14344/A Disturbing Snowy Scene

A Disturbing Snowy Scene
Date of Scene:	07 March 2023
Location:	Back Yard
Synopsis:	Rogue, Hank and Kitty find a bloody patch in the snow where a pair of deer were killed by something, little sign of their bodies left. Worried about the neighbors, they make plans to have some students help with chores at the neighboring farms to keep an eye out.
Cast of Characters:	Kitty Pryde, Henry McCoy, Rogue

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Kitty Pryde has posed:
Winter might be fading now that March is here, but it has yet to fully give up its grip on New York State. Today the snow is coming down. Thick, wet flakes, the kind that are going to build up on tree limbs and turn the place into the kind of white winter wonderland that people enjoy depicting around Christmas so much.

Kitty Pryde is outside in the backyard at Xavier's School. She's got on a winter jacket, along with gloves and a scarf. On her head she has a dark blue stocking cap. The orange and blue tassel on the top might lead one knowledge in such things to suspect the Illinois native is wearing a Chicago Bears colored cap, though it is lacking any kind of logo.

The young woman is looking around at the sky. "Where'd you go!?" she calls out, her hands going to her hips as she turns about looking each direction. "Lockheed!?" she calls again, but there's no sign of the flying cheesy poof vacuum.

Henry McCoy has posed:
In like a lion, after all! The snow has most people bundled up, enjoying the warmth of their homes and hearths. It's the sane, logical thing to do - unless you are a child, or a over-muscled man cloaked in blue fur. Today was a day for running out energy - for letting the animal loose. After his class work, Henry was one of the first to bound out into the snowy afternoon.

The grounds were full of all sorts of things to free-run up, over and around. The forest, of course, was explored earlier.

This time of evening, he was bounding about the buildings and eaves of the main building. One might even imagine him humming a super-hero theme when doing so! The smile on his face is all but infectious - a man truly enjoying the cold and what it meant to be alive.

Hearing a familiar voice, he bounds over to the edge of the roof and peers down. "Has the dragon gone missing?" He calls down, before leaping down to land near her.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue and Jeepers make their way through the snowy backyard of Xavier's School, having just returned from a brisk walk around the nearby frozen lake. The yellow lab trots beside her, still wearing his camo jacket and aviator sunglasses, while Rogue wears a comfortable, warm winter coat, fur-lined boots, and a wool hat. In her free hand, she holds her phone, scrolling through social media as they walk.

Jeepers pulls Rogue along as they venture down one of the garden pathways toward the mansion. The dog sees Kitty first, as Rogue's eyes are down on her phone. Jeepers lets out a excited bark, but his bound by the leash that the much, much stronger Rogue is gripping in one gloved hand. The barking causes her to look up, and as she approaches Kitty, she glances up to see Hank...

She doesn't say anything yet, she's still on the approach!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde looks up towards Beast, squinting just a bit against the whiteness of the thick falling snow and that which adorns the building that he's clambering around on. "Hey Hank!" she calls warmly. "Oh, he was flying around a minute ago, but don't know where he got to," she says, turning to look around again.

The emergence of Rogue and the golden lab brightens Kitty's face. "Hey there you!" she says, moving over to meet Jeepers and crouching down as she bites the finger of a glove and tugs her hand out of it while it's grasp in her teeth. Fingers exposed, she ruffles the dog's fur, and accepts any face licks that might be given. "Hey AM," she says amidst petting.

A little crooning sound comes from overhead as Lockheed comes gliding down through the falling snow. Rather than land, he circles in what might be called an agitated way. He takes a few flaps back towards the wood to the north, before turning back to circle animatedly overhead. Then a few flaps back that way, before pulling up in a hover, looking back expectantly at them.

Kitty peers up at him. "What's wrong, Lockheed?" she says, her empathic connection with the dragon is subtle, but one only needs familiarity with Lockheed to realize his body language is of serious nature. "You want us to follow you?" she asks. Lockheed gives a nod of his head and then flaps a few times back towards the woods before hovering again and turning back to see if they are coming.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Rogue gets a wave as well, as she nears with the retriever. Henry kneels, not caring about the snow, and gives the pup scritches and pets. Right in the good spots - behind the ear, between the shoulders... all that. "How are you both doing today? Out enjoying the blustery weather?" He grins.

Eventually returning to his feet, he looks up as the dragon is spotted. The circling has him a bit concerned - looking closer to make sure the dragon is all right. "Are you all right, Lockheed?" He calls up.

Looking to the two women seeing the same thing, he shrugs. "Feeling up for a walk? Seems something has him rather agitated." The Beast points up to the circling Lockheed.

Rogue has posed:
The double attention from both Kitty, and then the big blue Hank, just gets pure, unfiltered, doggy happiness out of Jeepers. He's a shaking, tail wagging, bundle of pure excitement. Kitty's face is slobbered up nice and good, as is Hank's too! Rogue is just smirking at the display as she puts her phone away, then her eyes dart up to Lockheed.

