[SDRP] The Hounds of Ashdown [Shun]

[Blade Kuroda]

Two tasks. Two tasks he had been given, and Shun was planning on carrying them out. He needed to get a confession from some man who walks his dog and feeds the birds every Sunday morning. And he needed to get rid of some people who were apparently laundering money. He had not been given a time limit for either of these tasks, so he wasn't going to rush. That would lead to mistakes.

That said, he still did want to complete this in a relatively timely manner if possible.

As he couldn't do too much about his first task until Sunday came along, he started investigating the second. He had been told that these people had started up a business on Frat Row. So he began by looking into what had opened up recently in that area. Being a relatively small town, it shouldn't be too hard to pick that out. It wasn't as if new businesses were cropping up every day.

It didn't take too long before he found a small bakery by the name of Tasty Pastry! that had opened up a couple weeks prior. Nothing else had been particularly recent, so that was likely the one the voice had mentioned.  

[Blade Kuroda]

As mentioned, Tasty Pastry! seemed to have all their permits and stuff in check. It was run by a pair of twin sisters who had moved shortly before setting up their bakery. He had that much now.

Shun just needed to find evidence of their laundering, and a way to get them out of the town.

Given how these two assignments weren't official cases, he was going to need to be more discrete with his work. It was an extra layer of challenge to all of this.  

[Blade Kuroda]

The first Sunday morning since he had been given these tasks came along. Shun went to the park, going on a morning jog. Aside from getting some exercise for the day in, he was scouting out, keeping an eye for the man he was to get a confession out of.

Further ahead on the trail, he saw a middle aged man walking his dog. The man moved on to a bench and sat down, looking around.

The detective slowed his pace to a walk as he watched the man take out a small bag to start tossing out some seed or something towards the nearby grass. He checked the time.

8:28

He was the guy.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Feigning need of a break, Shun slowed his pace further and let out a breath.

"Mind if I take a seat?" he asked, motioning towards the bench. The older man looked up and smiled before moving aside. The seeds on the grass had now attracted a few birds, who were greedily gobbling up the free meal that was being tossed out.

"So much nicer out now that awful rain has stopped, isn't it?" the man asked. He seemed to be in a fairly good mood.

"It is nice not getting drenched every time I go out."

The older man tossed out some more seed and proceeded to strike up some small talk. He seemed like a rather easy going sort, which had Shun feel a little curious what sort of wrong he might have done. Either this was a facade and he was some serial killer under all that pleasantness, or it was really something minor.

He begrudgingly listened to him, trying to work out some of the possibilities. While this happened, something pink formed out of nothing. Shun knew this creature all too well. The demonic finch appeared and promptly began to steal all the seed that had been tossed on the ground snatching bits before other birds in the area could get to them.

The bird feeder seemed startled by this. And was even more befuddled when Finch Satan ended up flying right onto Shun's head to roost.

"Do not ask. Because honestly, I do not know," he sighed.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun had managed to get the bird feeder's name during that encounter. Walter Bailey. Like many residents of Ashdown, he was rather friendly. He worked at a local bank during the weekdays. His wife had died a number of years back. He had no children, but he did have Lulu, his little scottish terrier to keep him company.

Eventually Walter excused himself, as it was time he got ready to go to church. With a pleasant smile, he took his dog with him to head on home.

Once he had the chance, the detective took some time to look into Walter Bailey further. He had no criminal records, and was a fairly active member of the church he went to.

So what had he done wrong?  

[Blade Kuroda]

The task with Tasty Pastry was a little odd. He had no warrant and he also had no good reason to be investigating them through the proper channels. As far as the system was aware, the business was completely legit. And he couldn't really give the reason of 'some otherbeing put me on this task' as to why he had to look into it. It wasn't going to fly, even if Jeremiah was the new Chief of Police.

He needed a plan.

The twins probably still needed to keep some sort of ledger. It was just a matter of finding it. That would be either in their household, or possibly kept at the actual business, in an office if the building had one somewhere.

