The man began by rolling his eyes, and if it weren’t for the fact that Drysi was young he probably would have stepped back and shut the door in her face. Instead he sighed and listened to the introduction, but once she leveraged a question at him he seemed to chew on the question long enough to suggest he was actually considering his response. His eyes darted briefly to the side in the direction of the first house Drysi had visited, but then just as quickly came back to regard the solicitor. The concern seemed to get buried as he went back to scowling. With a dismissive hand he waved the question off like a bad smell.
“Jus’ some lads doin’ wha’ lads do,” the man stated simply, not denying the harassment.
[The Keep] Walking to Skye
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
"So you're just fine with that."
The smell had crossed psychological borders, as Drysi's face wrinkled in disgust. She was trying to be good, but her choler was starting to rise and it was causing her business mask to break. It took a lot of restraint to remind herself that this wasn't personal, she was there to garner information.
"Okay."
She needed to bail. It was apparent she was uncomfortable about what he had admitted, but the truth was that it she was struggling to center herself. Going off on a stranger wasn't going to help her.
"Thank you for your time."
Drysi thought she handled that well and gracefully. In reality, she backed away from the man as if he were a vampire, and turned to walk away without another word.
The smell had crossed psychological borders, as Drysi's face wrinkled in disgust. She was trying to be good, but her choler was starting to rise and it was causing her business mask to break. It took a lot of restraint to remind herself that this wasn't personal, she was there to garner information.
"Okay."
She needed to bail. It was apparent she was uncomfortable about what he had admitted, but the truth was that it she was struggling to center herself. Going off on a stranger wasn't going to help her.
"Thank you for your time."
Drysi thought she handled that well and gracefully. In reality, she backed away from the man as if he were a vampire, and turned to walk away without another word.
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
With a distinct look of confusion, the man shrugged as Drysi walked back down the drive, but relieved he wasn’t about to be sold insurance he closed the door and went back about his business. For Drysi, the third house she made her way to was the last one on the row, and easily the nicest of the homes she had visited. Its yard was a bit chaotic, but in a lived in way. Clearly the house was a home, and the array of children’s toys suggested it saw plenty of joy. Picking her way through the scattered items to the door. A few knocks later and a cordial woman’s voice sounded from inside announcing she was on her way. A short time later the door swung open a small distance as the woman seemed to be keeping some manner of small entity from rushing through the now open door. With a wee baby held to her shoulder she greeted Drysi with a warm smile while a few other kids could be heard just inside.
“Well, afternoon dear. What can I help you with?”
“Well, afternoon dear. What can I help you with?”
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
"Darn," Gideon spoke finally as Drysi made it back down to the street, "I thought he was going to at least try to correct your estimation there."
The apprentice stopped at the sidewalk, and threw a confused look down at her shirt.
"What?"
"Don't worry about it."
Satisfied with that, Drysi made her way back up another lane, still feeling pretty confident despite effectively running off on the last go around. She padded by the evidence of a bustling family with children. This was going to be a different challenge entirely. Her gram despised children, always convincing Drysi that she was the exception because she wasn't like the others. It was pretty apparent what Bleddyn had meant now, but back then Drysi thought it was special to be unlike other kids.
As she heard a voice on the other end of the door, she began to brace herself. No disgust, distaste, or frustration. She was going to be the pinnacle of professionalism, no matter how many of the little goblins there were. Agh, was that her gram, or herself? No time, just keep it flat.
The door opened, and Drysi put a hand over her mouth as she reflexively squealed.
"Oh! Look at the dwty little babe!" exclaimed Drysi, nearly forgetting herself, "Sorry. They're just precious."
Drysi, now a little more practiced, went through her spiel again, trying to be a little more abridged. It didn't really occur to her that a security angle might appeal more to a family with a lot of warmth to lose, she was just distracted by the small bundle of life on the woman's shoulder.
"... and, it's Mr. Vandermoor's chief concern to know what folks in Timiduane are concerned about regarding the safety of their homes and families," Drysi wiggled, wanting to hold the baby, but Gideon kept her focused.
