genessia | The Case of the Missing Cooki--er, Children

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The Case of the Missing Cooki--er, Children

WHO: Various Interested Parties (i.e. Anyone! Newbies, Oldbies, Applebees -- )
WHAT: The Mystery of the Missing Children!
WHEN: in...abouuuuuut... RIGHT NOW
WHERE: Fayren Woodlands and Fayren Farmlands mostly

Whoever you are, wherever you are, if you're in Genessia City or Fayren today, you may find yourself being accosted by an elderly woman in her late sixties. Her wrinkly sun baked skin is dotted with freckles, a long white braid over one shoulder with stray wisps of hair coming loose. Her posture was stooped and she walked with a slow hobble, muttering to herself and trying to get the attention of anyone who would stop.

"Sir.. Sir have you seen this girl?"

"Madame, have you seen this boy?"

"Oh poor me... poor me..."

"Wherever could they have gotten to..?"

- whenever she drew near enough to someone or if they slowed down to listen, she grabbed for their arm with a surprisingly strong grip, and spoke in a voice that was raspy.

"Such a sad fate...such poor children. Please, won't you hear me out?"

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The woman gave her name as Wuada Tuis and she solemnly informed anyone who listened to her, that several charges under her care had seemingly disappeared overnight. She and her cousin Ai Xudanon have been searching for the children (a total of six missing little ones in all) who may have been kidnapped somewhere between the farmlands and the forests in Fayren. Unfortunately they can't travel there as it is perilous for such elderly souls and won't such fine, strapping young creatures help them out kindly please. A reward of course, is offered.

[ OOC: OKAY. I'm going to be setting up multiple threads so HOLD YER HORSES <3; you can talk with the old lady, go straight on to investigate places, sit back and eat cheese or other. I encourage threadjacking because who doesn't like new CR? Also as a side note even if you didn't respond to the OOC post you can participate. The more the merrier :3 ~~I lied. You can't really sit back and eat cheese.~~ ]

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"Well making them attack people for no reason goes against that. SO either they're stupid or they aren't worried about getting attention." NAtsu grumbled to himself.

He frowned hearing the voices behind the door. Natsu looked back to Lucy and held up two fingers.

STill they were hiding so if they wanted to do harm they were doing a shitty job at achieving that.

"Probably the latter considering there haven't been any reports about hostile farmers, or mud dolls in the news for some reason." maybe whoever encountered them just didn't go past the hostility or worse, maybe - nono, she didn't want to think about that.

Watching Natsu a moment, she nodded slowly. At least two - possibly even more. Hesitating a fraction of a second, she placed her hand on the doorknob, testing to see if it was locked. Somehow she was still surprised when the door gave to her tentative push.

More scurrying sounds from inside - whoever's in there probably looking for hiding places and trying to be quiet about it. Not very successfully either. "Sorry for the intrusion...! Is anyone there?" Lucy called again, "We just want to talk..!"

It's.. actually kind of shabby inside compared to the outside appearance. A small lit fireplace with a fire that was hastily put out, some small coals still burning, is in a corner of the room. There's a chair and a long couch, with a small table to the far side of the room. The floor is littered with a few steak bones here and there, and the air almost smells foreign from the mix of scents present; humans, incense, dog and something not quite human but unidentifiable at the moment. Keen eyes will also catch a crude trap set up at the door - a trip wire.

"Or maybe they're just after us who are from another world." It was certainly possible. Natsu was more than aware of their worth after their time in Exsilium.

Natsu could feel the scents and was about to walk on through when he spotted the tripwire and halted Lucy's advance with a hand over her stomach before nodding his chin downwards.

Hm.. she hadn't thought about that possibility. "Maybe...!" Hrm, that's a troubling thought, actually.

She's about to step forward into the house when Natsu stopped her. Glancing to him in surprise, she followed the nod of his chin to the trip wire. "Ah... what the..."

Well fortunately that's easily avoided, and she carefully stepped over the wire, glancing around. Kitchen, basement, upper floor to a loft..she glanced at Natsu, motioning to the stairs. "Check upstairs." She'll check the kitchen and basement.

Natsu looked to Lucy after trying to find whatever the trip wire led to so they don't trigger the thing on their way out by accident.

"Okay leave it to me. Keep on your toes Lucy." Natsu warned and moved to walk up the stairs to the second floor but not before sparing a brief glance over his shoulder at Lucy.

Strangely the trip wire was ... pretty simple actually. It just led from one end of the doorjam to the other, its purpose to trip anyone who walked in into falling flat on their face - or more dangerously, onto the table if it had been pushed close enough.

Lucy paused on the way to the kitchen, glancing around, pausing to look over her shoulder to Natsu with a softer smile. "I will. You be careful too."

Up the stairs! The creaky, creaky stairs, each step seeming to groan in protest under the weight, looking like they hadn't been maintained or repaired in decades, Once or twice the steps crack slightly, but so long as you move carefully, they'll stand firm.

