Cartomancy

[cartomancy] Jess Rules:

Pft. You totally already know, but I'ma repeat for the record.

1. Trust.
2. Fun.
3. Not gonna do things regular-like. If you don't think you can handle going outside've the rules-lines a little? It's okay, I'm not offended, but you might wanna step back, because by posting in this scene you accept my decisions.
4. Remember Trust? Is good for all. Fosters relationships. Makes the world shine.

First post is coming.

[cartomancy] Best Buy.

Ah, Best Buy. That fortress of the digital age. That metropolis of megabytes [please, fool (old school, last year, yester-day)]. The center point at which all things that are hot, that are sleek, that are more-than-just-a-Mac are gathered up and offered in boxes, on shelves that don't quite gleam, purveyed by men and women in shirts the friendly blue of that Lego most-favored for chewing, back in the day. Best Buy: where people come, bringing their broken communication-centers, hoping that with a few taps of a keyboard, they'll be fixed, and when they're fixed, it'll all be okay [and maybe it won't cost anything (the warranty wasn't up, sir, i could've sworn)].

This is where Charles Carmichael [assuming that's his identity (for now)] is to be found. Earning a living wage

from the man.

He's on break. The Geek Squad car is parked in the lot next to another Geek Squad car. He's in the breakroom. Doing whatever it is Chuck Charmichael does when he's in the breakroom. And then -
to Carmichael

[Carmichael] [Per + Aware]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
to cartomancy

[Carmichael] [Per + Aware reroll!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Failure at target 8)
to cartomancy

[cartomancy]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
to Carmichael

[Nathan Spriggs] [Tempting fate is what I do]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9) [WP]

[Carmichael] Best Buy.

It's a mecca, really, a holy land - not that Chuck can't and hasn't built things that outstrip anything here, but there are the video games. And the music. And the movies. And . . . well. Basically, Best Buy is Chuck's mother ship. Things are clean. Things are - at least at the beginning of any given day - well organized. Things are shiny and new, and the very air breathes progress, whispers new.

He's on break, though, which means he's sprawled back in a chair under horrid fluorescent lighting, toying with a Rubick's cube - kicking it old school, today. His laptop bag is next to him, at his feet, but untouched for the moment as he arranges the colors perfectly in record time, then comprehensively destroys said pattern to do so again.

Ah, Best Buy.
to cartomancy

[cartomancy] They've got walky talkies at Best Buy. Headsets, too. Their overhead system is shit. Ironic, huh? But that's what it is: pure fucking shit. Listening to the overhead system is like listening to another language; it takes a certain number of weeks before the Best Buy employee is acclimated to what passes for English, coming out've those speakers. And what's coming out of those speakers is this: Code Adam. Code Adam. Code Adam.

And what's coming over the walky talkies and the headsets is this: red tennis shoes with sparkly laces. A little over three feet. Eight years old. Gray eyes, red hair.

There is some Thing off-kilter, some Thing a-foot. He 'hears' it: it resonates in his bones like an E minor chord.
to Carmichael

[Carmichael] Code Adam comes over the PA and there's that feeling, and Chuck is pulling out a certain Blackberry with the general smoothness of someone who has gone exactly this, a great many times. A few keys are pressed, a program pulled up [There's an app for that!], and Chuck is expanding, moving, growing, progressing where he sits.

He 'hears' something - something musical but off, and E minor is never the most pleasant of chords, he knows, though Bmin/E is worse.

[Scans - Corr, Mind, Entropy, Spirit, Prime, coincidental, -1 focus, -1 taking time]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 3) [WP]
to cartomancy

[cartomancy] [BWAHAHAHA WE ARE IN PMs.]

[O.O] *kicks rocks*

[cartomancy] He's not supposed to just sit there during a Code Adam. He's not supposed to just sit there like he's some kind of newb, some kind of guy who's never been

He isn't supposed to just sit there during a Code Adam. He isn't supposed to just sit there like he's some kind of newb, some kind of guy who's never, ever even once been around for one of those Code Adam drills. He's definitely not supposed to play with his fucking Blackberry. But: that's what Chuck does, and as he's alone in the breakroom, there's noone to give him a look, and it's not likely anybody's going to come by and give him a look. Not until the kid's been found. Employees are, right now: spreading out, looking, manning the doors, and the manager is standing with the parent by the front door, and they're not letting anybody leave with kids until they've ascertained that the kid who is leaving isn't the kid they're looking for.

