Old Answers and New Questions

Animus approaches the Hostel HI, his familiar walking invisibly by his side.

~~Narration~~

There's a body lying in the grass of the yard.

Animus motions Joshua over. "This isn't about Calligan's assailant any more. Do you think you can identify when this person died?" He flips open his phone to give Armstrong a heads-up.

Animus feels his cheeks heating up. The irony isn't lost on him. "Do you have any idea what happened to him, or when?"

((That was such a set-up.))

Spoiler:

A voice approaching from a little distance away speaks up. "He doesn't look dead to me. But I'm blind in the one eye, you know, so I could be wrong." The right side of her face looks less flat than it did the last time anybody here saw her, like she's got her eye back somehow. She's still wearing an eye patch, but this time it's white, along with her suit.

"Yeah, I just talked to Zilker," Zero said, propping himself up. "They had a cleanup crew here. Apparently Wolverine came and cleared out the Hostel -- and then drank Calligan's blood."

"I don't know what to believe," he said morosely. "Supposedly Tyria or the Arrow Magister is supposed to come postcog the scene later."

He let his arms slide, laying back down in the grass.

"Ummmm," he asks, "Is that Frankie from Sky Captain?"

(( Sorry I needed a laugh ))

Armstrong adjusts the fit of her gloves as she responds to the prostrate man. "I can't pull off the uniform and I don't have an Airship, yet. I'm Armstrong."

Animus sighs. "I can't help with that. Unless someone knows exactly when it happened, it'd be about as likely as hitting a flea with a thrown dart. I was hoping to postcog the argument that lead up to the previous attack. It probably wouldn't help find the killer, but we could at least get some leads on Calligan's previous assailant.

"Remember the obelisks? Seems they had constructs guarding them, but Armstrong took out almost half of them herself."

Armstong keeps her eye on her gloves. "Three-Tenths of the opposition is hardly 'almost half'" Armstrong corrects primly, reminding everyone of a teacher they had at some point in their lives. "And I started hemorrhaging Paradoxes before very much happened. I'd like to avoid a repeat of that situation." To the man still lying on the ground who has not introduced himself, she asks, "Do you know the time Wellmer's body was found? We can probably work backwards from there."

Animus chuckles. "My main focus has been Life, but I've branched out a bit." Destroyed the history? Is that even possible?

Armstrong makes a growling hrrrrrrm sound deep in the back of her throat. "Well, if that's not going to work, we can go in and try scouring the place for a sympathetic connection that doesn't belong. It might lead us to somebody."

"I think he was suggesting that any sympathetic connections were severed. It seems someone doesn't want to be spied on."

Animus thinks for a moment. "Has anyone tried asking local spirits about the event?" He mutters briefly in High Speech, focusing his will.

Spoiler:

"You know," Zero said with sly grin, "I've never slept with a famous guy, either."

Deciding they were not going to go away, he sat up, then stood. "Yeah, anyway. Destroyed the history and sliced the threads. That's why I was asking about the Spirits."

At least Animus wasn't deaf.

~~Narration~~

The Shadow appears as expected, except Animus can see a few spirits of pain and suffering who came late to the party still sniffing around the house. There's also a large, barely tangible cloud over the area, which has an oily residue to it that reminds Animus of the Abyss, when he pulls Vulgar spells.

Animus sighs. "Did we trade in one Abyssal manifestation for another? This whole place reeks of it." He walks up to one of the pain spirits and asks what it had seen of the attack.

"Yeah, I was just in there. You guys missed Zilker by ten minutes," Zero answered Joshua.

He turned back to Armstrong. "So, what's under the patch? Like, a walleye? Or is it all white? Or nothing at all?" He seems genuinely curious, as he looks at her intently.

~~Narration~~

The spirit hadn't seen much; being small and weak, it got pushed to the outskirts as the others fed. There were many deaths, and they all happened quickly, painfully.

It also tells Animus the Abyss-cloud was already there, and it smells like Joshua, a little. Most spirits won't go near Abyssal clouds, but pain and the Abyss are often linked, so they're tolerated.

Hurt peoples now now? Food for question-answers...

Animus sighs. Spirits always expected something in return, and refusing usually worked out very poorly. "Just me. Nothing permanent, and not too much. But first, a couple more questions. The cloud was already there when you arrived? When was that? Also, can you tell me exactly when the deaths were, preferably to within a couple of seconds?"

~~Narration~~

The spirit shows Animus several images, approaching the house, trying to get in, backing off, all of them show the cloud already there. The first chronological image actually shows the cloud as slightly denser.

When Animus asks when, there is a wave of confusion.

There is only hungry and not-hungry. House-pain was when hungry.

~~Narration~~

It does not. Apparently it's a Spirit that normally lurks around the city's jails, but could feel the 'call' of the Hostel. There are also flashes of the city docks, an underground city utilities facility, another hostel or boarding house, and a night club. Very vague, indistinct.

Many big-pains in city. Not-hungry much. Hungry now.

"Thank you. That's all the questions I have." Animus braces himself, unsure of what exactly the spirit will do, but knowing it won't be pleasant.

