5627/Trees know secrets.

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Trees know secrets.
Date of Scene: 18 March 2021
Location: The Hanging Tree - Park
Synopsis: An owl finds new prey in a most unexpected place and the hunt begins!
Cast of Characters: Anchovy, Strix




Anchovy has posed:
Gotham has a lot of things going against it, crime, crazy clowns, gangs, serial killers, heroes of questionable moral standards, and men in black masks with strange interpersonal hang-ups but one thing they don't get a lot of is dinosaurs. When one rides into town on the bullet train it draws a fair amount of attention, but the people of Gotham are hardly prone to panic.

The raptor in question has learned that when traveling outside of mutant town it's important to blend in with the humans so he is wearing a very large, very red, necktie that he learned to slip over his head, and he is carrying a briefcase. There is nothing in the case, it's just an empty box but he knows that people who ride the trains often carry them. So too does he carrying one.

It's comically strange seeing a velociraptor get off the business express but such is life in the modern world. His path across Gotham towards the park was... interesting. Only two groups of people tried to mug him. Once they realized he had nothing to steal they left him alone because why pick a fight when you don't need to. Unfortunately, this has left his costume somewhat flawed as he is still carrying the briefcase but it's been left hanging open. He has no idea how to, or even that he should close it so everyone can see it's just an empty box as he walks down the sidewalk towards the park.

Many people take video of it and it spreads around social media quickly spawning a great many theories as to what is happening but few people would be foolish enough to follow him into Hanging Tree Park at night, even for that sweet, sweet, ad money.

Strix has posed:
Ever since the night Strix spilled the beans, as it were, on the Court of Owls, she's back to being fidgety and bored. There's only so much television to watch, and she arted her self out drawing so many diagrams of the Court's lair that she just couldn't bring herself to do any more of it. So she snuck out again, on this nice Spring day, to go somewhere fairly public where the Court's assassins aren't likely to try to take her out.

She's dressed like she usually is on these outings. A pair of overalls, over a plain white tee, and her fuzzy pink unicorn sweatshirt (replete with bullet holes) over all of it. As usual, her head is wrapped in bandages, hiding the myriad of scars that cover her face. She's hanging out in the titular tree, about as high as anybody can physically go (and maybe then some) so she can look out at the city from this vantage point. One hand holds a large bag of peppered jerky, and the other is idly toying with a throwing knife. There's no way she's going outside without being heavily armed.

Brightly colored movement from below catches her eye. Peering down she sees something that she's never seen before. A dinosaur with a briefcase. Well, to be fair, she's never seen a dinosaur without a briefcase too. Silently she hops down from branch to branch, until she touches down on the grass, and approaches the odd creature, waving at him to catch his attention.

Anchovy has posed:
Velociraptors are evolved for many, many, wonderful things but climbing massive trees is not one of them. The gangs who normally watch over the tree and protect it stay well back from him as he circles the base of the Hanging Tree sniffing the air and looking up as if searching for something. When the human girl climbs down from the tree from so far up, the feathers on the back of his head stand up with excitement!

Yes! Exactly what he needed! A monkey!

Dropping his briefcase the raptor returns her wave mimicking the action then makes a purring, noise followed by a chuff sound that almost sounds like a sneeze from his throat instead of his nose. Raptor for I come in peace and won't eat you. Not that many people speak raptor.

As soon as he makes his intent not to hurt the pink-monkey clear he looks back up focusing his predatory gaze at something in the tree and sniffing the air again. Whatever is up there, he wants it.

Strix has posed:
Strix got a wave back! This means that the raptor has some kind of intelligence. Well. The tie and the briefcase probably indicated that, too, but it's always good to make sure. She considers Anchovy for a moment before pulling out a notepad and a felt tip marker. She scritches out

CAN U
READ?

on the pad of paper and shows it to him, cocking her head curiously.

Anchovy has posed:
When she holds something out to him, the raptor looks down at it, but doesn't seem to recognize what it is, or at least what it means and just goes right back to looking at the tree branch he wants. He keeps his head up, eyes on the prize but levels out his body and takes several steps backwards like he thinks he can get a running start and maybe make it up to that really high branch he is looking at. It's a spectacularly bad idea, it's never going to work and he's probably going to make an absolute fool of himself but that's never stopped him from trying.

