16758/Formation at Hell Creek

Formation at Hell Creek
Date of Scene:	05 January 2024
Location:	Hell Creek Formation Dig Site
Synopsis:	On the tail of whomever threw a brick into the Candle, Booke & Belle shop, Nettie and Kelly employ Lydia, Josh, Audra and Jason Blood to try and find the first link to Kelly Praetor's transformation. There is a ghost dinosaur.
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Jason Blood, Joshua Foley, Kelly Praetor, Lydia Dietrich, Audra Meridian

---

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    MONTANA -- not only a state shaped with some dude's face on the left side, it's also the home of reaches of the Hell Creek formation, a famous cache of fossils from Cretaceous to Palocine eras. It is home to some of the most famous fossils fossil finds, and today, is playing host to the 'Crowe Family Reunion'.

    Yes. That's what Nettie had signed it up to be.

    A retired British School bus pulls up to the parking area, where the winds are calm, the sky is decorated with diamonds among the sea of darkest blue and the faint trail of the Milky Way.

    Its owner, one the heads and advisor of the Dark branch of the Justice League steps out, bundled in a gray poofy jacket, a gray pompom hat, and two crows poking their heads out of the top of her jacket.

    It's cold.

    "All right you lot," she states, turning about to regard the others who arrived with her on this most auspicious occasion.

    "We've got a footballer-turned-dinosaur, Miss Praetor, whose affliction is mystic in origin. Here-abouts is where the item that made them what they are in our compay was discovered. There's bound to be some sort of magical energies hanging about. So keep your eyes peeled and your senses sharp. If any of you all do not have sharpened senses --" she states, digging into her bag and she pulls out a couple of Y shaped branches carved with runes, and a couple thin L shaped rods.

    "I have limited amounts of dowsers available. An' please welcome with us Mr. Blood, demonologist and one of the experts in the Occult. Be nice and polite to him, aye? I've invited him especially for this trip." she states.

Jason Blood has posed:
At his introduction, Jason Blood lifts up a finger to the white streak in his hair and offers a brief salute. "Greetings." His tone is as bland as his coat, and it comes without a smile. But he does seem engaged in watching what others are doing in the process, so there is that.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Montana is indeed cold. And Joshua has come dressed for it. A heavy puffy coat of white is worn over his golden skin. A knit cap rests on top of his head, along with ear muffs, heavy gloves and thick britches down to well-insulated hiking boots. His footfalls crunch on the ground as he listens to Nettie's instructions.

Sharpened senses? Nope, all Joshua can do is sense everyone's biometrics.

So his hand goes up for one of the dowasing rods. "Unless someone more competant wants them!"

Kelly Praetor has posed:
That's the nice thing about the cold. You can put on more layers! For Kelly, and her first winter after being changed, she's bundled up a lot heavier than usual. Currently the former QB is in a heavy leather winter jacket with the Meteors logo on the back and some heavier jeans with an insulating layer and probably sone long johns underneath. A sharp eye will probably still catch a shiver on occasion.

The raptor-gal steps out just after Nettie, taking a long look around. "I haven't been out here in ages.. the horizon hasn't changed a bit, but the digsites probably have. Please be -careful-. If you see small flags, strings, or roped off areas, do _NOT_ go in. They're sites likely being tended to."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia is dressed for trekking about in the desert at night. She's got jeans tucked into fuzzy boots, and a thick black turleneck sweater, though she doesn't actually feel the cold. This is evident for when she remembers to breathe (which has become less and less over the years) there's no telltale puff of steam. And, as always, the starfield that constantly surrounds her twinkles in the night.

    When first she saw Kelly, she couldn't help grinning with childlike delight. After all, dinosaurs are cool! She also just barely manage to restrain herself from asking to pet her. That probably wouldn't be appreciated.

    Stepping off the bus, she takes a look around. "Do we have the item with us?" she asks. "I could go wolf, and see if I can't catch its matching scent around here."

