the call of the abyss | IC thread

[PavellumPendulum]

She'd put up posters everywhere. Every whisper of a missing family member, every hushed bit of gossip, she'd held onto. She'd sent letter after to letter to the mayor, she'd spoken to the police department, to the news station a city over, to anyone who would lend her an ear and STILL, no one knew where her boy was. The tiny town of Aurora was crumbling at the hands of some abductor, some crime ring, something... Someone that was stealing away everyone they held dear. Ruby Rycroft was known for being loud, for being a nuisance to the quiet ambiance of the town, but Christ almighty none of the townsfolk's judgement could stop her now.

Over the past few weeks, tens of people... Gone. No corpses. No messages. No ransom notes. No blood. Nothing. No one knew where they went, why, how... Many still tried to hold to a sense of normalcy by going out their days, by agreeing with the mayor that they must've run away, or that there was some logical explanation for why none of them would've let their loved ones know where they were, but it was all bullshit. It had to be. Nothing made sense to her and obviously, since she'd heard of other's speaking out about their concerns, something had to be done.

So there she was. Through posters and word of mouth, she'd called for an assembly of all those who knew that something had to be done and fast, before there were anymore casualties. Thursday, at 5 PM sharp, in the Aurora Recreation Center. It was a tiny facility, sporting a single large hall (that was basically a multi-purpose basketball court that was a bit worse for wear), bathrooms and a canteen that was hardly ever open. She'd rented it out for the evening, in order to finally hold a meeting with those who were actually scared, those who refused to believe that nothing could be done about their missing friends and family.

What else could she have done? The sheriff had stated multiple times that the investigations were not public but they were working on them... But what did that mean for those left behind? Surely the townsfolk could figure something out, instead of twiddling their thumbs together and waiting to be saved. Of course, Ruby had always been more rash than smart in her supposedly courageous decisions, but she had to do something.

She'd set up a circle of chairs in the middle of the hall, sitting next to Leo now as they both waited. Though Leo was newer in town, he'd listened to her without a single word of her being crazy, thus they'd become quick friends. Of course, his confidence that the rest of the town would react the same way as he did was faltering now that they were sitting there alone, without hearing a single sound of anyone else coming through the door.

"Maybe they're late?" he suggested quietly, trying to console Ruby, seeing how she was about to chew a hole into her lower lip.

"It's fine. It's only been a couple minutes. People will come. It can't just be us." was her only response as she stared pointedly at the double doors into the gym.

@Custodiet Teh @Dvyniai @Esmeralda Blackheart @MrCalcium @JustAFed @Glass @Phi Chisym @xSatinBinz

 

[Glass]

She had ignored it all at first. Writing the rumours off as just runaways and gossip in some quiet town melding pot. But after her housemate vanished, Jade had to do something. And the first thing she knew she could do was answer a poster.

It had bought her here, to the rec center, this evening. Jade checked her phone for the time. She was rumning late. Her shoes squeaked on the linoleum floors as she jogged down the short hallway. To a single wooden door with a glass pane in the middle. She stopped to knock. Rasping her knuckles on the glass.

"Hello," she said softly, unsurely as she opened the door. "I saw the posters for a... Assembly? To help find the missing people."

Jade stepped into the room. Bearing a weak smile.

 

[Dvyniai]

KOEN ORTEGA-MACKENZIE

location: all over aurora | interactions: jade, ruby | mentions: npcs​

Call him a conspiracy theorist, but if you asked Koen, he was convinced that the police were behind the disappearances. At the very least, they were trying to cover something up.

He didn't even have to spend more than an hour in Aurora, and it was clear to him that the cops were fucking useless. The first thing he did upon arriving in his hometown, was try and report what he knew to the police - which admittedly, wasn't much, but it was more than they did. According to them, Robbie hadn't been taken, he hadn't disappeared mysteriously. He had 'left town', of his own goddamn free will. Anyone with two brain cells would've known that was utterly wrong.

It didn't matter that was out of character for him, it didn't matter that his mother and his neighbor had attempted to report him missing, and it didn't matter that Koen had tried too. Robbie's mother, bless her heart, was halfway senile, so her account couldn't be trusted. Koen's criminal record made his report "unreliable". It didn't help the first officer he talked to was a kid he had stolen lunch money from once (read: many times) in high school. He didn't know what excuse they had not to take his neighbor's statement, but whatever the reasoning, it was all bullshit. Especially considering that Robbie wasn't the only disappearance to rock their small town, if the missing posters plastered everywhere were anything to go by. It was complete and utter bullshit.

