd think. He'd stayed off the list, burned up all of the viable materials, picked up a few more essentials at the shop, used those too, decided to take up making jewellery.... rinse and repeat.
"F*** this for a game of soldiers... How much longer do I have to mope around in here?" This was directed at no-one in particular, which was fortunate, as there wasn't another soul in earshot! Booting a piece of stray metal that lay on the floor beside the crafting bench brought just a hint of a smile to his face as it ricocheted around the room finally spinning to a halt beside the ritual altar. That brought his attention to that particular item. He'd begun to mess around with some of the powers he'd almost accidentally accrued whilst in Ty all that time ago and his thoughts now turned to rituals, having a knife and a few ingredients made the thought of playing with 'mysticals' (his term for anything he didn't really understand) rather appealling. Taking the few short steps
towards it and rifling through his craft sack only to realise that he'd stowed any and all ritual connected items in the lockbox at the shop. "B*******!" His capacity to get bored seemed to far outweigh any desire to follow orders, some time before Ree and other people that dabbled with 'mysticals' had warned him not to play with what you don't understand and yet here he had been about to do just that! Maybe it was just as well that he'd locked it all away.
Picking up the off-cut of metal he'd kicked and tossing it into the scrap bin, "It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a quick tidy around Lions ya mucky git!" grabbing a brush as he giggled to himself. "Ree would have a stage one meltdown if She saw this s***hole.... and for f**** sake.... when did I start talking to myself? You know what mate?... You should get out more... mhm" and he found himself nodding in agreement, the years of isolation are not kind on the psyche. He cleaned and swept until the hidey hole was immaculate, all tools replaced and bins emptied. Surveying the room and sighing loudly whilst taking a seat on the crafting bench, his idle fingers drummed against its surface... the guy was swiftly running out ideas to keep himself occupied and knew it would
be hours to wait for 'Rina to return. That lady was his favourite distraction, obsession even, a light in the dark! And he... well he was like a moth drawn to it.
It wasn't long, the drumming turned into fidgeting, this in turn became pacing up and down and before he knew it, the front door was in front of him and he slipped the lock and wandered out into world. At first he kidded himself that it was just a trip to the shop, then it might be that he could do a stock check at The Skewed Moral Compass... finally he found himself grinning like a loon as the window on the darkened office building clicked at his touch... A spot of breaking and entering it was to be then eh?!
Sitting on the window ledge for quite a while he allowed his eyesight to adjust to the dim corridor which was in sharp contrast to the well lit street outside. Once content with his vision, he dropped quietly onto the carpeted floor and staying close to the walls began his tour of the place, all the time acutely aware that his last B&E hadn't ended well. This time would be different though, he was sure, taking no chances he was on full alert and all senses were heightened.... so much so... that he could smell blood? WTH? Something is most definitely out of sorts here! Why would an office smell like this? Interest now firmly piqued, he followed his nose...
Rounding the corner, the corridor opened into a large and well laid out spacious office, that had ten good sized cubicles arranged evenly along the walls. The lighting in here, although a touch brighter, was far from acceptable working levels, it was probably this subtle change that was drawing his attention towards the floor outside of one of the 'cells'. What appeared to be dark liquid was reflecting the low glow, the unmistakeable smell of blood hung heavier in the air here too. Moving cautiously closer Lions heard a noise and stopped dead in his tracks, canted his head and listened intently, there it was again! It sounded like someone sobbing. Again he eased himself forward, aware that he was in the middle of the room, in plain view of anyone that might enter... but this was one of those times where curiosity meant he had to investigate.
