Elise Pelltier, Alexstrasza Lockhart & John Dove
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory - Kitchen -> Common Room
Phase: Morning Phase
Date: 10.09.1994 (SAT)
Weather: Overcast
"Heeeey, you make it sound like my 'dedication' is some sort of bad thing!"
Sakura feigned a pout at John's words, but couldn't keep it up too long. Instead a giggle escaped her lips as she sat down next to the blue-haired boy and dug into her own portion of the breakfast. Meanwhile on the other side of the room, the three Coastrise siblings had finally received their breakfast plates (and Alexstrasza and Elise had been left with one for themselves each). The black-haired trio had once again taken over the large sofa, sort of huddled together with Minato being in the middle. Still, their attention was drawn by the cheerful greeting from one Elise Pelltier that she gave after having handed out the plates.
Originally Posted by
Elise
"Hi! I'm Elise, nice to meet you! And, ah, welcome aboard, I suppose?""
Three distinct responses were made to that.
"Ah, charming to meet you too~" Zhou said, slowly blinking her eyes at the girl. "This is very nice thing you have done for us~ Would you like a juice in exchange, it's the type to perk you up too~"
Almost like she wasn't about to take "No" for an answer, the bespectacled girl then handed Elise an bright pink juice box from God knows where. Stranger still, judging from the picture on the box this one was supposed to be... Tuna & Chili flavoured? Once more the bizarre tastes of the eldest sibling reared their heads thanks to her gratitude.
Minato Coastrise, on the other hand, simply took one short look at Elise and Alexstrasza before turning his head away.
"... Thanks, or whatever..." he mumbled and began to eat.
That, of course, left the youngest of the Coastrise Siblings, Yeong-Hui.. though hers wasn't much of an answer. The tiny girl was stuffing her face with the omelette like she hadn't seen proper food in days. Her fork moved with such incredible speeds that it left nothing but a blurry after-image near her mouth, while bits and pieces of the food itself created a sort of mask around her cheeks and face. Indeed, it was a rather childish way of eating, further reinforcing the image that Yeong-Hui might have been younger than any other student at Pinefall.
Still, even the messy-haired girl stopped just for a moment to shoot a wary glance at both Alexstrasza and Elise... before blushing again timidly and mumbling:
"... Thank you."
Into her food and continuing.
--- All in rather, a rather heart-warming sight.
Sitting a little further aways from the youngsters, Sae Min was slowly enjoying her breakfast, taking sips of the coffee in her mug in-between bites. The teacher slowly seemed to relax somewhat, a satisfied quiet sigh escaping her lips on more than one occasion. Reading between the lines (as she didn't say it out loud) it might have just been that the de facto vice principal of the school had had a stressful morning herself and was now, finally, able to calm down somewhat.
"I must admit, you three did an excellent job," Miss Min commented to Sakura, Elise and Alexstrasza. "It is something of a shame we do not have Home Economy classes taught at Pinefall. I am sure most students would enjoy learning skills such as cooking."
Sakura, hearing that, nodded slowly and deliberately.
"Oh, that'd be neat, actually. It'd be a kind of levity in the curriculum, too!" She answered, before realizing what she had said and laughing awkwardly. "Err, not that the current curriculum is too harsh, Ma'am!"
A soft, wry smile appeared on Sae Min's face.
"No offence taken. I know very well that I rather appear as a... what was the term Mister Gagnon used again...?" Miss Min pondered for a moment, before snapping her fingers. "Ah, yes. That I appear as a 'hardass' to you students."
Jake Briggs nearly spurted his coffee out of his nose, and was left to cover it up with a hacking cough.
Hisa Momoi
Location: Big Boy’s Gas Station
Phase: Morning Phase
Date: 10.09.1994 (SAT)
Weather: Overcast
Originally Posted by
Hisa
“I never felt like this for a guy. Is this...Is this what love is?”
Billie Boulders chuckled with a grin and patted Hisa on the shoulder. Despite the huge size of her hand, it was a gentle, encouraging touch. One that tried to help her feel confident even if the girl was right not being flustered to the point of blushing and twiddling her fingers, earning a look from the bartender that just screamed how adorable the tall woman found her.
"Who knows? I mean, you are still a teenager. Fretting over stuff like love and having a crush on somebody... well, that's just normal, ain't it!" Billie answered with a bark of a laugh. "Unfortunately, there ain't no one who can give you ready-made answers for these questions. It's just stuff we all gotta go through on our own, and find our own answers. But the way I see it, no reason to be too anxious about it. Youth is about giving new things a go and see if it feels right - in other words, finding out who you are as a person!"
