Paradox Chapter One: The More Things Change...

[Girasol of Chaos]

The ugly thing screeched and bared its own fangs. More needles. Had more of her humanity prevailed Bea would have recoiled in horror. The monster struggled and wrapped its arms around her, sinking its teeth into her shoulder. Rift's scream was desperate and she began to thrash, smashing her crest into the offending face and trying to bite its head. Her arms tried feebly to claw at his sides, pinned in place by the hold. Claws on her feet scrambled to dig into his form.

A small drowsiness began to prevail, making her realize that the teeth injected some sleeping agent into her. Panic ensued and now she could only focus on trying to get him to loosen his grip.

[Overcast]

The pain was ripping as the beast tore at Fiend with all its might, and it was making quite a dent on him too. He threw it off to the side and slithered out of the truck trying to get a grip on himself. His eyes and breath were starting to come back again but there was a sure pain running through him like a bad toxin. He grit his teeth and stared over the truck looking for the little cretin.

[Girasol of Chaos]

It released her and ejected her into the air, slamming her into the ground outside of the truck. This time Rift's roll was less graceful, didn't absorb as much pain. Letting forth an angry keen she took her chance to retreat. With a bounce Rift made a mad dash for the stairs, just as the snakelike body of the needle-beast began to pour onto the concrete. Pulling all her energy into the run she reared up and slammed the door open. Evidence be damned, she was going to get out of here alive.

[Overcast]

Fiend screeched at the thing as it ran off and it propelled a mass of needles at it, it gave chase, slithering to the staircase throwing open the door. It looked around for it, but dammit it was quick. He slithered down the stairway looking all over when he spotted it.

Pool of blood.

It wasn't much but he needed to get this damn poison out of his veins, and a good dose of fluids would do his body right. He stuck his fingers into the pool and the whole thing was greedily taken into the syringes. And then he heard a car and was the sound of someone getting out,

"Judy? Judy are you in here?"

Ahh. Mealtime.

[Girasol of Chaos]

As the door slammed behind Rift several clinks were heard, apparently the thing could throw too. Bounding over the pool she sped out the second story door and into the lane. A familiar drone was approaching, a car. Speeding across the walk she ducked between two cars as the small vehicle stopped. Another teenager?

"Judy? Judy are you in here?" Familiarity rang in her ears, and Bea felt a surge of guilt. Turning back she roared, hoping to attract the girl's attention. That serpent had pissed her off enough that she didn't want it eating. So badly did she want to tell the stupid teenager to run. The bellow would have to suffice. Rift took off down the ramp, not wanting to risk more combat.

Drowsiness was slowing her a bit, so she hunkered down between two SUVs between the first and second floors and crouched to recover. It wasn't dark out yet.

[Overcast]

Fiend smiled as he slithered down the stairs until he heard the sound of the monster roaring down below. He sped through the door, it slamming from behind his rough hand. The girl hopped into her car and started driving off. Inside faint screams of Riley scratched at his membrane, Don't let that bitch get away!

Fiend was more than willing to comply.

The syringes from the other hand shot for the tires on the back left on the turn to escape, and the car spun out plowing into a few others. The alarms were starting to get a little overwhelming now, but he didn't care. The girl fell out of the driver's side, barely aware of which way was up, and just asking to get eaten. He slithered her way, it was time to eat.

[Girasol of Chaos]

Ears ringing, Rift knew that the girl's life was over. Hunger awoke again, overriding sympathetic instincts and her will strengthened, shaking off the sleepy haze.

The girl had heard her and started to leave, but in the process of escaping she had somehow smashed into a large amount of vehicles, causing them to erupt in a cacophony of alarms. The damn snake!

Hunger persisted, but she wasn't sure about a second dose of that agent. Rift started towards the pile of cars, hesitated, and turned tail.

I'll find you again, snake. Rift darted down into the first story of the structure. Underneath an obnoxious hummer she hid, waiting once more. Darkness could not fall soon enough.

[Toastburner B]

For the first time in what seemed like days, Detective Nearstaph managed to leave his office.

True, he only got as far as the interrogation rooms, but anything was better than his office.