Strix is today years old when she learns that just before they break into a run a raptor does that cute cat-thing where they lower themselves then wiggle their rear end and make sure their tail is balanced. 5..... 4.... 3...

Strix has posed:
Strix nods, and gets her answer, and puts away the pad and pen. Her eyes glance up to the tree and back to Anchovy, trying to work out what he sees up there. Then she sees him prepare to leap and decides that, no, this way only leads to disaster.

She steps in front of him holding up a hand to keep him from hurting himself, shaking her head, no. She leaps up into the tree herself, deftly climbing through the branches like she was born for it until she gets to the tree branch that she thinks Anchovy is looking for. She looks down at him for confirmation.

Anchovy has posed:
Good pink monkey, the raptor thinks. Much smarter than the others he's discovered here. He likes her! She's agile!

Circling the tree at the base he look up at Strix and then at the branch then makes a raptor call that is like a seal's bark from deep in his throat, three times. He focuses his gaze on one bundle of leaves on the branch and if she does as well, she'll notice a teddy-bear hanging from a hangman's noose hidden in the growth. Not the strangest thing in the tree but still odd that he is so focused on it.

Strix has posed:
Strix picks her way through the needles of the tree until she gets to the stuffed toy. She points at it cocking her head in an unspoken question. This? She gets what she can only assume is a confirmation, and she delicately unties the teddy bear (noose and all) from the tree, and hops down the tree to show Anchovy his prize.

Anchovy has posed:
When she pulls up the bear, it feels odd. There is something solid in the center of the chest. Not too heavy but squarish inside the padding of the bear and there is the sound of plastic crumpling when she moves her fingers against the shape of it. Something inside the bear is in a plastic bag. The rope around the teddy bears neck hides stitch marks where someone had removed the head then sewn it back on.

The raptor seems very excited wen she gets it circling around on the ground in a pacing circle until she is back down with it. He is like a kid who just won a treasure hunt and he can't wait to find out what the prize is!

His tail sweeping back and forth in anticipation he's expecting food to somehow pop out of the bear. He knows the bear earns him food somehow but he's going to be disappointed. It's not food in the bear, it's a cellphone. A cellphone full of a lot of incriminating evidence regarding missing girls in Gotham. A child-predator's trophy collection. He knew he was going to be captured so he left it hanging where no sane person would bother it and the weather wouldn't hurt it inside the plastic bag. The perfect hiding place when you are spending a few years behind bars because there isn't enough evidence to link you to *all* of your victims.

Strix has posed:
Now that she's on the ground and has it in her hands, Strix sees that the stitching on the head is a little bit loose. She picks at it until it starts to unravel, revealing its contents. She pulls the cell phone out of the bear, and turns it over in her hands curiously.

Turning it on she's greeted with the home screen asking for a passcode. She tries the more common ones, like 1234, 1379, 0000, etc, until she finds one that lets her in. Always count on somebody being lazy about password protection.

The wallpaper is that of a child in distress. Strix scowls at this. She taps on photos and what greets her is a slideshow of horror. Each photo she sees makes her scowl even deeper. Each photo makes her even angrier, until she's had enough. She pokes around the files and contacts until she comes up with a name. Clem Casey. And an address.

She looks up at Anchovy, the expression on her face grim. She digs the bag of jerky out of her pockets and tosses him a couple of pieces in reward for what he had found. Then, in an afterthought, a few more pieces. Then as an afterthought to the afterthought the whole damn bag. She's lost her appetite. She pockets the cell phone and turns to go. There's work to be done.

Anchovy has posed:
While she was digging through the files on the phone the Raptor had been waiting for the bear to spill forth it's reward for him. He stared at it intently and waited and waited and waited then squinted his eyes at the headless bear daring it to keep holding out on him, then he was hit in the nose with jerky! Haha! He has defeated the bear!! Snatching the meat out of the air as it magically appeared in his field of vision he traced the path of the food back to the pink-monkey. Wow... she looks... mad but she's feeding him so he's Okay with that. When she tosses the whole bag to him he grabs it off the ground with both sets of talons and starts to lick out the tasty jerky strips two at a time with a tongue that would make the lead singer of KISS jealous. He doesn't follow the angry monkey when she walks off. He'll check on her again later. He's worried about her. She seems like she's in a lot of pain and just looking to be put down. Not that he would eat her but maybe he can help? He's a good listener, once all the food is gone.