Nodding to herself, the giant of a bartender poured herself yet another beer. Judging from her body-size though, it was very unlikely that she did it to actually get drunk. Indeed, it would have taken more than a few Millers Lite to even get someone like Billie Boulders tipsy. Still the fact that a bartender was drinking in broad daylight was rather... concerning.
"Being confused, unsure, even scared... that's all part of the package though," Billie continued, taking a swig of the beer. "And it's alright to feel that way. But don't let it control or you or stop you from doing what you wanna do. And besides, you're still young! It's alright to make mistakes, y'hear? So my advice is: just do what feels right to you, even if it feels scary or you have your doubts. It's much better than later worrying about what might've been. In other words I think it's better to give things a try than to have never tried at al---"Suddenly.
Music blasting out of the jukebox.
Carrie had apparently finally chosen the song out of the jukebox as once again tunes filled the bar and otherwise rather silent atmosphere. Horns, guitar and drums weaved together into a familiar melody. The folklorist herself bopped her head slightly to the rhythm, sly grin on her face... and as the vocalist of the song started, it quickly became apparent why. From the looks of it the older woman was far from over when it came to teasing Hisa and her current predicament.
Even Billie couldn't help it. As much as she tried to hide it with her hand, her amused grin was obvious as the bartender watched Carrie take few dance-like steps towards the counter, while mouthing the words at the same time. However, as the chorus itself began, the older woman switched to actually singing the lyrics out... and showed that she had a surprisingly good, almost professional-like singing voice. Not only that, but it was clearly trained as well, considering how well she used her breathing.
"Don't need money! Don't take fame! Don't need no credit card to ride this train!"
Still... watching a woman like her get so much mischievous joy out of the song was quite the sight, as well as the way she half-danced to it.
"It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes! But it might just save your liiiiiife!"
Especially in how she raised her hand, extended her index finger, and pointed it straight at Hisa.
"That's the power of love!"
Clearly Carrie Lakes just loved teasing those her junior!
Elaine Winters
Location: Pinefall High Main Building
Phase: Morning Phase
Date: 10.09.1994 (SAT)
Weather: Overcast
Originally Posted by
Elaine
"I don't really like surprising Cops, after all."
Kean raised an eyebrow at that.
"What, so you have an inside man at the local law enforcement, huh?" he said, dry smile floating to his lips. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're the type to have friends in every city from here to east coast, after all."
While the silver-haired boy had said it with good humour, Hwan Bin didn't seem as convinced. He was now leaning on the table with his elbow, supporting his chin with his fest, his piercing eyes trained straight at the blonde girl. Thanks to the surprisingly subdued expression still etched onto the white-haired youth's face, it made him look rather serious - almost like a professional dealing with a situation he was used to. Considering the same guy was also known as one of the foremost assholes of the school (right after Travis) just made it even weirder.
"Huh, the cops huh? You sure that's wise, Blondie?" Hwan asked, cocking an eyebrow at Elaine. "If the hospital's really part of whatever went down with the kid over there, it's likely the sheriff and his men know about it too. Hell, they might be working together for all we know. Especially since we don't even know what's really going on here. You wanna just blurt out to some cop that you found the girl that they might very well be looking for?"
Oddly enough, before Elaine could answer, Kean shook his head.
"I doubt Elaine would've suggested what she did unless she felt like she could trust this person to some extent. And speaking from experience, she has a pretty good eye when it comes to friends and accomplices," Kean answered, flashing a grin towards the girl in question. "Besides we have to start somewhere, right? Finding out who this girl actually is, why she was out there, if that hospital has something to do with it and if she's in any danger... well, those are just a fraction of the questions that need answering."
Hearing that Hwan raised his arms in a shrug - he wasn't going to argue about this since it was clear that Kean knew Elaine better than he did.
However, at that point, a tiny sound caught everyone's attention. The girl, who had still been enjoying the fact that someone was petting her head, had suddenly coughed. It was a wet, raspy sound and it was followed by two more coughs. The incident calmed down as quickly as it had happened, but at the same time, the kid did look a bit woozy afterwards. Travis frowned at this and pressed the back of his against the girl's forehead, his eyebrows furrowing even further as he did so.