Edging ever closer the image was forming, he could now clearly see first the feet and then nylon clad legs of a woman, another step and the rest came into view. She lay on the floor of the 'office', in an enormous pool of blood, with what appeared to be a single gunshot wound in her chest... but she wasn't the one 'sobbing', no, from her demeanour it was blatantly obvious this young woman was quite dead. Kneeling alongside her though was an almost totally transparent, incorporeal figure... and here lay the source of the weeping. These were not unfamiliar to him, his wife had introduced spirits to him when many years ago he'd been a guest in the place he shudderingly refered to as : The Hotel Realmafornia. However, back then it had been for him to use to grow stronger... here though, he believed he was witnessing the spirit of this poor lifeless soul, mourning her own loss. Harper Rock could be incredibly hard on the heart and a persons outlook on 'life'. And lords know it had tainted
Lions! He wasn't a monster though and something about the scene tugged a chord within him, without thinking his mouth opened and words fell out. "What happened?"
The apparition gave out a surprised squeal as her head snapped around to gawp at him, the eyes and face were incredibly defined and absolutely brimming with fear, everything else about the figure just milled about like a thick localised fog, the mouth opened repeatedly as if speaking but no sounds were to be heard. Once again Lions found himself speaking. "What happened?....I'm sorry, I can't hear you... are you trying to say something?" Tilting his head as he moved closer as if trying to hear her unspoken words. Watching her from the corner of his eye, he tried to lip read to decifer, her mouthing became more frantic and it was plain she had something to say, presently he shook his head and sighed."I don't know what you're saying?" accompanying this statement with a shrug of his shoulders. As he watched her fear filled eyes welled with ghostly tears and her mouth dropped into a silent wail... that without warning turned into an earsplitting anguished cacophany of pain!
Lions's hands clasped his ears as he futilely tried to dull the roar. "STOP!" His own cry causing the sound to cease just as suddenly as it had started. "Help me?"The voice sobbed moments later. Slowly removing his hands, yet keeping them at shouler height, as if it might happen again he nodded. "Yes..... yes I can, please don't scream..."his words trailed off as he realised how that might sound to someone that had just died painfully and here he was wincing because of loud noises. The female figure's mass swirled like angry storm clouds with only the face having any 'real' features, these were etched with pain and sadness. "Help me...?" Her voice now just soft, sad and questioning and it was all he could do to nod as he replied. "Yes..." His mind raced, saying he'd help... how exactly? Maybe she wasn't dead? That thought hadn't really occurred to him until now, stepping around the pooled fluid he reached for the bodies wrist and attempted to find a pulse, not even sure how he knew to do this or if he was even doing it right. "Help me..?" She'd spoken again and once again he nodded whilst concentrating on his investigation of her arm.
"Help meeee...?" This time the voice had cracked completely and dissolved into loud mournful sobs once again. It became clear that there was no pulse to find... in fact he was already sensing that the heat he felt when around the living was nowhere near as vivid as it should be and he shook his head, this motion caused the figure to once again collapse into a pain filled howl of anguish. His thoughts spilled out into the room. "If only Ree was here... She'd know what to do" Karina had knowledge of this stuff, mysticals could probably fix the girl and her pain, he could call her? Hmm, then She'd be p***ed that he'd blatantly disregarded her advice to stay in...if I don't call her... and the girl could have been saved?.. But hold on... he'd been starting his journey, he'd gained
some powers... did he have anything that would work? Wracking his brain and coming up empty handed he slumped down to his knees besides the pair, once again the large round eyes stared out at him. "Help me?" Lions was not a particularly empathic man... in fact quite far from it, he'd no memory of any previous life before his vampiric one and having spent a number of years with Tytonidae, was more than used to dealing out death to those that deserved it, whether that be by distanced shot, or close quarter combat. This however, was a different kettle of fish, the girl, very clearly in distress, was unable to process what was happening... If he had even an idea... he'd run with it! He didn't though and this uselessness was choking him. "Please... tell me what happened?" curious as to why a young woman would have been 'executed' so cold bloodedly, but the girl just returned his look as once again the wailing recommenced. The sound was like nothing he'd ever heard before and it was all he could do to try and comfort her, reaching to touch the swirling maelstrom where her hand should be, the wail turned to a shriek, her eyes an explosion of abject terror and a split second later, she upped and ran, disappearing into nothing as the wailing faded with her.