Once in the loft upstairs, the air gets much, much colder, enough that vapor would be seen. There are blankets lumped on the floor with flecks of blood only a few days old, and two plates with scraps of food on the floor. Two beds sit side by side- angled oddly along the wall. There's a suspicious lumpy shape on the bed, while opposite those two there is a small closet with the door cracked open the tiniest bit.

Scents of people and things, human, dog, and a prescence that seems just as hostile are aaaaaaaaaaaaall over this room, coming from every which. Breathing is audible, small and shallow as if afraid, and under that is the faintest sound of growling.

Natsu crept up the stairs keeping his senses on guard for any sign of wrongness in his surroundings. The change in temperature didn't phase the dragon Slayer since he had that internal furnace situation going on.

However he could smell the iron tange of blood. He slowly opened the door and peered inside. Natsu eyed the bed briefly but then followed his nose to the closet. He walked up to the piece of furniture and gripped the side of it. In a few heartbeats he would be roughly shaking the furniture forward.

As Natsu approached the furniture, the door that was cracked open is quickly shut tight. There's soft whimpering from within, and as it gets shaken forward, the doors swing open again and a figure tumbles out with a small yelp. A small boy with curly black hair and black eyes, dressed in a white shirt and black shorts no older than 8 being the owner of that surprised noise, once he hits the floor it's like pandemonium.

The blanket on the bed is abruptly thrown back and a girl a few olders than the boy jumps off the bed, a dagger in her hands as she rushes towards the small boy's aid. "Get away from him!" At the same time, there's a louder growl, a large (and injured) dog that had been on the bed slowly trying to get to his feet. The blood has obviously come from the animal, his bandages barely keeping the wound from reopening.

On closer inspection, both girl and boy have an odd rash creeping along their face and arm - more pronounced on the girl than the boy, it covers more than half of her face, her entire neck and down her chest (one assumes), as well as along her arms. The dagger in her hands shakes with her effort of holding onto it, but she glowers at Natsu with fierce determination.

Natsu expected something to come out of the closet. However when the two children revealed themselves he was genuinely caught by surprise. Not so much by their presence there as much as their state. And then his eyes fell on the wounded dog.

"Woah there! Easy. I'm not going to hurt you guys." Natsu said and put the furniture back in its place before offering to help the boy to his feet despite the threat. If she tried lunging at him, she would find Natsu to be quicker than he looked.

The girl wasn't taking his answer at face value - in fact when he reached to help the smaller boy up, she lunged forward and clumsily slashed at his arm. "I won't let you touch him!"

Nice of him to put the furniture back up though. The smaller boy scoots backwards away from Natsu, putting the girl between them. The injured dog lets out a pained whimper as it climbs off of the bed, ears flattened back and hackles up.

She was a fierce one despite her obvious fear. Natsu had to praise her for that. As soon as they sorted things out. For the moment Natu caught the blade of the dagger between to fingers and held it in an iron grip.

"Calm down. We're not here to hurt anyone. We just want to know what's going on around here." As he said that he tossed the wounded dog a sympathetic look. He must have been just like the girl given how hard he was trying to rise to the defense of the children despite his wounds.

"Look I'm going to let go of the knife now and then we can talk, okay? Actually. I should call Lucy up here too..."

The girl gasped when she found she couldn't pull the knife away. What kind of monster was this guy!? She glared at him for a second, her eyes sending furtive glances towards the younger boy and the dog standing guard in front of him.

When Natsu let go of the knife, the girl looked tempted to attack again- but the guy DID say he only wanted to talk. And he's with someone else too. Instead she lowered the knife and backed up towards the other boy. "You shouldn't be here." She said instead, crossly.

Meanwhile the creak of floorboards was telltale of Lucy padding up the steps. Hearing her name being mentioned, she glanced at the children and their dog, then Natsu. "I'm here, you don't have to call me up."

On that could breathe fire. Still he was doing nothing of the sort. The opening to their talk wasn't the most promising but it was something at least.

Why shouldn't we? He paused for a moment and just as Lucy arrived he continued.

"Is it because of that thing on your bodies?" Natsu turned his head over his shoulder when Lucy announced herself.

"I'm guessing you didn't find anything else." Since the three before him all matched the scents he'd picked up since coming in.

Lucy hesitated for a fraction of a second, "Just these papers. It must have been someone's diary."

The girl scowled when Natsu mentioned the marking on their bodies, glancing from Lucy to Natsu warily. "Because the bad thing comes back at night." She answers stiffly instead, turning her attention to the dog anxiously.

The boy, being a bit more hospitable, studies Natsu for a moment, and then Lucy. "That's my sister Justyne Thyme, and our dog Herb. My name is Neveren."

"A diary?" Those always had information of some sorts. Well he could leave that to Lucy since the girl mentioned some 'bad thing'

"What do you mean bad thing? Some kind of monster?" If so he would kick its ass no problem. When Neveren spoke up, Natsu flashed a warm smile at the two.

