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Post by ALEC MATTHEWS on Sept 11, 2013 16:47:03 GMT -8
Walking through this area alone was probably not in Alec's best interest, but he wanted some time to think and reflect on things. It had been several days since all hell broke loose at the mansion. His throat wasn't bothering him as much, really, but the doctor forbade him to speak more than absolutely necessary. To Alec that meant no speaking at all. He was perfectly okay with that - besides the surgery was coming up relatively soon anyway. It was so strange how he had contracted those cancerous polyps...even more strange that Lucas wasn't affected. Alec, of course, assumed it had something to do with the whole ordeal at Lexington, but he had no way of proving it. In the past two months Alec had grown up much more than he ever cared to. His mental stability was on edge; on occasion, he could feel himself tipping over, but somehow Lucas was there to snag him just before he fell. These feelings for Lucas were so strange, but at the same time they felt so right. Lucas professed his love to the teen, and Alec...well, he thought he felt the same way. Love was a strange thing (or so he had heard). He had never felt these emotions before, so it was really difficult to tell if this was it. But Alec was sure of it - there could be no mistaking it. He deeply wanted Lucas more than anything else.
Which was why, on this particular afternoon, he was walking by himself. Lucas had been taking very good care of him the past few days. The burly man was by no means a natural caretaker, but he was doing sufficient enough, and Alec felt sincerity behind all of these actions. And to the confused raven-haired boy, that was all that mattered. Alec glanced briefly at his watch and decided that he would take a shortcut. He was en route to a coffee shop, knowing fully well that he wasn't allowed to drink coffee, but they had some delicious smoothies that he found to be quite soothing to his throat. In order to get there, he would make a right at the next intersection and cut through a small graveyard. He had been through this area many times before but never stopped to notice that the graveyard contained limited number of graves. Before he could turn, he bumped into a man on accident and immediately apologized. He grimaced at the sound of his voice (not to mention the searing pain) forgetting that he wasn't supposed to speak. The man just eyed him wearily before walking away.
Alec had donned a very light windbreaker today, navy blue in color, which kept something he had been carrying with him lately - his tablet piece. After bumping into the man, he quickly pressed his zipped jacket against him, feeling the warmth of this slab of...granite? Probably something cheaper than granite, but something old and worn nonetheless. Since his run-in at the museum, he had yet to figure out what this little rock did, which bothered him. In the right inner pocket inside of his windbreaker was his scroll. In a very odd way, he had come into contact with a piece of paper and it turned into a scroll. It was quite mysterious how it had happened, really, but now he keeps the scroll with him at all times. Alec turned the corner and crossed the street, stepping foot into the graveyard.
Phew so glad it's been a peaceful day today...
May 8, 4:15pm
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Post by MIKHAIL USENKO on Sept 12, 2013 11:30:48 GMT -8
tagged: alec. time: may 8th, 4:15pm. notes: notes. Mikhail wasn't even sure what it was, but it was trouble.
He'd first been assigned to follow Alec Matthews a week ago, and since then he'd tried to check in at least once a day. It wasn't his main job, and it certainly wasn't a twenty four hour thing by any means, but he did his best to check in, to make sure nothing really crazy was happening. The boy had seemed downright boring the majority of the time, and his schedule had never been particularly out of the ordinary. Really, nothing about the boy at all was out of the ordinary. If he hadn't been explicitly told to look out for him, Alec likely would have faded into the background easily enough. Perhaps not for a normal person, but Mikhail was used to the unique personalities that made up the Impedio Society, and compared to them Alec didn't even rate.
He had been warned though, and when he'd first settled in at a cafe not far from where Alec was, he'd drawn out his book, looking just like any other person reading at a cafe, and did a basic scan for artifacts. Alec had one--a scroll of some variety that was buried under shielding charms. The simple fact that his book had given him almost no information at all had been surprising, and even after several days of poking his book at it all he'd managed to get was that it might have some connection to the spirit kingdom. Considering he was used to getting several full pages on an artifact, the whole thing was a bit surprising.
While Alec Matthews might not have been a particularly interesting target to stalk, his artifact certainly was. Mikhail simply found artifacts interesting, having thrown himself wholeheartedly into his work. He took a seat on a bench not far from the entrance of the graveyard, appearing to stare down at the bag in his lap while casually watching Alec from the corner of his eye. He shuffled through his books, drawing out the old leather book and pulling it into his lap. If he wanted to, the book could float, could appear magic--but for the moment he was intent on keeping it as low-key as possible. The book remained nestled in his lap as he flipped it open, finding the right page.