He was looking on a skinny young man, his hair wet from a recent shower and dressed in ill-fitting, borrowed clothes. Nearstaph looked again at the photos in his hands. Another scene like the ones he had seen far too many times in the last month, with the major exception being the self same young man sitting in front of him. The pictures of the scene showed the young man covered in blood, and unlike the other witnesses that had been found at the scenes of the murders, it wasn’t his blood he was covered in. Tissue from under his finger nails were currently being processed for DNA and blood tests, but it both of those procedures seemed likely to be redundant.

After all, it’s not every day your suspect throws up a bunch of raw meat at the crime scene…and the only source of meat around was the freshly eaten corpse.

“Do you think we’ve got him?” a voice behind him asked.

Paul didn’t bother to turn around to face the police captain. “Man, I hope so.” He muttered. “We have him cold on this case, but we can’t really tie him to the other murders.”

“I don’t think we have a lot of other cannibal murders running around,” the Captain growled.

Nearstaph finally turned around, “For the last four months I’ve eaten, breathed, and slept this case. I can wait a while longer to make sure it’s a slam dunk.”

“You already have an idea, then?”

Nearstaph nodded. “We have a few witnesses from other attacks. Most of them couldn’t remember anything from the attack, but I’m wondering if a line up would jog any memories.”

The captain seemed to consider this for a few seconds. “Do it,” he said finally. “If we can get one of them to remember, we can nail this guy to the wall and get his business over with.”

Nearstaph nodded, and walked back to his office. For the first time in weeks, it seemed a little less restrictive and dark.

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The circus just arrived in town.

It’s wasn’t a very well known circus, or a very popular circus, but the Carnival of Dreams was the only such outfit that would bother coming to Hampington in times such as these.

But on the other hand, dark times make the Carnival’s form of entertainment a bit more accepted. While, of course, the Carnival had the more traditional family fare, they also specialized in a more…taboo form of entertainment:

The freak show.

Oh, no one believed that they were using actual ‘freaks’. However, the Carnival specialized in fantastic costumes and make-up jobs, and the ‘freaks’ were actors of unparalleled skill, how slumped and shuffled and shambled down the street, whipped and prodded along by handlers.

At least, that was the theory.

So, as the Carnival arrived, and in traditional fashion paraded down the street to advertise their show, people came as much to see the freaks as anything else. Your average person doesn’t usually have a chance to see Hollywood style monsters parade down their street.

Of course, if any paradoxes were in the area, they might sense that some of the Hollywood monsters were more “freak” than actor…

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From nearby, someone sensed as much as a saw Rift run from the fight.

The figure had watched most of the scuffle, drawn to it by the sudden appearance of not one, but two supernatural beings in close proximity.

It seemed the boss wasn’t wrong in choosing this place, after all.

The figure waited to see what the outcome would be, confident that he would remain undetected, and equally confident that even if he was discovered, he could take care of himself.

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Isaac’s phone rang unexpectedly. Ashley paused and shot him a half-disgusted look. “I’m taking you on an illict tour of the museum, and you couldn’t even turn off your phone?”

Isaac shrugged, and answered it. “Hello?”

“Mr. Knowlton, this is Detective Nearstaph of the Hampington Police Department. Do you remember me? I was the detective in charge of investigating the incident at the animal shelter.”

“I remember you, Detective,” Isaac said. He noticed Ashley’s eyebrows furrow together when he said the title. “What can I do for you?”

“We may have had a break in the case. We found a suspect at a crime scene that resembled what happened at the animal shelter. We would like you to come in to view a line-up.”

Isaac’s eyes widened. Sorry detective! he sarcastically thought in his mind, you can’t have gotten the right guy, because it’s me! “Sure, detective, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Isaac hung up the phone. “What’s going on?” Ashley asked.

“That was the cop that’s investigating what happened at the animal shelter,” Isaac replied. “He wants me to come by the station. He said they may have found the guy who caused it.”

“Well, that’s good, right?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah, it’s great,” Isaac muttered. “Can you give me a lift to the station?”



((OOC: Okay, everyone who was a “witness” to an attack will get a phone call asking you to come down to the station to view a line-up. Believe it or not, hijinks may ensue.

For non-witnesses, you can view the Carnival of Dreams parade. Several of the performers in that parade will trip your supernatural sense, you might be drawn to it. All I ask is that you don’t attack the circus in the streets, other than that, whatever. As you might suspect, there is a chance of ensuing hijinks.

