๐ก Liliana Swann ๐ก
tourist; PI | 28 | location: train โ train station | tags: rike| mentions: matty
Liliana sat next to a window, back firmly pressed against the chair. Though her eyes were trained on the contents of a manila folder, her ears remained open for any sign of danger. One couldn't be too careful in her line of work. Savage animal attacks... could be a black dog. Or even just a human with a pair of wolverine-style gloves. The latter seemed a bit far-fetched. What if it's a -
Her thoughts derailed as the train came to a screeching halt.
Abrupt as it was, only one thing ran through her mind. Not my stop.
She continued pouring over her case files until it became apparent that the train wasn't about to start moving anytime soon. What the hell is going on? A glance up from her papers revealed frightened passengers; some chatting amongst themselves and some frantically searching their maps for answers.
Wait a minute. This isn't on the schedule. There was a voice. Someone saying they should wait. Then another; one of dissent. "My kind of person." More of a mutter to herself than anything, but loud enough to be heard by passers-by. With that said, the scarred woman shoved her case files back into their folder and that into a black duffel bag. The small notebook she carried fit nicely into the pocket of her red-brown leather jacket; an article with pockets sized for men. Women's clothing never had deep enough pockets, in Liliana's opinion.
Not one to leave her meager belongings, she slung the bag over her shoulder and stalked after the young rebel who had departed the train. They have the right idea. Nothing is going to get done if everyone's just sitting around on their asses.
The defiant individual was yelling into an empty town. I take that back. Not my kind of person. Wait... was the town really empty? Liliana swore she could see a figure approaching. She blinked, and it was gone. Huh. That's... weird. Just a trick of the light, or something more? She had learned early on that nothing could be discounted.
The other passenger seemed convinced that the driver was dead. Liliana hadn't the heart nor the motivation to convince them otherwise. Instead, she regarded the signpost with a brow that furrowed further the more she read. Rules? What kind of a town has rules? Some of the rules scrawled across the signpost made little sense. Maybe this town isn't all there. Lethe... she had never heard of it before. A town, that was. The river Lethe of the Greek Underworld was a different story. A river of forgetting... Speaking of that, I should jot down these 'rules' before I forget. Not necessarily to follow, but for future study. If they were going to be stuck in this 'Lethe'; she might as well do what research she could about the place. And if not... well, she was a PI. It was her job to investigate. Even if she was technically on vacation.
โ Amelia Porter โง
resident; librarian | location: Lethe Public Library | tags: open
"You're not supposed to be here."
The old, dirt-covered book stood out amongst the pristine hardbacks that had caught Miss Amelia Porter's discerning eye. That bloody book. The one that could never get clean no matter how much she scrubbed at it's muddy surface. DIG. One word, scratched into the leather cover as if by a fingernail. DIG.
She knew she shouldn't. It wouldn't be wise to. But the book was in control now, and her fingers were fluttering across the dusty pages before she could stop herself. DIG DIG DIG DIG DIG. Page after page of the same blasted word.
Her fingernails itched to have soil beneath them. Her body longed to be encased in earth. She saw herself scrabbling at the wooden floorboards of the library; desperate to get to the rich dirt below. And then -
She snapped the book closed.
"Oh dearie me! It seems I've missed another one."
The many-voiced whispers of DIG echoed in her mind even still. "Into the restricted section you go. Can't have any travellers stumbling upon you now, can we?"
Travellers. That was right. They were coming today. She didn't know how she knew it was today. She just knew. It was one of those things.
The dreams had only grown more intense as of late. The girl stained with shadow. The great beast. The mass of shifting fog in the shape of a person. They were coming. They were here.
It wouldn't pay to have books like DIG out in the open. No no, it wouldn't pay at all.
She shuffled her petite frame into the back of the library, unlocking the small wooden door with the skeleton key that lived in her pocket.
DIG, said the book.
No, she told it sternly.
DIG was placed carefully beside others like it. Others containing things that should not be. The only remainder of its presence; the dust clouding Amelia's pristine white gloves. "Oh, blast it all. Look what you've done! Now I'll have to get them laundered."