The page remained exactly as it was--mostly blank, with huge chunks of information missing. It was what was on the next page that alarmed him. There was a second artifact in play, one created by the fire cleric and Lupus. A proper artifact, but damaged, and the information was incomplete. What it did tell him, however, was that the artifact--the 'tablet'--was dangerous, and was giving off a lot of power.
Well crap. He quickly tucked his book away, standing up and eyeing the entrance to the graveyard. He was going to have to intervene, wasn't he? To see if anything was going to happen, or at the very least get closer in the hopes his book would be able to read something more useful then 'danger, danger'. He swallowed hard, finishing into his pocket for his wallet, and drawing out a crisp twenty, which he held in his hand as he beelined for the graveyard and Alec. At the very least he had a coverstory.
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Post by ALEC MATTHEWS on Sept 12, 2013 17:25:09 GMT -8
Alec was unaware of the prying eyes that followed him into the graveyard. In fact, there wasn't much Alec was aware of right now at all. He stopped for a minute to tie his shoe, moving over close to a headstone without stepping on the siding of the grave. It took only a few moments, but those few moments were enough to stir up some trouble. As Alec began to raise back up, he heard a loud thumping noise, causing him to tumble over and fall on his back. Rubbing the back of his head was just a reaction - he hadn't been harmed in any way. But that loud noise...did he just imagine it? Probably so. This grave was old and dilapidated, and the writing couldn't be made out on it anymore. That didn't help Alec and his anxiety level; lately it had been fluctuating from no stress to being neurotic to hell and back. There were some scattered trees in the area, but most of them were dead and barren with rotting limbs portruding from an ancient trunk. The entire area was, in general, a tad bit spooky, but nothing an 18 year old like Alec would really have to worry about. Until he heard another loud thump from the same direction. This time he wasn't startled. Instead, he curiously moved closer to the source of the sound and waited. If he concentrated hard enough he could hear something - it sounded very much like a groaning noise. Was...there someone alive down there? Looking around quickly, Alec surveyed the area to see if anyone was watching him. The last thing he wanted to do was to be caught talking to a grave with a suspicious look on his face. Satisfied with not seeing anyone in the vicinity, Alec leaned down closer to the ground and called out. "Um...Hello? Can you hear me?" Instantly, he regretted speaking. His throat began to burn with that familiar raw feeling, and he really needed something to drink now. For a moment there was only silence. Feeling a slow rush of heat to his face, Alec started to stand back up when he heard the same noise again. This time it was a bit louder, but there was no mistaking it - someone was down there, and it sounded like they were alive. Alec immediately began to panic - should he call the police? That's what he was about to do, but something didn't feel quite right about this. The young teenager had been through too many odd situations to simply think that someone was down there alive. If they were alive, wouldn't they be calling out for help and not groaning? Alec felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he moved away from the grave, hoping the sound would go away. The raven-haired teen reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around his knife. It was a short, serrated blade that he had used on those scorpion-like bugs as well as back in the museum. It worked for him then, so he hoped if anything was going awry it would work now. But something told Alec to move and get out of there, and that's exactly what he did. He rose to his feet and walked away casually, forcing himself to try and act natural (which was a pretty hard thing to do after hearing someone groan in a graveyard). But as he walked by one of the trees, he noticed movement on the ground. There was a bird lying there with chunks of flesh missing. It was an ordinary site, really, to see a dead animal. But then it moved. Alec, now stopped dead in his tracks, watched curiously as this seemingly dead bird begin to move. It was a queer site, but also one that Alec could not pry his eyes from. Slowly, the little bird rolled over and stood on its legs, and from this angle Alec could see that it was missing its left eye. But the bird hopped around, chirping happily as if nothing were wrong. And then, just a few feet over, Alec could hear another thumping sound, but this time it wasn't on a grave. In seconds, there was a skeletel figure of a hand wriggling through the soft dirt. Alec hadn't noticed that there was a slight incline in the ground nor had he paid any attention to the soft ground. But now, just like in the horror movies, there was a hand reaching up from the ground. Without thinking, Alec walked over to the hand and kicked it as hard as he could, hoping that it would stop moving. And then he turned to run back into the direction he came from. The graveyard shortcut wasn't such a good idea today after all. Bird |
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Post by MIKHAIL USENKO on Sept 14, 2013 14:32:55 GMT -8
tagged: name. time: date & time. notes: notes. The twenty was still pressed between his fingers as he pushed open the gate, stepping inside. There was no point in trying to be subtle or trying to hide his presence. He had a cover story--a good one, that would hold out. There was no reason to mess around, to hope that Alec wouldn't see him. He might as well. He'd never met him before, and there wouldn't be anything wrong with them bumping into each other now that his cover story was secured.