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian does not have or use any sort of magic. She's a scientist. Just a scientist that hangs out with a lot of magically inclined people and has dealt with enough supernatural shenanigans to just accept it as part of the world they live in. "I am somewhat familiar with Ms. Praetor's state of affairs, yeah." Being one of her friends. One that helped get her considering this could be a magic matter in the first place. So she's here to help as much on that regard as anything else.

She does give a nod to Jason as he's introduced. "Pleasure."

She slips on her goggles and accepts one of the dowsing rods, having learned better than to question such things too much. It's just a scanning device, but for magic, is what she mentally reminds herself. The chill weather doesn't bother her in the least, she of all people should be use to such things!... That and she has some of her temperture regulation harness fitted within her jacket, and probably the rest of her gear in her backpack if she needs it.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Miss Praetor, if you would show Miss Dietrich the item in question. And Mr. Blood as well." Nettie hands the dowsing rod with the runes to Joshua, and motions for him to hold it by the 'reins' loosely.

    "And if you would, ah, brief round of introductions -- Nettie Crowe, you all know me. Or should know me. My cohort Miss Lydia Dietrich. Mr. Jason Blood. My son, Joshua Foley. Kelly Praetor, former Quarterback, current Dei-nasaur, and Miss Windrose, who may introduce herself with her own name if she so desires." she motions to the night time dig side. There's at least one park ranger parked nearby who is giving them an odd look.

    "Don't mind the non-informed, it's all right, but of a scavenger hunt, try not to break anything that looks expensive or over sixty five million years old." Nettie states, motioning for Kelly to take out the necklace.

    "We also have the brick that came through my window in the shop. There is an element that doesn't want us investigating. I'm not highly concerned about the danger out here..." she gives a sly look to Blood, and then back to the assembled younger folk.

    "But never without a lick of danger, what fun would that be, eh Duckies?"

Jason Blood has posed:
After introductions, Jason makes his way over towards Kelly to review the item, as suggested. His glance over each of those introduced by Nettie was studied, but then when the matter turns to business, he is focused upon the quest at hand.

He holds his questions for the moment, waiting for further explanation of the nature of the item and its purported provenance.

Kelly Praetor has posed:
"Ah, right, sure, one second," Kelly says, having forgot not everyone had seen her little lucky charm. "I never expected it to be so important," she asides before holding it out. Its a simple chain but the 'charm' on it is clearly a raptor claw of decent size. Anyone that is familiar with raptor-saurs may recognize its general size to be of the 'Dakota' variety. Those sensitive may feel some very trace energies, but without some focused analyzing it'd be hard to pick up anything else.

Joshua Foley has posed:
There's a brief smile and a wave as Nettie introduces him. "Not magic, just a healer!" Joshua offers in explanation of his role here as he takes the dowsing rod and receieves the brief instruction on how to use it.

There's a pause before he nods and smiles to Nettie. "Okay. I... I can do this." he manages as he offers a beaming smile to Kelly. "We'll get you back to slinging touchdowns and signing autographs soon enough!" comes the cheerful encouragement before he settles the dowsing rod in his hands.

"Okay. Fetch?" he asks the rod to see if it starts leading him around.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia nods as she's introduced. "Good to meet you all." She glances over to the park ranger. "Don't worry about him. Worst comes I can vampire mind whammy him into cooperating."

    She waits patiently for Jason to examine the talisman, and when it looks like he's done she holds out her hand. "May I?" Once handed over she turns the claw around in her fingers, getting a good look at it. Then she brings it up to her nose to get its scent.

    "Here," she says, handing it off to the next person who wants to examine it, and then her form blurs for a moment, after which there's a large black wolf standing in her place. She lifts her nose up into the air to see if she can catch a matching scent out there. It's a long shot, but it's worth a try.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian chuckles softly. "I appreciate the consideration Nettie. But the alter ego biz is mainly for the public eyes and headlines." She takes off her gloves, figuring it would be better to handle the dowsing rod against actual skin, tucking them away in a pocket. "Besides, most of you either already know me as Audra, or would be able to figure it out with your magic stuff. No worries."