"For example, the home up tha' road there. The poor lass seems to have a lot of vandalism done to her property," the subject was brought up carefully, as Drysi actually wanted to walk away with something actionable, "it seems awful targeted, and it points to a defiency in the local police. There a reason nothin's been done about it?"
The apprentice stopped at the sidewalk, and threw a confused look down at her shirt.
"What?"
"Don't worry about it."
Satisfied with that, Drysi made her way back up another lane, still feeling pretty confident despite effectively running off on the last go around. She padded by the evidence of a bustling family with children. This was going to be a different challenge entirely. Her gram despised children, always convincing Drysi that she was the exception because she wasn't like the others. It was pretty apparent what Bleddyn had meant now, but back then Drysi thought it was special to be unlike other kids.
As she heard a voice on the other end of the door, she began to brace herself. No disgust, distaste, or frustration. She was going to be the pinnacle of professionalism, no matter how many of the little goblins there were. Agh, was that her gram, or herself? No time, just keep it flat.
The door opened, and Drysi put a hand over her mouth as she reflexively squealed.
"Oh! Look at the dwty little babe!" exclaimed Drysi, nearly forgetting herself, "Sorry. They're just precious."
Drysi, now a little more practiced, went through her spiel again, trying to be a little more abridged. It didn't really occur to her that a security angle might appeal more to a family with a lot of warmth to lose, she was just distracted by the small bundle of life on the woman's shoulder.
"... and, it's Mr. Vandermoor's chief concern to know what folks in Timiduane are concerned about regarding the safety of their homes and families," Drysi wiggled, wanting to hold the baby, but Gideon kept her focused.
"For example, the home up tha' road there. The poor lass seems to have a lot of vandalism done to her property," the subject was brought up carefully, as Drysi actually wanted to walk away with something actionable, "it seems awful targeted, and it points to a defiency in the local police. There a reason nothin's been done about it?"
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
The look on the woman’s face suggested she was not surprised when Drysi asked about the other house. As she bounced the baby lightly upon her shoulder she looked about to answer when something hit her from behind making her knee buckle briefly. Flipping a switch she covered the baby’s ears before turning her head inside and shouting at the kids inside in native Irish. Switch flipping off, she turned back to Drysi as though nothing had happened, and after taking a moment to remember what she was saying continued.
“Ah, yes. Hariette’s place. Poor lass. Nothing against the woman meself, but she went and became a bit’o’a pariah here in town. Think it was a month ‘r two ago now; she had rushed back into town one rainy eve shoutin’ somethin’ ‘bout monsters out in O’Keegan’s field,” as she spoke, the woman pointed out towards a rolling hill past the edge of the village. “The gossip spread through town pretty quick. As for the police, it is the usual statements of until we see it happen we can’t do anything and the like. Monsters is a tad looney, but I do feel for the treatment she’s received.”
“Ah, yes. Hariette’s place. Poor lass. Nothing against the woman meself, but she went and became a bit’o’a pariah here in town. Think it was a month ‘r two ago now; she had rushed back into town one rainy eve shoutin’ somethin’ ‘bout monsters out in O’Keegan’s field,” as she spoke, the woman pointed out towards a rolling hill past the edge of the village. “The gossip spread through town pretty quick. As for the police, it is the usual statements of until we see it happen we can’t do anything and the like. Monsters is a tad looney, but I do feel for the treatment she’s received.”
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
"Monsters," came a high-pitched response from Drysi through tightly pursed lips, "that is batty."
It took every fiber in every muscle in her body to not just suddenly jump at the sudden ellicitation of usable information. Her notebook emerged from her bag, and she began to write something down, trying to distract herself, before finally getting it together to offer a steady response.
"Well," was all she said, swaying to one side and another, as if that were sufficient.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Ought to report that to my boss," Drysi nodded, her mane of gold bobbing with her assuredness, "now that I think of it. 'Bout 78% of all monster sightin's are often encounters with dangerous wildlife. Brennan Security has a wildlife response team that ought'r look into that once the office opens. Thank you!"
