[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290977655627448341/292171024986800128/coollogo_com-163531103.png[/img][/center] [center][i][b]And[/b][/i][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/eE6lcKb.png[/img][/center] [b]Location[/b]: Lost Haven Park [b]Time[/b]: 12:22 [i]Shoot, that guy already called the cops they’re probably already on their way. But they won’t be here for a few minutes.[/i] “Listen, bird lady, er, Barry? You can use those wings right? Because you need to get out of here, like now or you’re going to get in a lot of trouble.” David spoke as he glanced around the park, it was already pretty empty before, and the few people that were there were quickly clearing out. “Rrraak! No, need bin. Bin for home! Ah-mee says all homes need bin!” Bernice shouted in between her squawking. “What, er, no, just go home, uh; they don’t sell bins today, come back in a week.” “Trust friends more than you, egg-thief! Rrraaak! To Wally World, find bin!” David made a sideways tugging motion on the collar of his shirt, as if his shirt’s collar was suddenly getting too tight. [i]Talk about being bird brained, sheesh, and what the hell is with this “egg-thief” stuff anyways[/i]. “A-alright, fine, we’ll go to Wally World. But! I’ll find the bin, and you can’t say anything, at all.” David emphasized as he motioned for Bernice to follow behind him as he began jogging towards the nearest street, he looked behind him to see his new feathered companion already gone, after quickly glancing around he could see her in the air slightly ahead of him. “Hey! Stay on the ground, if you do that we’ll get way more attention than we need!” Giving the man a hard glare as she landed less-than-gracefully, Berenice took several seconds to readjust her body to walking, and then hop-skipped, almost exactly like a crow would, after the man as they exited the area, muttering unintelligible words under her breath with the occasional gurgling croak. After a minute of watching Bernice hop behind him to keep pace David finally found a taxi and hailed him over. David took care to make sure Berenice didn’t get any feathers caught on the taxi and climbed in after her. The taxi driver gave them an odd look, at Bernice, then at David as if asking for an explanation. “She’s uh, going to a costume party. Yeah,uh, it’s animal themed and she’s going as a bird.” David blurted out, the driver took one last look, raised an eyebrow, and then turned around. “Where to?” “WWrraa-” “Wwraally World! Ahem, Wally World, got some last minute shopping to do!” David interrupted quickly by putting his hand up to Berenice’s mouth, not quite touching her, and quickly brought out an awkward smile for the driver. The driver looked at his mirror to see Berenice and eyed both her and David suspiciously again before looking back at the road and pressing on the gas. The sounds of sirens could be heard approaching the other end of the park as they drove off, the sirens grew quieter as they got further away. David looked through the side of his window as the taxi turned a corner hoping not see a police cruiser behind them. [i]I hope Carmine has my back with those cops, I don’t need them to show up while I’m buying a dumb box.[/i] Now that David had a chance to stop and think he quickly took notice of an incredibly powerful smell, he didn’t have to sniff to know where it was coming from, and accidentally let his disgust show slightly before trying to stifle it. Berenice’s talons flexed idly and she perched, more than sat, on the seat of the taxi. This whole method of transportation was not at all to her liking. Every stop made her flex her wings out to keep her balance, only to have them met with resistance from the seat behind her. There was no room in this metal box. And the new man in the front area seemed hostile, putting her further on edge. The driver, at another stop light, took the brief respite from his attention focused on the road to roll down all the windows and reach into the glove box, retrieving a handful of air fresheners. The smell of unwashed bird abated somewhat as the drive continued. With the wind rolling past her, Berenice felt somewhat more at ease, though the confining nature of the vehicle did nothing to help. Her golden eyes strayed occasionally to stare at her companion, who looked, if anything, less comfortable than she did. Not that she minded him being uncomfortable, since he had made her be silent. Apparently Amy trusted this giant version of the kids, and she trusted Amy, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Deciding she needed to test the limits of what silence actually meant, and also answer some of her internal confusion, she looked herself up and down a couple of times, and said in her normal, slightly too loud voice, “Dah-veed, what is costume? I know word, but not means.” Although he wasn’t looking directly at them anymore, David could still see the driver’s odd looks from the rear-view mirror. “Ah! Ah, you’re roleplaying again, gotta get in character. I understand, you’re really dedicated you know.” David blurted, he