~~Narration~~

The spirit flattens and elongates into a form similar to a manta. It gently settles on Animus' head... and then jams it's 'tail' into his spine. Animus can feel the tail grow barbs as it slides down, and into, his back. Whenever he feels as if the pain is becoming manageable, the tail twitches, and grates his nerves anew.

(( -1 to Actions for Scene while it 'feeds'; Resolve+Stamina to eject it and end the feeding early ))

It takes all of Animus' self-control to keep from crying out. Finally, he turns to the others. "This wasn't an isolated incident, I know that much." He winces as the tail moves around within his back, then turns to look directly at Joshua. "An Abyss-tinged cloud hangs over the place, and apparently it has your scent. Do you have any idea why?"

Animus can't help but wonder whether the information was really worth this.

To Zero. "A prosthetic. I was just picking it up when I was called over here. Apparently, I have to take it out every night so I don't start growing eye mushrooms." Klaus was extremely clear on that point. He had flashcards and slides to show exactly what would grow in an empty eye socket if given half a chance. She keeps an ear on what Animus and Joshua are talking about while she asks Zero. "So, no bullshit, what makes you such an expert on Paradoxes?"

Animus looks to Zero. "Does your knowledge extend to the abyss, also? If I showed you the cloud, would you be able to tell anything about it?"

((Which realm is the cloud in? Twilight? Shadow?))

Armstrong hadn't gotten very far socially in Sacramento yet. She figured that it would be a good idea to start with the members of her order. Obviously they weren't all like Captain. "So, you're part of the Council too? How many of us are in town?"

"The spirit I talked to wasn't clear on the details, but the other areas were the city docks, a utilities facility, anoth -- " The spirit's tail jerks, sending pain shooting across his entire back and catching him by surprise. Animus' sentence is cut off, punctuated by a sharp intake of breath and, for a brief instant, a pained look. He remains silent for several seconds before recovering enough to speak again. "Another hostel or boarding house, and a night club."

"Joshua, hold on." Armstrong thinks for a little bit before speaking "Animus, if whatever killed Wellmer struck elsewhere, there might be connections that the Guardians missed there. At the very least their clean up crew probably hasn't been over the place with a fine toothed comb. Could you use Time to see if any of those locations would be the most useful to us?"

Is she oblivious, or does she treat others' problems the same way she treats her own? Animus shrugs, but immediately regrets it, as evidenced by another wince. Then he focuses on her question, taking longer than usual to gather his thoughts. "I'm not sure if I can get anything from the little information that we have, but I might be able to see which sites it could be beneficial to try to find."

Testing the waters, Animus imagines tracking down the utilities facility and combing it for clues, but the Imago explodes into pain as the spirit's tail once again rakes through his flesh.

Spoiler:

Caught completely off guard, Animus' pain tolerance fails him and he lets out a strangled yelp, sinking to his knees. He could swear he hears a snigger coming from the spirit resting on his head, and the doubts about whether it was worth it return in even greater strength.

Animus slowly brings the pain back under some semblence of control and rises to his feet. His breath still comes in ragged gasps. "Any time you ask something of a spirit, it expects something in return. The one thing that matters to them most is essence, which is generated by any act that falls in line with their nature. The only spirits around here are of pain and suffering, and I didn't want it to inflict pain on anyone else." Animus grimaces. "It caught me again while I was focused on casting."

Animus shakes his head, again feeling renewed pain for his efforts. "I appreciate the support, but it's not something I could ask of anyone else. Let's head inside, see what we can find. Then we can check whether the Guardians know of the other sites."

She certainly notices the wincing and tiny cries Animus is making, but he didn't ask for help in paying a price or in dealing with the consequences. As far as she was concerned, If he wanted her to be concerned he should have said something. He still could, of course. She certainly wouldn't try and undermine somebody else by making it seem that he or she couldn't do something on their own, unless they wanted her to. That's how she had always operated.

"Fine, we can do this the hard way." Armstrong steps in beside Zero. "You coming?"

He follows the others in, wordlessly. It would be so easy to throw the spirit off and end this. Animus banishes the thought. It gave me information; I promised it essence. I will uphold my end, despite the cost.

Zero's brows furrowed in confusion. How the hell had they gone from talking about Abyssal clouds and dates to pain spirits and casing the hostel?

Especially one he had already told them was sterile. Saying 'I told you so' was so overrated.

"Sure," he said, half-heartedly, "Why not?"

~~Narration~~

The interior of the hostel is immaculate. What would seem to be fresh paint and carpet to a Sleeper was the results of a Matter mage's work. Nothing is out of place, and everything looks perfectly normal.

Armstrong releases her Incognito spell and tries casting a Sybil's Sight. She agreed with Zero, she doubted that there would be anything to see, the entire point of the Guardians was "leave no evidence". The first spell fizzled, but the second time she tried the rote, it worked. After they pulled up nothing, she'd probably have to figure out exactly where the other attack took place, at the very least she knew that there were all kinds of boarding houses and night clubs in the city.

Spoiler: