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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 7, 2015 18:16:57 GMT -5
Allison rolled her eyes, "It's not me I'm worried about here." She finished digging out her laptop, a slightly dated Dell that was a middleman between power and portability. Nothing too special. "So we have this Tiberium guy and we have a strange rock. I figure we each pick one to dig at?" A grin flashed across her face as she looked over to Alex, "I also figure that at the least this guy owes us dinner, yeah?"
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 4:30:10 GMT -5
Fingering a few bills from the wallet, Alex began pulling up the Papa John's website from her laptop. "Already on it. I'll take Tib, you can have your fancy rock," she said, wanting nothing to do with that hunk of mineral.
Thursday, October 1st, 2015. 2:56 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 7:28:19 GMT -5
Allison nodded, opening up her laptop and bringing up google. And wikipedia. She was ready to search whatever aspects of the rock she could and cross-reference anything she found the only way she knew how. "Want to order the works on that pizza or are we still too picky for that stuff?" She teased.
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 15:14:05 GMT -5
Over eight hours had gone by, most of it spent on research and still some time dedicated to breaks. Alex didn't want their heads to explode from all the digging, during which she encouraged the full use of her wireless printer, and for them both to use their corkboards for maximum effect, turning the whole thing into a full-blown conspiracy party. The only thing she didn't have were the red strings to tie all their leads together, but she did have an initial piece of research out of the way. Tiberiu was a big spender, on account of them generously donating two pizzas to their cause. Alex insisted on two separate ones, given that veggies on a pizza would kill her and thus ruin her weekend.
Allison's research was slow to get into, and only through an act of desperation did she find any "solid" leads. According to Gaelic legend, soitheach were used to ward off evil and mischievous spirits from tormenting and abducting troubled youths. Rebellious children, kids who killed their own pets, and sexually promiscuous teens could all attract the unwanted attention of spirits that would encourage those actions. Superstitious maids would often polish stones and mark them with a symbol, then leave them beside the child's bedside. If the stone became rough and "fae-touched" the next day, it meant it possessed a dark spirit and the child would be safe. Usually that just meant the child replaced the smooth stone with a rugged one, but that was the best Allison could find.
Alex found more substantial leads, but they were no more believable than Allison's soitheach. Tiberiu had a great number of alias'. He also had a magic wallet. Alex was convinced of it. She spent a solid twenty minutes finding new pockets and new scraps of paper in that wallet, piling a high stack of credit cards and unrolling hoarded receipts from multiple states and napkins with plans to take over the world written on them. Or so she claimed. The man's research was nothing but garble-gook to her, but one of his alias' had turned up a positive match in the public cases department. Curtis Jakeman―the most pedophilic name in the book―was wanted by the FBI for the abduction of Ford Winston from the state of Florida. Curtis' physical description matched that of Tiberiu's California state issued ID to the tee, and a recent update on the case had a man suspected of being Curtis said to be in Portland Oregon, right on the border of Washington and the aforementioned state.
Then for the final nail in the coffin, that update had been posted one day ago, and it came included with an image from a gas station of a man wearing a trench coat, the left sleeve bundled up as if he were missing an arm, and wearing sunglasses. The face could easily match Tiberiu's ID, and Curtis' on-file physical description, with the exception of the missing arm.
"Holy shit, Allison, look at this," she said, suddenly full of energy. She had been downing energy drinks throughout the night, but this break in the case had her wide awake.
Thursday, October 1st, 2015. 11:42 PM.
Intelligence + Computers + Equipment 1 (Research) 6 Pool 2 Success
Intelligence + Computers + Equipment 1 (Research) 5 Pool 2 Success
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 19:13:55 GMT -5
Allison had slowly sprawled across the couch as time went on. Her laptop was never far from hand as she referenced and cross-referenced various deadends over the course of the night. Once the pizza arrived it slowly found itself decimated and by now the box sat open, less than half of the once great pie remaining.
Finally she hit something that wasn't a dead end. Soitheach. Except that it was total bullshit. Or it would be if she didn't have this weird feeling from everything that had happened earlier. She shared the result with Alex, but largely felt it was just some old wive's tale. Sure what they'd found was weird, but it's not like faeries went around kidnapping children.
Another crawl through another dead end, really they all lead to nothing except Soitheach, was interrupted by her sister. "Holy shit, Allison, look at this."
Setting her laptop aside once again, she made her way to her sister's side. "What's up... what the fuck?" Her question lost traction as she saw the image of their bomber. Their should be dead bomber.
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 20:27:44 GMT -5
Alex held her hand over her mouth, lost for words as to what it all meant. Tiberiu was alive, or he had a one-armed twin who was being framed for an abduction he never committed. Or maybe he did commit it and Tiberiu was the innocent one. Or . . . it was all too much for her to take in.
"He can't be alive. That . . . it makes no sense. What the fuck, Allison?" Her head was pounding from trying to understand everything.
Thursday, October 1st, 2015. 11:43 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 21:09:23 GMT -5
"No no no no no. No. There is no way. That fucker is alive and Tanner--- Monday! Fuck. No!" Allison had risen to her feet, pacing behind her sister. "That's not fair! That's not fucking fair! How the fuck can the man at ground fucking zero be alive and they be dead? How?! It's not possible!"