He said as much, at the station, very loudly and aggressively. He would've stuck around for longer, put up more of a fight, but they threatened to throw him in holding for the night. A tempting option, if there wasn't a bed at the Red Door Inn that was calling his name. He left after that.

Immediately Koen had known that he wasn't going to sit around on his ass waiting for those dimwits to find Robbie; he'd do it on his own. Or, perhaps, not all on his own. It was as he was leaving the station that he spotted a flyer advertising some sort of meeting at the Recreation Center the next day. It wouldn't be horrible, if he had some help finding Robbie, and if it seemed stupid, he could always just leave.

Thursday night found Koen pulling up to the Aurora Reaction Center in his sweet new pick-up truck he may or may not have acquired through less than legal means. He technically arrived a little before five, however, Tiger had to use the bathroom. Plus he could use a smoke.

It was as he was waiting for Tiger to finish burying his shit behind a bush, snuffing out the butt of his cigarette underneath his heel, that he saw a girl enter the building before him. He should probably be headed in too. Hopefully it wasn't going to be dumb.

"What do you think, hmm?" he hummed, glancing down at his cat. Tiger only rubbed his face against Koen's knee, and started walking in the wrong direction. Koen sighed, bending down to scoop him up into his arms, forgoing the leash. "Come on."

"S'cuse me. Gonna stand there all day?" Koen huffed, pushing around the girl still stood in the doorway of the assembly hall. He lifted Tiger higher in his arms, the big cat staring over his shoulder at her, while Koen glanced over the other occupants of the room. His lips hooked up into a grin.

"Well, I'll be damned. It's Ruby Rycroft." He strode towards her, setting down Tiger before he reached her chair, so he could pull her into a hug. "It's been a while. How've you been?"

 

[Phi Chisym]

Silas Rampersad
​

"Alright, Bray, you've got two minutes to finish your cereal, or else the evil Dr. Claw's going to execute Captain America with the - Toast of Jam AAAHHH!"

The superhero action figure hovered over a heavily jam covered piece of toast sitting in the center of the breakfast table. A string around its waist kept it there, suspending it from a claw-like glove worn by Silas. His half comical evil chuckle was shadowed by the nine year old's laughter.

"No, Uncle Si, you can't kill Captain America! He's stronger than you and any other bad guy out there."

"But you're the only one who can save him. Bray! Just one more bite and he'll be released." Silas glanced at his watch before gasping over-dramatically, "But, time's running out - you'll miss the charter. Can Bray do it? Can he stop Dr. Claw and save Captain America?"

Of course, Braydon managed to finish his breakfast just in time. It was a trick, a fun little game they play to speed the time away. As his young nephew grabbed his backpack, jacket, and Captain America, Silas Morales stuffed the jelly toast between his teeth, grabbed the newspaper he was reading and his messenger bag, and followed Braydon out the door.

"Uncle Si, do you think you'll get this raise? I think so." Braydon held his hand as they sat on the steps of the new brownstone apartments they rented, looking up to Silas with round hush puppy brown eyes and all the confidence Silas needed.

He sighed with a wide grin, "Well, if you think so, then this must be my lucky chance. I don't think anyone can top one of your predictions, Bray. So, I'm not going to argue with cha. Thanks." He patted the top of his head before looking out across the street to wave at the other parents who he's gotten to know over the past few weeks since they've moved in.

"If you get it, then will I be able to start baseball again? If not, I understand..."

"Hey, it's Uncle Si you're talking too, not Dr. Claw." The charter drove up and all the school kids that lived on their street began to line their way to it. Silas stood up, dragging Braydon with him to lift him in the air with a hero's pledge, "Never fear, young Bray! You'll be back in baseball, or my name's not Uncle Si!"

A hug before they separated. That's all…. Just a hug and a promise he won't be able to keep. If he knew that would be the last time he saw his nephew, he would have never let him leave his side. That's the guilt that rips out Silas's heart, for he lost his sister's son. What fuels his anger is how the very protectors of this shithole of a town, the very place he's now employed, showed no care in the world for the obvious situation brewing within plain sight in Aurora.

Are they truly so stuck-up about their perfect little world hidden in the woods? Do they truly believe that nothing wrong can happen in sweet little Aurora? How can they go on lying to themselves?