Then back to the dowsing rod. "Okay, I think I've seen this in movies a few times. You grip it like... this." She holds it by the < end in her hands. "Then hold it out and.. walk..."

She doesn't want to stir up a mess so she keeps the wind powers to a tiny bit, just enough to hover with her boots so she doesn't accidentally step on anything.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Oi, ladies might wanna keep a bit of mystery about themselves." Nettie states as she pats herself down and picks out the silk-covered case for her cigarettes, takes a hand-rolled out, and lights up sans lighter.

    "That's right. Bit like Ye Old Timey metal detector, save these are wont to turn downwards when they sense something or upwards when somethin's about to explode. So if it turns upwards, just -- give a yell an' stand back. Let me or Lydia poke around it first, we're less likely to turn into anything odd." Since they already are.

    She doesn't need to investigate the artifact. She already knows. Instead, she's tromping off to talk to the ranger about the 'Crowe Family Reunion' and show her permits (entirely falsified) to be in the area.

    There doesn't seem to be anything as Joshua is walking around. It doesn't lead him, but it doesn't seem to want to turn up or down either. Corvax, the older crow, lands on his shoulder.

    "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Nettie knows how to pick 'em. Don't suppose you could convince her to come back when it's *not* below fucking freezing degrees?" the crow grumps.

    The other crow is staying in Nettie's jacket.

    "... are there such *things* as ghost dinosaurs, Nettie?" Torny questions quietly.

    Audra, on the other hand, as she walks out, gets a tick on her stick. SHARPLY up, and then back down again to resting position.

    Like someone just kicked it up.

    Those with supernatural senses may feel a tickling.

Kelly Praetor has posed:
It's a sweet thought that Joshua says aloud, but to it, Kelly simply shakes her head, "Oh, I .. I doubt that, to be honest. It's nice of you to say it but ... I think my life has been changed and there's no real going back at this point. I appreciate it but, I'm sort of embracing this, now, to whatever end it goes."

For now, seeing as Kelly is more familiar with Audra than a lot of the people here, the raptor wanders along after her. "Got you wrapped up in this again, eh? At least you can see where I got to spend a couple summers with my dad."

She wouldn't feel a thing when that dowsing rod flicks, though.

Jason Blood has posed:
The trick with the dowsing rod earns an upraised eyebrow from Jason Blood. Particularly when it makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He slips away from the rest of the crowd by a few feet, and quietly murmurs an incantation that may, depending upon the nature of the magical energy, reveal its source to him. The energy itself, or its wielder.

Or it may do nothing. Such is the way with magic, as fickle a force as ever there were.

Joshua Foley has posed:
When his stick seems to be doing nothing, Joshua frowns. But he notices what Audra is doing and ohs! Apparently, he was supposed to walk. Which is what he starts to do, his footfalls avoiding the roped offed areas, the breath rising from him in little white puffs as he feels about, oblivious to what may be happening.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Not finding any scent to go by, Lydia shifts back into her human form when the park ranger is engaged with Nettie. "Nothing," she says with a scowl. "Well, it was worth a try."

    She nods approvingly to Kelly. "Embrace who you are, regardless of what form you take. This," she says, running her fingers through her starfield, causing the twinkling lights to eddy and whorl around her fingers, "happened when I was fourteen. Can't hide that I'm a mutant so I might as well be proud of what--"

    She cuts herself short when she sees the dowsing rod flick upwards for a moment. "Interesting," she says.

Audra Meridian has posed:
"Would it be strange to say this isn't the weirdest thing I've been wrapped up in," Audra replies to Kelly with a cheeky grin.

Then the rod in her hands jerks.

After that warning Audra reflexively jerks back when the dowsing rod kicks up!.. then hovers back another foot or so just to be safe before turning to call over her shoulder "Hey I think I got a ping on this thing!"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie is still talking to the ranger. She didn't appear to catch the jerking of the rod.

    Yes, that sounds dirty.