Even so, he did hesitate just inside the gate, squinting up at the boy. What was he doing? Mikhail had thought that he was taking a shortcut, but a shortcut generally did not involve stopping midway through and looking around. At the distance, he couldn't see things (not even a hand or a half-dead bird), and he certainly couldn't hear things, so the whole thing looked beyond confusing. What was he doing? Mikhail could hardly figure it out before Alec started to run back towards him. The whole thing left Mikhail even more confused, and his brow furrowed as he raised one hand, the money clenched between his fingers.
"Hey!" He called out, trying to draw Alec's attention and hoping he would stop.
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Post by ALEC MATTHEWS on Sept 17, 2013 16:23:19 GMT -8
Things were not going well at all today. Nope again he was facing this unknown whatever-the-heck-it-was thing. For a moment, Alec considered the vivid dreams he had been having... Not knowing for sure what they all meant, he assumed that he belonged to some ancient place called the Spirit Kingdom. Somehow he could navigate the streets in his mind, knowing the geography of the entire area fairly well. He held a tablet in his pocket that had some sort of significance (other than the fact that it tried to kill him once) as well as an old scroll with some unknown writing and symbols. Through all of these things, there wasn't too much that started to catch him by surprise. But when dead people and dead things started to come out of the ground, there was a major problem.
As he slowed his pace slightly, he made out a figure ahead waving and trying to get his attention. Alec wasn't too keen on stopping with a graveyard of dead people waking up, but he made time. Just in case, you know, something did happen. He didn't want this man walking into a sticky situation like this. The teen stopped about fifteen feet in front of the man, smiled and nodded politely. He really didn't need to talk, but he didn't want the man walking into the graveyard only to have a pile of bones coming at him for whatever reason. Heart beating quickly, the young man stood and waited for this other gentleman to speak.
He was a peculiar sight indeed. Probably around six feet tall, Alec had to look up to make eye contact with him. His eyes looked cold and unwelcoming, or at least that's what the color reminded Alec him of. Awfully skinny, too, but that meant he could probably run quickly. Alec's eyes looked cautiously from the man all the way around in a sweeping motion, looking for any signs of his new "friends". Thankfully, right now, he could see nothing, but that didn't mean that they weren't likely far behind...
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Post by MIKHAIL USENKO on Sept 18, 2013 18:06:28 GMT -8
tagged: name. time: date & time. notes: notes. He... he wasn't talking? He'd expected the guy to greet him somehow, to say hi or hello or what do you want. Instead he was smiling and waving and none of that was helping at all. In fact, the boy was so silent that Mikhail nearly balked, nearly backed out of the whole thing entirely. That would be bad though. It would mean that not only had he made himself recognizable, but he'd done so for absolutely no gain. No, he was going to have to try and fish what information he could out of the boy though.
He held out the ten dollar bill to the boy, giving him what he hoped was a pleasant smile. "You dropped this a few blocks back. I called for you, but I didn't know your name so you probably didn't realize I was calling for you." Which was complete horseshit, but a couple blocks back had been a busy street, and it was entirely plausible someone had been calling for him without him realizing. Mikhail had seen it happen all the time, and the noise had been one of those things he still wasn't quite useful.
It took him a moment to realize that the boy wasn't quite looking at him--he was looking around, which was relatively odd. He was sorely tempted to just ask, but he wasn't sure. Was it normal? Didn't most people make eye contact, or at least look at each other? He'd been fairly sure, but fairly sure wasn't enough to risk coming off as strange or weird. |
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Post by ALEC MATTHEWS on Sept 20, 2013 18:59:15 GMT -8
Alec cocked his head to one side as he listened to the man speak. There was strong evidence of a Russian accent present, which would account for the man's hair color and his skin tone. For a moment, Alec began to pat down his pockets to double check his money. But a thought struck him. He had been unemployed for the past, what, month or so? Maybe even a bit longer than that. He typically didn't keep cash on him anyway, so chances are he really didn't drop that money. While he may not be the smartest kid on the block, this young man was definitely knowledgeable about his own money, and he was almost certain that he hadn't dropped any money at all.
Was this man trying to bait him? What happened if he took the money? Common sense told him not to take the money but his stupidly high optimism told him that everything was fine. If anything the man was probably just mistaken and thought it was Alec's. Without trying to act too suspiciously...which probably wasn't working. He was shifting his weight from one foot to the other constantly, trying not to leave too much of a gap in what the man said and what he was worried about coming for him.