Silas stood at his desk staring at the flyer he stripped from the electric pole in front of his apartment that morning. It was crumpled, the stress ball in this jacket pocket as he mulled through the day at the office, arguing with the Chief of the Sheriff's department once again about how serious this case was, and how the lax in protocol disassociates them from the concerned citizens of the town they're supposed to serve. They looked far too suspicious to everyone personally affected by the abductions – like him.

It's as though they're scared of being right and unable to fix it…

Without another thought about staying at the office, even though the Chief placed him on another assignment to keep his mind off the abductions – like that's going to work, Silas began to shut down his computer as if ending his day. But why? Why keep your officers from investigating such a serious case, one that's active and growing dangerous every day?

Can't get anywhere with this place… Time to make some waves of my own.

Standing there staring at the flyer, ignoring the sounds of business around him, Silas attempted to force his guilt back to focus on the situation at hand.

How in the HELL am I going to figure this shit out alone? Sure, other citizens… but I'll need some serious backup just in case this turns on us…

The only person working in the department that he knew was Meyers. Did she mention her interest in this ignored case? Looking around, he wondered if he saw her in today or not. While all were busy, Silas grabbed his messenger bag and cell phone. Taking a few moments to scan the file room threshold, Silas moved quickly across the room towards the door. He wanted to snag the files on this case – what little there was collected. He knew the file clerk quite well – too well; well enough to take advantage of their 'friendship'.

Walking out with his bag full, Silas exited to the parking lot, hopped into his car, and drove off. His destination was only minutes away, no rush, but it was getting close to that time. Parking at the Rec Center, he saw only a few cars there – not a lot of people use the center, except for the few who care for their health, and the childcare and after school program. Knowing not a lot of people are too thrilled about the Sheriff's dept's activity in this mystery, Silas decided to keep a low profile. He was dressed in civics that day - jeans and a printed tee, and his jacket covered the badge on his belt and the gun holster around his chest. Not a lot of people in town knew him, which is an advantage. He didn't want anyone to be alarmed, but ensure them that they'll have some sort of support from those in the force who truly care – who are just as desperate to find their loved ones. Locking his car, Silas headed inside.

 

[MrCalcium]

Ashlynn Meyers

It had made no actual sense. None of it. There was no real connection to them, there was no real connection between the victims and none of them showed similar behaviour before their disappearances. So why them. Why now. Why in this way. Ashylnn sighed as she bit down on the end of the marker pen she had been spinning around in her hand as she took a good look at the pinboard in her apartment. She had a map of the town with pictures and names of the victims. Red lines of string was strung up to connect every victim to the location they disappeared in, or where they were thought to have disappeared, but no matter how well graphed out it was, Ashlynn could not find the connection or motive.

Earlier that day at the office, while she had tried to bring it up with the sheriff again, she was told off as it was nothing new, it was just people skipping town. But... this was all too sudden. So close to each other. And so many different people too. And how would they explain a CHILD skipping town? Ashlynn decided she'd have to go after it on her own as none of her colleagues were taking her serious about it. It frustrated her, very much actually, but what more could she do. She didn't feel like losing her job and word spreading of her being some kind of nutjob.

Defeated, Ashlynn let herself drop down into the chair she placed in front of the pinboard. She grabbed the box of takeout she had gotten on her way home and ate the last bits out of it when she looked at the flyer she had found hanging around town earlier. The flyer had a location and time for a meeting at the Recreation Center for people who would want to figure out what is actually going on. At first she thought nothing of it, but she decided she'd check it out anyways. She had no leads on her own anyways so maybe some fresh looks upon the case would give her some insight. Perhaps some of the relatives of the victims would be there too.

Now walking down the street, she was wearing a black face mask and a pair of sunglasses. Her hair was tied up in a bun and stuffed under a beani. She had no real reason to go out like this other than not wanting her colleagues to recognize her when she was going to this meeting. She arrived at the Recreational Center but saw no one she recognized as being connected to the victims. She shrugged and scanned her surroundings for a bit before heading inside.