The exchange between Dragon and Dragon Lady, gets a listen, and the Belle sweeps her free gloved hand up to push aside a few tendrils of her white bangs peaking out from beneath her wool cap. "That's a bit odd, ain't it?" rogue comments.

She turns to walk with them to follow after the Dragon. "Want me to go have a look?" She asks, offering Kitty Jeeper's leash...

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty nods an agreement to Hank. "I could use some exercise. And I can tell he's a bit anxious about something," she says as she takes Jeeper's leash. "Sure, go ahead Rogue, we'll follow. Maybe someone is hurt and needs help or something? Though not a good evening for a hike," she says with the snow falling down as it is.

As Kitty and Hank follow on the ground, Lockheed leads Rogue off into the woods. He's not flying as fast as possible, skimming down to leave furrows in the snow that will point the direction for Beast and Kitty.

But before long he flaps to a hover, turning back to Rogue and then looking down. The snow is adding to what it is on the ground, but it's not enough yet to stop the blood from showing through. It is soaking into the snow and gradually being covered by the new flakes, which only makes it all the creepier given how much of it she can still see. It isn't just a trail, but more like a slaughter took place there.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry keeps pace with Kitty, not bounding ahead and leaving her behind - that'd be ungentlemanly! He walks along with her and Jeepers, eyes kept up to keep track of Lockheed. "Hopefully everything is all right." He says, trodding through the snow, no shoes. Fur is a wonderful thing!

While the pair are still bit out from the massacre site - Henry's nose twitches. "Blood." He warns Kitty. He urges the others to hurry - willing to carry the young woman, if she'd rather. Of course, she can probably glide over the surface of the snow! "Smells like a lot of it."

He calls ahead. "Be careful, Rogue!" Of course, she's pretty dang tough - so it's more a habit than a need!

Rogue has posed:
From the sky, Rogue is able to see the blood pretty clearly, pretty far off. Crimson on snow kinda has that affect. It's right after Henry speaks up to Kitty in fact, that Rogue's comm unit is used.

"We got some kinda mess out here. Lotsa blood, not sure what it is yet. Could be a deer. The fresh fall is makin' it tough ta tell." The Belle is saying.

All the while whilst she descends down to place her booted feet on to the snowy floor... not too far away.

Crunch, fwump, thwup, Rogue steps through the snow toward the bloody location.

"Hank, ya smellin this by now?" Rogue asks him. "Ya pickin' up any direction changes it might be comin' from yet?" She's asking, all while starting a circle around the killing zone, trying to find the source of the scarlet hued fluids.

Jeepers lets out a few barks too, whether he smells it, or something else... is hard to say so far. He might just be annoyed that Lockheed flew off without taking him with the Dragon.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Lockheed has landed on a branch while the members of the X-men investigate the area. Kitty, Beast and Jeepers arrive not too long after, though it was a significant hike. This isn't right near to the school. If they weren't in such good shape they'd be laboring for quite awhile to get there.

As they arrive, Kitty looks around. "Another 30 minutes of this and don't know if any of it would show," she says, glancing up at the thick falling snow.

All the team, but Hank especially, can find some tracks coming from the west, running deer tracks, plus some kind of roundish track that might have big claws on it. It's hard to tell with the snow filling it in and the window stirring the snow on the ground to fill in the tracks. And the round, clawed tracks leave the area then to the northeast, but no signs of deer tracks.

Kitty starts digging around in the snow. "Lots of blood but not much else," she says with a frown. "Not seeing blood on the tracks leaving either, so don't think it was carried off," she comments, looking to the others for their thoughts.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Once on scene, Henry moves closer carefully - could be a hunter's trap laying about, honestly. No need to drop his foot into a bear trap or snare. "Likely not." He agrees with Kitty. A smile to Rogue, and a nod. "Yes, I smelled it a bit back when you asked." He inhales deeply, looking over the mess. "Likely an animal." He points to the faded tracks. "Deer, would make sense." He runs his claws through the mane under his chin.

The other tracks are a bit of a mystery. "Those definitely look like predator tracks, but I'm not even sure what sort." He puts his hand near one of the clawed tracks, hrming - perhaps measuring size and trying to determine what may have made it.

"Enough blood for two deer, and... some fragments left." He shakes his head. "But the killer left longer ago. The trail is literally and figuratively cold." A wry grin. He looks to the others. "Any ideas? Any sightings of large predators around here, aside from Logan?"

Rogue has posed:
When the others caught up, Rogue was just standing off to the north side of the bloody mess. Her hands on her hips, her breathing coming out in puffs as she's just standing there amidst the falling snow. "I can't find the source." She tells Kitty as she starts to search.

Her eyes go to Hank when he speaks, then to her dog who looks nervous, anxious, and impatient all at once. "See, nerd, this is why I don't let you wander around off your leash out here." The Belle tells her boy.

More big steps are taken, Rogue trudging through the snow, and she ends up back near them. "I can do some sweeps around the property. Jean an' the Professah don't like me flyin' over the property of our neighbors though, but mosta them are so old, I don't think they ever go outside. I feel like I should do a wider sweep though, see if I can't find anythin' movin' around..."