And that's when a hand broke the ground next to Alec's leg.
Yelping in surprise, pain began to radiate from his throat all the way down his body, that familiar burning sensation taking over all senses. Alec squirmed but the hand wouldn't let go. For a moment, he considered taking out the hunk of tablet and beating the skeletal hand with it, but that likely wouldn't do much good. Instead of waiting for help (or an attack from this guy - he was starting to get paranoid of everything lately) the teen took his right leg and attempted to kick the hand without losing balance, which wasn't successful. Finally the hand managed to jerk his leg away, causing him to tumble backwards and land on his butt. This is when a forceful kick from Alec's right leg ceased the skeletal hand's aggression. Now, looking up, the Russian man seemed to tower over him like a giant. He was in a terribly vulnerable position, but that didn't mean he wouldn't go down without a fight. Maybe he would just be a friend and offer to help him up...
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Post by MIKHAIL USENKO on Sept 21, 2013 14:25:12 GMT -8
tagged: name. time: date & time. notes: notes. He didn't like the hesitation. The hesitation told him that something had gone wrong with his ruse. Either the man didn't carry a wallet, or he didn't carry cash. Either way, it was easy enough to play off as being mistaken. Obviously it was someone else's money, and he'd simply been chasing the wrong person all along. He was waiting for Alec to talk, and as the seconds ticked by he was starting to wonder if the boy was going to talk at all. Why wasn't he talking? Was he mute? Because if he was mute and Madaki had neglected to mention that, even Mikhail, as timid as he was, was going to give him an earful.
Unfortunately, that train of thought was abruptly cut off by the sudden appearance of a semi-skeletal hand. It was obviously rotten, and it's flesh was clearly mostly gone, and Mikhail gawked in horror for several seconds before kicking into action. He kicked out hard, his foot landing as Alec managed to toppled over, removing the hand from him.
Mikhail would have been lying if he'd said it was the first time he'd encountered the living dead. He'd dealt with them at least once before, frozen corpses of an expedition that had never made it, but he'd had advanced warning that time. This time around he was unprepared, without a weapon or anything that could be used against them, and his first priority was getting the civilian out.
He reached down, grabbing Alec under one arm and hauling him up and away. He'd kicked the hand hard, and all he could hope was that it was disabled. "Go!" He yelled, shoving Alec behind him.
Hunting him down could come later. Making sure no one got eaten was his first priority.
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Post by ALEC MATTHEWS on Sept 25, 2013 17:43:21 GMT -8
Alec was frozen, unsure of what to do. At first glance he had thought nothing of the man, but now he eyed him closely. Squinting his eyes revealed no trace of a colored aura, which Alec had come to figure out meant which kingdom he had ties to. Nothing stood out among the gray wisps of dull light that surrounded his body, and that made him look like most everyone else in Los Angeles. He had helped Alec up and made sure that the teen wasn't about to get...well, what were those hands going to do to him anyway? It's not like they were going to eat him...although that wouldn't come as a surprise to Alec either.
But now, Alec began to get a little irritated. His lack of sleep was catching up to him and he stopped to stare at the man. Yes he was doing the teenager a most needed favor, but why in the world was he yelling for Alec to go? Did he plan on running anywhere? Most people wouldn't have reacted that way, or at least that's what Alec thought. In his mind anyone else would have freaked out and ran the instant a skeletal hand appeared from the ground. But this man...something wasn't right. Then again Alec was fairly certain that, after being involved with this otherworldly crap, he was becoming paranoid. Even the smallest, most inopportune moment reminded the young man of his ties to some ancient place that probably crumbled to dust billions of years ago, and it was starting to wear on him.
Instead of running, the man turned and scrunched his face toward the other man. He made a motion with his hands by throwing them out to the sides, trying to get the man to understand that Alec wanted to know what the heck was going on. His shoulders rose and he eyed the man suspiciously, trying to pin the blame on him. Alec was having enough problems as it was, but now this man was trying to "help" him...He stood his ground, waiting to see what the man did while hoping that no more hands were coming after him.
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Post by MIKHAIL USENKO on Sept 25, 2013 18:35:45 GMT -8
tagged: name. time: date & time. notes: notes. Even if Mikhail was almost ten thousand miles from where he'd grown up, and his body was far from what it had been in his prime, he still had his old instincts. He'd been raised to act certain ways, and no amount of shame was going to push that from him. It was still his first instinct to react in such a way that favored helping people, rather then self preservation. Guarding humanity was what the Impedio Society did, and guarding humans was a major priority. He'd expected Alec to run as fast as his legs would carry him, to flee from the skeletal hands and god knows what else was after him.
