Episode Six: The Return of the Blackstone

[secondcity_mods]

Characters: Everyone. Anyone.
Time: After sunrise, Monday
Location: Blackstone Hotel
Content: Disappearance of mystery magic black fog. Oh look, what's behind it? The Blackstone Hotel!
Format: Whatever
Warnings: Cursing, maybe.

Comments

[scarfandknives]

"SPIN!" Knives, of course, showing all the restraint in the world, launched at Spin with a vicious attack... hug. He seemed a little disoriented, maybe they were all unconscious in here! Or they were kidnapped by aliens, or robots, robot aliens!

Knives finally let go when she realized this was a little forward, they weren't even dating or anything. She fidgeted a moment in the awkward, "I was worried, the whole hotel vanished yesterday..." As a half-assed explanation for the hug, and her excitement to see him.

[agentphones]

Already a bit off-kilter from discovering Knives sounding so off, Spin was staggered as she gripped him into a tight squeeze. "Buh--Er, hi, Knives, I..."

The warped sound was too distracting for him to even notice the flushed moment of awkward, but he did manage to hear what she said next. The agent stared a moment. "Wait, the hotel did what?"

[scarfandknives]

"The hotel has been gone since sometime yesterday," Knives offered, "We found out in the morning, it was wrapped up in this swirly black cloud and just... gone." Knives made some handgestures to suggest the event was big, but it could just be another hug coming.

"The clouds vanished this morning and I came in to see what happened in here..." Knives looked confused a moment, "You... didn't notice?"

[agentphones]

Spin blinked a couple times. "No, it's... definitely news to me." Yesterday hadn't seemed any more peculiar than usual. Which, honestly, was still more peculiar than many circumstances, but big black clouds whisking you away was generally something noticeable.

He shook his head. "I dunno about any of that, but--I mean, are you all right? You sound kind of... off."

[scarfandknives]

"What day do you think this is," It seemed like a totally reasonable way to solve the 'did the hotel vanish' issue. If he said Monday then... that just raises further questions. However, if he said Sunday then... there were still further questions but it proved the day went missing.

"Huh? I sound weird?" Knives tapped her foot a few times, checking her effects. They looked alright, "I mean, I'm a little tired from keeping an eye on the hotel. Why?"

[agentphones]

"Sund..." He paused. If she was saying it had been gone since yesterday, then... "...Not...Sunday...?"

He rubbed his forehead. "No, not like that, you just seem a little..." Listening more closely, it didn't seem so much that Knives herself was the one with the broken tune--he could still hear her under there, perky and friendly as ever. The dangerous sound was something else, a backbeat shared with her own. "...I'm just picking up on something odd." He chewed at his lip. "You haven't been talking with any, like... evil fairies or anything lately, have you?" This didn't sound anything like some of the creatures he'd met so far, but it couldn't be something natural.

[scarfandknives]

"Monday, Sunday the hotel was a giant bugzapper cloud." Knives offered, tilting her head to the side. This lost time thing was weird, hopefully it won't happen again.

"No... unless that lion counts, but he seemed alright." Knives glanced to the air as she collected things that happened, ignoring mention of her friend the soulful vampire as that was rude to bring up. Also Juliet hadn't done anything wrong. "I did get attacked by a creepy four eyed guy in the bar... He kept talking about prawns or something. It was hard to understand him."

Knives glanced at her pocket, containing the small bag she was using as a change purse. She kept a pretty heavy supply of coins in there from that night. Including the one coin out. At first she thought it was a super American coin, but after closer look it had no English letters on it. She bit her lip a little thinking of the coin, "I mean, Simba and I did kill him and he turned into a bunch of coins. But that's entirely normal for me. The bad guys becoming coins, not the fighting along side a lion."

[agentphones]

"That... huh." He rapped a finger against his headphones, mulling over this news of the apparent disappearance of a whole building, as well as her interaction with large cats and creepy bespectacled shellfish-lovers. It was a conscious decision not to think too much about how the sweet girl was used to killing people for cash.

Still, the whole thing rang wrong with him. He really wished he knew more about these sorts of things... He needed to start studying this supernatural stuff. "Well, I dunno much about any of that, really. But maybe we should check with someone who knows a little more on the topic."

He bit his lip and gave her a look up and down. It was jarring to hear something so strange from a girl like Knives; the sooner he could figure it out, the better. "Have you met Sergeant Murphy?"

