[RP] The Inn of Peace - IoP (Open to all)

[Azana Brown]

"Well, it'll taste like lemonade in the candy...unless you mean make it lemonade first, then add it..." Kristen paced, humming to herself in thought. Chibis, while ridiculous, were known for unorthodox answers. That would just add extra sugar, though...and dilute the lemon!

Violet shook her head, eyes lowering to the ground. "Sorry...I should be used to it...and it sounds crazy..." She sighed, steeling herself and glancing around to the others, hoping they didn't enter the conversation at that time.

"...I hear voices sometimes. Th-they don't sound mean...but they still scare me. They come and go...almost on a schedule...so I know they'll fade eventually."  

[Gren_Eckener]

"Reimans yami.. Shuga yami. Iiitit."

Gren blinked, rather surprised, somewhat concerned, but not put off.

"Well, considering everything else that goes on around here, I hate to say I'm not surprised." he replied softly. "Thing is, if it's on a schedule, that's kind of strange...how long has this been going on?"  

[Azana Brown]

Kristen nodded. "Basic, but true." She began to juice the lemon, opting to split a batch in half. One would use lemon juice, and one lemonade. Hopefully it didn't change the consistency too much...that was almost spot-on.

Violet looked up to him, faint hope behind her eyes. He wasn't surprised...she didn't blame him for that, but he was hearing her out. And he wasn't as zealous as that alien-conspiracy-theory hero.

"...years, actually," she answered. "Before the demoness...I think I was twelve when it started..."

POP! It sounded like a balloon had burst, and a lanky, sandy-haired nerd stood in the main room. He looked around the main room, then to the bar to receive a shrug.

"Huh. Beat her here. She must be cruising."

"Gyah!" Violet jumped, whirling around on a heel to see the commotion as her bracelet glimmered lightly. "You...! The door! Use it!"

"Whoa...chill. It's just a teleporter. Nothing big and bad is after you," James tried to reassure her with his usual dose of awkwardness before finding a table and pulling out his equipment. He had been working with some staff toward quantum computing...mostly to not have to carry around so much stuff to do field work. They weren't there yet...but progress every day.

"Wonder what's so crazy..."  

[Gren_Eckener]

"Hmm...that's a tricky one." Gren hummed, thinking for a minute. Schizophrenia? That wasn't cyclical, was it? Latent psychic abilities? She was particularly empathetic, that showed well through her artwork.

He jumped a bit at the pop, hand on his head as he steadied himself with a breath. Sighing, he offered James a wave and a smile. "Maybe we ought to have a room open just for porting, keep the main room clear...you okay?"  

[Azana Brown]

"Huh...guess we could always port into the basement...but the elevation is a bit tricky," James muttered as he set up his laptop and began booting up the system. Before he even realized it, a glass on a coaster was sitting nearby.

"Good to see you, too, Sol," he chuckled, raising the root beer with a boyish smile.

"I'm almost hurt you didn't say hi," Sol quipped, "but I know how you get. Az have a mystery for you...?" He presumed that meant she'd be coming home before long, and not nearly as triumphantly as she had hoped.

"Yeah...didn't even tell me what it was," he huffed after a long sip. "I think she did it just to get me here faster."

"Y-yeah..." Violet steadied herself, the glow fading. Honestly, in that moment of focus on him, they had faded...but they whispered on the edge of her awareness, a distant, beckoning voice. "...they don't say my name...but they call me..."

Her gaze lingered out the front windows to the forest in the distance. The message wasn't clear, but it was for her, she knew. It always was...  

[Gren_Eckener]

Shaking his head, Gren thought of perhaps a room upstairs to be the porting station before returning to the conversation at hand.

"This might sound obvious, but have you ever tried following the call?" he suggested. "Unless they're suggesting you do something dangerous."  

[Azana Brown]

"F-follow it...?!" Violet was taken aback at the suggestion. Certainly, it would make sense to do so.. "B-but...I don't know where it's going, or how long it'd take, or what it is, or what'd happen along the way..."

She continued to ramble with all the uncertainties for a good half-minute before stopping to catch her breath. The thought had occurred to her before, but she couldn't shake that incident when she was still a young teen...alone and bewildered, hundreds of miles from home, no idea how she got there. She wasn't wanting to do any wandering, especially by herself.

"I guess...I just have to live with it..."