As he knelt there trying to process what he'd just been witness to, he heard again the sobbing, distant sure, and yet sobbing nonetheless! "Come back... tell me what happened, let me find who did this" Wanting to know the story, hell, he wanted to avenge what he couldn't possibly see as justified... this girl could scarcely have warranted such a merciless killing? Brushing his fingers over the bodies open eyes he closed the lids, it was the only constructive thing he could think of to do. Getting to his feet he straightened the knees of his jeans, he'd call it in anonomously after he'd cleared the building. The wails persisted even as he was slithering back through the window... what the hell? As he stepped out into the brightly lit street, pulling up his collars, his shoulders hunched and heading for home his thoughts returned to what he'd just seen... just as the mournful sound rared up again, this time though it was as if it was beside him, glancing around furtively for any sign of the girl... and finding none! "S***s getting weird around here, I need to get home and fast!"
The journey home proved to be no better, the shrieks and howls of the distressed woman punctuated by questioning cries for help filled his ears and were driving him to distraction, and yet it was as if passersby could hear nothing of her sorrowful pleas, he wished for all the world now that little outing had never taken place. His head swam with thoughts of how to stop the constant barrage of that aural assault, as he slipped through the door of the apartment at Alpha he had the inklings of a plan of action. Locking the door and draping his jacket atop the bed as he passed heading for the hidey hole...
Once secreted within he climbed aboard the crafting bench and resting his back against the wall, lifted sneaker clad feet onto the benchtop, knees drawn upto his chest and his arms circled them, hands finding comfort, fingers interlaced down by the shins. Concentrating he attempted to remember Chematts beautifully accented voice as she'd imparted something of her knowledge accrued with time, all the while he fought to keep his mind clear, the screams however continued to rage on..... and when he could stand it no more his decision was made... He would attempt to summon her and once here, calm her and if possible help the girl to find peace! Closing his eyelids he began to recant what he believed would be her summons, Sometimes a little knowledge is more dangerous than none....
The atmosphere in the room changed as if the pressure had been pumped up a few notches, the temperature fluctuated like a window allowing in the breeze, to the front of him a female figure slowly pulled itself together from an ethereal mist, Lions face glowed as a grin formed, he'd only gone and done it... first time around too! The apparition's countenance slowly grew in clarity at about the same rate as his smile disipated, the mouth wasn't moving and yet still the shrill voice was beseeching him for help... and to make matters more confusing, the visage was not the face of the murdered girl.... This 'wraith' had an appearance he would describe as angry as opposed to the hurt, anguished and bemused look of the shrieking woman. What the f*** had he done? Something wasn't right here? "Okay, okay...I gotta think about this." Backtracking on what he'd done did not reveal any mistake...did it? Substance was being plucked from the very air of the space as painfully slow progress was made on the body of the hazy looking image at the centre of the room, only now did Lions devolve into abject panic... Mysticals? He'd only just stepped onto this ladder and suddenly he wanted to get off it and quickly... "What the actual f*** have I done?" ~'Rina.... 'Rina..... You really need to get here now!~ Sending a panicked telepathic message to his lover, he feared what She'd say... but nowhere near as much as he was worrying about who or what was imposing itself in here right now. ~It's not a joke... Think I've f***ed up BIG TIME... and you're help would be appreciated~