"Sorry about earlier. I didn't know it was you two hiding out in here. My nose might be sharp but your scents were new to me so I couldn't take any chances." He then looked over to the dog.

"Did the bad thing do that to him?" It was obvious from his frown that he was not at all pleased with that.

Edited 2014-03-11 12:41 (UTC)

Lucy nodded, but she didn't say anything more, not wanting to interrupt. Neveren glanced at Justyne, who only nodded sullenly, both children starting to relax slightly. Enough that Neveren stared at Natsu with wide and confused eyes. "We stink that bad?"

Justyne plopped down on the floor next to the dog, troubled at the question. "Yes. He tried to protect us, and it hurt him bad." She rubbed at her face with a sniffle, easing poor Herb into lying down again.

"..There were more of us before. It keeps coming back. Nanny went looking for them."

It's not that. My nose is really sharp cause of my magic and being raised by a dragon." He said and pointed to his nose with a cheeky grin before it slipped off a bit when Justyne went on with her tale.

"I see. He's a good friend to you two." He smiled encouragingly before he heard the word Nanny.

"Nanny? Is that by any chance an old lady walks really slowly and hunched over?"

Neverin's eyes widen at the explanation, breathing out a slow, "Cooooool." of awe. They'd think that dragons were scary monsters that eat people!

Justyne nods slowly, her attention returning to the dog, his tail thumping once briefly as she ran a hand over his head. Her younger brother considered Natsu's question. "She's really old, but I haven't seen her hunch over when she walked... did she get hurt..!?"

Well he could tell them all about his dad and how he didn't eat people. SO there was that. "You don'[t know the half of it. He even taught me magic. I'll have to show you sometime!" Natsu grinned happily, wanting to give the two children something better to think about.

"Well she might've just been tired. But she said the kids in her care had gone missing." Natsu said his brows knitting together into a deeper frown.

Really!! Aw man! That'd be so cool! Wouldn't that be cool, Justyne?" Neveren certainly managed to bounce back from being nervous quickly! But he was younger than Justyne, who wasn't quite as exciteable, torn over her concern over the older woman, and her injured dog.

"...it's because of the monster. It steals people. It's really fast, and really strong. Some of the other kids. . . I think they got away, but I don't know where to. And the others..."

Natsu wasn't convinced. She had definitely said all of the kids were gone. Yet these two were hiding out here and with a dog and even a trap set at the door. This whole story reeked.

"We'll look for the others too. But first, I think we should take you back to our place. We can get you some food and even get Herb patched up. What do you say Lucy? We can't leave them here now."

Lucy nodded with a grin, "If you hadn't suggested it, I would have. I wouldn't feel right leaving these two alone here - especially if there's some monster roaming around and targeting children."

Justyne tensed at the suggestion. "W-we can't go out THERE...!"

To which Lucy reached over to pat the girl on the shoulder, "It's okay. Natsu's the strongest, most reliable guy I know. If there's any constant I know about him it's that you'll always be safe with him." She glanced at Natsu, then quickly glanced away again, "..Yeah, there's no way he'd let anything get you guys or Herb." Ahem.

The two children hesitate a fraction of a second longer, exchanging silent glances. Neveren was sold the second Natsu brought up the suggestion, but he clearly wouldn't go anywhere without his sister. So he's relieved when Justyne finally nodded agreement. "... How will Nanny find us if we go with you?"

"Then it's decided." Natsu nodded to his partner before looking over to Justyne. "I'll kick the monster's ass and send him running. I won't let him hurt any of you anymore." Natsu said with a nod to Lucy's own reassurance.

"Well we left her in the village when we came here. So she might still be there. If not I can just find her with my nose and let her know. But you'll still be safer at our guild. And like I said we can treat Herb's wounds. You don't really have all that much medicine here from what I can tell. " For someone who was usually the epitome of impulsive he'd given a lot of thought on this course of action. All the more proof of how much he wanted to help these kids and their loyal friend.

It was just another example of just how much he'd changed. Before all this, before Exsilium - heck, before a lot of things, she was sure he'd be just as gung ho to go charging off after whatever monster out there. He was still impulsive, but lately he was definitely thinking about things more carefully. Even if he still lacked the patience to research and read the way she and Erza did. That was okay though.

Lucy nodded with a grin, getting to her feet, "I'm not so sure it'll be easy to move Herb without reopening his wounds, but if we can use those blankets to make a litter for him, we should be able to manage it."

Maybe he had a positive influence from someone. After all he spent so much time around Lucy it was impossible for things to not start rubbing off from one another.

"We can use some of he sheets and blankets. We'll just buy new ones if you guys end up coming back here after it's all over."

Though to be honest Natsu would not be adverse to either building them a house at the edge of the village or even having them stay in the dorms at the guild. Surely Erza wouldn't mind. After all Fairy Tail had a history of gathering lost children.

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