[scarfandknives]

"No... I mean, I don't think I know a Sergeant Murphy, I try to stay on the right side of the law," Knives had, up until recently been quite good at staying on the right side of the law. Then again, it did help that the law seemed to have no actual say into the events of Toronto. Cops didn't seem to involve themselves with all that happened, the violence, the evil exes, any of that. ...Knives didn't remember what a cop uniform looked like now that she thought of it. Just what Mounties look like.

Knives was starting to get a little worried, Spin was pretty level headed, and he had stories about saving the world with music. So for him to get worried over her sounding weird was... well, getting to her. She thought about all the ways that four eyed guy was weird. It was a bit creepier than psychic vegans. "And this Sergeant Murphy would know something about four eyed knife fingered guys?"

[agentphones]

Well, it was good to see that she wasn't shrugging it off like she did with pirate kidnappings or giant turtles, though Spin didn't want to spook her or anything. He put on a small smile.

"Well, she knows about vampires, werewolves, and monster squirrels, it seems to me she's the go-to gal for this sort of thing." He pushed up his shades. "If this place really is in the middle of a day's weirdness, I'm sure she'll show up soon enough. We can try and get this set up straight soon as we find her, yeah?"

[scarfandknives]

Knives couldn't help but smile back, it was part of who she was. Also, Spin had a very nice smile. She nodded, agreeing with the idea.

"If you think she knows how to help, I trust you on this," Those did all seem like good resume items for asking about... well, whatever four eyes was. Except, "...Monster Squirrel?"

[tinybutfierce]

Karrin had seen the posts on the network and was now just a tad bit freaked. She was handling it well, not necessarily showing it but for the scowl on her face. Karrin wanted to make sure no one was missing so she was going through, floor by floor, and talking with people. So far everything seemed in order except for the missing day thing.

She sighed, wondering if maybe this was a pointless effort. Everyone was either clueless because they had been inside the hotel or because the people outside the hotel had only seen a black fog.

Karrin was on the next floor now, walking briskly, when she noticed Spin and a teenage girl. She slowed her pace a bit and raised a hand as she drew closer, "Hello, Spin. You doing okay after the blackout?"

[agentphones]

Spin's smile turned sheepish. "Er, yeah, it was sort of my first weird encounter around here. I tried to--"

Before he could awkwardly work around describing his attempts to bludgeon a super rodent with a fire extinguisher, a familiar voice called out. Spin turned to Murphy with a wash of relief; the sooner he could get some idea of what was going on, the better.

"Speak of the devil. Doing fine, minus the need to fix my calendar. But, uh." He nodded to Knives. "Er, it's good you happened by, since... well, my friend Knives here, she had a weird encounter the other night."

[scarfandknives]

Knives wasn't sure what this Sergeant Murphy would look like. She half-expected her to have donuts with her even now, be wearing a uniform, or at least to be more butch. That or Robocop. The name and what would be cool suggested a female midriff showing Robocop.

Instead she got a woman even shorter than she was. With hair and eyes you'd expect on a cheerleader. Sure she looked to be in shape, and the way she walked carried a sorta confidence only the likes of Scott would have. A confidence Knives tried to emulate at every turn. It was still disappointing she wasn't a cyborg.

As Spin introduced Knives, a small black box with blocky white lettering appeared next to the girl's head. In the boldest block letter it said Knives Chau: Seventeen Years Old. Knives waved a little, then spoke in a reserved yet still a bit bubbly tone, "Hi. Spin says I sound weird after I killed a monster guy with four eyes and knife fingers. Does that... mean anything to you other then just weird?"

[tinybutfierce]

"Weird encounter," Karrin asked. Considering they'd just woken up after missing a day this wasn't surprising. Although, considering Spin looked so worried she had a feeling this was about something else.

And then the text box appeared. Karrin jerked back slightly in surprise because seriously how often did you see someone with their own personal intro box. "Uh," Karrin began, wondering if this was what Spin was talking about. But, no, that was wrong too as the girl, apparently named Knives Chau, explained.

"You sound weird? I've never heard of creature with knife fingers," she fell silent, thinking over it, "Wait...you said four eyes. Did this monster happen to have a small silver coin that you picked up at some point or he gave to you?"

[agentphones]

At the very least, Murphy's reaction to Knives' intro box made the agent smile faintly. He could certainly relate to that reaction, though enough time around Knives and her wide array of sound effects had numbed the surprise.

The cop's question, however, surprised him a tad, and Spin sent Knives a sidelong look. "I thought you said that was normal."