[center][h2][u]Sheep’s Clothing[/u][/h2][/center] Location:Loom’s Slums, Alleyway to Club Ambrosia Time: 5:30 AM [hr] [center]Sgt. Maclir[/center] “Identify” The statement came from the other end of the man’s burner phone it was a standard challenge and he was use to it from years of many incredibly professional operational staffers who liked to feel that they were cool. It sort of came with the job Collin supposed as he chewed on the end of a toothpick. The rain was really starting to come down, and the scene in the alleyway wasn’t going to keep. “Niner five one six thirty, Tower requesting advisement.” There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Good evening Sergeant, encrypting and transfering. Priestess is standing by for advisement.” Collin shifted the toothpick in his mouth. Leaning against the wall at the far end of the alley, Collin did his best to stay out of the steady stream of water coming off the roof of the nearby building. The whole place wreaked of life and death backed by the ungodly noise from the club that sat behind the alley. “Tower, I’m being told that you are requesting mission advisement?” Collin nodded even though the woman on the other end of the phone couldn’t see him. Priestess was Magician’s strong right hand acting on her behalf as mission control for many of the permanent assignments. “Eye, we got a dead girl in an alley behind a pub. Looks like it might be less than mortal means. Got a moment with the corpse, poor lass. Wonderin if our partners here need an advisement before the local polis arrive.” Collin's brogue had slowly deteriorated over the last year but it was still incredibly apparent in his speech. There was clicking from the other end of the line as Priestess tapped away at her keyboard. “By the by, ya plannin to make it back out here anytime soon, lass?” Priestess for all her experience was still in her late twenties and in comparison to some of Tarots members Collin was actually on the older end of the spectrum which was why she accepted the moniker: lass. The clicking stopped “Until Magician is done with whatever has her wrapped up, no.” Nodding at this Collin waited patiently. Again not that she could see the nod. “You’re in the clear Tower. If it becomes something of note The Bureau will get their notification from local law enforcement. Stay on scene, see if anyone comes poking around. Don’t engage anything though.” Collin scoffed at the comment. “ ‘taint my fault that Gargoyle wanted ah square go ah things.” Priestess could hear the smile in Collin’s words. “Aight I’ll keep my yaks peeled an give ya a ring if anythin turns out”. From her desk in the Citadel Priestess smiled, Collin was Tarot’s newest member but he had more than proved himself within only a year of joining the company. She was rather fond of the Scotsman and it showed in the exchanges over the phone since they rarely saw one another with Collin asigned to Loom. [hr] Location:Loom’s Slums, Alleyway to Club Ambrosia Time: 5:45 AM “Its me again….Yeah we got a wee lass pokin round the scene. Dunno who she is yet, ahn don’tcha worry I won’t do naught that you wouldn’t do.” Collin clicked off his phone again and pocketed it to go back to taking another drag from a cigarette. He rarely smoked now a days since he knew eventually it would catch up with him but the scene in the alley had put him on edge and the old habit helped to settle him. One day he would kick it. Same day he retired for good. [i]Ey, Tommy got something is going on. Might have some work for you.[/i] No doubt the professor was sound asleep but if this turned into something they might need him. [hr] Location:Loom’s suburbs, Thomas Finch’s loft Time: 5:48 AM Rolling over the young doctor picked up the phone on his desk knocking the now empty tumbler on the desk to the carpeted floor. The haze from the whiskey was wearing off slowly. Peering at the phone owlishly the professor thumbed the text and looked at the sender. Colling Maclir. No doubt they had some new strange test they wanted him to run on some sample that they refused to tell him what it was. [i]Keep me posted[/i] Sending the text Thomas rolled back over and tried to reclaim the barely present ghost of sleep he had been enjoying. The rain continued to splatter against his window pane and even with its repeating pattern Thomas could not find the sleep he had just so recently claimed. The rain had calmed him once upon a time as it reminded him of home. Now the rain reminded him of home and it kept him awake. Questions turned over in his mind as always, if only that storm would quiet long enough for him to sleep. They never did. [hr] Location:Loom’s suburbs, Lily’s studio apartment Time: 3 AM The brush strokes paused long enough for the young woman to look up at the splatter of rain across her window. It was lovely and it helped with the painting which was of a large old church. Perhaps it also needed rain. As she sat thinking about it, it occurred to her that perhaps she needed some outside assistance. Without looking at the clock Lily picked up her phone and thumbed through the contacts on her list. Holly. That should do, the detective seemed to put up with her the best of all her coworkers and seemed to be willing to humor her oddities. As the phone rang Lily stared absently out the window. For her, if the painting wasn’t finished it wasn’t time for bed, and until such a time clearly there was no one else who could be asleep or otherwise busy. It wasn’t so much that she was inconsiderate as much as it was that she was genuinely failed to realize the time of night or day when she was absorbed with a piece of her artwork. Frowning as the phone rang out Lily resolved to wait to see if she called back. As the voicemail finished its prompt Lily inhaled and started in on what was no doubt about to be an overly lengthy voicemail. “Hey so I wanted your opinion on something. I’m working on this painting for one of the college’s displays and I’m having some trouble deciding on if I should add rain to it. The night is just sort of going that way and it's an old church so I was thinking maybe you know it might not be a bad idea? I really can’t decide so I was thinking maybe you might have an idea on the matter I could really use a second opinion...so yeah call me back thanks..” Lily trailed off before realizing that she should probably hang up the call. With that she set the phone down and stared at it for a long moment. Part of her really wanted to call again, maybe she had just not heard her phone. After a long moment of debate she finally quashed the idea and pursed her lips. “Nothing from you huh?” The comment was directed at a dreg skinned dog lying on the ground next to the doors to the balcony. It raised its right head and looked at her with incredibly intelligent eyes. Its left head remained decidedly on its massive paws eyes closed though one of its ears was up as though listening absently. [i]You didn’t ask. You are aware that it is three in the morning right?[/i] Lily looked at the dog, looked at the phone and abruptly turned bright red. “Oh shit!I hope I didn’t wake her up!” The dog gave her a rather long look while its left head looked smug though it was pretending to sleep. [i]I suppose that the detective is probably aware of your idiosyncrasies and will no doubt call you in the morning.[/i] Lily didn’t like the sound of that. Getting up she began to pace in front of her art. “...you don’t know maybe she’s up...maybe she has a guy over...maybe..” Lily trailed off while the Moriek put its other head down and did its best to ignore Lily as she paced. No doubt she would be up until someone broke the cycle for her. The demon knew better than to try.