"Sonnuvabitch how?!" Azana growled as she walked in the door, setting her broom in the corner with a frustrated scowl.

"Right on cue! We've still got it!" James laughed, having just finished setting up the portable station. "I've missed this...fresh, raw data, unraveling mysteries...building you spiffy tech..."

"Not helping me think," Azana snapped through gritted teeth.

"Helps if you explain it...unless, of course, you've got visor feed for me," James offered, though he noticed she wasn't wearing it. A pocket, maybe?

"This was supposed to be an easy bust...why would I walk in with that?" Azana rolled her eyes, sitting down as another glass landed nearby. "Thanks, hon."

"No problem. You still want to handle this one sans Oracle?" He asked, willing to help but feeling as though it may make this one too easy on them. He'd just need to touch the mannequin. Psychometry would reveal so much, especially with how much the object was being used.

"If it gets hairy, I'll let you know. Besides, I think I can almost see Tech drooling." She took a long sip before going over the basic details of the case. Periodically timed heists in broad daylight, no one noticing or trying to stop it. She had gone to see the crime in action and likewise, unwittingly, let it happen without noticing. "It didn't trip any weird sensors with me. I couldn't sense any odd magic, and it appeared entirely normal until I saw myself on the security feed."

"...whoa." James paused before breaking out in an ear-to-ear grin. "This is like early Christmas! If I don't say it enough, I love you, Az!" He paused, the grin fading a little. "I'll need more data. You're gonna have to go back, and bring the visor this time!"

"Back?!" Azana shook her head. "The next scheduled heist at this place is in TWO WEEKS...that's way too long!"

"Non-psychic help?" Sol offered, taking a subtle nod as permission. "I bet they're stealing more than just at the grocery store...maybe it hasn't been reported, or taken seriously like this one..."  

[Gren_Eckener]

Gren shook his head. "You've been trying to live with it for a long time, haven't you? It's still got you worried sick...I have the time, I wouldn't mind going with you...but I really think it's something you shouldn't keep pushing away."  

[Azana Brown]

Violet paused, looking him over. Gren was serious; it was written all over his face. He was willing to go with her to God-knows-where to see what was happening. After everything he'd already done for her, this much generosity was hard to take in...

"...maybe...with a friend...I won't get lost..." She said at last, reluctant, yet resigned to the fact that this wouldn't stop until she went to stop it. Somehow, she always knew...and perhaps that need was what scared her the most. "We'll probably have to pack..."

"That's a good point...but what would I look for?" Tech muttered, skimming his way through police reports. "Mannequin robbery isn't exactly a common keyword."

"Hmm...maybe filter it down to a periodic report. The same place reporting robberies with an even interval. This is scheduled; I doubt they'll deviate from it," Azana suggested before taking a long sip. She wanted to get this culprit...they already made an a** of her once. She wouldn't let it happen again.

Sosol's attention wavered to Gren's discussion with Violet, blinking as the younger one had agreed to follow her voices. My, hasn't she grown, he thought, somewhat curious of where this journey would take her. Out of respect, he had never bothered to scan her...not after Chris threatened her with the same.  

[Gren_Eckener]

Gren nodded, relaxing slightly as she agreed. "We will...Clothes, food, camping supplies if we have to, but that'll all be fine. We'll do what we can by car, then go on foot...play it by ear."

He smiled a bit at the thought. "It's like a quest, to answer a question. Could actually be fun, right?" he added, encouraging.  

[Azana Brown]

"A quest..." Violet trailed off, considering it for a moment. Against her better judgement, a small grin cracked across her face, the mental image coming to her. She had to draw it...but she also had to pack. "I guess...I'll get started. Shall we set off tomorrow...? Would that give you enough time with him, for farewell...?"

James continued to type, filtering through the police reports with a sigh. Sure, he could do it...but this just didn't have the same passion to it. He liked new data, not rooting through things that were already there...how tedious!

"Yo!" Max popped up from nowhere, making James jump in his seat. "Wacha doin'? Ooooh, data mining! Can I can I can I can I pleeeeease?"

James went from wide-eyed in surprise to wide-eyed in relief, though he tried to play it cool. "Um, sure...just, don't, ya know, break anything."

"Puh-leese!" Max crowed, almost shoving him aside as she sat down and stretched her arms. "I've played with Power Central's main computer. This little porta-box is nothin'!" Her fingers began to fly, though her speed wasn't her usual. Only one screen? Bare bones conditions, indeed!

