[open/closed] but I ignore things and I move sideways

[ordinar]

Who: Wilhelm & pals
When: September onward
Where: Thorne, Nocwich, Horizon
What: Catchall for baddies getting saddies in the fall
Warnings: None




Open and closed starters to follow. :)

Comments

[seaweedbrain]

I wouldn't call creepy magic-feet dolls our buddies just yet. But I like the way you think.

[ It had essentially been his and Annabeth's plan, to look around, zero in on a likely area that a doll might think to hide in, and dig said lost doll out to return them to where they're supposed to be.

And now he looks towards the direction Wille's gesturing to. ]

You think they didn't go too far from where they were made in the first place?

[ Well, it kinda makes sense. Best place to hide until the coast is clear is one you wouldn't generally expect if you're on the lam. Classic prison escape rules. ]

[sophos]

[ she watches as river digs around, literally, and when the other girl pulls out a piece of paper, annabeth's mouth pops open with the quietest inhale of surprise. she absently takes the doll back, but she's far more interested in the little note, shifting to try and take a peek at it. ]

What does it say?

[ in the meantime, she will also simply grab the doll from percy's pocket and dig around to look for more messages. it hadn't occurred to her to search the dolls like she's the tsa, too busy wondering after what might be moving them in the first place. finding nothing in this one, she wrinkles her nose and shoves it back in his pocket. ]

[ and then, somewhat delayed: ] Cool, a red room doesn't sound ominous at all either in the face of literally everything else.

[ she doesn't have any disagreements about the chosen direction to search, so annabeth will just... start walking towards the street, trusting they'll all follow and keep pace. ]

[thoughts]

[ the moment annabeth asks about the note, river is plenty content to leave figuring out where to go and what they're doing to the boys, abandoning their conversation and sticking to her side as they walk. she hands the note over but is still sort of leaning into annabeth's personal space to keep staring at it. ]

It's the same as the other one. Maybe down to the brushstroke.

[ she reaches into her tiny purse to retrieve the other note for comparison, although this one is crumpled as though hastily grabbed and shoved into her bag; it really seemed like oisin might've gotten violent if they kept his doll away for any longer. it's a different type of paper with the same word in the same handwriting: RETURN. ]

It doesn't make sense. They're coming from all over and going different places. Not returning to the maker so I don't think they have a death wish, but maybe we can ask.

[ the doll makers, of course, even if river says it like a reference to god. they are the dolls' creators, are they not? it counts! ]

[ordinar]

[Wilhelm leads the way, still wheeling the bike along. In the narrow lane, a handful of children are chasing each other. One gleefully shrieks an incantation that sends a spurt of wind through the other's hair. A few houses down, a man swings out of a door and shouts at the children to come inside for supper.]

Well, yeah, if the dolls are actually possessed by something and moving on their own, then we might find some near the shops. And if someone is behind this, then...maybe we can catch them in the act now that it's getting dark.

[He casts a look back at River. He's getting a little better at deciphering her strange way of speaking.]

We can try talking to some of the shop owners too. They're probably closing up right now.

[seaweedbrain]

Like, the Hat Guy? He's definitely behind all of this, right?

[ He sounds pretty suspicious if he's got some kind of correlation to the dolls and the warnings against the dolls and the kids; yeah, it's all adding up. Percy's connecting the dots.

Mostly he just wants to round up these dolls and keep them in one place. Thinking about being surprised by a random doll hanging out in some unexpected nook or cranny already gives him the heebie-jeebies.

The shops do look like they're starting to wrap up for the day. Percy notes a couple of vendors pulling their wares from outside back in, and he takes the initiative to herd their group forward. ]

Sure. Let's try this first one.

[sophos]

[ annabeth seems just as content to let percy and wille slip into the lead while she walks with river and looks over the differing papers. the letters don't quite match up for her and she can't quite follow the lines of the brush strokes given some of them move as she tries to read it, but annabeth will take river's word for it. she hums. ]

So, even if we don't know where they're returning to, it's clearly all part of the same happenings... [ she squints again at the paper, turning it over like maybe the quality of it will give another clue. ]

... unless it's return to their owners? But why would they be leaving if they just want to go back? Maybe they think it's a fun little game? [ a beat. ] Maybe it is playing spooky hide and seek with dolls? Or even the kids?

[ at this point she is just rambling aloud, but she doesn't get the sense river will mind, and she's pretty sure wille might be used to it. percy certainly is. ]

[ without responding to him, she does gravitate after him anyway, moving easily towards the shop he intends even as she continues to linger with river, handing one of the notes back over. ]

Hat Guy could be a magician. [ oh yeah still lost in thought, but she is also trying to filter in what the boys are saying too! ]