But Chuck: he's not just sitting there. He's expanding. He's growth [industry, baby]. He's progress: he's connected, yo. And he's looking for connections. Does he find them?

He does. He finds this: a loose knot [music (humming)] becoming tighter, tighter, more-and-more-compacted, squeezing close, condensing, and just like the first stars, when it condenses, it gains weight, it gains strength, in five different places in Best Buy. The corner, in the television room. The counters, by the registers: the return-counter, the one noone likes to stay by. The dvd-racks. The emergency exit. Two knots of that chord at the emergency exit. They're magick: it's potential. It's Time, and Entropy, and it's Unravelling.

Kids, though? There might've been a kid's mind somewhere in that mess. Might've? There is.

And over the walky talky - 'Uh. Wait. Also ... white sneakers, dirty. Black kid. Cornrows. Green eyes.'
to Carmichael

[cartomancy] Best Buy. That's where Wharil Choc is, or is going. Best Buy, where all manner of supplies can be found.

The front door to Best Buy a maze in and of itself. It isn't meant to clarify: it's meant to confuse. There are two employees there to check people's bags as they leave. They don't usually do a very thorough job. There is a foyer, and it's in this foyer, where the carpet is as gray as a gravestone, that Chuck's manager is standing, a woman with narrow hips, no-nonsense eyes the color of dark wine and short straw-coloured hair, and next to Chuck's manager there is a growing collection of people. A dark-skinned woman with brown-eyes, a blue teeshirt, large breasts, larger hips, tension radiating off her so sharply that it's difficult to breathe near her.

A very, very tall man with a stoop, fuzz on his chin, mellow, sleepless-day eyes, strawberry coloured thinning hair, and he's looking at worriedly at anybody who approaches the front doors to leave, looks like he's going to jerk toward them, jump toward them, each time, especially, especially if there's a kid. And then there's a teenage boy, very All-American, brown-hair, brown-eyes, average, a tattoo hidden cunningly underneath his teeshirt that hopefully noone will ever, ever have to know about, and he's not blinking a lot. He's on his way to a full-out panic.

Again, across the overhead system - Code Adam.
And across the walky talkies - I think I found one.

[Wharil Choc] [Perc (Hidden things) + Alertness (emotions) , diff 8]

[Wharil Choc] [Once more, with DICE!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8)

[Wharil Choc] [Perc+Alert, diff 6]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Wharil Choc] [Rerolling that ten]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Failure at target 8)

[Wharil Choc] Most people understood what an interview involved. Most people simply sat back and watched you while you arranged your things on whatever surface was available. Your journal. Your bottle of water. Your recorder.

"What's that?"
"Its my recorder."
"I don't like it."
"Its okay. It'll just sit there and record everything we say--"
"Spying!"
"No, no. Just...so I have something to come back to."
"Why don't you write it down?"
"I try to, but this catches what I miss."
"I don't like it."
"Yes. Well..."
"Get rid of it."
"We could just--"
"Get rid of it, or I will!"
"Well--Senator? Senator, please be careful with that--"
"I said get rid of it!"
"No-No! DON'T!"

And thus, Wharil Choc found himself in a Best Buy, ready to go straight to the electronics when...

What is that? What's that sensation? That tension? Something...something not quite right here. He doesn't freeze, but he slows, taking a moment by the doors to cast nervous eyes around the place, taking in the people he saw. Something amiss here. And it felt like something...Old.

[Carmichael] There are connections - lost is found, and information is Chuck's playground. That's all anything is, isn't it? It's all information, all bits and bytes, all flying about to be caught and read by anyone with the patience and ability to crack the code . . . and Chuck has both. It's handy, really.

There's a Code Adam, which means some poor parent is standing by the front door freaking out about their kid - no, sorry, kids - and now, Chuck gets up from his seat, sticks his blackberry in one pocket, his rubick's cube in his laptop bag, and slings said bag under his shoulder. It's casual, but not slow, his gait - and look, Geek Squad's up in this joint, making a circuit and stopping at particular points of interest.

The television room.
The counters by the registers - return, and general customer service.
The DVD racks.
The emergency exit.

Something's humming-unravelling, something's coming undone, and it's the emergency exit knots that draw his attention most - because there are two, there.

Two kids missing. Two knots. Possibly unrelated, but still.
Hmm.