He didn't though. He glanced behind him, eyebrows raising when he realized that the boy hadn't run. He was still behind him, and he started to gesture something Mikhail couldn't begin to interpret. Hunters had their own handsigns, universal and clear, and whatever the boy was trying to comprehend, Mikhail wasn't getting it. He could make a rough guess though--he was probably confused and disoriented, and for the most part, Mikhail didn't even have to lie. He didn't know what was going on any more then the boy did.
"I don't know." He commented over his shoulder, eyes flicking across the graveyard. For the moment, there didn't seem to be any movement--perhaps it was an area specific thing. Maybe the graveyard was cursed, or infested with some monster the society didn't know about. It didn't matter though. Making sure people were safe from things like that was his priority, even if it was no longer his main job. "But it looked suspiciously like something out of a horror film, so I would like to insist that we have any conversation away from the graveyard." And if the problem persisted past the graveyard... well, that changed things. |
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Post by ALEC MATTHEWS on Sept 25, 2013 19:55:56 GMT -8
And yet...the man stood his ground, which started causing a flurry of emotions in Alec. Fear that this man was no ordinary man - like everyone else he knew, it seemed like. Anger that he could stand there, seemingly unfazed by what just happened. Relief to know that he wasn't the only one who had been seeing all of these ridiculous things lately. All these and much more, now swimming around in Alec's head, causing the teen to develop a mild headache. He had been an emotional roller coaster the past week or two (not to mention the events leading up to it) and now, here he stood with another man, unmoving and ready to get some answers.
Due to his condition, though, asking questions and getting answers wasn't exactly the best idea. With so much going on right now he honestly didn't know how to feel about things. Talking was out of the question, and apparently Alec's hand gestures were far from obvious. Instead, the teenager decided to leave the situation alone. If the man started to follow him, Alec would simply use his phone to call for help. If he wasn't a threat, Alec would just leave it be and hope to never run into him again. Situations like this were never something Alec learned how to deal with, so tomorrow the teen would probably just tuck things under the rug and move on with life.
But he had to let the man know, right? It was respectful to tell him that he was leaving, and he also wanted to thank him for the help. Taking a few steps back in the man's direction, Alec held out his hand and nodded politely, hoping the man would accept his offer of thanks. Regardless of the outcome Alec would turn and walk away from the graveyard, still unaware that the small slab of rock inside of his jacket pocket was the culprit this entire time.
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Post by MIKHAIL USENKO on Sept 25, 2013 20:07:30 GMT -8
tagged: name. time: date & time. notes: notes. Mikhail's own mind was racing, trying to work out what the best option was. Alec's safety was priority for the moment. Artifact acquisition and keeping Alec ignorant were competing goals that seemed to conflict with each other directly. He definitely did have something on him, and it was certainly some variety of dangerous, but it was too early to directly connect it to what had just happened. There were a lot of possibilities, and the artifact he held was only one of them. To demand it would reveal too much, and while it was certainly within protocol to just take it (because he really did doubt Alec could fight him off if he tried), he was hesitant to do so.
Alec mostly resolved his dilemma when he stepped forward, holding out his hand. Mikhail hesitated for a long few moments, then reached forward and gave it a weak shake, watching as the boy pulled away and left. Why was he silent? Was he mute? How the hell had Madaki left that out of his report? The boy hadn't spoken a single word--hadn't done anything past a single scream. Now he was gone, off to who knew where, and Mikhail was left watching the graveyard.
Another half hour would pass uneventfully, and then Mikhail would head for headquarters--and a meeting with his superior.
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TERRESA
UNKNOWN ENTITY
RESIDENT UNICORN
小書瑀
Posts: 105
MINI INFO - GENDER: Female
MINI INFO - D.O.B.: HOW DARE YOU ASK A WOMAN HER AGE?
MINI INFO - OCCUPATION: Guardian Kirin of the White Rice Paddies
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Post by TERRESA on Sept 27, 2013 9:46:13 GMT -8
| | | Finished Thread
You have been rewarded with ONE RESIDUE as this thread is now complete. It has been placed in the archives under the 'finished' sub-board. You are more than welcome to PM fate if this thread is not finished or if you are unhappy/unsatisfied with the amount of residue that has been rewarded. Keep up the great work and keep posting with other members.
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