She looks to Hank then. "If it's a flyin' thing..." She says, her green eyed gaze now going skyward... "Better if it attacks me than most others, I think." She states.

Her eyes drop back to Kitty. "You wanna take Sergeant Slobber back ta the house?" She asks, of her camo jacket wearing, aviators donned, doggy and his wagging tail.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde picks up Jeepers, holding him in her arms so he doesn't plow through the blood snow. She phases him, along with herself, so she can just walk on the surface of the snow. Legolas eat your heart out.

"Sure, I can take him back," she says as she surveys the area. "I don't know of anything around here that would have done this. Don't think we have wolves. Other than Rahne. And even if we did, I mean, there isn't any remains. Even a bear would be leaving bones and stuff strewn all over," she says as she looks about the area, shaking her head.

Glancing up at the sky through the trees overhead, Kitty nods to Rogue. "It's dark so you would be harder to spot. Going to be difficult to spot too much through the trees. But might get lucky in one of the clearings for the farms around," she says. She frowns. "I wouldn't like to think whatever this was prowling around the Carmichael's farmhouse," she says of one of their elderly neighbors, from whom Rogue gets the sleigh she uses at Christmas.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry is thinking, cycling through his knowledge of animals in the area. "Wolves would hunt as a pack, and a bear would likely be crazed to attack a pair of deer for food. Even then, it'd be difficlt for a bear to catch both of them." He muses, looking over to Rogue. "Please, it might not turn up anything - but it could be very helpful." He agrees.

"If we had Logan or Gabby here, they may be able to scent the trail better than I." A look over to Kitty. "We can send a couple of folks over to help shovel their snow, and keep an eye on the farm? See if there are any signs of another animal? Or... other predator?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is looking skyward as the two of them continue to talk. She exhales a puff of white steamy breath, and then drops her eyes back down to them. "Few years ago, we were on a nature hike through the forest ta the west'a here. Gabby was with us. She got attacked by a bear. Storm, and I had ta deal with it. I ended up flyin' the damn thing far to the north where I dropped it off in a remote location. Doubt the thing has come back, but it wouldn't be the weirdest thing in nature's anals."

And yes, she says that last word in the way you'd expect her to say it.

With a huff, Rogue pops her flashlight out of her jacket inner pocket, and flashes the bright LEDs against the snow. "Thousand lumens. This should help me see in the dark well'a 'nough. I'll stop by the Old Folks Home too."

And with that, the Mississippi Magnolia takes to the sky, shooting UP in to the falling snow. Her flashlight comes on, blinks twice, and she starts off to the north...

It's a few minutes later that her voice comes over the team comms via her phone's connection to the X-Men system.

"Got a downed fence ovah here,--" Her light can be seen off to the far distance, shining down from above. "No sign'a what did it..." And soon that light is going up a hill and behind a copse of trees.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde switches to speaking over comms so Rogue can hear as she begins her search. "I think that would be a great idea, Hank. I'll pick up a cake and drop it by with Marjorie, see if I can get a few of the students lined up to help them with some chores like that," she agrees with Hank.

The notice about the fence makes Kitty chew her lip. "That's a different farm looks like. We could 'have spotted it' on a hike and have a few students offer to help fix it too. Someone with a good nose," she suggests, nodding. "Too bad the weather is being difficult on tracking though."

Henry McCoy has posed:
The zoom into the air by Rogue is watched by Henry, the man grinning. "To fly, to be in the air." He chuckles, looking back to Kitty. "Yes, let's get back to the mansion - we can get Jeepers in to dry off and get warm." The Beast suggests, not fazed by the cold at the moment. "We can ask for volunteers. I'll offer extra-credit."

He watches the sky when Rogue flashes her light, nodding. "Yes, different farm - but still good to know. We should get some of our best trackers out here. Jimmy, Logan, Gabby, Laura..."

Rogue has posed:
"I'm already puttin' together a list of stuff we should buy at Home Depot." Rogue's voice chimes in over the comms. "And no, it has nothin' to do with that absolute adonis workin' in the wood department..." She adds while flying over to the neighbors property now, only using her light when she thinks she sees something.

"Oh yeah, ya'll, don't forget t'grab a sample of the blood too. Probably should do some'a that science shit on it, just t'be sure it's not like... ya know... maybe one'a our students'. Hard enough keepin' the lawyers off this place, I imagine."

Jeepers is sniffing around too, but he's no tracking dog. He's more of a eat nachos and gas people to death kinda dog.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
"Good idea," Kitty sends back to Rogue over comms. "Don't really have anything to store it in, but if we just scoop some snow around it that should keep it preserved, if maybe a little dilute," she suggests, looking over to her mentor in science to see if Beast agrees.

She'll leave it to him to scoop it up if so since she has her arms full of dog right now. Lockheed has taken flight and flaps over to catch up with Rogue, flying around and being a second pair of eyes with her.

Kitty lets out a sigh. "Why is it always something?" she says.