[Wharil Choc]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1

[Wharil Choc] [Perc+Alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1

[cartomancy] He. He: Chuck. He comes out of Best Buy's breakroom. He sees one of the younger employees, a girl named Shandra, pronounced like Sh-On-with-a-hoighty-toighty-British-accent-DRUH-like-DRUTHERS, seventeen year olds, not able to work late, not legal for her to work that late, not legal for a lot of things, give Chuck a look and say: "This is weird. You think we should, like, check up the ladders or something?" After he answers, whether it's affirmative or not, she's beating tracks toward electronics.

And Chuck: well. Chuck is going toward the Emergency Exit. There's more than one Emergency Exit, but the one he's honing in on is in the left (sinister) corner of the Best Buy, and secluded. He hears people before he even gets there. A co-worker, Seth, saying:

"Listen, kids."
- unintelligible. Another language.
"Kids, just stop."
- unintelligible. Another language.
"Your parents are coming. I think."
- unintelligible. Another language.
"Please stop - " desperation. His voice is high: pulls like a piece of string, fraying.

Then Seth isn't talking at all. When Chuck arrives, Seth looks worried: very. And there are two children, crouched over the ground like they're going to be playing in the dirt, like they're little frogs, and they're speaking. Saying something: over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over and

Meanwhile, Wharil Choc is at the doors, regarding the situation, taking it in. Taking a lot more than just it in: He spies the kid behind the register, the kid who's tucked up, staring with the same sort've eyes one sees in kids who live in places where life isn't really guaranteed, with the bags, holding a scanner. It's no wonder that the adults at the doors don't notice the kid.

The kid: whose eyes fix on Wharil's.

He is mouthing something: over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over

[Carmichael] [Wits + Linguistics]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 4, 6 (Failure at target 9)

[Carmichael] [Wits + Enigmas]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 5, 9 (Failure at target 9)

[cartomancy] [NPC Mojo on Chuck?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[cartomancy] [NPC +2 Mojo on Chuck?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wharil Choc] [Int+Linguistics]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 9)

[Carmichael] [wp!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 5, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Carmichael] "Go on, Seth, Roger's looking for you," he says - no point in keeping names secret when they all have badges. And then, Chuck's casually almost-tripping over one of the kids, being a distraction, being the lovable class clown that all the Best Buy employess know by now. It's Chuck! Chuck is sweet, Chuck is non-threatening. Chuck is of the perpetual friend zone, with everyone. It's almost impossible not to like a guy like Chuck.

He is, of course, using this opportunity to get a look at what they're doing, and to try to get a handle on why.

[cartomancy] "I, uh - they won't stop, Chuck," Seth says. "They just won't stop. I - it's getting into my head, man, it's getting into my head," and he puts his palms against his temples, squeezes inward.

It's getting into Chuck's head, too. Or it wants to get into his head. He casually almost trips over one of the kids and they don't even blink. Literally: they do not blink. They do not appear to notice him. There is absolutely no sign that he even arrived: not as far as they're concerned. And they're still speaking, saying a few words over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and

They're getting into Chuck's head, too. Rather: It is getting into Chuck's head. The music: he can hear it, but louder; like it's trying to swell inside his head, dazzle-him-white. He doesn't let it: it recedes. Still, the pull was strong.

The kids are drawing on the floor. They're using their fingers. Their fingers are getting redder and redder.

[Carmichael] [countermagic! vulgar, witness, -1 focus, -1 quint]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 4 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]

[Carmichael] [roll 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Wharil Choc] "Oho!" He says, and makes the last 'O' linger in the shape of his lips. So...here was something oddly familiar. And for the first time, here was the true meaning of that phrase. Absolutely odd. Absolutely out of place. And yet...familiar.

And here was a ruddy young man that barely anybody could accurately place (Asian? No, no. East Indian, maybe? No? West Indian then? Hispanic, Definitely. Cherokee! No? Really?) speaking a language that no one spoke anymore, if you asked certain National Geographic enthusiasts. Of course, no one spoke the form the boy in front of him spoke anymore. That, more than its mere presence, is what has Wharil so suddenly enthused.

If he had his voice recorder he could keep this conversation as evidence. No one would believe it otherwise.

Alas he doesn't, and so there's no one who will later hear the way he speaks comfortably in the fast paced language. Words that sound like tumbling rocks. Like wind through grass and snapping sticks. Words directed at the boy who was looking at him, but not seeing him.