When she walked inside, she recognized Silas from the department. She does remember talking to him about the case for a bit and he seemed to show interest but she wasn't sure. She walked quite quickly, quick enough to pass Silas and make it into the room before he did. She looked around the room for a bit before taking a seat a bit away from everyone else, taking off her sunglasses, face mask and beanie. She sighed and waited for someone to begin the meeting. She wasn't here for small talk, she was here to discuss the disappearances.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

Ruby wasn't quite sure what she was going to do or how the meeting was going to achieve much of anything. The town of Aurora was a sleepy little settlement with not much to offer and most people who lived there had histories and family lines that stretched right on into the founding of the town. Though people knew each other, perhaps the thought of a neighbor going missing wasn't enough to entice anyone to do anything, especially when it seemed dangerous... But much to her overwhelming joy, after a few more moments of waiting, people started to trickle in through the doorway. Standing up abruptly, with her body language absolutely spelling out her excitement, Ruby rapidly switched back and forth between making an encouraging expression at Leo, then to the people entering, like a puppy seeing a familiar face. Leo could only smile.

The first was a young girl. A teenager, perhaps. Pale purple (or was it silver?) hair cascaded down her shoulders but there wasn't much else to note about her other than the hesitance in words. Ruby gestured for her to enter the circle, her movements exaggerated and definitely bursting with far more energy than necessary. "Yes, yes, come, have a seat!" She had been just about to jump into introductions with the girl right when someone pushed around her.

Normally, Ruby would've been quick to start a fight. She had perhaps a single functioning brain cell and standing for any type of rudeness, even if was towards a complete stranger, wasn't really something she ever planned on doing. However, seeing the culprit only made her dash forwards, practically jumping right into Koen's arms. Though the two hadn't kept too much contact with each other over the years after their stints in school, anyone who had raised hell with Ruby in the past was practically family to her. She would've picked him up and swung him around had he not been such a thick slab of meat compared to her tiny figure.

When she finally let go, she was practically vibrating with excitement. "Koen Ortega-Mackenzie, sir, you would not believe the week I've had." she huffed, holding her cheek briefly, "God, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad people are coming. I feel like I'm losing my damn mind."

While she reunited with her friend, Leo stood up, making his way over to Jade and gesturing for her to join him in the circle of seats. "Thanks for coming." his voice was soft, as he welcomed her into the group, "Don't mind Ruby. She's got enough passion to find everyone herself, I think." It was a joke, but perhaps not a well-timed one, and his gentle smile soon faltered, "Are you doing alright? Everyone's a bit shaken up."

In time, two others showed up: one that Ruby recognized to be one of the detectives at the police department (Mr. Silas himself, God, it'd been a while) and another girl. She seemed a bit annoyed, seeing how deep her sigh was and how she chose to forgo any type of introduction, but Ruby still sent them both a quick wave, simply ecstatic that there were other people who felt the same as she did: something had to be done.

She lead Koen over to the circle, gesturing for everyone to take a seat among the empty chairs, before standing in front of her own. "Hey there, everyone." she started, with a small wave for the group, "Dunno if you all know me, but I'm Ruby Rycroft. Farmer here. Mother of one." She paused, hesitance flickering through her expression, "We're here today to talk about the disappearances. Mayor Fairfield has, pardon my strong words, proven that he doesn't give a shit about what's happening right now... But I know that it's something bad. I can feel it. Our loved ones, our neighbors, our friends: they're not running away. Something's happening that we can't see... But we gotta get to the bottom of it."

 

[JustAFed]

Leon thought that he'd escaped any more drama or conspiracy once he left England and settled in the small town of Aurora. For once he'd get the peace and quiet that he was after and would finally be able to write that book he always dreamed of. He'd made good progress too, having finished nearly half of it by the time people started missing. At first he thought it was a coincidence. A rebellious kid who had something to prove. Maybe even someone who was fed up with the small town life who up and left without so much as saying goodbye to their neighbors. It seemed rather impolite in such a tight-knit place, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. But then more 'left' and missing person posters started to appear on telephone poles everywhere. He'd kept a copy of each, just in case. He even took to the town's rural-er roads just in case anyone was there, for better or worse. But he found nothing, and soon the mysterious disappearances took more and more of his focus from his writing. He'd gone to the authorities, but they were just as stumped. It left him unsatisfied, so much so that he decided to go looking in the surrounding areas himself, with no luck.

And then he spotted Ruby's poster, a call to action at the rec center around 5pm. He was conflicted, did he wanted to lend his hand to these people? Maybe if nobody would show up, not wanting to take the risk, they'd disband and he could keep working on his own. He could do it himself, he had the training to track down something as simple as a kidnapper, he just needed more time. The less people hurt, the better. These were the thought's he wrestled with up until the clock struck five. At that point, he cursed it all, threw on his leather riding jacket and headed for the garage and his motorcycle. Minutes later he pulled up to the center to find that it was populated with other vehicles and the lights were most definitely on. He sighed as he dismounted and put down the bike's kickstand. He had to go through with helping out now. Last thing he wanted was for more people to get hurt if he had a chance to prevent that. And these ones wanted to do the right thing.

