Testrunning

[in_over_his_head]

[1]
[Whether its in a bookshop, out in town or at the public archives you find yourself encountering a man in a white longcoat, rigorously searching through large amounts of information. To say that there were piles of books close by were an understatement, more like a small mountain to which he is still adding to right now.]

So the last recorded incident was twenty years ago... but that doesn't make any sense... the timeframes don't match up...

[He sighs as he adds another book to the pile and pinches the bridge of his nose.]

Damnit. What am I missing...


[2]
[Its late at night. Of course for some people this doesn't seem to be a thing. Calvin is at a table surrounded by newspapers, books and several mugs of coffee... well... the remains of them anyway. Almost all the mugs were empty. What's more the investigator's eyes were a little bloodshot and his hands shaky as he dug through the information, head drooping every so often before he forced himself awake again.]

[He doesn't say anything, merely just letting out a miserable groan as he runs into yet another dead end in his investigation.]

[3]
[The good news is that there was finally a lead on the investigation that Calvin was handling. The bad news is that it was beyond anything anyone ever expected. There was no telling what it was. Only that it was a) Horrible, b) Possibly beyond human understanding and c)Quite possibly magic.]



[Calvin is currently screaming internally.]

Why does it always end up being magic?

[Said in a tone of ever suffering lament.]

[4]
[For one reason or another you find yourself needing to speak to Calvin. Rather than any of his usual haunts he seems to be staying in his room for the time being, so with no other recourse you head there. Opening the door you find him with his legs kicked up on a work table in a room that looked partly like a detective's office, partly like a studio apartment, and partly like either a witch doctor's hut or some kind of crazy paranormal expert's prep room. You could see all sorts of charms, protective doodads and exorcism tools all over the place.]



Hm. Hey. I've got some coffee on the boil over on the left, go ahead and grab some if you want and take a seat. And try not to smear the devil trap I put on the floor. It took a lot of work getting it there.

[Calvin doesn't look at you, his head deep in a book. And if you do look down you would indeed see a devil trap worked into the floor with great effort. Either someone is a little paranoid to the supernatural or he really really has a weird life.]

Comments

3

[sexygodofscienceandwar]

I know, right? Sometimes, I just want it to be a job for the police.
[The scruffy-lookin' guy who's been showing up recently fiddles with some absurdly large case he's brought with him.]

Eibon, did you bring that stereo like I asked? We should really put on some tunes for this.


No, Master, I did not.
[Oh, and his extremely underage sidekick is there too.]

Aww, you're no fun...Hey, detective-guy, you ever used a rocket launcher before?

[in_over_his_head]

... OSI put a blanket ban on me ever being able to access explosives after that one incident in Europe. That being said if you've got one I'd really appreciate you handing it over.

[Because in a situation like this, heavy ordnance is always comforting. Even if it comes from a weird guy who runs around with a little girl.]

Either way I still don't even want to know why she's even named after the Liber Ivonis.

[gift_of_magus]

Don't you mean 'I don't want to know why the Liber Ivonis is named after her'?

Now now Eibon, the poor man's had a terrible day already, don't actively try to make it worse. Oh, and here you go. [labcoat man hands Calvin an RPG-7, and looks off out over the desert landscape with a set of binoculars.]


Mmm, yeah, we've got a pretty small-time set of baddies here. Two, maybe three full-sized shoggoths...We shouldn't have to get too serious. Detective, do you want the honor of first blood?

[in_over_his_head]

[Calvin makes a choked noise one would associate with disbelief before he just forces himself to tear his mind off the possibility that said little girl was actually a tome of eldritch lore from times that best remained forgotten and takes the offered launcher and sets himself down.]

... Two or three shoggoths and its not 'too serious'-

[No no Calvin. Don't get distracted. Your world view is horrifically distorted and savaged by wild beasts already. No need to pour fire ants all over it. In which case he just pulls the trigger and watches the rocket whoosh away.]

... And what do you mean 'small time'?

[gift_of_magus]

Master, I like this one. We should keep him.