[cartomancy] Wharil comes in close. Close enough to touch. Close enough to be touched. The kid hiding in the register doesn't draw back. Doesn't flinch. Doesn't flicker. Not even a gleam of presence in his eyes to show that Wharil Choc is there, and close, and speaking to him; speaking in a language that most people don't know any more, speaking in a language [from what region, Wharil Choc? What branch?] that is the descendent of the language the kid is speaking [for now]. The kid reaches out to touch Wharil's face. To touch his nose. To trace his features like the kid himself is blind. The kid's fingers are so cold they feel wet [nightsky], but they aren't. The kid doesn't stop talking, either. Doesn't even change rhythm: keeps that, too, although the close listener -- or Wharil Choc -- would hear new sounds, new words, maybe.

[Carmichael] Seth doesn't do what Chuck's said. He doesn't listen, maybe can't if that swelling crash-boom-white of music in his own head is any indication. And so, Chuck tries to do what any Fixer of [Programs(Objects)Problems] Things might, and tries to fix it. He targets it well enough, but after that, it simply fizzles, drifts away on a crescendo, on an Emin chord.

Damn kids. Always messing up the store. They're cute, until they do something stupid.
(Hey, you, get offa my lawn!)

What he tries? It fails. So it's the next best thing, and to hell with the rules - he scoops a kid up under each arm, unceremoniously.

[Carmichael] [Str + Ath (I CAN DOOOO EEEET)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[cartomancy] Alas, poor Charles Carmichael. He is not going to impress the ladies with his muscles today. He scoops a kid up under each arm -- or tries, anwyay. They're heavy things, kids. They're dead weight. He's gotta put more back into it then that.

They still don't stop doing what it is they're doing: murmuring to themselves in unison. Perfectly balanced.

[Wharil Choc] "Aha." He says, and even though it matches the language and dialect he'd been previously speaking, there's a more modern, cynical sound to it. 'Aha' as if to mean '...Riiiiight.'

And here he was with some weird kid touching his face. With cold, creepy hands.

Alright. Nothing on the surface so far. Lets look a little deeper, shall we?

The Albireo teach very little. They look among the body of the tradition, the regular up and comers, for those who already embody the Albireo ideal. When the arm of the Vrati told Wharil that they were interested, they didn't say 'here are things you should learn how to do.' Instead, they said 'Do the things that you already do, and get better at them.'

They didn't teach Wharil search into minds, into bodies, into souls, and to look for corruption there. But they sure do like that he knows how. And so, its with a smudge of ash from his medicine pouch to the kid's forehead, with one hand reaching for a knife at his ankle, and with his lips whispering, not quietly, a chant in a similar language that the kid was speaking, that he begins to do just that.

[Wharil Choc] [Checking for Corruption of the Mind: Mind 2 (for deeper checks) Entropy 1 - Coincidental Effect, Diff 2+3,-1 for Foci, -1 for Practiced Rote]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 10 (Success x 1 at target 3)

[Wharil Choc] [Searching Corruption of the Body: Diff 1+3-1]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 6 (Success x 1 at target 3)

[Wharil Choc] [Searching Corruption of the Spirit]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 3)

[cartomancy] [NPC Doom Kid Mojo: on Wharil?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Carmichael] [Let's try this again, shall we?]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]

[Wharil Choc] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[cartomancy] [Doom NPC +1: Bite Chuck. Brawl + Dex]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wharil Choc] [Int+Occult]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[cartomancy] [Doom NPC +2: Bite Chuck. Brawl + Dex.]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Carmichael] [Not getting bitten by rabid little beasts is made of win. (Dex + um . . . dodge?)]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Carmichael] There's picking up, with much struggle . . . and then the little shits try to bite him. He escapes teeth, just barely! And shufflejuggles, trying to keep hold . . . for a moment, before letting them fall - it's not far, unlikely to hurt, and might distract. Then, look, a Blackberry! It's good for everything. Like setting off fire alarms and disrupting the harmonics.

[cartomancy] Seth - "Jesus, Chuck. What the fuck. Two little kids just ninjaed you. Do you think they're having a seizure?"

[Wharil Choc] When he pulls back his jaws are set. No longer curious. Well, that's a lie. He was certainly curious, but no longer willing to engage his own curiosity. He stops touching at the knife at his ankle. He wipes the ash off the kid's brow. (A boy? A girl? Neither?) He takes a moment to stare straight into the child's face.

And a moment later he's wrapping his arms around him, preparing to pick him up. Now...where were those others that he felt?

[cartomancy] The kid (boy? [nothing]) looks at Wharil blankly. There's still no change. Not to his expression. When Wharil takes the kid by the hand, though: the kid is taken. No will of his own: puppet. Unfolds from beneath the register. Not too far away, parents are still looking for him (and others). Looks at Wharil still. Has not stopped speaking. Rhythm has not changed.