The key clicked in the look once more, sealing the damned book in with it. Retracing her steps to the front of the building, she stripped off the filthy gloves and deposited them into a small ziploc. The ziploc was subsequently placed inside a neatly organised drawer. Another pair was quickly acquired; their white lace curled in beautiful floral patterns. "Always grand to have a back-up. Right. Where was I?"
tourist; PI | 28 | location: train โ train station | tags: rike| mentions: matty
Liliana sat next to a window, back firmly pressed against the chair. Though her eyes were trained on the contents of a manila folder, her ears remained open for any sign of danger. One couldn't be too careful in her line of work. Savage animal attacks... could be a black dog. Or even just a human with a pair of wolverine-style gloves. The latter seemed a bit far-fetched. What if it's a -
Her thoughts derailed as the train came to a screeching halt.
Abrupt as it was, only one thing ran through her mind. Not my stop.
She continued pouring over her case files until it became apparent that the train wasn't about to start moving anytime soon. What the hell is going on? A glance up from her papers revealed frightened passengers; some chatting amongst themselves and some frantically searching their maps for answers.
Wait a minute. This isn't on the schedule. There was a voice. Someone saying they should wait. Then another; one of dissent. "My kind of person." More of a mutter to herself than anything, but loud enough to be heard by passers-by. With that said, the scarred woman shoved her case files back into their folder and that into a black duffel bag. The small notebook she carried fit nicely into the pocket of her red-brown leather jacket; an article with pockets sized for men. Women's clothing never had deep enough pockets, in Liliana's opinion.
Not one to leave her meager belongings, she slung the bag over her shoulder and stalked after the young rebel who had departed the train. They have the right idea. Nothing is going to get done if everyone's just sitting around on their asses.
The defiant individual was yelling into an empty town. I take that back. Not my kind of person. Wait... was the town really empty? Liliana swore she could see a figure approaching. She blinked, and it was gone. Huh. That's... weird. Just a trick of the light, or something more? She had learned early on that nothing could be discounted.
The other passenger seemed convinced that the driver was dead. Liliana hadn't the heart nor the motivation to convince them otherwise. Instead, she regarded the signpost with a brow that furrowed further the more she read. Rules? What kind of a town has rules? Some of the rules scrawled across the signpost made little sense. Maybe this town isn't all there. Lethe... she had never heard of it before. A town, that was. The river Lethe of the Greek Underworld was a different story. A river of forgetting... Speaking of that, I should jot down these 'rules' before I forget. Not necessarily to follow, but for future study. If they were going to be stuck in this 'Lethe'; she might as well do what research she could about the place. And if not... well, she was a PI. It was her job to investigate. Even if she was technically on vacation.
โ Amelia Porter โง
resident; librarian | location: Lethe Public Library | tags: open
"You're not supposed to be here."
The old, dirt-covered book stood out amongst the pristine hardbacks that had caught Miss Amelia Porter's discerning eye. That bloody book. The one that could never get clean no matter how much she scrubbed at it's muddy surface. DIG. One word, scratched into the leather cover as if by a fingernail. DIG.
She knew she shouldn't. It wouldn't be wise to. But the book was in control now, and her fingers were fluttering across the dusty pages before she could stop herself. DIG DIG DIG DIG DIG. Page after page of the same blasted word.
Her fingernails itched to have soil beneath them. Her body longed to be encased in earth. She saw herself scrabbling at the wooden floorboards of the library; desperate to get to the rich dirt below. And then -
She snapped the book closed.
"Oh dearie me! It seems I've missed another one."
The many-voiced whispers of DIG echoed in her mind even still. "Into the restricted section you go. Can't have any travellers stumbling upon you now, can we?"
Travellers. That was right. They were coming today. She didn't know how she knew it was today. She just knew. It was one of those things.
The dreams had only grown more intense as of late. The girl stained with shadow. The great beast. The mass of shifting fog in the shape of a person. They were coming. They were here.
It wouldn't pay to have books like DIG out in the open. No no, it wouldn't pay at all.
She shuffled her petite frame into the back of the library, unlocking the small wooden door with the skeleton key that lived in her pocket.
DIG, said the book.
No, she told it sternly.
DIG was placed carefully beside others like it. Others containing things that should not be. The only remainder of its presence; the dust clouding Amelia's pristine white gloves. "Oh, blast it all. Look what you've done! Now I'll have to get them laundered."
The key clicked in the look once more, sealing the damned book in with it. Retracing her steps to the front of the building, she stripped off the filthy gloves and deposited them into a small ziploc. The ziploc was subsequently placed inside a neatly organised drawer. Another pair was quickly acquired; their white lace curled in beautiful floral patterns. "Always grand to have a back-up. Right. Where was I?"