August + September Catchall

[hearthebell]

Who: L Lawliet and YOU
What: A somewhat late August catchall, focusing on event stuff but can include CR logs and slice of life! When September's event goes up I'll add prompts for the month in order to save a bit of space. Please feel free to hit me up on discord at ladylazarus#2235 or plurk at LexiL if you want to plot, wildcards are welcome!
When: Throughout August and September
Where: Various place throughout trench

Comments

Case: The Homey Casket (Closed to Nico and D)

[hearthebell]

[Sometimes, there’s no money or prestige on the line; something a situation is just strange, to the point where it’s impossible for it to defy notice. The truly curious value all of these situations equally, but give the third a priority if one must be given.

L, being truly curious, is creeping around Crenshaw where he saw a large coffin-like object relocated at the beginning of the month. Now, he happens to have come across it more directly.

He finds, rather quickly, that it is much bigger on the inside.]

[distant_one]

[D doesn't usually spend much time inside the coffin. It's uncomfortable for him in more ways than one, but he does use the house it's sitting inside.

He would have just ignored it as he usually does, but he catches the smell of someone very unfamiliar.

It leads to the coffin, the lid of which is opened. The inside of the coffin is a gothic tower several stories tall. It's always a mild but warm summer day inside and the gardens surrounding the tower are always in bloom.

The only person who sleeps there is Nico, but he's had another guest off and on this month. Other people have been there, but this is the first uninvited guest D has had.]

I apologize for my lateness

[umbraportation]

[ As the one long-term resident, Nico spends a good portion of his day away from the coffin. Whether that time is spent at the Sanctuary or out at the Outpost, he usually returns at dark. Sometimes making a pit stop during the day, but it isn't a scheduled thing.

Today just so happens to be a day when he came home for a meal instead of getting one elsewhere. The place doesn't have a kitchen, but he isn't much of a cook yet. So he picked a room on the bottom floor of the tower to serve as a prep-dining area.

As he cutting the lettuce, Nico senses the aura of an unfamiliar person. He frowns and glances towards the door. Had D invited someone else to stay? ]

I think we've all been a bit slammed lately! <3

[hearthebell]

[The odd hours that L keeps allow for him to often go unnoticed in places where others keep more reliable routines. That's very hit-or-miss, though; occasionally his timing is inept, as are all things that have any element of luck.

Sometimes, routines change. Sometimes luck runs out.

He hears slicing, but not through flesh. At least one other person is here, and the prudent option exists, L thinks, to make a hasty exit. Perhaps it's the void of purpose and the post-case slump after the Emperor's rather public disgrace, but he decides that he will depart once he knows just a little more, and can justify the reason he came here in the first place with that little piece of succor for his curiosity.

Nico will see the crest and flash of a small mirror, near the floor in the corner of the doorway. It's quickly withdrawn, presumably because its holder observed that the doorway is being watched.]

[distant_one]

[D's footsteps are completely and unnaturally silent, and not even the faintest speck of dust is disturbed by his boots or the hem of his coat. The daylight inside is unnatural, but it should still refuse to hide D nearly as well as he conceals himself as he stalks towards the sound of an unfamiliar heartbeat.

But he doesn't reveal himself right away, instead watching the watcher and waiting to see if he's been noticed or if their intruder is more interested in spying on Nico- who is making lunch from the sound and smell of things.]

[umbraportation]

[ An eyebrow raises at the sight of a mirror appearing and disappearing. He doesn't hear anyone leaving, and no one who has ever been invited to the tower has felt the need to check around corners. So probably a stranger then.

They should maybe get a lock on the coffin door. ]

If you're expecting Medusa to be in here waiting to turn you to stone, you'll be disappointed. Just a guy making lunch, nothing weird about that.

[ Even if said guy is wearing all black and looks pale enough to be a vampire. Nico isn't going to play a game of hide-and-seek with this person. ]

[hearthebell]

[L believes that his stillness is more of a boon that it is, truly. Humans tend to overestimate their abilities, that way, believing that their motionless silence would be undetectable.

Their mistake is that it would perhaps be undetectable, but only to other humans.

L doesn't immediately notice D. He's observant, for a human, but he's still only human. Nico, contrarily, addresses him directly, and half of a pale face framed in dark hair peers around the corner.

The similarities in their appearances are somewhat striking; while not identical, L could at least be Nico's older cousin, down to the somewhat haunted expression.]

I'd contest that there's "nothing weird." You're inside of a coffin, after all.