    The rod in Audra's hand begins to tremble. The tickling turns cold for those who have magical senses.

    "Easy on, Joshua --" Corvax croaks, his feathers fluffing up as Joshua keeps walking.

    His stick flicks downwards -- and stays pointing down, no matter what he tries to make it point up. Letting go of it would result in the stick falling and embedding in the rock below his feet.

    The wind begins to pick up. The temperature begins to drop, slowly ticking down in quarter degrees at a time.

Kelly Praetor has posed:
Seems like Kelly saw that. "Oh. Well. That's a problem," Kelly muses when the dowsing rod twitches. Audra's at least. She can't really see Joshua's from where she's at, at the moment. "I should really know that magic exists now, but it is surreal every time."

Jason Blood has posed:
"Ms. Crowe," calls Jason as he drifts away from the group over towards where she is talking to the ranger. He pauses for a moment to incant a brief protection spell on himself, before raising his voice once more. "I think you may want to come and look at what we have uncovered."

Audra Meridian has posed:
"It takes some getting use to, even if you know it exists," Audra replies to Kelly, speaking from experience. It took spending time around the Shazams, Nettie, and other adventures for her to fully come to grasps with the matter.

The dowsing rod keeps shaking.

But to be fair its the shift in air and temperature that's also getting her attention. "Guys, it's getting colder unnaturally quick, even for this time of year." You don't need to be a meteorologist to realize that's not natural, but it arguably helps in this case.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Oh, keep hanging around us and you'll see weirder," Lydia tells Audra with a grin. "Eventually you kind of get numb to it, you know?"

    Jason's dowsing rod grabs her attention. "Interesting," she repeats and walks over to where the rod was pointing, squatting to see what she can see. "Hm," she says thoughtfully. "I can build a circle to contain it, whatever it is."

    She looks up when Audra mentions it getting colder. "Is it? I can't feel it. That's usually a sign of spiritual interference."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Reaching up to pet Corvax, Joshua nods. "Steady on." he agrees quietly, tenative in his steps until the rod goes... *THUNK* into the ground! There's a pause, and Joshua tries to pull it out, to no avail.

"Uhm, anyone??" he calls out to the group. "I think I found something." And he's totally feeling the chill, even through his jacket. "I..."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie is still in heated conversation. That shouldn't be.

    The temperature continues to drop. Icicles begin to hang in the air at the exhales, and there's a stomping. A scraping. An echoing, faint bellow of millions of years past.

    And then a roar, deep and bellowing like some sort of bull, demonized, reverbed and reversed and then the bus gets knocked to the side with a large, triangle-shaped dent in it, and the stoming, rattling, bellowing gets louder the closer it gets to the grouping.

    It seems like it's heading right towards Lydia, but heedless of her -- it aims for Kelly!

    Kelly, if she doesn't think fast, may find herself battered and then punched upwards into the air by a toss of a massive, heavy head.

    "What in the HELL is THAT?!" the ranger calls out "DID YOU BRING A DINOSAUR TO THE HELL CREEK FORMATION?! Can I pet it?!"

    "Lass that is *not* my call to make!" Nettie replies, turning over her shoulder, "ah... that's... significantly more dangerous than I was anticipating!"

Jason Blood has posed:
Enough is enough. Mundanes or not, Jason Blood seizes upon the moment to act.

The tails of his trenchcoat catch air as he whirls around from his attempts to capture Nettie's attention and perhaps direct the ranger away, he lifts up his arms and utters an arcane incantation, forming a complex symbol with this hands. Casting his voice through the symbol he breaks open his hands, extending the spell in the direction of their unseen assailant.

A simple, yet powerful spell designed to pierce a veil of invisibility. Depending upon how potent the energy masking their attacker it, it _may_ serve to reveal what they are facing. If not...he has other tricks in his bag.