[Karina]

It blew her mind that Lions was back in her life each day that she woke up next to him. She blew up one a mistake and walked away from him and yet here he was and it made her smile that she was able to make up for lost time. He had gotten on the wanted list a few times and she pretty much grounded him to the house to ensure that she would keep him safe because she would kill him before any of those money grubbing fiends showed up to her home to take him out. However with his grounding, it has made her work more because she made sure to have weapons and weapons parts for him. Each beast that she would take down, she would search them to make sure that she would gather everything that Lions could use while he was stuck at home. Rina has gathered several large hauls for him to work out and sell but he was blowing through the materials faster than she could get them.

She had just dumped a bunch of items on him a few days ago but her bag was getting full again. Rina was glad that she could help him out while he was bound at home. A few more beasts down and gathered some pretty good weapons. He could get good parts out of them and she smiled at his excitement as he had been getting better at making weapons. One more beast down and before she could search the body, his voice came screaming through her head. It took her off guard but it was enough to make her worry. Quickly checking her bag for ritual ingredients. Having what she needed, she left the body for someone else to search as she located him and teleported to Alpha Towers. Racing to the elevator, she pressed the button to the 13th floor repeatedly until the doors closed. The elevator annoyed her as it wasn't moving fast enough but her tome wasn't set to their apartment, it was set to her faction home so she had to deal with the speed that was given to her.

As the doors started to open, she rushed forward and turned sideways to squeeze through the barely open doors. Their home was just a few feet away. As she reached the door, she grabbed the knob and turned the handle. Throwing the door open, she rushed to their little hidden hole in the wall while forgetting to close the door behind her. "How bad are you wanted this time and did Mr. Mabitts' find hands for me." As she cleared the entrance of hidden location, she didn't close the wall behind her either as she stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the ghostly woman that wasn't De Lovely. She blinked a few times and the words caught in her throat. Taking a step forward, she slowly got the words to leave her lips. "Who...Who is...is that? Can you see her?"

[Storyteller]

==========AUTOMATED RANDOM EVENTS SYSTEM==========

Lionsheart Steel will soon find themselves separated from the rest of the group.

[Lionsheart Steel]

Lions was weighing his options... strangely most of them seemed to end in a similar manner: Run like the Devil himself was chasing him with a flame thrower! But he reckoned the wailing would follow him too.
Then he heard the apartment door fly open and Karinas urgent questioning. "I'm not on the list Love... Though I think this might be worse..."He shouted back. At that moment the hideyhole door flung open and his concubine appeared, at any time She was a sight he enjoyed beholding, but right about now 'Rina was like a very large dram of whisky, his nerves instantly began to unjangle as her voice cut through the charged air and he instantly felt as though a large dose of tramadol was administered. Even though Ree was puzzled as to the identity of the mystery 'being' Lions was convinced that some answers and possible solutions could be brokered. And maybe some respite from the noise in his head! Replying quickly, as if that was going to help his predicament!
"Ummm I don't know..." Taking a second to get his calmer head around what had happened before continuing. "Is it.... ummm... Is She... It... this..." He pointed in the direction of the steadily swirling mass. "...dangerous?"
Eyes now shifting to focus on his lady for answers, She'd had probably forgotten more about mysticals than he'd ever even know. " I mean.... Yes!... Dammit... I did -something-!" He swallowed hard, at some point this was all going to have to be said, might as well spit it out, 'Rina was most likely getting an inkling and he'd rather come clean and take the bo*****ing now... then maybe She would be more inclined to help sort this mess. "I messed with mysticals Ree... I know you said don't.... but I was trying to help..." His voiced trailed off and his shoulders shrugged, his eyes never left hers, infact they were desperately trying to read the facial expressions for hints of how the woman was processing this. Gods! He loved this woman and hated letting her down like this. "What did I do wrong?... This isn't the murdered girl..." as he said this the wailing subsided to a low sobbing. Karina of course didn't know anything about this 'girl' but to Lions the nights events were still incredibly fresh. "I need to know why... and the sobbing and wailing!..... Can you hear it?... Make it stop!" He doubted somehow that 'Rina would be able to hear it... nobody else on his way home appeared to.
Leaning back against the crafting bench, his hands thrust firmly into the pockets of his jeans... " I'm so sorry Ree... I only wanted a change of scenery... How bad is this f*** up and can we fix it?"

[Karina]

She continued to stare at the woman as Lions began to explain what was going on and what had happened. A baffling looked crossed her face as she hadn't checked to see what powers he had acquired lately while they were apart and yet here stood a ghostly woman. Rina had been able to see ghosts for years but she didn't know that Lions could let alone summon one. Her eyes darted from the woman to him. "You can see her?" Her focus remained on the ghostly figure that stood in their home and if this was a summoned wraith then she knew that it wasn't something that she could get rid of. Well she could with a ritual but that would depend on if Lions wanted to keep her around or not. "No, not dangerous but you summoned her?"