He'd enter the meeting area, helmet tucked between his arm and side just as the meeting seemed to be getting started. Luckily, Ruby's voice carried well even from the far end of the gymnasium. "Well said, and pardon my tardiness." He took one of the open seats and quickly scanned the group before him, all familiar faces though ones he didn't know all that well. "Leon Ghelfi, not-so-recent transplant and resident Brit. Miss Rycroft here has the right attitude, as I'm sure everyone else does. After doing some of my own searching I'd have to say I agree with her, something is going on here, but there's no easy way to figure out who is doing this." He huffed and set his helmet on the ground beside him. "But....there aren't a lot of tracks that I've been able to find in some initial finds. Meaning they're either really good at covering their tracks, or our culprit could be within the community." He paused for a moment and shook his head. "That or they can fly."

 

[Glass]

"Oh, sorry," she said as someone brushed past her. Promptly moving out of the doorway.

Jade brushed her lilac hair from her face and sat down. She was, if forced to admit it, lost. Sure she wanted to be here. But what did being here actually mean? What was this group really going to do?

"I think," she said, a little hesitantly at first but quickly picking her confidance back at, "that we need a plan. Sitting and discussing is great but it won't get us much further than we have on our own." She stood up. "If we can'ny discover what has happened to these people, then perhaps we should work on ruling out what hasn't happened to them."

With that she sat back down. Her insecurities overgrowing her confidance now that she had stopped talking. It seemed right to her, though. Crossing out the falsehoods would lead them closer to the truth. With no certainty of how all those people had gone missing only investigation would reveal what really happened. That is what Jade thought, at least.

Her large, blue eyes looked to the rest of the group. What did they think? Had she messed up? Jade twiddled her thumbs under the table.

 

[Dvyniai]

KOEN ORTEGA-MACKENZIE

location: aurora's rec center | interactions: ruby, leon, jade | mentions: silas​

Wrapping his arms around Ruby tightly, he laughed at her enthusiasm. It had been forever since he had seen her last, but she was just the same as he remembered. A goddamn handful and so much fun to be around.

"God, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad people are coming. I feel like I'm losing my damn mind."

His smile faded a little, but he still forced a chuckle. "I thought you lost it already," he teased, before sighing. "We'll have to catch up later, girl."

Koen backed up to let Ruby do her job, plopping down into the seat next to the one she had just vacated. Tiger hopped up into his lap a moment later and he ran a hand lovingly down his back. Now that he knew one of his oldest friends was running this shitshow, he was more inclined to stick around. If there was anyone who could find the missing people on enthusiasm alone, it was Ruby, he thought with a little snort.

A couple more people filtered in after him, and he only recognized one more: Silas fucking Ramparsad. His eyebrows rose, and he flashed his other childhood friend a tight smile.

Hadn't Silas become a cop of some sort after highschool? Shit.

His eyebrows rose ever higher as he listened to Ruby speak. He had left this godforsaken town directly after highschool, and he had thought that Ruby had as well. The more he thought about it, the more he was surprised to see her here. Clearly she was in her element, but, why was she back in Aurora in the first place? A farmer now, and a mother? They really needed to fucking catch up.

His gaze flickered to the new guy who had spoken after Ruby was finished, giving him a once over. Leon Ghelfi, resident brit, huh? He snorted softly to himself.

"There we have it. That's the answer, they can fly," he muttered to himself sarcastically, utterly uncaring if any of the others could hear him. Absently, he scritched Tiger underneath his chin. He gave a little mew, and Koen snorted again. Clearly Tiger agreed with him.

He couldn't take the younger girl seriously either, mouth twitching every couple of seconds to hold back a smirk. He thought about giving her snark as well, but at the last second decided not to. Her idea was shit, and the chaotic part of him wanted to see how it would play out. They couldn't figure out what had happened to them, so her proposal was that they go through every other possibility and rule them out? Every. Single. One? Pulling Tiger closer to himself, he leaned back in his chair and kicked out his legs. They were in for a long night then.

