Derek takes human form and pulls on his hoodie, glancing down at his bare feet in a self-conscious fashion. Hurrying along behind Phil, he attempts to look bland, following him closely.
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Heading home from the festival and forest, Derek uses his new wings to get most of the way home, before he feels his phone buzz in his pocket. Landing on a rooftop, he checks his phone and reads Arianne's message. Derek feels torn. On one hand, he could head home, and talk to his family for more answers. On the other, he could find the tall one-armed man who took the briefcase, and maybe solve this mystery. He considers, then looks up the address for The Horny Owl on his phone. He heads off in that direction, keeping an eye out for Phil, and perhaps, Arianne.
Derek keeps quiet and out of sight up in the branches, and tries to catch Phil and Arianne's eye to let them know he's returned. He listens intently to the conversation below. He'll stay nearby their location, and follow along if they go anywhere, to try to get a chance to talk.
"Thanks for being cool about it, really. Since you're going home anyway, can you do me a favor?" Derek asks. "Would you mind taking Josie back to my family? I'm kind of dealing with something here. I'll tell you about it later, if you want, though I can't guarantee it'll make you feel better about.. well, anything." With Josie safely escorted, Derek will say his goodnights, and make his way back to the edge of the festival grounds and out of sight, before taking his sweatshirt off, tying it around his waist, and shifting back into his gargoyle form. He then takes off back into the woods, keeping a safe height above view, heading back to the location of the body, looking for Phil and Arianne.
"Superheroes?" Derek contemplates this. "Okay, superheroes I can handle. It also implies supervillains exist, but okay..." He steps back over to Kelly, making sure Josie is close behind. "So, umm... I know you have questions, and I might not have the best answers, but I will try."
"What, like those stone things from that Disney Hunchback movie?" Derek reiterates his limited grasp on pop culture.
Derek winces. "It's a long story, sorry for disappearing like that. Thanks for watching Josie for me." He takes Josie's hand. "I'll be right back. I need to talk to my cousin a bit, I have a few questions." Derek considers for a second as Kelly gapes. "Okay, listen. I'll do whatever I can to make sense of this for you, just gimme a few minutes. 'Scuse us." He leads Josie a little ways away, apart from anyone else. "Okay, kiddo, spill it. What am I?"
"Argggh. Too many people in this damned town." Derek grumbles to himself. Can't believe I'd be saying that about this place.. he thinks to himself. Derek finds his way to the north edge of the festival grounds, beyond the Tilt-A-Whirl and funhouse, and lands out of sight. He shifts to human form, feeling self-conscious and a bit chilly with only pants on, the cold not having much effect on him in his inhuman form. Derek sneaks his way towards Kelly and Josie across the grounds, keeping out of the immediate path of any passersby. He's not super-concerned if anyone sees him, he just doesn't want to invite obvious questions of why he's running around barefoot and shirtless. Maybe they'll mistake him for the victim of a teenage prank. Oooh, that's an idea.. Err, wait, no, he mentally debates. He gets up to Kelly's position, and grabs for the hoodie, trying to pull it on in one smooth motion if he can.
Derek flies over the carnival, spotting Kelly and Josie. He tries to find a good angle in Josie's field of view, along the edge of the festival, where he can catch her attention to draw her over (especially if she knows what to look for) without attracting anyone else's eye.
At the mention of his family, Derek looks down and away, worried and introspective. "I don't know how they could understand something like this..." He freezes for a moment, an expression of shock dawning across his face. "Wait, you mean.." His expression flickers between surprise and anger. "They KNEW?! And didn't tell me?!" He turns in a quick dash, spreading his wings and leaping up into the air, grabbing and leaping off a couple trees to get some height, as he flies off back towards the carnival, and his young cousin, whose response to the whole ferris wheel situation is now making a lot more sense...
Derek flinches at Phil's sudden interruption. He stammers out a response, "Umm, ahh, not exactly. He went off in the woods that way," gesturing off in the direction Magnus went, "but I think that's where they parked everybody for the festival, so he could be anywhere, if he had a car."
Yup, monstrous form. Overall, he still has features that look like a teenage boy, fairly normal build, regular haircut, young face, just layered over gargoyle features (horns on the forehead, a heavier brow, small tusks coming up from his mouth, plus wings, clawed hands and digitigrade taloned feet, wings, a tail).
Derek comes down from the trees, and approaches with caution. He gives Phil a worried look, then shrugs to Arianne, with an expression that says "What now?" Derek explains, "There was another guy here, he seemed to know who this guy was or something about him. He took a briefcase that he claimed he was supposed to get from the guy. He ran off a few minutes ago. Big guy, missing one arm. I know he didn't kill the guy, but he seemed a little more in-the-know. Seeing me didn't faze him, he called me a 'demon' at first."