But he gets louder. Louder, and louder, and louder, and the manager is looking over. Sees Wharil, but he doesn't stick in the mind. Sees the kid, and the kid sticks in mind. The kid, with shoes that have been reported as belonging to one of the missing kids. The manager keeps an eye on both Wharil and the kid.

[cartomancy] - and the fire alarm goes off -

screams. Best Buy has a decent fire alarm system; far better than the overhead. The sound of it is like nails: driven in to the brain. The manager freezes, taking a step toward Wharil, toward the boy. The boy's voice is drowned out by the sound of it.

[cartomancy] The two children fall bonelessly to the ground. They don't look as if they meant to bite Chuck, but he knows how quick they were: like fast zombies. Except: no. Not something to joke about in Chicago. Not the way things are going. Not with how frequent zombies, cropping up here, there, like weeds, an occurence zombies are becoming. They don't stop murmuring, though they pick themselves up off the ground, and hold hands, then look at Chuck.

Seth says - "Chuck. What the fuck are we supposed to do? Leave? I'll get one. Can you take the other?"

Customers all over the store are pausing, stopping. They're not yet making their way to any of the exits. After all, there's no fire. They want their DVDs. Lost is on sale.

[Wharil Choc] Wharil's eyes widen as he listens to the babbling boy. Brows doing a jittering dance between confusion and recognition. He looks up one second, looking toward the Manager who seems to be paying some attention to him. No, not to him. To the now shouting child. He flinches slightly as the fire alarm suddenly sounds. And then? The manager approaches.

Great, Wharil. Now you look like a kidnapper.

His eyes close again. And again, his lips move. Its not loud this time. It doesn't need to be. He's the only one who needs to hear it, and he does. In his chest. And through the vibration in his chest into his soul. And through the vibration of his soul, into the room. A nervous, jittery vibration. Fire alarm. Danger. Get out, he tells the room. Must get out. Must get out!

[Wharil Choc] [Mind 2: Diff 2+3-1(focus)-1(Resonance)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 3)

[Carmichael] "Follow procedure, and yes, you take one. I'll take the other. Stay away from other kids, yeah? These little guys need a time out."

And Chuck needs to figure something out. Needs to know, because without knowledge and learning, there's no progress, no security, and Chuck needs both. Chuck is both. The fire alarm is going off and it's like needles to the brain, but Chuck is focused. He's cutting through the bullshit, or trying to, to get to the meat of it.

[First! Per + Aware, with diff not changed but . . . whatever Jess says it is.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Carmichael] [Next! Per + Alert, same caveat!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Carmichael] [And last, Wits + Enigmas for good measure. Intuitive specialty! See previous caveat.]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[cartomancy] This time, Chuck can feel -- not just the solidified knot of E minor, growing in strength toward the front of the store, coming closer, closer to conflageration, but also -- Wharil Choc. The nervous, jittery feeling: something just before a storm. The man, Working.

"Which procedure?" says Seth as he, reluctantly, goes to scoop up the boy. The boy bites him; he yells. The boy bites him and: just fastens on like a bullhound. This does not stop the boy from murmuring, murmuring, from trying to speak. The girl falters, though, for a second. And when she falters -

The lights flicker. She does not try to bite Chuck again if he tries to pick her up.

[cartomancy] Best Buy is very, very large. The manager, the teenager, the woman with large hips, the man with a scruffy goatee: three and one worried people, people worried for children who've wandered off, or who are being stolen away, taken away by a nondescript guy who is ethnic [racism. it exists.] and looks like he's nervous, or at least exudes that feeling, and okay, we're getting specific here, but the manager spotted Wharil after all, and was taking a step over. Then: bam.

Wharil's will is potent, and anxiety, already present, fans into flames: the manager, the teenager, woman, goatee-guy. The fire alarm keeps going, and the woman rushes out, then the manager, opening the door, yelling at a security guard, then the guy with a goatee. The teenager, though: he takes a step further in, says, "But Hallie's still - "

"Probably outside. Probably a trick. Fuck, or maybe the place is on fire."

"Then shouldn't we - "

The argument is occupying his attention. Employees, without instructions, have begun to push the customers out. Toward the doors. They keep a couple people at the emergency exits.

Chuck has two children with him. Wharil has one. There are two more children in Best Buy who aren't moving, who aren't moved, by the fire alarm. The lights flicker, again. Like they're batting their eyelashes.