Kelly Praetor has posed:
    That .. was a loud noise. When Kelly's attention is grabbed by the sound of the bus being struck, she looks over, and she sees... whatever the hell this Red Bull Of Hell is. "OH F--" and that's when she's GONE. She has said she's pretty speedy, but she takes off like a shot to try and get the hell away from .. whatever the hell that hellbull is. "AAAAAAA" she's not taking it well, seems like.

Audra Meridian has posed:
The sound of impact against the bus is really hard to miss. Especially when you're use to hearing such things, though typically from really strong winds or waves. Still it gets the point across fast. Kelly bolts in one direction.

Audra bolts in another, launching herself backwards and at an upwards angle to avoid being caught in the stampede. It takes a moment to stablize herself as her backpack deploys fully to catch herself before dropping back to the ground. "I think we found the answer on dinosaur ghosts."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    One of the benefits of being a vampire is that you get to have preternatural reflexes. "Kelly!" she shouts, as her arm shoots out, and the stars that surround her rush to solidify into a wall that will block the ghostly dinosaur from the ex-footballer.

    With the other hand, she closes her eyes and reaches out to see if she can get a hold of the dinosaur itself. She is a master over ectoplasm, and if the ghost is manifesting, she might be able to keep it from moving.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua was just about to go after Kelly, to maybe see if she could help when there's that horrible noise. The young man feels his blood run cold and he wraps his arms around Kelly's neck to hold onto her. "It's gonna be..."

Nope, he doesn't even get that out before she's off like a shot. There's a yelp as Joshua realizes he's caught and is dragged along, his feet dragging on the ground. "Wait wait wait!" he yelps before he just throws himself over the raptor's back to hang on tight as she heads in the direction of Wyoming.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    It was a loud noise. A bellowing sound as it chases Kelly around -- but Jason's incantation strikes true. And slowly, it's revealed in shades of ghostly blue.

    The size of a bus, from nose to tail, and built stout and armored tough, scutes on the bottom of its belly and scales remaining rough. Though patchy skin and muscle gone reveals the skel'tal beast, Triceratops prorsus (the Triceratops the least).

    The creature, half skeletal in form stop sand bellows, rounding back around, one horn (left orbital) broken and missing, the other two quite intact as it appears to snort, his sides still billowing as if breathing.

    Torny stares from Nettie's jacket.

    "GHOST DINO!" he crows out, flapping his wings in mixed excitement.

Kelly Praetor has posed:
Looks like Josh gets to go for a ride! The way she took off after the bus got smashed into, she was just making sure she wasn't gonna get got. Now, with the BLUE TRIKE (most def not a red bull) revealed, Kelly gets a good look as she's looping around with a little regained composure. "Ok that's cool but NOPE NOPE NOPE!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Once Jason's spell reveals the Triceratops, Lydia grins a fangy grin. "Gotcha." She drops the wall, and with one hand still outstretched, she slowly closes it into a fist, attempting to lock down the dinosaur.

    "Jason!" she calls out. "I've got it! See if you can't banish it from whence it came!"

Joshua Foley has posed:
With Kelly slowing down, Joshua is able to swing his leg around and mount up on top of her. This is not AWKWARD AT ALL. He had posters of her in his room when he was younger and now... nope, no nosebleeds Josh.

"Hate to break the news to you, but it's still coming after us. Maybe we should move, in case it gets away?" he asks her, arms loosely around her neck.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Despite her various escapades into the magic side of things this is the first time Audra has come upon a certified ghost and not just something using telekinesis or some other power to mimic such things. "I agree that's cool but a bit of a problem." She looks over towards Nettie and Jason. "Any ideas how to deal with this? I may be a scientist but proton packs and particle throwers are kind of out of my field of expertise." Then calls after Kelly and Joshua. "Run -away- from the area of possibly sensative and delicate fossil records!"

Jason Blood has posed:
As the ghost dino runs around, Jason drops his arms to his sides. He assesses the scene, looking over his colleagues, and decides...

They seem to know what they are doing.



        BIG MONSTER.
        Don't just stare!
        If you fear it will slay,
        Let me out to play!