Lions began to explain further and she sighed as he said that he had been messing with what he called 'mysticals' again. He had gotten into trouble years ago when he tried and while she was just mastering the craft herself, she couldn't teach him so she told him not to do them. In her mind that was a way to keep him safe but here he was, dabbling again and he didn't tell her before hand so that she could help him. He was trying to help. Help who? Tilting her head as she tried to piece the puzzle together while trying to encourage him to continue. Her brows shot up as soon as he said 'murdered girl'. Her jaw dropped and it took her a minute to respond as she processed the new information. "Murdered girl?? What murdered girl? Who did you kill?" Shaking her head as she looked at the other woman that wasn't her beloved De Lovely before looking back at him. "I don't hear anything."

She wasn't sure what to do but he wanted her to make it stop and the only thing that she could do was mindblock him but as far as she knew it was only a one way power. He wouldn't be able to do anything but she would still be able to send him messages or do powers on him so she thought against it. Instead, she rushed over and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug but it lasted for only a moment before she let go of him and looked him in the eyes. "I need you to take me to the murdered girl. I need to see for myself and see if we can do damage control before this blows up." She shrugged her shoulders if he asked if they could fix it. "I don't know until I am able to size up the situation so take me and hopefully it's not too late."

[Lionsheart Steel]

"Summoned yes!... 'Rina I'm not really sure what I did wrong in the summoning." He seemed more than a little relieved as She replied that the entity wasn't dangerous. Her next question smashed him into the outfield though. Karina thought -he'd- murdered the girl? He shook his head vigorously as he refuted this. "No Ree... you don't understand, it wasn't -me- that killed her..." deliberately labouring the inference to himself. "...I just found her... dead. Murdered... No! Executed more like..... Single, clean shot in the chest..." wincing as he remembered that scene.
Just as he thought, his Lover couldn't hear the wails and crying which thankfully had ebbed to a low, choked, sobbing. "If you can't hear a girl in total despair then the noise is only in here!" Pointing a finger to his temple and poking it repeatedly as if to emphasise the statement. His eyes grew wide and round as he considered whether he was 'flipping that switch', a term that had come to his attention years before in relation to 'pires that had visited the realm too often! Could it be that just a couple of trips to that s***hole had began to undo his sanity? He wasn't sure quite what triggered the all too brief hug from 'Rina, but as She pulled away again and made eye contact he found himself considering what was now running through her mind. He didn't have to wait long and her words brought him sharply back to the here and now.
"I can take you... I don't know what good it will do?" His tone was quizical and his expression puzzled. "She was one hundred and ten per cent, bonafide, unequivically dead as a door nail! ....I even checked for a pulse.. you know.. just in case?" It was at that point he realised his intention to 'ring' it in anonimously hadn't been fulfilled. "I was just going to ring the authorities.. give 'em a heads up... like a tip off. No name or anything..."
He grasped her hand, pulled her closer once again, the disembodied sob had become similar to that of an upset child on the cusp of sleep, now would be a good time to put his lady fully into the picture and recant his trail of events: the walk, the break in, the noises and eventually the ghostly figure crouching over herself and he ended with: "...if you still need to go... we can?" he gave her hand a squeeze. "I think it might just be inviting trouble though.. I didn't do it... I was very careful breaking in... doubly careful after last time!" The night had been a long one so far and he'd hate to get them both on the wanted list for... nothing.
"I think maybe... she needs someone that can talk to her.. find out what she wants me to do?" sighing audibly as he recalled her words. "She just kept asking me to help her...the idea that I could summon her here, calm her down..." he shrugged and gave a wan smile. "...and then I did it... but -this-..." pointing a finger from his free hand. "..isn't the girl.... Nope, -she's- still very much inside my head though... and she seems very confused and frightened!"