Anyways, she looked like she might cry if he poked her too hard and he wasn't about that. Ruby would probably punch him. Then Silas would have to arrest her. For like, unnecessary violence, or whatever. Actually, maybe he should make fun of this girl.

"I agree with Ms. Purple Hair," he said with a mock-serious nod. He couldn't his face straight, however. His lips tugged at the corners and his eyes danced with mischief. "That is a fantastic idea."

 

[Phi Chisym]

Silas Rampersad

​

So far, so good, there was a decent turnout for this meeting. It only proved to him that the few citizens who were affected by this mysterious threat were attempting to do the job of finding them. Makes perfect sense, but dangerous all the same; he hated that they had to resort to this. It's unfortunate that he works for a bunch of cowards – the mayor, the chief… whomever else controlling the city that's avoiding this issue?

Silas reached the group of people, finding a seat to settle in before scanning their faces.

Instantly, he spotted Ashlynn, his co-worker; solidifying his assumptions that she was interested in this case as well. The significance as to why is unknown to him, but he'll soon find out. In spite of attempting to be inconspicuous, Silas spotted a few faces he's known for a while – old classmates from high school: Ruby – the hellraiser of this shindig. She had always been a firecracker in school, one he wished to have gotten to know more back then. But truly, he was always busy living up to his father's expectations and following his god-bearing rules – Silas never had a chance to make true friends. He returned her welcoming wave, recalling times when he was in the right place, at the right time, to actually hang-out with her mix of friends back in the day.

Then, another blast from his past slammed him like a ton of bricks. As Ruby leads everyone around the circle of chairs, another followed… Silas's demeanor tensed.

Koen? God, he's still in town… Now Silas wished he covered up as much as Ashlynn did. Out of all the people in Aurora to run into, why Koen? Why Now!?

Koen flashed him an unwelcomed grin. Silas did not return it – just kept his eyes glued on Ruby as she started the meeting. His jaw jumped at the sudden discomfort he had from just being in the same room as his old acquaintance. All he could think about was the last time he'd visited Aurora – before his life crashed into darkness. It was a year before his hiking tour through Asian, his departure. He'd come to check out the neighborhood before heading out. He didn't want his family and close friends to know he was going to be gone for a whole year through something as impersonal as Facebook. One more barbeque, one more toast at the bar – just in case he didn't return; that was his goal.

After taking time with family and giving them all the contact information they'll need to virtually keep up with his overseas traveling arrangements, Silas headed across town to visit friends one last time before heading out. What could have been a nice bon voyage turned into a confusing bout of fisticuffs between him and Koen. To this day, his jaw still burned when he thought about that right-hook the guy clocked him with before he was gone for good. Silas rarely held grudges, and most of the time confrontations just rolled off his back. But, this one… hard to forget something like that, especially when you barely understood what had gone wrong? Even Robbie was dumbfounded…

Everyone at the meeting expressed their ideas, thoughts, and opinions, even the snarky ones. He held his tongue against Koen's sarcasm and focused on the situation. He read between the lines – like the cops, no one had any idea what happened to the missing. They were staring at a brick wall. Pulling out the folders of official documented evidence he'd confiscated, Silas sighed. From out of all the various cold cases and forensic mysteries he's run across within his years serving, this was by far the hardest one.

Seeing no reason to hide his position in Aurora, Silas cleared his throat, "Unfortunately, plans are difficult to come by when you have no idea where to start," Silas calmly stated, giving the young girl a nod. "Eventually, a plan will be necessary. But, right now, we just need to start at the beginning…" Standing, he's eyes fell on Ruby respectfully before gliding around the circle. "It's obvious that no one, not even the sheriff's department knows where that starting point is." He raised the case files in his hand to showcase the large, red ASD stamp across them.

"I'm Detective Silas Rampersad; member of the Copperton Police Forensic Dept. assisting the Aurora Sheriff's Dept on this case... I'm here to help find the missing, but unfortunately, the department here is too tied up in the mayor's good graces to step out-of-line when he unethically ends an investigation." Calming his frustrations, Silas lowered the shaking files in his hand, tucking them under his arm. "These reports are thin… far too thin. They didn't attempt anything – except request my assistant; the scapegoat," giving a slight bow, Silas grinned. "I have no plans on claiming that title. Therefore, you have my aid – and my badge to cover you. My 9-year-old nephew and his babysitter are amongst the 35 known missing victims in this mystery. So, just like you, I'm not planning on giving up until everyone's back home."