Jason clenches his jaw. There should be another way.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    They do seem to know what they are doing, most of them. Kelly's running, Josh is riding on Kelly's back, Audra is trying to figure out how to parse this, and Lydia -- well, Lydia's the one with a firm hold on the situation.

    The Dinosaur slooowly... begins... to... stop... feet stomping lessened, its head toss slowed to the point of missing a swipe at Kelly's tail, and it bellow gruffly.

    Nettie as well has her hands up, her eyes swirling with black as her skin changes to a more deathly pallor.

    She's helping Lydia keep the beast in place.

    "Blood! One way or another, set the beast to rest! This thing is Old as /BOLLOCKS/ mate!" she calls out, her feet scraping backwards against the ground. Retired necromancer she is, something this old had enough time to build up strength, like trying to stop the leaking of a dam with a couple of wine stoppers. Big wine stoppers.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Man, all Joshua needs is a red cap with an M on it. As Kelly moves toward the dino and the tail swipes, Joshua calls out, "Jump!" If he had a conrtoller, he'd be hitting A frantically.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia grimaces as she uses all her power just to keep the thing still. Thankfully Nettie is there to help her with it and between the two of them they've slowed it down enough for the other members of their crew to deal with the problem mostly safely.

    "It's strong!" she agrees. "Not sure how long I can hold it for!"

Kelly Praetor has posed:
    Running is what she's good at. She's always been good at it. Was really good scrambling out of the pocket in the League, has been parkouring the roofs really well since her change! Now, since she's told to jump, she JUMPS, not even questioning the fact that Josh is on her shoulders. She only slowed a little cause of it. "I HOPE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

Audra Meridian has posed:
It looks like the magic people have the ghost matter in hand. Phantom triceratops is cool and all, but it's going to cause issues if it keeps tromping around, but it looks like they've got it locked down now.

So Audra turns her attention back to the digsite as a whole. Realizes she dropped her dowsing rod when she and Kelly bolted out of the way of the original charge. But then she notices where Joshua dropped his when it pings on the HUD within her goggles and she hovers down towards it, eying up how it's suck into the ground like it'd been dropped straight down.

She decides probably best not to touch it until the ghostceratops issue is dealt with, but she can at least mark the spot where it is.

Jason Blood has posed:
"Yes yes, rest, I get it, Ms. Crowe," replies Jason with that sort of dry aggravation that only a Brit could muster as someone is suggesting a timely resolution to a murder scene. You can almost hear the rolls of his eyes in his tone, but they are in fact still focused on the apparition.

He takes a step forward and windmills his arms around as he begins an incantation. This one is far louder than the last, his tone sounding almost guttural, voice projected louder than any human voice should be. The words are not Latin, or any recognizable language, at least to most. Those well studied in the arcane would recognize its drawing upon eldritch powers, words that would drive the minds of most men (and women) mad.

Jason punctuates the end of the phrase by bringing his hands together, and a distortion in the air as magical energy pulses out at the apparition moves swiftly. As if struck, the ghostly dino slumps down, forcing itself no further.

Then comes rapidly after a string of words in Latin, an incantation frequently used by practitioners for centuries to dispel hauntings. Jason moves towards the creature, wasting little time. Wisely, perhaps, as it snorts and starts to rise before he completes it, whatever dark power he used to stun it truly lasting mere moments.

Fortunately for the team, mere moments were all that was necessary, as before the triceratops can rise, Jason closes the chant. It pauses, and as if begins to fade from view, it looks at the group almost with appreciation. As if it were finally at peace, before it dissipates.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    There's no telling how long the creature was here, hidden and brought out by rifts, waiting for a time to act out. Most people can't comprehend A Million Years, let alone over seventy.

    The creature, part skeletal, part flesh, draws down, settling like a mighty ox, drawing to its knees as Nettie herself gives out, watching with fascination.

    The form of the triceratops colors as if true to life. Scutes in pale tan, leading to a foggy green and emerald stripe. Its missing horn restored.