Overcast and Girasol, you can keep on doing your thing, or go to the parade or whatever. You won’t be able to sense the guy watching you, and you probably don’t want to find him at this point, anyways.))

[Overcast]

Fiend crept toward the girl, teeth bared as he waited. She shuddered as she started getting her bearings back just soon enough to look up and see him. The fear would make it easier, a wealth of adrenaline running through her body as her fight or flight responses kicked into overdrive. She could probably lift a bus right now if she were trapped under one. Of course it didn't really matter.

She wasn't getting out alive.
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Once again Riley found himself next to a dead body in a very compromising situation. The mass of wrecked cars nearby weren't doing him much good, the girl from earlier was frozen in an eternal terror, pale as sin, every drop of fluid in her drained from the holes that dotted her form. He dragged himself up, his concussion throbbing as the final seconds(all of the ones that had involved Rift) had been brutally knocked out of his skull. A massive lump was growing there, and there may have been some wetness in there, but he could have just been paranoid.

He gathered himself and stared at the girl, and dug through her pockets as he was known to do. One hunger had been satiated but he still had many vices to fill if he was going to make it through the day. Money was a must, and he quickly retreated into the daylight. No use getting dragged off to jail if you could avoid it.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

It was time, James decided. Time to leave the apartment and try to figure this whole thing out. For the first time in three days, James Wade saw daylight again. He had originally locked himself away to cope with the horror and disgust he felt at what had happened that night, and to think on how to deal with it, but also to keep himself away from others he might harm if he changed again. But he knew now that wasn't going to work in the long term; the hunger was growing worse.

Whatever this creature was, it needed to feed and the longer James left it, the worse it got. It would only be a matter of time before the hunger overcame what control he had and then the monster would return, angrier than ever at his feeble attempt to deny it sustenance. But now James had a plan, a way to hopefully deal with it and keep everyone safe. He had had three days to think on it after all.

As he walked down the street he saw and heard some sort of commotion in the distance, it sounded like a marching band and a huge crowd had gathered. He paused a moment trying to work out what was going on. Was the circus in town or something? It looked like something of the sort, but something seemed... off, about it. James wasn't sure what it was but he felt strangely worried about it. So too did the monster. The fact that he could sense what it was feeling was even more disconcerting. He decided it would be best to move on, as fast as possible. He had a plan, he needed to carry it out.

Making his way further on away from the carnivale he crossed the street and entered the store. He decided his plan would need a trolley, so he grabbed one and began to push it down an isle, heading for the frozen foods section. He quickly found what he needed; frozen chickens, burgers, boxes of lamb chops, packets of wrapped steaks. Everything a growing abomination needs, he thought sourly before grabbing what he could and throwing as many assorted types of uncooked meat into his trolley. The monster was already salivating.

Satisfied he had enough he moved on to the counter, his monsters hungry whining growing inside him. Need to move quickly, it doesn't want to wait. He grabbed a length of string from a shelf, the final piece on his checklist and quickly began throwing stuff onto the counter for the clerk to scan. His hands were starting to shake, he was sweating again, as if he could already feel the fire of the monster building under his skin. The clerk was giving him funny looks but James barely noticed, he was already fumbling for his wallet, throwing out notes, not caring if they were right or not. Please not now!, he begged, please, anywhere but now, I'm going to feed you soon enough, please just wait!

It couldn't wait. Suddenly James doubled up on the shop floor, his stomach aching with pain as the hunger became too much. He let out a yell of pain and balled up on the floor, trying to contain the agony. "Hey man you ok?", the clerk asked dully from somewhere overhead. Please, god no, you fuck not now! James was screaming inside his head, with pain, with anger, with hunger. He felt sick, as if he hadn't eaten in days and began to dry heave, gasping for breath whenever he could. He felt his skin stretch, bringing with it more pain, now all over his body. Pleeease! One of his hands began to distort, the pigmentation in his skin taking on an orange hue.

NO! NOT NOW! Abruptly, the pain was subsiding, the ache in his stomach dulling down, his body swiftly reverting like nothing had happened. He climbed to his feet, breathing ragged like he'd just been running hard. "You ok man?", the clerk asked again. More people were watching now. James started grabbing his stuff and shoving as much as he could into bags. "Keep the change", he said as he made a hasty exit, leaving his trolley, half his purchases and a shop full of bemused, but very alive people behind.

He had a plan, he needed to see it through.