 

[PavellumPendulum]

Four whole people minus herself and Leo had already been more than she'd been expecting, to be honest. She'd tried her best to keep low expectations, seeing as no one else had really fully stood up to the law enforcement or the mayor to insist that they do more... With one more walking in, she couldn't help but feel the determination seep into every cell of her being, spurring her to believe even more that they could possibly do something. Anything. And there was still having to catch up with Koen later! Her mind was a mess, though filled with energy. She'd have to stay focused now, instead of looking like an excited golden retriever in human form. Mr. Ghelfi introduced himself and soon inserted himself into the conversation, which she didn't mind at all. After all, she hadn't planned on doing all the talking at the meeting anyway. Collaboration was their best bet here.

"That's the thing. The sheriff's office won't disclose anything to the public and... Most people tell me the same thing as Leon here. No tracks, no weapons, nothing. It's like all these people are just getting whisked off into the damn sky." she huffed, her gaze sliding over to the teen girl, who offered her own counsel. Ruby's face contorted slightly at her words, as if she was trying to wrap her single brain cell around what she was trying to imply, but hearing the sarcasm dripping straight off Koen's tongue made her frown.

She clicked her tongue at him. Though she was partially amused at his dryness with others, since it reminded her of the past, this was serious and she didn't particularly feel like having to deal with drama on top of everything else that was going on in Aurora. "Hey, now." she dead panned, shaking her head, before turning her gaze to Jade once more, "Listen hun, that's... An idea, for sure. Just kinda vague. There's uh... Not a lot of evidence we can use to narrow down a list of what didn't happen."

Leo sent the girl an apologetic look. Obviously, there were personalities here that would clash... Hopefully it just didn't turn into anything more than a bit of venom in one's words here and there. Leo was even worse than Ruby when it came to keeping the peace, since he didn't know how to put his foot down.

When Silas spoke up, Ruby blinked, staring him up and down briefly during his speech, but she nodded politely when he finished. Well... He seemed genuine. After all, he'd been directly affected too. She tried to choose her next words wisely and deliver them with calmness, but admittedly, she did burst into speaking a bit quickly, "What do you know?"

She'd blurted out the words, but she composed herself a second afterwards, "Sorry. I just... Want to know what the files the sheriff's got say. They haven't released just about anything to the public. Your help is much appreciated, Rampersad." She'd immediately gone to calling him by his last name, simply because it felt right. Right now, if he had any good information, they could really make some progress.

 

[MrCalcium]

Ashlynn Meyers

Ashlynn calmly sat there listening to the suggestions the others gave, along with their possible explanations, but just like her they had nothing to go off of. There was clearly some tension in the room, most of it being caused by the man with the cat on his lap. Well, she had seen him before but she just couldn't remember his name at all. She sighed and looked at Silas as he held up a thin collection of case files. There was probably nothing more in there than they had collected at their own department and she leaned back a bit, waiting for everyone to finish speaking.

At one point Ruby said she wanted to see what was in the sheriff's files and Ashlynn stood up. "I can tell you right now, whatever Silas has in his files, is exactly what we have. It is most likely the names, ages and so on of the people who disappeared and the locations where they disappeared at. Nothing we didn't already know." Ashlynn took her phone from her pocket and walked towards Ruby, navigating to her file folder.

Eventually she found an image of her pinboard with all the pictures of the missing people at the locations they disappeared at. She held it out in front of Ruby and sighed. "Seeing the sheriff wants nothing to do with this case and not put effort into it, I am basically the only person in this town who works at that department who is trying to do something. As you can see I have tried to look for any links between the people and the places they disappeared but they just don't exist. Everyone disappeared in very random places and random times. There is no correlation between any of the disappearances at all."

She zoomed in on a part of the map, namely the forest next to Aurora. She then showed the area to Ruby and pointed to it. "If we are going to start anywhere, it's going to be the forests. We could probably split up, or stick together depending on what people are more comfortable with, and follow some of the hiking trails in there. Take your phone, flashlights, water, whatever you need and just look around. There has to be anything, be it a piece of someone's clothing on a branch, there could be anything in there that can help us figure out what happened. These people had to have gone somewhere, and I doubt it is within Aurora itself."

 

[Dvyniai]

KOEN ORTEGA-MACKENZIE

location: aurora's rec center | interactions: ashlynn, silas, ruby | mentions: everybody else​

Wow. Silas couldn't even return his smile? Even if his own smile hadn't been the friendliest, it was still civil. But he forgot, Silas didn't do 'civil'. He probably held a grudge or some shit, which was stupid. Mostly. Koen only punched him once, after all.

