❝ 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴 ──── ⚔

[འབྲོག་ཁྱི]

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⹂ 𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙊𝙍 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙄𝙎 ────────── ⹂ 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 ─────────────────────────
─────────────────────────────────── 2019, Red Pine valley, somewhere in the Appalachian mountains

You're beginning to forget.


The disease, it has ravaged your head, your mind.

The immune - they're looking for a cure.
But you can't help yourself.



Have I been here before?


The humans - your rage burns so bright, the fire behind your eyes is overwhelming.


They must die.

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[འབྲོག་ཁྱི]

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⹂ 𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙊𝙍 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙄𝙎 ────────── ⹂ 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 ─────────────────────────
─────────────────────────────────── 2019, Red Pine valley, somewhere in the Appalachian mountains

The pack of Red Pine valley has been hit by a mysterious disease. The afflicted are suffering from blackouts,
during which they go into fits of rage, seemingly directed towards the human population of the nearby town.
The elders are baffled - your pack and the town have lived together peacefully for decades, some of your fellow
wolves have even started finding work in town, becoming beloved members of the community. However, it is
becoming increasingly difficult to keep your family's true nature hidden after Anders Bourke, one of the afflicted
elders attacked and killed a hiker, and the sheriff from the nearby town has started investigating the incident.
Quarantining the afflicted proved useless - the disease has taken over the pack, and your hopes now lie with the
mysteriously immune members.

Some of the elders are certain that it is the pack's own fault - they have forgotten the old ways, and are risking
the pack's safety by becoming closer to the humans. They believe the goddess of the hunt, Devana, has cursed
your pack with madness. However, the alpha believes it to be a disease, some kind of virus, that is running
rampant and infecting your family. The immune have been instructed to seek for a cure, wherever one may be.

It is evident that your time is running out, as some elders have already succumbed to the disease. Although,
it is impossible to tell whether the disease itself is lethal or if it was due to the exhaustion caused by enduring
the symptoms.

─ the lodge ─ interior style ─ the town ─ general store ─ cafe ─ the road ─ the falls ─ the caves ─

The pack's home, the lodge, is located in the hills of the Appalachian mountains, separated from the town below
by a mile of thick, dark woods. The lodge is large enough to house the entire pack, even if the years have slightly
worn the building, which has been passed from alpha to alpha since the 1950s. A dirt road runs from the lodge to
the town. Higher up in the hills are the ancient falls, a sacred place to some, but their history is forgotten by many.
The caves used to be a popular gathering place for Red Pine valley's youth, but like the falls, they are now quiet and
neglected. The town isn't very large, and consists mostly of residential buildings. However, there are a few shops,
like the general store, and a fairly popular cafe.

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[འབྲོག་ཁྱི]

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⹂ 𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙊𝙍 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙄𝙎 ────────── ⹂ 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 ─────────────────────────
─────────────────────────────────── 2019, Red Pine valley, somewhere in the Appalachian mountains

─────────────────────────────── 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 ───────────────────────────────


𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘬𝘦
─ sixty-two / afflicted
─ one of the elders
─ thinks he's cursed
xx

𝘑𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘯
─ fifty / immune
─ one of the elders
─ believes in the virus
xx

𝘕𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥
─ sixty-seven / ?
─ alpha's father
─ believes in the curse
xx

𝘎𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘥
─ nineteen / human
─ hiker killed by Anders
─ sister of cafe worker
──────────────────────────────────── 𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 ──────────────────────────────────



𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥
─ the alpha / immune
─ female / thirty-two
─ totally stressed out
─ endemic
xx

name name
─ immune / healer
─ female / twenty-seven
─ seeks plant-based cure
─ open
xx

𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘢 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯
─ works at the cafe
─ female / twenty-four
─ trying to hide illness
─ eddie brock
xx

𝘓𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘴 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘸
─ immune / beta
─ male / twenty-nine
─ cure from town?
─ bohdi


────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩
─ afflicted
─ female / twenty-one
─ quarantined at lodge
─ meadow.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

𝘚𝘮𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪
─ the rebel / afflicted
─ female / twenty-five
─ refuses quarantine
─ waluigi
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭
─ the believer / immune
─ male / twenty-four
─ it's a curse !!
─ brookhiser
──────────────────────────────────── 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 ──────────────────────────────────



𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘦
─ owns general store
─ male / twenty-seven
─ 100% oblivious
─ meadow.
xx

𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘥
─ cafe worker
─ male / twenty-eight
─ suspicious
─ sun
xx

𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘥
─ sheriff
─ male / twenty-nine
─ investigating murder
─ anthrophobia.png
xx

𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯 𝘒𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨
─ knows ab/ the wolves
─ male / twenty-six
─ trying to help
─ annie

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[འབྲོག་ཁྱི]

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⹂ 𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙊𝙍 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙄𝙎 ────────── ⹂ 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 ─────────────────────────
─────────────────────────────────── 2019, Red Pine valley, somewhere in the Appalachian mountains

─ all of Tess' rules obviously apply, make sure that you're familiar with them
─ remember to separate "out of character" from "in character"
─ only join if you're going to post, try to write at least 300 words per post, once a week
─ disable signatures, try to keep things neat to the best of your ability
─ avoid perfect characters ("mary sues")
─ drama and forbidden romances are encouraged ;)
─ reserve spots through pm before posting your form in the discussion thread
─ reservations last 48 hours by default, but let me know if you need more time
─ feel free to make your afflicted rebellious, nobody likes sitting in a lodge for 24/7
─ I recommend having two characters if one of them is afflicted
─ real-life faceclaims only
─ be diverse and creative, lgbtq+ is more than welcome, you're safe with me

─ symptoms of the disease;
- begins with light nausea
- progresses to episodes of blacking out, aggression
- fever which comes and goes, one day you might be fine, the other you're burning up
- when it gets as bad as it gets, the disease can cause uncontrollable shifts

─ non-player characters can only be roleplayed by approved players, pm if you're interested!

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[འབྲོག་ཁྱི]

𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥.

[འབྲོག་ཁྱི]

┌──────────────────────────┐

│
│
⚜ ◦ ⤜──────→ 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 ❞𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐞❞ 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
the alpha ▪ she/her ▪ tagging Anders (npc), open ▪ the lodge ▪ form ▪ wc; 747
│
│
└──────────────────────────┘

It was uncharacteristic for the disciplined alpha to lose her patience like this - it was also highly likely that half the pack was listening in on the conversation happening behind closed doors, but as she ran her hand across her tired face, it was the least of her worries. Jac had just found out about the investigation conducted by the town's sheriff, which threatened the safety and very existence of her strange family.
Anders was someone she had never been too fond of, finding his ways to be rigid and old-fashioned, but he was still someone she had trusted, at least to listen to what she said. But now, the old friend of her father's was a killer, his hands drenched in the blood of an innocent hiker. The girl must have been barely nineteen. To make matters worse, it had all occurred merely a few miles from the lodge, her pack's home and safe haven. Jackie herself had discovered the gruesome scene, an image she didn't wish to return to. At that moment, she had had to push all emotion aside, and simply escort the man - found standing in a pool of blood - back home. It was evident that he had been in shock, only fully coming to a few days later. It had now been a few weeks, and she had fiercely hoped that the authorities would conclude it to have been an animal attack - and in a way it had been one.

As she regarded the man resting his head in his hands, seated at the edge of his scuffed bed, Jac's features appeared rather sunken in the dim light of the room. The events of the last few weeks had definitely taken their toll on her, no matter how much she tried to hide it from the others. At first, she had kept the elder's involvement in the death quiet, but after the news of the investigation broke, all of it had boiled over. "You were told to stay in the lodge, Anders!" she hissed, pacing across the worn wooden planks of his bedroom floor. She knew it was irrational to place all the blame on the old man's shoulders - he was ill, not able to control himself. But right now, she couldn't but express everything she had been suppressing these past few weeks. The grey-haired man remained quiet, his head still resting in his hands. At that moment, he looked small, very unlike the resolute man she knew and had grown up around. Finally he looked up, opening his mouth only to utter something entirely dejected: "I'm cursed." His voice wavered just enough to betray everything he was feeling at that very moment - he himself couldn't believe what he had done. "That poor girl.." His gaze returned to his feet, the look in his eyes was filled with sorrow.

Jackie came to a halt, trying to regain some composure. You're in control of your own actions, Jackie. A resigned sigh escaped her lips as she addressed the man again: "It's a disease, a virus, Anders. You're ill, not cursed." Briefly she glanced at him, hoping that her words were convincing, perhaps even somehow reassuring. "And we will find a cure." She didn't entirely believe the remark herself, no matter how much she wanted to, or how determined she was to find said cure. After the man didn't answer anymore, likely utterly drained, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

Nelson Redwood was sitting in the living room, giving her an undecipherable glance as she walked past, seemingly indicating that their conversation had been heard throughout the house. She mentally berated herself for having brought more chaos into the already tense pack house, before schooling her face expressionless and briskly heading out of the door. Questions, demands, responsibilities - they could all wait, just a moment. She jogged down the steps of the back porch, circling to the side of the building where her beaten grey truck stood. She leaned her back against it, running her hand through her hair with what must've been the hundredth sigh of the day. After feeling like she was concealed from prying eyes, she huffed at herself - she must have been a child when she last lashed out like this. For a moment, she felt absolutely ridiculous, perhaps even ashamed, but in a way she had the right to have a bit of an outburst right now - a lot was weighing down her burdened shoulders.