Cautious not to draw others' attention, Derek hears Arianne in the forest below, and tries to shift his position to catch a look at her, as someone he's familiar with. He can overhear her and Phil talking, though he can't hear the lower-toned conversation, but it sounds like they're investigating the body. He can also hear other voices that sound like police, who he figures he needs to keep himself hidden from. Derek wonders what he can do to help, and looks for any opportunity to get her alone to talk to.
Derek keeps out of view of the people at the site, but listens into what they're saying.
Derek really need to start to figure out how to use his instinctual/monstrous magical abilities to do some of these things. He keeps engaging his worst stats... Ah well, that's where training in his powers comes in, I guess.
Derek heads back towards the location of the body, hoping Magnus follows. As he gets closer, he tries to stay hidden from anyone who might already be there or anyone approaching.
"Wait!" Derek yells. He jumps down to the ground, half-crouched, suddenly conscious of how Magnus still stands a head or two taller than him. "Fine, keep the case, if you want. But you obviously know something about what is going on here, which is more than I can say." Derek closes his eyes for a second, and concentrates, trying to think about becoming human again. He's not sure it will work, but his eyes pop open in relief as he feels his monstrous features recede. He looks down, and finds himself looking entirely human again, albeit now a teenage boy in ragged jeans and little else, barefoot and shirtless in the chill evening. He straightens up, and self-consciously wraps one arm across his chest, holding his other elbow. Derek takes a step towards Magnus, looking up at him. "Help me figure this out. Whatever did that to your buddy is still out there, and it might do it again." He turns, walking around and past Magnus back towards the location of the body. He focuses again, and his wings and other features re-emerge. "You asked if I valued life. I don't want anybody else to get hurt."
While he'd originally intended to pull a Batman-level growling intimidation, Derek instead listens to Magnus's speech with growing confusion. "Umm.. What? I've never seen you, or that guy back there, before tonight, in my life." "And what do you mean, demon? I'm not.." he pauses, glances down at himself, and grimaces in self-reflection. "Okay, I admit I look REALLY weird right now, but I swear, this is all new to me. I'm human... or at least, I was, earlier tonight."
Derek follows Magnus, spreading his wings and flying between the trees. After they get a fair distance away (hopefully far enough to not be noticed by the other party), he overtakes Magnus, landing on a branch just overhead, our of the tall man's reach, in front of him. "Drop the case."
Derek thinks it through.. If this guy was struggling against something, if someone or something attacked and killed him (and since Derek has just turned into some kind of bat-winged monstrosity, he's not discounting anything), he wonders..
What sort of creature is it? His functional experience with pop-culture monsters is pretty basic, little-green-men aliens and various romantic vampires, and this doesn't exactly conform to either of those, in theory. He'll have to think a little more critically.
Derek recoils as he realizes the man is, in fact, dead. The posture and expression confuse him, but the briefcase makes him curious. He tries to look around, figure out more of what happened, but doesn't want to get too close, since he rationalizes that cops are likely on their way, or will be soon.
"What happened here?" Derek mutters to himself.
Oy. Well, I hope it doesn't come to that. (If nothing else, the system isn't super-well set up for PVP...) Fortunately the circumstances are in my favor. You're unarmed, and I don't really want to hurt you (as long as I don't think you were the one who hurt the person in the woods). Plus, I have 2 armor, so I don't think you can even hurt me with fists or simple, improvised weapons.
Derek climbs lower in the branches, trying to maintain cover from the large figure and anyone else who might be approaching, but also trying to see if the person on the ground is alive and breathing, or if they're hurt and need help.
Derek leans down over the gondola roof, checking on Josie and Kelly. He feels more changes ripple, itch, and tingle over his skin, feeling his forehead and the new horns there, as well as his new, greyish, leathery hide. He winces as his shoes burst open, revealing elongated talons, but he gains steadier footing on the more flexible toes. He then launches himself off the side of the gondola, sideways from the gathering crowd, spreading his wings and making a slow arc towards the woods where the police seem to be focusing their attention. He tries to find a large enough branch to land on, well overhead of everyone's attention, or, failing that, a thick enough tree trunk that he can just dig into with his claws.