Drysi spun on her heel and began skipping down the lane. First she yanked her phone out of her pocket, and began to ring Mr. Flynn's phone.
"No, I shouldn't say this shit out loud. Then I'm the batty one."
"But Drysi, monsters are real."
"Sssshhhhh! I know that," she hissed at her shirt, before throwing cautious glances around for onlookers. She hung up on her call and began furiously typing.
It took every fiber in every muscle in her body to not just suddenly jump at the sudden ellicitation of usable information. Her notebook emerged from her bag, and she began to write something down, trying to distract herself, before finally getting it together to offer a steady response.
"Well," was all she said, swaying to one side and another, as if that were sufficient.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Ought to report that to my boss," Drysi nodded, her mane of gold bobbing with her assuredness, "now that I think of it. 'Bout 78% of all monster sightin's are often encounters with dangerous wildlife. Brennan Security has a wildlife response team that ought'r look into that once the office opens. Thank you!"
Drysi spun on her heel and began skipping down the lane. First she yanked her phone out of her pocket, and began to ring Mr. Flynn's phone.
"No, I shouldn't say this shit out loud. Then I'm the batty one."
"But Drysi, monsters are real."
"Sssshhhhh! I know that," she hissed at her shirt, before throwing cautious glances around for onlookers. She hung up on her call and began furiously typing.
She skipped back over to the first house.Drysi wrote: I got something! ❤️
Drysi wrote: Some gwnny lady named Harriet saw some monsters at an O'Keegan farm. Apparently happened a month(or two?) ago on a stormy night ⛈️. Whole town's turned on her.
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
“Good copy. I’m hearing similar things. Check another street so we can get as much information as we can. Plan to meet at the truck in an hour, and we can come up with an action plan.”
Read Ruarc’s response once Drysi’s phone dinged in short order. The next hour passed, introducing the triclops to yet more varied residents of the town. The results she found were unfortunately much like what she had heard on the first street; namely, that a lady in town had gone a little loopy and claimed to see monsters. The closest she came to corroborating information was when she arrived at a house belonging to a family whose son worked out in the pastures. The mother had said her son had spun a creepy story about a creature he saw out in one of the fields when he had to work late one rainy night a couple weeks ago. The mother scoffed at it, saying her son had a tendency to daydream, and had probably just been bouncing off of Hariette’s claims.
Come the end of the hour, Drysi made her way back to the truck in time to see Flynn coming from the opposite direction; Laoise and Maeve were absent, possibly elsewhere collecting information. Waving to his apprentice, Ruarc got back into the truck before pulling out his map, his phone, and his glasses.
“So Drysi, how’d y’fair?”
Read Ruarc’s response once Drysi’s phone dinged in short order. The next hour passed, introducing the triclops to yet more varied residents of the town. The results she found were unfortunately much like what she had heard on the first street; namely, that a lady in town had gone a little loopy and claimed to see monsters. The closest she came to corroborating information was when she arrived at a house belonging to a family whose son worked out in the pastures. The mother had said her son had spun a creepy story about a creature he saw out in one of the fields when he had to work late one rainy night a couple weeks ago. The mother scoffed at it, saying her son had a tendency to daydream, and had probably just been bouncing off of Hariette’s claims.
Come the end of the hour, Drysi made her way back to the truck in time to see Flynn coming from the opposite direction; Laoise and Maeve were absent, possibly elsewhere collecting information. Waving to his apprentice, Ruarc got back into the truck before pulling out his map, his phone, and his glasses.
“So Drysi, how’d y’fair?”
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
More tasking, another street. What had been a fearful obstacle had become another thing to relish. Perhaps the welling anxiety made it feel like a challenge, or perhaps this was just who Drysi really was when given the chance. Her confidence grew with each home, even when they didn't give much, but when they did, she did her little happy bounce when she got back to the street.
"You look like you're feeling better from yesterday," Gideon mentioned as they got back to the truck. Drysi just flashed him a little smile as she popped around the tailgate, and climbed into the passenger. Once she closed the door her snake slithered down her shirt, and climbed up the backrest of the seat, keeping an eye through the rear windshield while they talked.