[broken*]

♔. ── ❝ ＣＥＬＥＳＴＥ　ＥＳＴＲＥＬＬＡ ❞
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( 27 y/o ) ( female ) ( healer immune ) ( pansexual ) ( tags: frances, open ) ( location: cafe )


something that very few beings of each species knew about was the supernatural library of sorts. it was an online program ran through the dark web, to keep it safe/private, and very few beings were trusted with the access by the librarian. she herself had only been given access because of her mother; according to the librarian, her mother rose had been an active member of the library's online community & had written her fair share of records/information for the library. the red pine healer had been spending the majority of her time in one of two places; she was either in the private garden that she had out back of the lodge, working on her herbs & trying to mix things to find reactions, or she was in town at the cafe, using their free wifi to do her research. there was a single corner table that was just big enough for her to spread her things out, but because of its position she could keep her laptop screen from being seen by others. thats where she was now, sitting in her little wooden chair, scribbling furiously onto her notebook, two separate chats opened on the library website; one with the librarian himself, a mortal man named robert, and the second with a vampire who claimed to have seen this sort of disease run through a pack his coven had a peace treaty with, more than a hundred years ago, in a separate part of the country.

the dark-haired girl was wearing a typical boho outfit; the dress was shorter, falling just at the knee, and was a very flowy fabric. the long sleeves flared out into bell sleeves, and the dress itself was a tie-dye of orange, gold, and crimson. simple fringed brown moccasin boots covered her feet, and her curly-short hair was pulled back from her face by a large twisted headband. she used to be the type of person who wouldnt leave her room without at least a bit of concealer, lipgloss, and mascara on, but ever since the break out of the illness had begun to afflict her packmates, she hadnt worn a drop of makeup, too focused on the task at hand to really care about what others thought of her appearance. as her warm, reddish-brown eyes scanned over the long message that just binged on her computer from ricardo, the vampire she had been chatting with, she couldnt help the sharp inhale of breath she took, her eyes widening as she got to the bottom. he had to be joking!... right? less than half of the pack had survived, and a half of that half was immune, so that really meant only 1/3 of the afflicted pack members had survived the process... back then, the way that they had 'cured' the 'curse/illness' was by having the afflicted be bitten by members of ricardo's coven, & go through the transformation of becoming hybrids. the process is incredibly dangerous, risky, and painful; many wolves die from the bite, which is why only about 1/3 of the afflicted survived the change back then.

she slammed her laptop shut in a dramatic manner that was very unlike her, letting out a groan as she rested her head in her hands on the table. there had to be another option, a different way to cure them with more herbal or medicinal means. running her hands through her messy hair, she shut her notebook and got to her feet; she needed another drink before she went back into the research process. she waited in line for a few minutes before it was her turn to approach the cash-register, and she quickly recognized the barista; she had to force herself not to show a panicked expression, and gave him a gentle smile. "good afternoon frances. can i get another 24 ounce hot chai tea latte with almond milk please? i need some more energy." she gave a small chuckle at her own lame joke, trying not to be awkward but probably failing miserably. frances was the older brother of ginny reed, the girl that her pack's elder andres had killed shortly after being afflicted and losing control. she constantly had frequented this cafe, but hadnt seen him in awhile, so she realized he must have been taking time off to mourn.. oh gosh could this get more uncomfortable? for her of course, he had no idea who she was or what she knew.