[Karina]

Lions threw a lot of information at her when she asked him if had killed the woman that he was hearing the wails and cries of and as he quickly told her what he had found. The woman was already dead when he came across her but what Rina was concerned about was if there were cameras that could be used against him and pin the blame on him. She would need to see about getting a hacker to check for that but she needed to scope out the area first. Frowning as he seemed to panic, she shook her head lightly. ”Okay I believe you but we still need to go see the woman and do damage control. I also need to check for cameras. If there are any, you might be able to remove them with your skills but we will have to take them to someone to double check that they aren’t instantly uploaded to a cloud somewhere. We will need someone that can hack to cover our tracks to ensure that you aren’t pinned for the woman’s murder. We also need to clean and clear the scene and almost stage it as if she just didn’t come to work.”

He was hearing the woman in his head and that was concerning when she wasn’t in the room with them. Rina wondered if the woman was haunting him but she wasn’t exactly sure how to help. Tilting her head as she thought about it, her wondered if they helped the woman that maybe she would find peace and leave the man that would be her husband alone. Taking hold of his hand, she gave him a reassuring smile. ”Let’s see what we can do to help her and go from there. We need to keep calm so that we don’t make a mistake.” Just as she finished speaking, a loud thunderclap shook the walls and she sighed. ”We must hurry because it sounds like we are going to get drenched. Muddy foot prints are going to be a pain to take care of.” She let go of his hand and looked over at De Lovely. Her wraith was instantly at her side as she knew that Rina would need her assistance. She could scout ahead as well as help calm the woman so that Lions could focus.

Grabbing her satchel that she carries her ammo and ritual items in, she slung it over her head and started for the door. She hoped that Lions was right behind her so that he could show her the way. He knew which building he was in and how to get to the woman. Rina only hoped that she could help him and get this murder covered up to keep him from jail, death, or worse yet....keep a microchip out of his body. As she reached the door, she stopped for just a moment and checked to make sure the clip in her gun was full in case it was needed. Once she was ready, she turned to see if Lions had followed her lead as she spoke ”ready?”

[Lionsheart Steel]

"Hold on...." Lions' head visitor seemed to have settled back to a staccato sobbing pattern and so he was now able to think a little clearer. "...I'll have Mabbits bring the van around..." Dashing past her into the bathroom and more importantly the narrow upright cupboard, he retrieved a mop and bucket, a handful of towels and a bottle of bleach. "...no point going empty handed if we're some sort of clean up team Love..." He wasn't sure that this was the right course of action.. But he trusted Rina implicitly, he'd listened to her explanation of why it was important for her to see the 'crime' scene and new that there was method in it. Even before She'd got to the front door, his instructions had been sent to Mabitts... his thrall and he already knew they would be followed to the letter.
Karina seemed eager to get going but also appeared to relax a little at the mention of a van and an extra pair of hands and this gave Lions a few moments of 'breathing' space to grab his storied handgun and a couple of clips, he was totally entranced by his broadsword and used it at every opportunity... but he knew that in this situation it would only serve to become a hindrance. Ushering her out of the door as a message pinged mentally to him from Mabitts phone, "Okay... Let's do this..." Ree and him were off on a mission for the first time in... well... years actually, this at any other time would have made him overwhelmingly happy and filled his head with naughty thoughts of sexy shenanigans... tonight though, it was way more serious and his already frazzled brain was attempting to focus and push aside the constant weeping and blubbing that jostled for his attention.
The lift doors slid almost silently open and the pair stepped in, Lions clanked the metal bucket against the frame and winced as the sound reverberated around the corridor, he really could do without drawing attention to them right now... The neighbours were already well aware of the couples hedonistic tendencies... it really wouldn't do to have them wondering about the after hours comings and goings should law enforcement come sniffing around about what they were about to do. Mentally chastising himself as the lift began its descent and only stopping the slient cursing when the ping and subsequent opening of the doors revealed his thrall waiting patiently in the foyer. Mabitts took the cleaning stuff from Lions and followed them to the vehicle, where he opened the side door and stepped in leaving the passenger seat free for Karina. The journey to the office was punctuated only by the question : "Did you find the bags and gaffer tape?" Mabitts replied with a positive... He knew nothing of what they were going to do but that mattered little... he would do exactly what was asked and without question, he'd been enthralled for a long time and Lions' Alluristic powers and charismatic charm
had grown exponentially, any resistance Mabitts had initially shown had been replaced by an almost blind desire to be subservient.
At last the van was reversed upto the building very close to the window that had already been 'clicked', using his stealth he once again entered the building and once inside paused to help Rina down... Not because She needed help.. more because he needed to.. an excuse to close the gap between them? A remnant of human mannerism? Who knew? Motioning for Mabitts to pass the assorted paraphenalia they had brought with them before directing him to stay outside and stay alert, it wouldn't do to get caught out! Once again following the smell.. which had changed from the coppery sweetness of fresh blood to the over-riding stench of death he led Ree to the communal office, he scanned every corridor and room with open doors for cameras and saw none, which relieved him to no end.
Finally they arrived at their destination and Lions moved across to allow Rina to see where he was pointing....