"People sure do like to yammer when it's not about themselves," reported Drysi, arranging her things on the floorboards, "Of the two sightings reported, there are three commonalities... It's happened on farmland, at night, when it was precipitatin' somehow."
Drysi sat back, thinking on what else she could extrapolate from that, "No one said anythin' about farmers missin' crops or animals. Probably loiterin' in those fields a lot more often than people have seen it. Maybe it's looking for somethin'... If it's a especially old, one of these farmers may have built over a place it used to recognize, but that doesn't explain why it only shows itself durin' the rain."
"You look like you're feeling better from yesterday," Gideon mentioned as they got back to the truck. Drysi just flashed him a little smile as she popped around the tailgate, and climbed into the passenger. Once she closed the door her snake slithered down her shirt, and climbed up the backrest of the seat, keeping an eye through the rear windshield while they talked.
"People sure do like to yammer when it's not about themselves," reported Drysi, arranging her things on the floorboards, "Of the two sightings reported, there are three commonalities... It's happened on farmland, at night, when it was precipitatin' somehow."
Drysi sat back, thinking on what else she could extrapolate from that, "No one said anythin' about farmers missin' crops or animals. Probably loiterin' in those fields a lot more often than people have seen it. Maybe it's looking for somethin'... If it's a especially old, one of these farmers may have built over a place it used to recognize, but that doesn't explain why it only shows itself durin' the rain."
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
Nodding along, Ruarc was writing on the map in front of him with a carpenter pencil as Drysi relayed the information he had gathered. In tandem, he also circled a number of spots, most of which were outside of the town limits; while one notation placed a point of interest along Main Street near the center of town. Three farms were circled; O’Keegan, Donaghue, and Fitz written beside corresponding circles, the circles lining up towards the town.
“Good work, Drysi,” Ruarc started as he shifted the map more so his apprentice could see it better. With all of the notations it looked a little jumbled. “A few extra marks on here from talk I was able to pick up. A number of extra marks I have added from extrapolation. A hunter seeing tracks he couldn’t identify outright. The farmer Fitz, the furthest out farm, heard some strange calls and said his dog was acting spooked; said when he went to check he saw what might have been a man out in the rain, but given the downpour and an uneasy feeling he decided to just secure his barn and head back inside. Some patrons at a pub saying they saw an odd man shambling through the rain late one night. Sans the pub and the O’Keegan sightings, none of the others have involved visual details.”
Ruarc began to strike through a couple of notations, most of which were farther out.
“Now, I am inclined to take the O’Keegan sighting as genuine, given O’Keegan himself said he did see some strange tracks in some dried mud. Comparing it with the hunter’s testimony however provides discrepancy; the description of the tracks were different, and thus I struck them. Fitz I am similarly inclined to believe was a legitimate sighting, even if he believes it was simply a plain trespasser.”
Drawing a light line, Ruarc made an almost straight dash through the three farms and through the town.
“Allowing this pattern, we can assume some of the other odd occurrences reported to the Northwest have a better foundation of validity, as well as…”
A quick circle of some pasture land to the Southeast of town, which was also the side of town with the least potential points of interest.
“Chaplan Farmstead. If our warlock hasn’t grown bored of the region, or has yet to find whatever he is looking for, it is my guess the next sighting will be in this area.”
Pulling out his phone, the Irishman squinted and stiffened his neck as he chicken pecked his password. Then opening up his weather app, he checked the forecast.
“As an added boon, so long as this forecast holds, it should rain tonight sometime after midnight.”
Shifting the map over to Drysi fully so she could look over his notes and see his line of thinking, Ruarc adjusted his glasses.
“Questions, comments, concerns?”