[Carmichael] "Village of the fucking Damned," Chuck mutters. "Damn zombies."

And that's before the little shit bites Seth. Which gets a startled yelp from Chuck, with his vague near-phobia of blood and spit and anything else that comes out of a person when it isn't supposed to, where it isn't supposed to. He doesn't pick up the girl again. What he does? Direct. To the point. Blackberry! Play your sleepy-time tone.

Up comes the app.
Phone? To kid's ear.

Sleep, sweet child, sleep. Calm, and rest.

[Mind 1, coincidental, -1 focus, maaaaaaaaybe -1 resonance. Setting diff at 4 and trusting ST's judgement! Also, this leaves Chuck with 3WP, for personal reference.]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 4) [WP]

[Wharil Choc] Someone...someone might still see them. Someone was still looking for them. But this...this was better than nothing. This meant he could move, maybe. This meant he could take this one, and find the others. The other four, he was willing to guess.

"Right. Right." He says, still watching the ones lingering at the door. And with the child's hand in his, he says the word for 'Desolation' again. And he tries his luck, moving from behind the register with the child's hand in his, and heading back toward where he felt the others.

[cartomancy] The child sleeps. He can't doubt that: it works. Chuck feels that it works. The child's body, the girl's body: it un-strings itself, untethers. This does not stop her from standing up, from looking at him with those blank, blank eyes, from trying to speak. But the rhythm is broken now: skips, stutters -- and where the rhythm breaks, and the lights flicker; that's where her eyes droop. To Chuck, it might look as if she just stares, in spite of his best attempt. She reaches out for him. Her hands are small. Her movements, though: they're slow.

The boy with Wharil: he swallows. His throat hurts. This doesn't mean he's stopping, though: he's still chanting, he won't stop, but he's becoming harder for Wharil to understand, he's slipping out of the language Wharil is familiar with, into another, and the words get all mixed up, all tangled, until the Mayan Wharil hears is almost nonsense. The boy's squeezes Wharil's hand.

There's a rhythm there, too. If Wharil knows morse code.

And Wharil -- he's going directly into Best Buy, and people are avoiding him. People see him, and they nervously head toward the doors. So is Wharil, really: he's heading toward the Emergency Exit. He's almost there when he feels some of that off-kilter wrongness, some of that E-minor, very, very near, burning more brightly, growing stronger, loud enough to rattle his teeth.

Lights out.
- They shut off.

[Wharil Choc] "Shhhhit!" He hisses as the lights suddenly fail. He stops in his tracks, knowing better than to wander around in the dark.

"CHARMICHAEL!" he shouts out, hoping that he's louder than the alarm. "YOU STILL BACK THERE? THIS WAY! TO ME!"

He tries to sound strong. He tries to sound steady and in control. In reality, he's still a bit confused. His heart is beginning to race. He's sweating. And this odd child is still squeezing away at his hand.

"Ohhh...christ..."

[cartomancy] The alarm is still going. The boy turns his head. No: whatever it is, occupying the boy -- that's what turns his head. There is a child: dim shape behind him. The boy who is holding Wharil's hand. The boy, Wharil's hand is holding. Coming closer, blazing; so loud, the sound, that it really does hurt his teeth, that it almost drowns out his own resonance: The boy screams something, screams something, and the child behind the boy is screaming something, and the boy who bit Seth Chuck's co-worker screams, too, and the girl Chuck doesn't want to touch, wants to send asleep, she also screams, and screams, and it's a word, but it's not in a language either of them knows. The word: it dazzles, it is radiance, but urgent, want-to-say-something, listen-up: it touches their eyes and makes them See things in water (or will), and then, then: gone. Snuffed out. The boy blinks his eyes, looks at Wharil, says: "Uh, HEY." Snatches his hand back and look at Wharil like he's a molestor. The boy who bit Seth starts to cry. The other child -- somewhere, somewhere by the television -- wanders toward the DVDs, wondering vaguely where everybody went.

The lights come back on. The people from without: they flood back inside. The police are here.

So is the fire department.

[Wharil Choc] Wharil only barely looks confused at all this. But power like that. Anything like that, anything so old...couldn't stay here very long. It was gone now. He could accept that. He could also accept a child just waking up from a dream and finding himself being led by a stranger.

"Uhh...shit..."

It was officially time to leave. There was an emergency exit back here, right?

[cartomancy] [Roll Credits]

[Wharil Choc] [Int+Investigation]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)