[braunkatt]

──x 𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐋

the believer ۰ location: the lodge's backyard ۰ tagged: jacqueline

xxxhe could recall the day like it was yesterday ─ word of the disease ─ well, curse in the eyes of august patel. it had suddenly consumed the few elders in his pack. then, it grape vined down to the younger members. at first, august didn't understand the reasoning behind it. why now? he wanted to ask, what is the reasoning behind it? the werewolf wanted to hypothesize, but he couldn't. there was no rhyme or reasoning behind it, everything seemed to end in a dead end. in his sleep, he contemplated the probable cause. the man could recall multiple nights, trying to run through possible causes... it seemed as if nothing added up. it wasn't until he had a conversation with one of the pack elders, anders bourke, that the two could come to a plausible conclusion: it simply was a curse. the pack of red pine valley recently changed their ways of living/functioning: they had been handling situations differently than they would've in the past. forgetting their traditions, customs, stories...generations of a culture seemingly lost, vanishing into thin air.

nothing filled the soul of august patel more than immersing himself in nature. perched upon a mandala pillow, the young man recounted his blessings one last time. inhaling deeply, he could feel the crisp air of the mountains pool in the pit of his lungs. exhaling acutely, there was a rude awakening. august could feel his eyelashes clump together as he opened his eyes, he could feel shuffling on the back porch. and there she was, jacqueline redwood; the alpha of the pack. sympathetically, the man arose from the pillow he strategically placed to investigate. he could sense something had happened solely from the way she closed the door ─ it was with great effort, more than he would've put in.

giving the alpha a couple of minutes to recuperate herself, august gingerly approached her from the opposite side the grey truck. "is now a bad time to talk?" he asked with an undertone of warmth in his voice, alluding to her exit from the lodge. august tried to find the alpha's eyes in a weak attempt to soothe her nerves. he was aware of her feelings toward him but didn't dare to hold it against her. now wasn't the time to cause an argument, of any kind, really. the last thing jacqueline needed was him trying to cause something. the two didn't see eye-to-eye on the roots of the disease, but he hoped she didn't hold anything against him. the two had an odd relationship, in his eyes. there was tension lingering in between the floorboards of the lodge and this time: august couldn't dare to waste his energy thinking twice about it. whatever was said, was said, it was over.

i understand if you don't want to see my face! the werewolf wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut. auggie stood patiently with his feet pointing towards jacqueline, a safe distance away from the alpha. he was far enough that if she dismissed his presence, he could've easily slithered away with ease. he began to think about what had happened to strike a nerve in the pack leader. she was a good leader, but it wasn't mundane to see her with her feathers ruffled up.

[kingstoat]

𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓉𝓉 𝒲𝑜𝑜𝒹

♂ - 29 - gay - sheriff - in his office

➳❝Scott sighed, pushing himself away from his old wooden desk and drawing a hand through his hair slowly. It had been a few weeks since Ginny Reed, a young local girl, had been discovered deceased not far from a hiking trail. An animal attack of sorts, clearly. The body was mauled and mutilated - but oddly enough, not consumed. It seemed like a classic wild animal attack, although oddly hunted for sport rather than food. Still, who was he to question the laws of nature?
He'd investigate it just in case, there'd be a court ruling, and that was that.
Sometime's he wondered why he took this job. Sure, there was rarely any crime in the town. Well, severe crime anyway. But in some ways that made it worse, harder to desensitise himself too. But then again, the feeling of saving lives and solving crimes did make up for it. That and the food he'd be offered by the local older ladies. Can't beat some good homemade food.

Right. He had a list. Each name in town. He'd worked through the majority of it, interviewing each person, finding out their connection to Ginny, if they saw anything around the time of her death.
He had ten names left. Ten more people to interview.

Scott sighed again, taking a long swig of hot coffee. The sheriff knew he focused too much on work. He was exhausted, spending most of his nights up late, filling out forms and working on cases. This was his first murder case in a while, and his job was the only thing he had to distract him from his problems. Well, his other problems. He needed to get out, get some fresh air. He'd been cooped up in his office for a few days now and it was clouding his thoughts, he knew it was.
The cafe, that's where he'd go. He might even manage to grab a couple of the people he needed to interview. It was worth a try.

❞

{ ooc: sorry if my posts aren't that great atm, i havent roleplayed in a while so i'm getting back into it, they'll improve as i write more i'm sure! :') }

[meadow.]

𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚊 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑
──────────────────────────────────
𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 x𝚜𝚑𝚎/𝚑𝚎𝚛 x𝚜𝚖𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒x 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚍𝚐𝚎


Maggie spent her first few hours out of bed all week on the floor in her room, holding a glass to the wall and listening in on Jackie talking to Anders in the next room. With each passing line of dialogue, she felt the knot that had been sitting in her stomach for the last few days grow tighter.

Her fever broke overnight, and she woke up feeling achy and dehydrated, with her long blonde hair clinging to her forehead and her neck. Even after being up for a few hours, she was shaky and her skin was glossy with sweat.

She put the glass down with a sigh when she heard Jackie leave. The sound of the door closing echoed in Maggie's head for a little while as she sat, dejected in her little white nightgown.