She paused to lean back toward Alex's monitor, "Where was this? Portland? Fucker moved fast for... which arm is that? He had both before. He was holding something.... Remember?"
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 21:26:29 GMT -5
Alex was conflicted about her sister's reaction. On the one hand, seeing her as heated as she felt was refreshing. On the other, Alex was keeping it inside when she was normally the one to let out the fumes, not the other way around.
"His left, I think. I can't remember if he hit the guy with his left or right hand," she started, eyes slowly trailing over to that hellish rock. "What do you think this all means? I mean . . . fuck, nothing about this makes sense. It's like I'm dreaming."
Thursday, October 1st, 2015. 11:43 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 21:32:11 GMT -5
"Hah!" Allison cracked a laugh. "Maybe that's all this is. A stupid dream. We'll wake up in the morning, it'll be today again and none of this crazy shit would have happened." She didn't sound as if she actually believe that though. "I don't... know what it means Alex. I really have no idea. This is fucking crazy. All of it. Even that stupid rock. 'Oh I'm a magic fairy stone'. Pffft."
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 21:53:54 GMT -5
Alex cracked a grin at Allison's imitation of the rock. "I don't know about you, but I can't keep looking at this computer screen. This is all . . . I need time to process, or else my brain's going to bake." She paused. "And not in the good way." Classic Alex.
"I'm going to lay down. I just . . . I can't keep looking at this. I'm going to do something stupid if I do. You can bunk on the couch or crash in my bed if you want." She didn't see anything strange in it, having shared a bed with her sister plenty of times when they were kids. She left it up to Allison where she wanted to crash for the night, but it was clear that she was turning in now.
Thursday, October 1st, 2015. 11:43 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 8, 2015 22:38:31 GMT -5
"Ugh... Yeah. Sure. We'll call it here and just hope things make sense in the morning. Let me put my stuff together and I'll meet you in a few minutes." Allison agreed, making her way back to the couch to start shutting down her laptop. Once that was done, she slid it back into her backpack and brought it into Alex's room with her, leaving it to rest at the foot of the bed.
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 9, 2015 6:08:46 GMT -5
By the time Allison had grabbed her bag, Alex was not only in her room, but she had managed to strip down and then redress into her pajamas, an outfit that looked nothing but baggy on her. Most clothes had that effect, barely clinging to her bones, but this consisted of pajama pants and an oversized T-shirt, really selling just how thin she was. "Because I'm the best sister ever," she started, crawling into bed as Allison entered the room, "you can have the left side." The side by the door, for easy bathroom access, since her bed was up against the wall, thus making Alex sleep next to the hard surface. If she wanted to get up, she'd have to crawl over Allison, which would've been easier than Allison having to crawl over her, in her mind.
Thursday, October 1st, 2015. 11:44 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 9, 2015 7:47:11 GMT -5
Unzipping her backpack to start pulling out her pajamas, Allison shot a glance at her sister. "If it's such a big sacrifice I can take the couch you know." It was just a light tease, and she made no move to stop getting ready for bed as she swapped out of her clothes for the day and into her pajamas. A large, if not as baggy as Alex's, band shirt and her own pajama pants.
"Here's to a morning that makes sense?" She asked, settling onto the edge of the bed.
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 9, 2015 13:18:13 GMT -5
Lazily raising her hand to make a thumbs up, Alex spoke into her pillow, making her muffled voice barely audible. "Hear hear," she said, then dropped her hand and snuggled up into her feathered blanket. The nights were getting chilly, and Alex had picked up one habit from Dan as she grew up, and that was keeping the thermostat low even during the winter time. Yet her car heater was always on full blast, except for the summertime.
After so much heavy research and frustrating dead ends, sleep came to the sisters fairly easily. They drifted quickly and hard, falling into a deep sleep that would have lasted throughout the night, had Allison not needed to get up to use the restroom. Luckily for her Alex's bathroom was right next to her room, so the trip was a quick one. Unluckily for her the kitchen required a bit more travel, as her throat was dry and a quick swig of H2O was required if she was going to get any more rest for the evening.
As she padded through the dark, a noise sounded from the living room. Last she checked Alex was still in bed, but there was a chance she had gotten up with her sister and went back to do more crazy, defeating research. Then she heard a grunt of frustration, and it was far too deep to be Alex's voice.
Friday, October 2nd, 2015. 2:20 AM.
Alex Resolve + Composure (Safe Dreams) 4 Pool 1 Success
Allison Resolve + Composure (Safe Dreams) 5 Pool 4 Success
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 9, 2015 19:39:49 GMT -5
Allison was not what one would call a morning person. This information is important as it meant that when she woke up in the middle of the night she was not the most coherent creature.
As she shuffled toward the fridge in Alex's kitchen, her zombiesque crawl through the dark apartment was broken by a sound from the living room. Before she could call out though the sound was followed by a deep grunt, a grunt that had no business coming from her stick of a sister. She knew Alex's many grunts well afterall.
Thankfully she was in the kitchen, and not entirely stupid. She took a moment to grab a decent knife from nearby and started creeping back to the doorframe, straining to see in the dark.
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