    Dark amber eyes look around, as if seeing the scene for the first time, these strange creatures around it -- and with a final bellow, its head tilting back, it stands and wanders back into the aether, at peace and free to be with its own after so long away from the herd.

    "... Absolutely Bloody Marvelous." Nettie breathes out. "I've never encountered a ghost so *old* --" she adds in awe.

    The ranger?

    He faints away with a THUMP.

    "He'll be all right. Well done, all."

    The temperature warms, and for a brief moment there is a tropical sort of damp that washes over the area.

    And there, glowing pale blue and red, there was a gash in the fabric of reality. And after a moment more, the energies it was emitting fade, and it too disappears from view.

    "... Miss Praetor? I wager we've found the first step." Nettie states, turning to the dinosaur carrying her son around. "This should prove to be a *very* interesting friendship."

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian glances over as the ranger faints. "Probably for the best. Easier to convince someone they were seeing things or something like that." Sometimes it's easier to just not try and convince people that something really happened.

Kelly Praetor has posed:
The raptor has ... no idea what just happened. "I .. uh.. ... Huh... that was ... a thing that happened. ahaha ha ha. ha. haaaa." *thump* She takes a seat, possibly letting Joshua down as well because he was up there. "What in the world was that.." its rhetorical. That was her first time experiencing something as greatly paranormal as that. "... I will have to get used to that. eh heh heh..."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia gasps, and lets go once Jason's incantation is done, and the ancient ghost stops struggling against her. "Be at peace," she tells it as it wanders off. "You deserve the rest."

    She lets out a sigh and runs a hand through her hair, and looks back at Nettie, and beyond her the ranger. "I'll give him the ole vampire mind whammy when he wakes up," she says. "I'll come up with..." she flails a hand, "some kind of excuse."

    She grins at Kelly. "Yeah. Welcome to the club. It gets weird around here. Now you'll only need to die at least once to become a full member." She's joking, right?

Joshua Foley has posed:
Slipping off Kelly's back, Joshua gives her a pat before he takes a few shaky steps. And then he runs off to go behind a rock. Once there, he doubles over and...

*RETCH* comes from the other side of the rock as Joshua loses his dinner from on his way over. He'll be back in a moment.

Jason Blood has posed:
For a few moments, Jason stands silently, eyes closed, simply focusing on breathing. It is not until he hears the sound of Joshua's technicolor yawn that he comes back to the present, turning to look at the assembled group.

"She was upset that she had been unable to protect her child from a meat eater," he says with a sigh. "At least, I think that is what it was. It is so hard to tell. Dinosaur brains are so terribly tiny."

He turns and offers a wan smile at Nettie, his first of the day. "Now then. What is next?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie's nose wrinkles.

    "Well. First rule of any magic is there is a price, second rule is it's OK to throw up." she reminds everyone, going to cross her arms, but a squawk of alarm from Torny makes her pause, give a soft 'sorry, lad' and then back up from her second familiar.

    "Eh. We'll just tell him Josh hit him in the head with a frisbee. I promise you park rangers see the weirdest things. Remind me to tell you of the time I brought my dear friends Tolkien and Lewis to meet the minor Snow Leopard god in Tibet. Gosh was that ever a mess. Tolkien promised he'd write me into one of his books after I accidentallied a bucket into a well and woke up something nasty."

    That story is completely a lie. Mostly a lie. There's a bit of truth to it.

    Nettie does walk over to Josh, and leaning over, pats him on the back. "You did good Lad." she comments to him gently.

    "Everyone did well. Though I apologize for the loose cohesion of the wee ones, Jason." NEttie gives as charming a smile as she can to Lydia (who is still wee to the 170-year-old witch).

    "Now, we start to follow some breadcrumbs. I'm sure whomever the brick belonged to is going to know we were pokin' 'bout. *BUT FIRST*--" Nettie holds up her hand, and recalls Corvax to her wrist.

    "Celebretory tea. Mr. Blood, pleasure to work with you, as always." she gives a smile.

    And above, the stars twinkle brightly over the group.