“Good work, Drysi,” Ruarc started as he shifted the map more so his apprentice could see it better. With all of the notations it looked a little jumbled. “A few extra marks on here from talk I was able to pick up. A number of extra marks I have added from extrapolation. A hunter seeing tracks he couldn’t identify outright. The farmer Fitz, the furthest out farm, heard some strange calls and said his dog was acting spooked; said when he went to check he saw what might have been a man out in the rain, but given the downpour and an uneasy feeling he decided to just secure his barn and head back inside. Some patrons at a pub saying they saw an odd man shambling through the rain late one night. Sans the pub and the O’Keegan sightings, none of the others have involved visual details.”
Ruarc began to strike through a couple of notations, most of which were farther out.
“Now, I am inclined to take the O’Keegan sighting as genuine, given O’Keegan himself said he did see some strange tracks in some dried mud. Comparing it with the hunter’s testimony however provides discrepancy; the description of the tracks were different, and thus I struck them. Fitz I am similarly inclined to believe was a legitimate sighting, even if he believes it was simply a plain trespasser.”
Drawing a light line, Ruarc made an almost straight dash through the three farms and through the town.
“Allowing this pattern, we can assume some of the other odd occurrences reported to the Northwest have a better foundation of validity, as well as…”
A quick circle of some pasture land to the Southeast of town, which was also the side of town with the least potential points of interest.
“Chaplan Farmstead. If our warlock hasn’t grown bored of the region, or has yet to find whatever he is looking for, it is my guess the next sighting will be in this area.”
Pulling out his phone, the Irishman squinted and stiffened his neck as he chicken pecked his password. Then opening up his weather app, he checked the forecast.
“As an added boon, so long as this forecast holds, it should rain tonight sometime after midnight.”
Shifting the map over to Drysi fully so she could look over his notes and see his line of thinking, Ruarc adjusted his glasses.
“Questions, comments, concerns?”
Re: [The Keep] Walking to Skye
"Comes to reason," nodded Drysi, admiring the map with a bit of relish while also noting ways she could've marked it better. No, not important, Drysi, focus. "Not a one of anyone has said they've seen the creature more than once, but whatever it was, it got that one lady so spooked she don't look like she comes out her house anymore. Although, that could be the village."
The pub sighting did distract her, though. There were always those awful details that stuck out like a cowlick. It didn't seem incredibly important, considering it wasn't a normal place for the entity to be sighted. Perhaps it was a red herring. Why would it go through the middle of town? Get seen by so many people? That part was inconsistent, which made it hard to ignore.
Drysi gnawed on her finger for a moment before jumping at the sharpness of her teeth. Somehow, she still wasn't used to that.
"Why not go around the town? Innit a bit of a risk to walk through?" she asked, as if Ruarc could profile something he didn't know. "It's been a bit furtive in all of its other sightin's, why risk something like that?"
Her eyes drifted up, as if she were trying to work out anything else. "An' for that matter, how much to assume that the weather itself is natural? Is it usin' nature's pattern to its advantage or is it influencin' it? Mundies with their weather stations are just lookin' at air pressure and the like to determine weather from what they see. There some sort of spell to tell weather or not it's Mother Nature takin' her bra off, or iffn' it's the creature pretendin' she is?"
The pub sighting did distract her, though. There were always those awful details that stuck out like a cowlick. It didn't seem incredibly important, considering it wasn't a normal place for the entity to be sighted. Perhaps it was a red herring. Why would it go through the middle of town? Get seen by so many people? That part was inconsistent, which made it hard to ignore.
Drysi gnawed on her finger for a moment before jumping at the sharpness of her teeth. Somehow, she still wasn't used to that.
"Why not go around the town? Innit a bit of a risk to walk through?" she asked, as if Ruarc could profile something he didn't know. "It's been a bit furtive in all of its other sightin's, why risk something like that?"
Her eyes drifted up, as if she were trying to work out anything else. "An' for that matter, how much to assume that the weather itself is natural? Is it usin' nature's pattern to its advantage or is it influencin' it? Mundies with their weather stations are just lookin' at air pressure and the like to determine weather from what they see. There some sort of spell to tell weather or not it's Mother Nature takin' her bra off, or iffn' it's the creature pretendin' she is?"