Maggie would be lying if she said she wasn’t scared, but she’d been sick before, and she’d always recovered. She spent most of her childhood sick with something or another, between ear infections, tonsillitis, appendicitis, and the occasional cold or flu. No amount of vaccines or supplements ever seemed to be enough, though they certainly helped. She wasn’t surprised to have been one of the first to come down with this latest virus... If it was just a virus.

A hot shower helped ease her mind and provided some comfort to her aching muscles, and by the time she was dried off and dressed she was ready for something to eat. She had no idea what time it was, though she suspected it was late morning. She was just glad to be feeling well enough to be out of bed. The nausea that came with the fever had finally passed, and she was hoping she could keep some food down for the first time in a few days.

As she made her way downstairs she sent a quick text to Celeste, hoping she was still at the cafe where she’d been camped out more often than not these days.


hi, are u at the cafe? will u bring me back a big iced tea?? i’m finally out of bed & i could rlly use the caffeine ;(((
She made her way downstairs into the center of the lodge, sidling up to Smriti, who was sulking somewhere off to the side, loathing quarantine as much as Maggie was.

“My fever broke last night,” Magnolia croaked, stopping to clear her throat before she continued. “Or early this morning, technically. I’m feeling better now, but I’m scared it’s going to come back.”

She was a few weeks ahead of Rits in terms of the illness, or maybe she was just deteriorating more quickly. Either way, she liked to keep her pack-mate posted on her condition, so hopefully she’d know what to expect in the coming days.

“What did I miss?” She checked her phone for a reply from Celeste, then stuck it back in her pocket. “I’ve been down for the count for, what, three days? Four?” She looked around briefly scanning for Lewis, or August, really any familiar face, then continued in a lower voice, leaning in close so that Rits could hear. “You heard what Jackie and Anders were arguing about earlier, didn't you? Maybe we should lay low for the next few days and try not to be trouble.” Maggie knew that was asking a lot of Rits, though she herself had grown more accustomed to following the rules.

𝙰𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚎
──────────────────────────────────
𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 x𝚑𝚎/𝚑𝚒𝚖 x𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏 𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗x 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏'𝚜


Archer woke up on the wrong side of the bed. A string of paranoid text messages from his mother hadn’t helped, especially given that they’d set his phone off at half-past four in the morning. He hated losing sleep, even if it was only an hour or so.

The general store was quiet for a weekday. The usuals had already come and gone, and now Archer was ticking down the hours until closing time. He had his guitar under the counter, and was eyeing it the way a dog eyes a bone. There wasn’t really any reason why he couldn’t get it out and strum a few chords while he was waiting for a little more activity, but he knew how pretentious it would look if someone walked in and saw him with his guitar on his lap like “anyways, here’s Wonderwall.”

The brunette heaved a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. There was a heaviness in the air, there had been since Ginny was found dead. They said it was an animal attack, but the investigation was ongoing. It was a scary time to be a mortal being, crawling across the surface of the Earth the way a small bug had begun to crawl across the countertop.

Finally, he could take no more. It was creepy in the old building alone, and no one was coming in anyway.

He jumped up from his seat and ran to the door, sticking a note to the front door that read, "out 4 coffee-- brb."

Coffee, however, was not on the cards for Archer. Something was gnawing at him, and he had to get it off his chest. He felt off-balance without his skateboard, which was usually his primary mode of transportation around time, but he popped one of the wheels off skitching and hadn't taken the time to fix it over the past few days. His mind was over-occupied.

Luckily the sheriff's office wasn't far. Nothing was, really, it was just a matter of walking up or down the main street to get most places. It was cooler inside than he'd been expecting--

And all of a sudden he was mere inches from the sheriff, having caught him on his way out of the office. Luckily he looked up just in time to avoid crashing into him head-on. That would have been truly disastrous.

"Beg your pardon," Archer mumbled, stepping out of the way so that the man could pass through the doorway he was currently occupying. "I can see you were just on your way out of the office, sir, but if I could borrow just a moment of your time, I wanted to ask you about Ginny Reed's death. Have you considered that her true killer may have been... extraterrestrial?"

He almost cringed at himself as he heard his own words, but he couldn't just sit by after what he'd seen that night. He always had his eyes turned to the sky, but he rarely really saw the stars. He was always looking at the airspace in between the ground and the sky, scanning for something he still was yet to find. He knew it sounded crazy, and the people in town were probably tired of his wild theories, but if there was even a chance that it could lead to something useful he felt a need to speak his mind.