In Koen's defense, Silas should have seen it coming. He should have known what it meant to him, with Silas joining the police force. Or military. Or whatever the fuck the fancy-pancy genius of an asshole had gone and done. It was still the US government, the men in blue, the authorities. He should have known what it meant to Koen. What reaction had Silas been expecting? Other than friendship-wrecking betrayal and blistering anger?

That day Koen happened to be in town, and Silas showed his face again, Koen had punched him. Hadn't even paid attention to whatever he had tried to say, so entirely focused on the anger coursing through his veins. Only Robbie had kept him from punching him again. Now, Robbie wasn't around to hold him back this time, if they happened to have a round two.

When Ruby clicked her tongue at him, Koen only gave her a brief salacious grin, leaning back so far in his chair that the front two legs came off the floor a little. Tiger was settled enough in his lap he didn't even wobble.

His smile quickly fell though, as Silas began to speak. Even as irritation spiked in his chest, and the itch to punch his smug face resurfaced, he couldn't help but agree - they did need to start at the beginning - and also, sympathize. He hadn't realized Silas had a nephew. He pursed his lips in disdain but gave a nod.

The lady cop, who stood up to speak and waved around some photo on her phone, quickly inflamed that little spark of irritation into a roaring fire.

His chair slammed back down, startling Tiger from his lap. "How are we supposed to trust anything you say?" he suddenly piped up, one eyebrow quirked and scowl in full force.

"Seriously. The cops have been covering up this shit for God knows how long. How do we know you're not planted by the mayor to throw us off? How do we know he's not planted?" He nodded towards Silas.

"No offense," he said, with a tone of voice that he meant full offense, "but I'm not sure I want to trust a word out of your mouth."

He huffed out a breath, and looked down, picking at the seam of his pants. "Anyways, say we went traipsing through the woods looking for the missing people. What's to say that whatever-" he cut himself off. Robbie's voice echoed through his mind; 'Koen! Koen please. There's so - so many teeth. And it's a-arms -'

He sniffed and shook his head. "I mean, whoever, took them... won't try and take us? Not all of us are exactly trained cops." He gestured around the circle, mainly in the direction of Ruby, that one guy who hadn't spoken yet and the teenage girl.

He would've included that British guy too but he gave off strong military vibes actually, which Koen felt mostly because he found him vaguely unsettling. Usually whenever he found someone unsettling it was because they were some sort of bootlicker, or hell, the boot being licked. "If we're gonna go looking we should not split up."

"But I think-" and it almost hurt him to say this, "-that Silas is right. We should start at the beginning. If most of the cases have been brushed off as normal skipping town, how much has actually been investigated? Like, really investigated."

 

[Glass]

It felt good to have people agree with her. She had been a little intimated by everyone, most of them were older than her and a few seemed to know each other. Even if they didn't all agree. But they were right. If the missing people had gone from the town, then they could very easily be outside of the town. That meant searching the immediate nearby area; the forest. And the investigations, so far, had barely passed for actual investigations due to the lack of evidence.

"Splitting up gets people killed in the movies," Jade said. She was still twiddling her thumbs under the table. "But if we are all together then there is no way we can cover that much ground all at once. We need to team up in small groups. No one goes alone, but each group takes a different area of the forest to search." That made sense to her. It balanced both their safety and their ability to search. "Some of us can search the forest. And the other half of us can tackle a more thorough investigation with the detective?"

Confidence was not something Jade typically lacked. And though this was difficult, though she was afraid, she was not willing to let herself go unheard when there were lives on the line. Slowly and deliberately she stood up from her chair. Letting the chair fall backwards behind her. Jade placed both hands on the table as she leaned forwards.

"Is everyone here really aware of what we're getting into?" she asked. "These people are not runaways. They're probably not even kidnappings. Our loved ones are missing, possibly held against their will." She paused for just a moment. "And possibly dead. Or worse. We don't know until we go further and that is a door that, once open, can not be shut again." She looked at everyone. One-by-one in the eyes. "Is everyone here sure that they're ready to pursue this. This is your chance to back out."

She waited a moment before sitting back down. Not realising her chair had fallen as she stood up. Jade reeled backwards, lost her balance. And landed flat on her ass.

"Ouch."