Azana shrugged, letting the geeks go at it as she stewed over what had happened. How could she not tell, with something so ridiculous?

Sosol laid a hand on her shoulder, picking up the memories. After a moment, he let go, a shiver running down his spine. "...if it makes you feel any better...I couldn't tell, either."

"Huh?" Azana leaned back, looking at her husband upside-down. "For real?"

"I wouldn't joke with you about this, Az," he answered. "Nothing was wrong with your perception. I don't know how they're doing it, but it feels completely real."  

[Gren_Eckener]

Gren chuckled warmly. "Yeah, I suppose I'd better do the same, let Eli know...he's always off on trips anyway, so I'd say it's my turn to do the same, huh? Tomorrow it is!"  

[Azana Brown]

Violet nodded, excusing herself upstairs. In the halls, she paused, a sudden thought dawning on her. Camping. Packing. She turned a different direction than her own room, winding up at another door featuring a large and prominent sign of warning. She reached to knock, her hand instead meeting the door in a moment of hesitation. Steeling herself again, she knocked at the door.

The door cracked open slightly, stopped with a primitive chain lock and one dark eye looking..well, not too far down on her. "...wasn't expecting you," he admitted, his expression softening slightly. Who exactly did he expect? He wasn't sure himself...though he could easily consider who he hoped for.

"Sorry," she apologized, hands clasped in front of her as she stared a hole into the floor. "I know you're busy...but, um...I'm going on a trip."

"Okay..." Tyler tilted his head slightly. Why did he need to know this? "And...?"

"I haven't been on a trip in years," she continued, dancing around the subject. "I, erm, don't have any luggage...and you've been backpacking..."

"You can just ask, you know," he heaved an exasperated sigh. Sure, he took care to ensure he maintained a modicum of intimidation to his presence...but a backpack? He could part with that readily. "Hold on." He vanished back into the room, the door once again firmly shut. After a moment or two, he undid the chain lock, opening the door to reveal his backpack and a somewhat disheveled mess of a room behind him.

"Thank you..." She smiled shyly, taking the backpack carefully. "I'll bring it back in one piece, promise." She walked away, but her pace quickened. In spite of her fear...a trip! A vacation! An adventure, even!

Tyler shook his head with a quiet chuckle, shutting the door and checking on his code. If he could manage an all-nighter, it'd be ready by morning...and he'd decode part of a vampire's memory.

Max's smile faded as she continued to type and pore through department upon department of police reports. She knew there was a connection...there always was. With enough information, the pattern always showed! As she continued...a rhythm, a pattern, repetition. Lots of repetition...

"...this is too easy...no...they wouldn't be..."

James was dying of curiosity, but he knew better than to be a backseat driver. He took his glass and sat with his favorite power couple, looking between the two of them. "An Oracle couldn't tell?"

"No. It's...unsettling, to say the least. Even if you wanted my help, I'm not sure what I'd accomplish," Sosol confessed, resigned to his support role in the mission. "Hopefully you can figure out a way to see through it, James."

"I have faith in him," Azana nodded with conviction. "Not to brag, but before I met you, we were a great team. There wasn't a single problem that his brain and my power couldn't solve...of course, things were a bit different then. These days...I'm glad to have both of you on my side. My husband...and my best friend."  

[Gren_Eckener]

Gren, meanwhile, had busied himself thereafter with gathering supplies, saying good-byes, and calling off of work. He didn't mind missing the pay, as he gave it all away anyhow. Food, money, sleeping pad and a thermal blanket as tightly packed as possible, socks, clothes, binder...hm.

Well, I'm sure we can dress in privacy.

The next morning, he waited downstairs in the coat and scarf he'd arrived in next to a rucksack loaded for bear.  

[Azana Brown]

Violet firmly grasped the banister as she finally came downstairs, Tyler's backpack filled to near impossible capacity. She wore her sturdiest pair of boots and a modest outfit, complete with jacket and hat. Her copper bracelet gave a ruddy glint from the edge of a sleeve. She looked up from the floor, and up again, to Gren.

"I, um, wasn't sure what to pack...so I might have a bit too much..."

Max, meanwhile, was curled up on a couch in the main room, James' laptop shut down on the side table. She had clearly been at it hard...and hopefully it bore fruit.