[Karina]

She stopped in her tracks as he called out to her to hold on. Tilting her head as she looked at the clock as the van was mentioned and smiled. "That's a good idea. I can't teleport if I don't know where we are going." Perking her brow as he rushed passed her to grab the mop and bucket with other cleaning supplies. "No carpet? Well this will make it easier." They had no choice but to be the clean up crew especially to keep her husband clean of any possible charges of murder. She secretly wished that he had stayed at home but he can't help himself to break in and steal things but they are items that she can't provide for him unless she purchased it all on the Auction House for him. She will keep purchasing hands for as long as needed to keep him safe but if the day came that she couldn't, she sadly would kill him first to keep their enemies from their door, no matter how much it pained her.

Once he had gathered everything that he needed, he ushered her out of their home. This was good that the fire finally lit into him that it was important to tend to the matters of the poor dead woman. Nodding as she moved quickly to the lift and anxiously pushed the down button repeatedly. Another perk of her brow as she caught mental glipses of his thoughts only to shake her head with a chuckle as the doors opened. "Keep those thoughts clear until we get this mess taken care of. We can revisit them when we get home." She teased him often but he seemed to enjoy it. Rina enjoyed it herself because it made their evenings all the more interesting but a good interesting. His thoughts did make her mind wander but she fought to stay focused. The dead girl needed to be handled first. Turning quickly to look at him as he drew her from her thoughts when the metal bucket echoed down the hall. Hoping they didn't draw attention to themselves or hoped that the neighbors learned to keep their noses to themselves, she grabbed him and pulled him onto the lift as she quickly pushed the button to take them to the ground floor.

"Shhh..." The ride didn't take long and as the doors opened, she put her game face on as her eyes fell upon Mabitts. Quickly following after him as he led them to the van that awaited them, she went to jump in the back before Lions' stopped her and hop in, leaving the front seat for her. Not questioning the choice, she got in quickly to avoid looking like a drowned rat. Mabitts clearly knew where they were going as he drove without directions and the question that resonated in her ears now was about the bags and tape. "Good idea. We'll need those to dispose of the body."

As they reached the building, Rina kept her eyes out for anyone that might witness them entering the building. The coast was clear and she gave a relaxing sigh as it was so far moving smoothly. Maybe they would get out of this without a fight or so she hoped. Popping out of the van, she followed to the window. Climbing through, she accepted his help of getting down. Once they were all in, she began to survey the room and it seemed odd that there weren't any cameras present. That was at least one task that they wouldn't have to deal with. The scent of blood hit her and she knew where to go but let Lions lead her as he was the one to find her and seemed to be haunted by her at the same time. As they entered the room, she stopped as she looked at the woman on the floor and frowned. "Do you still hear her?" Rina looked around and didn't see a ghost but that didn't mean that she wasn't near by. Maybe she was hiding or maybe decided to follow the light that humans always spoke of when death was near.