Derek stares at his clawed hand in shock for a moment, before looking up at Kelly and Josie and whatever is drawing their attention. He feels the fabric of his shirt pressing against his back and whatever seems to be happening there. To relieve the sensation, he pulls the t-shirt off, trying, and failing, to keep the new claws from shredding the fabric. While they're distracted looking down, he no longer resists the urge to get somewhere isolated, and carefully shifts his weight to not draw their attention by rocking the ride. He gets his feet under him, accidentally stepping on the sweatshirt and causing it to come untied from his waist, before quickly standing up on the bench seat and scrambling up to the roof of the gondola while it's still at the top of the arc. He tries to get over to the other edge, to see what had provided the distraction, even as he feels odd sensations from his back, and the light breeze play over his new.. wings?!
Derek fights against the urge, not knowing why he suddenly feels this way. "H-hey, what's that over there?" he says, pointing off and down in the direction between Josie and Kelly, trying to draw their attention away from himself.
Derek shifts uncomfortably. "Man, are you guys warm? I figured it'd be drafty up here, but.." He removes the zip-up hoodie he'd been wearing, leaving himself in just a t-shirt. He ties the hoodie's sleeves around his waist. "Anyway, yeah, I dunno what to do. I'm sure they're fine once you get in with them, but I dunno how to get there." Derek stares out at the landscape below, watching the fading sunlight play across the clouds. Unconsciously, he scratches at his shoulder.
Derek climbs aboard the gondola after Kelly. He guides Josie to the middle of the bench, and puts himself on the outside edge. "Better?" he undertones to Josie. Derek continues the conversational tone. "Nah, not like that, I mean like you guys all fit together. You've got your friends you've known for years. Greg and James and the other guys on the team all hang out together, and they don't exactly make room for the new guy, even when I try. I swear, I can't win with those guys. Every time I miss a shot in gym class, they look down on me as a clumsy screw-up, and every time I succeed, they think I'm showing them up."
"I dunno, still getting used to it. I grew up in Chicago, and this.. small-town-thing.." Derek looks aside. "It's just.. It seems like everybody's known everybody else since forever. I don't know where I'm supposed to fit into that, like the puzzle's been put together for years, but I'm this extra piece that doesn't fit anywhere." Derek blinks, and shakes his head. "Bah, never mind..."
Derek walks up to Kelly, keeping Josie's hand in his own. "Hey, it's going alright. Just weird. I'm older, but I still feel like she," nodding sideways at Josie next to him, "is the one chaperoning me." Derek looks up at the ferris wheel. "Were you going to go on that? Mind if I, err, we, join you? I always kind wondered what the town looked like from up in the air. Might help me not get so lost." He half-smiles, embarrassed at his sudden candor.
I goggle a bit at the large man, slightly wary, before following after Kelly, Josie in tow. I call out her name, but I'm not sure if she heard me in the carnival noise.
Hey Magnus, do you just leave the stump exposed, or do you do the clipped-sleeve thing, or do you use any kind of prosthetic hand/assist device?
Derek is led by his cousin around to various rides, games, and attractions. He stands awkwardly as locals speak to her with familiarity, and she introduces him with the description, "he moved in with us because his mom just died and his dad was my uncle who died before I was born." He accepts awkward condolences with increasing irritation, but manages to cool down on the occasional game, and keeps an eye out for the best small-fair ride he knows, a real Tilt-a-Whirl.
Arrianne: Moreso the former than the latter, I'd say. They're fairly vulnerable mundanes, they don't have supernatural force to use for such threats, though they might have some mystical knowledge in reserve. Money and cordiality buys better silence than threats of violence. Let's say I've got three primary family members. An uncle, Rob, late 20s, youngest of three siblings (my father was the middle sib, and an older sister was the last awakened member, but she died in recent years). A grandmother, Helen (also awakened, the only other one of the clan who is, but too elderly to fight or perhaps even shift anymore). And a younger cousin, Josie, 11, daughter of the now-deceased elder aunt. All of them know about the family heritage, and are secretly grooming me for the role, since there's nobody else left to take up the hunt. (Josie *could* be, when she's older, but right now, I'm all they've got.) All four of us live in a big old three-story house, built to house a multi-generational family of 10-15, now sadly dilapidated, with half the rooms closed off or filled with old furniture. A study/library that Helen frequently passes time in probably has a hidden door to a secret room with more exotic weapons, and maybe supernatural books/items.
I'm liking the cover identity one. Maybe I'm a current client of yours, and while you know something of what's going on (Maybe my family knows you/your sect, and they want you to help me), and you're trying to encourage me to come around and put the details all together, I'm still in denial about the truth of the world?
If anyone can think of anything, I'd like to have some kind of a pre-existing connection with at least one other character. (Something that would keep me from being shot on sight in monstrous form, if possible..)
Profile's done. (Avatar choices are unfortunately limited for modern characters, so I went with something vaguely close to his monstrous form. Wish I could submit my own avatar artwork, but I understand how & why that's limited. Augh.) |