Now now Eibon, we don't do that anymore. [The way Roads laughs it off, it's gotta a joke...right?]
Anyways...small-time means we don't need to break out the flashy stuff. Play our cards right and we won't even end up on the morning news...

[He watches as the rocket flies off and impacts a shambling mass of flesh, blasting it to pieces.]
Ah, that got their attention! Looks like we got about a minute before they're on us.

Now, the big guys...well, they're things that could eat a country, at least. Though the city-levelling threats can be worrisome, if they're somewhere with a lot of civilians...This sort of thing's like the crap guys you go through as a warmup to the real boss.

2

[itbelongsinamuseum]

If I didn't know better, I'd say that I was looking at a college student right now...All nighters don't really work. You'll be too tired to remember anything or use it the next day. I'm speaking from experience here.

[in_over_his_head]

[Calvin let out a weakened noise before just thumping his head onto the book he had open.]

I know... but I just can't sleep... this investigation is eating at me so much I just can't get ay rest until I find something.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Looked like you were just about to. Get some sleep, whatever it is you're worried about won't get solved by you missing important things because you're tired. How long have you even been here?

[in_over_his_head]

.... I lost track after seven hours.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

And you didn't even remember the time of day you started?...How are you going to remember anything you find like that?

4

[embodythechange]

[There's the sound of footsteps, coffee being poured into a mug, and then more footsteps as someone approaches Calvin from behind. Oh, the person also opts to join him in reading that book...without his consent, of course.]

Hmmmm...

[in_over_his_head]

...

[Calvin sighs, somehow this happens more often than he likes. Circe would notice that the book was a rather old and battered thing that apparently was an old record of supernatural phenomena. A lot of it was apparently nonsense, but there were also a number of carefully highlighted sections scattered throughout.]

[embodythechange]

[A rather messy slurp of coffee as she looks at those highlighted sections.]

Did the instructions come from this one?

[in_over_his_head]

[Calvin twitches, that was pretty close to him so the idea of it spilling all over the aged text as well as himself was not a comforting thought.]

As a matter of fact they did... there was a lot of things that seemed to loop back over though but I figure I got it mostly right...

[embodythechange]

Mm...there's just one problem...

1

[brought_it_back]

[There's a slight rustling sound, and a bit of wind. Nothing special, but-one of those books Calvin was looking at is gone.]

[in_over_his_head]

...

[Calvin blinked before slowly looking around. Poltergeist maybe? No... they'd make a bit more noise. His hand moved from his emergency kit in his coat to his pistol.]

[brought_it_back]

[Suddenly, there's a sound from down the hallway. A rock? Something falling over?]

[in_over_his_head]

[Game face on Calvin. If it knocked something over it had to be solid... These were normal bullets so... go for the legs or eyes if it had them. Admittedly if it was a slime type thing he was probably screwed. He quickly moves into the hallway with his gun drawn!]

Hold it!

[brought_it_back]

[Nothing but an empty hallway...There is the sound of his chair creaking, back where he started-and when he turns over there to look, sitting in his chair is-]

Boo.

3

[nagisa_custom]

[Meanwhile, Calvin's compatriot is screaming externally.]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

[You get the feeling she might not be very useful.]

[in_over_his_head]

[Yeah no - better grab her and RUN before the very vicious hatchlings of the even more vicious cold spewing birds finish clambering out of their icy, bone filled nest to come and tear them to shreds.]

USE THAT AIR FOR BREATHING! NOT SCREAMING!

[Flat out hypocrisy given Calvin's volume. In any case he has to get the both of them out of there alive!]

[nagisa_custom]

I just wanna go home..!!

[Though she does run to keep up with Calvin, Nagisa's pretty slow. And the birds can fly, so she's not really making good time against them.]

[in_over_his_head]

I'll try to get you there! Just keep running!

[Calvin draws his pistol and fires a few shots... nope that just made the damn things angrier. MUST. RUN. FASTER!]

[nagisa_custom]

Aah!! [More screaming as the gunfire erupts.]

This just keeps happening...!