hoped he was quick enough to cover up Berenice’s suspicious words, but he hoped more that he was believable. In a whisper David addressed Berenice. “Keep it down alright? For me at least, I don’t know if I can handle the heat if the police come for me; er, us. As for costumes, they are like a disguise, it’s also what you’re supposed to be wearing.” David answered, putting heavy emphasis on the latter half of his sentence. The taxi finally arrived at the Wally-Mart, it drove by the front and the driver looked to the backseat at David, gesturing at his drive counter with his thumb. As David brought out his credit card to pay Berenice had found the way out by fumbling with the door controls, she happily hopped out and was treated with weird stares and hushed murmuring. David finally got out as well and gestured her over with his hand. “Oohh wow your costume really has everyone fooled!” David began speaking loud enough for everyone staring to hear. David scratched at his head while looking at Berenice, trying to find a way to hide her, but outside of a blanket or trenchcoat he wasn’t sure there was a way. Maybe she could hide her talons with her wings? That wouldn’t be enough, that would also slow us down way too much, there’s also her smell. I thought birds at least bathed. David thought to himself before turning around and heading inside, he slowed himself down to help Berenice keep up, having her hop around was also a big no. The store was big, as expected of large retailing corporation, the sounds of people shopping, passive conversation, and the smell of produce added to the air, before David and Berenice walked by at least. Her smell turned nearby heads, and her odd looks kept those stares directed at her and David longer. The same hushed whispering and judgemental looks from outside followed them in as more people got to take a look. As Berenice followed behind David she noticed something peculiar, more strange than anything so far, it looked to her like a fusion of the vehicle they were in earlier, and a man like David. “Dah-vid, what is that?” Berenice asked, completely ignoring David’s plea to stay quiet and pointed at what she was seeing. David gave her a glare before looking around to where she was pointing, trying to find out what she saw. He noticed a flashy movie poster on a rack of blu-ray dvds with a picture of a man in a silver and blue outfit. [i]Wow people really like that Icon guy huh?[/i] David noted to himself before answering. “You mean that picture? That’s to tell people about a movie.” “No, not that, that!” Berenice gestured again, and this time David smiled slightly. “Huh? Oh, that uh, we don’t talk about that out loud.” David replied in a lower voice, Berenice had been pointing to a man in a mobility scooter. He noticed them staring and David quickly took himself and his partner down a different path after awkwardly smiling back. --- Across town, the police had conducted interviews, and the kids and parents had been sent home from the park. Now, Detective Owens walked across the short grass to the fencing, studying the splintering on the rough wooden four by fours that kept children from tumbling down the hill towards the culvert that led out to the beach and the sea. He stared up at the sky, beginning it’s turn into the crimson of evening, and sighed to himself. His partner Alicia, short and dark in skin and hair, leaned up on the pole next to him. “So, whadda ya thinkin, George?” He chuckled a little to himself and pulled out his phone from his pants pocket, opening it to the video that forensics had forwarded to him. Despite the shakiness of the video itself, two snap shots had also accompanied it, and one of them had popped on the missing persons database to his active case. Of course, the girl he was looking for was not half bird, but the face was clearly her. In the middle of conferring with the Special Unit about what the hell happened, they had gotten the call of a creature suspiciously like the one they were examining evidence of out in the park. Of course, after interviewing the kids and parents and finding out that it had left in the company of some man no one seemed to know, and a very worried looking professor of the nearby college who seemed to know even less, the only thing they had learned was that what appeared to be a dangerous creature was loose, had access to the city, and was interacting with children. This had not been a good day. “I dunno, Leash,” he said, shaking his head. “I want to think the Pax event, but the timeline doesn’t add up at all. And SU has no idea either, so it’s new to everyone.” Alicia frowned. “Maybe someone else got a bug up their butt to do experimentation?” “Maybe, though again, SU’s the ones for that. All I know is that is either our Miss Addams had a very unfortunate encounter, or she’s been turned into a monster by some other means.” “Yeah, George, but those kids seemed to think she was friendly.” “With them, and that may be good, but you’ve seen the report on that guy that Carver PD brought in. That is not the work of a friendly creature.” ---