"... Traces of fever, I suppose," the boy muttered before glancing at Elaine. "You have any idea how long she was out there in the rain? I get a feeling that she's still not back to 100%."
Prushka
Location: Avery's Diner
Phase: Morning Phase
Date: 10.09.1994 (SAT)
Weather: Overcast
Originally Posted by
Prushka
"Alright, spill it. But don't get all detailed trying to gross us out. We've gotta be able to eat dessert, remember?"
Xylia looked like she wanted to comment on the fact that Prushka wanted to get 'dessert' after they had just finished eating a whole cherry pie, but eventually just let it go. Instead she lit herself a second cigarette, scooting the ashtray closer to herself. Both Xeni and Xandra focused on the dusky-skinned girl. Judging from their expressions, even their were somewhat morbidly curious about this whole deal with murders and acid. Thus, after letting the moment quiet down for a moment to set the mood, Xylia turned her eyes towards the rest of the girls and started.
And as she talked, a slightly creepy smile spread to her face.
"Ya know how Miss Sae Min's room has all those books? Well, she collects lots of news articles too. Some sorta weird hobby I guess. Anyways, I was up in her office for... ergh, reasons, and that teach left the room for a while to get some... stuff. Anyways, I got curious and snooped around, only to find one hell of an article," Xylia spoke in a slightly hushed voice to add to the tense atmosphere. "It was from eight years ago. Some married couple... Mitchell or something... well, they had been spending a nice Sunday evening in their living room, watching TV, with their kid upstairss tucking his baby brother to bed. What they don't is that during that evening, some unknown guy just straight up slips into their house without them noticing. Apparently the Sheriff found the lock on the back door just melted away or something. Weird crap. Anyways, the point is, neither of them hears it, and neither does their kid."
It was already a creepy enough situation to think about. One's home was often a place that one considered almost sacred, so an unkown person entering it without you noticing, and then stalking in the house silently, waiting for a moment to strike, all the while keeping an eye on you... it was no wonder that a small chill went around the table.
"Now the rest is combination of what the Sheriff found and what the kid could remember. From the looks of it, whoever the psycho was, he came prepared. Before the father even knew what happened he had been whacked over the head with some sorta blunt weapon, sending him to the ground. He only came to when he heard his wife's agonizing screams. Ya see, while the guy had been laying on the floor lights out, the sicko had tied the wife down and dumped a canister of acid or something on her," Xylia continued, her burning eyes almost glowing as the rest of the world felt grey. "Nobody knows exactly what it was, but it pretty much liquefied the meat off her bones. And that's what the husband saw when he finally got his eyes open. His wife screaming and practically melting away. Safe to say he went a little nuts and assaulted the psycho."
Again, the thought of the situation was... unnerving. Sickening. To have yourself knocked out while somebody did something so horrible to a person you loved was... enough to make one's stomach turn. While Xylia kept the descriptions to a bare minimum, mind did as it often tends to do and filled in the blanks. Each of the three girls listening to Xylia's story could envision the events of that night rather clearly in their head.
"Well the older brother hears all this ruckus and like the little dumbass he is, comes downstairs to check it out. He runs into the psycho holding his father down at the base of the stairs, doing to him the same he did to the boy's mother," Xylia went on. "In other words this boy arrives just in time to see his father fucking liquefy or something. It's hard to tell how much of it was true and how much of it was trauma of the kid. The only thing the boy can do is scream and run away... and that's when the assailant goes after him."
A moment of silence, pure silence.
And then.
"The boy manages to get back up the stairs, where the sicko finally catches up. He or she tries to grab the boy, but in a lucky break, the boy pushes the person off and they fall down the stairs. That gives the boy time to get his baby brother and escape out the second floor window. He does so, sprinting all the way to the Sheriff's office to get help," Xylia spoke again. "... By the time cops get back to the house, though, there's nothing to be done. The only stuff left are melted corpses and a ruined house. The killer's long gone, with no trace of where he or she went. A murder case with no answer, not even a proper guess as to what sorta acid or chemical the psycho used... or how they carried it around."
It was a morbid story alright.
"... Especially considering the wound they find on the boy later during the medical examination. See, he didn't get away unscathed during the struggle. Instead, on the bicep of his right arm, there's a a mark, a wound... like his skin slightly melted or something."
Xylia took a drag from his cigarette.
"And it's shaped like a handprint. Almost as if the killer grabbed the boy by the arm and merely the touch was enough to cause that."