Shun paused on that line of thought. The task was to remove the unsavory folk, not necessarily to convict them of their crimes in Ashdown necessarily. He could go about this in a different manner.  

[Blade Kuroda]

There was a plan. But he needed to know where the girls lived first. It took a bit of time and effort, especially since he had to go in a somewhat roundabout manner. A little search here and there, and even a short sort of stakeout were involved.

Shun had the information needed. There was still a little more prep work that he needed to do before he could carry it out.

Not to mention he still needed to figure out how to handle Walter.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Sunday once more. Shun didn't have a solid plan on how he wanted to go about this. He had roughed up suspects before to get information, but in those cases, he at least had an idea of what the crime was. He didn't have that here. And from everything he could find on Walter, he was just a mild mannered middle aged man. Brute force wasn't a route he wanted to take if he could help it.

He jogged along the same route as before. Same time. There Walter was at the bench again, but things were a bit different this week. The older man was shouting, trying to chase away a familiar pink bird.

"Not you again! Stop chasing away the other birds!" he shouted.

"Is there something wrong?" the detective asked as he approached.

"This dang pink finch! It's eaten up all my bird seed and it hounds all the other birds away. It doesn't share. It has a bottomless pit of a stomach. It's like it has a devil in it."

Shun glanced towards Finch Satan, and it hit him.

"That is because it does. The pink one? Satan incarnate in finch form," he stated mildly, watching the little one continue to gobble away at what little seed remained on the grass, "If it has been bothering you... it could really only mean one thing."

Walter gave the detective an incredulous look, but he also seemed to be fairly concerned, "Just what on earth could that mean?"

"It knows you have sinned. And this is how you must pay, for the time being at least," Shun shrugged. It was a gamble. But given what he had been able to pick up, Walter was a fairly religious man. As much as Finch Satan was a pest... it seemed it may be able to actually help him out here, "Look into its red eyes, and you will know what I mean."

"Sinned? But... I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Apparently not. Best confess. It may help drive it away."

Walter seemed confused, trying to think hard. He looked to Finch Satan nervously... who was pecking away at the ground. It did look up at him once, locking eyes with the older man.

"I... I don't always wash my hands after using the bathroom! I um..." he stammered out, "I don't know!"

That was a bit disgusting. Shun's fingers twitched a bit, not really sure what to make of all of this. That was technically a confession, he supposed.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Late night, while most people should be asleep, Shun was headed out in the darkness towards his target. Hood was up over his head, as he approached the small household the twins stayed in. Taking in a deep breath, he drew out his pendant and stepped into Other Ashdown.

The door was still locked on this side of the veil. No worries. He brought the tools necessary to get past it. Once inside, he looked around the decrepit version of the building.

Sliding the bag off his shoulders, he took out some things he had brought for this. Some cardboard stock to act as a sort of stencil. This wouldn't be as effective if he made a stupid spelling mistake or whatever. With one set in hand, he maneuvered into one room that seemed to be one of the bedrooms. Finding a nice space onto the wall, he took out a knife and began to carve into it. Seeing how that one damaged trash can persisted between both worlds... this damage should also appear on the other side.

GET OUT was what he etched into the wall. He did this in several different spots around the room.

Then, facing a drawer, he began to focus a little more. A moment later, he made a sort of claw motion towards it. A shadowed claw with a coating of black ice at its tips slashed across the piece of furniture. The marking was bigger than what should be able to be made by a cat, dog, or well... any normal household animal. He did this a few more times, striking the ceiling and floor.

Stepping out, he dragged the shadowed claw along the walls in the hallway.

Thinking that might be enough for now, he exited the house, and started to make his way back to his apartment, seeking an exit from Other Ashdown in the meantime.  

[Blade Kuroda]

After that evening, Shun waited a day or so before stopping by the Tasty Pastry. The place was closed. With a tilt of his head, he asked a passerby what had happened with the bakery as it wasn't that long ago since it opened up.

The pedestrian remarked how they had heard rumors that the twins running the place had left the town in a rush. Supposedly their house was hella haunted.

The detective scoffed at the idea, then went on his way.

Success.