Hokum

Devils and Dust

@AtomicNut

Oof! Apologies for the late reply. Yes, you and your washouts are welcome to join! :)

Devils and Dust

heh, thanks for that.

Looks great. But yeah, feel free to slip her into the CS tab. All good!

Devils and Dust

@Pyxis@Zaxter996@MissCapnCrunch@vertigh0st@AyElEmAy

Thread is up!

roleplayerguild.com/topics/179214-dev…

Devils and Dust

Present Day

It’s not so unheard of for people to go missing in Blacktown. The suburb is host to a variety of sordid misfits from junkies, drug dealers and prostitutes, to street gangs and vagrants - but let’s not forget those struggling working-class folk. One could say that a variety of crime is to be expected around these parts. A person or two going missing is hardly something most folks would even bat an eyelid to, but the recent tally of disappearances, young ladies in particular, is starting to provoke a little concern.

Kind of hard to know when it started. Six months? A year? Chief of police for the City of Davis, Lukas Rise, released a statement to the press three days ago, stating that the rapid rise in young women going missing in Blacktown and surrounding suburbs, is believed to be the work of a single individual, although no solid leads have yet been established. What the press doesn’t know, however, is that the perpetrator is now believed to be residing in the suburb of Blacktown itself.

Devils and Dust

---

‘You’re hurting me.’

‘Just hold still.’

‘I can’t. You’re really hurting me – there’s something wrong.’

‘Hold still. There’s nothing wrong. Just relax and let it happen.’

‘Please, it really hurts, can you stop?’

I can’t stop now. I’m almost done!’

‘No. Stop, please. Please just sto–’

‘I told you to fucking. Hold. STILL! …Now look what you’ve done, you stupid whore.’

---

𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧

Reservoir Lane was near the heart of Blacktown, comprised of several rundown houses and apartment blocks. No less than typical for the region. But there was a house on the street, number 7, that stood out among the rest of the residential properties. It was renowned as the well-kept house for miles and therefore hard not to notice. This house was owned by a single man that most in the neighbourhood were aware of, but no one actually knew. By what was mostly snide remarks and snickering mockery, this man was referred to by most as Mr Perfect. Nobody knew his real name, how long he had lived there, or even what he did for work.

The yard of his property was immaculate, the trimmed lawn was soft, even fluffy looking, with no variance in the lush shade of green. Two oak trees stood in the yard, the trunk of each one girded perfectly, as if a ruler had been used to ensure the trunk was perfectly centred in their allocated patch of dirt. The bleach white concrete path was stainless and lead up to the front porch of the house between the Oak trees directly from the footpath off the street.

The house itself was a single story. Again, in immaculate condition with what appeared to be a fresh coat of beige paint. The tiles of the roof were a rich clay colour. The frames of the windows and doors were a deeper shade of brown. The windows were tinted very dark, allowing no one to see inside.

---

This morning, inside the house, was Darrel. A lean yet strong man of very upright posture, standing a little over six feet tall with square shoulders, a straight neck, and a chin held that little too high.

In public, or even so much as exiting the front door of his quaint little house to do a little gardening, Darrel wore a suit and tie. Nothing expensive, of course, any high roller would know at a glance he certainly didn’t shop at Dolce & Gabbana. But that didn’t matter to Darrel. He wore the suit like a man of unequalled integrity – and that is all he would ever wear; a black suite, black polished boots, white shirt and black tie. Seven of the same attire hung in the second-hand redwood wardrobe of his bedroom. One for each day of the week. One extra for good measure. On his wrist, Darrel wore an imitation silver Rolex analogue watch, a plain silver ring on the middle finger of his left hand. Combined, they were the sum of accessories he would ever be willing to wear.

Inside was another matter. He rarely wore clothing at home, not so much as underwear. With the exception of when he was entertaining the occasional guest, during which times he would dress in a plain grey T-shirt, grey cotton tracksuit pants cut off at the knees, and plain grey socks. Nothing more. This outfit too was also duplicated seven-fold, immaculately folded in his dresser drawers. One for each day of the week, and one extra for good measure.

This morning, alike many a morning of late, Darrel was cleaning. Naked, with dustpan and brush in hand, he finished sweeping away the last remaining traces of dust from his bleach-white bedsheets. After which, he removed said sheets, dropped them in the washing machine along with detergent – the amount of which he had perfected – and set the wash to Full Cycle. He would likely need to repeat the wash several times for good measure throughout the day and possibly into tomorrow. But that was okay, he did have seven more sets of the same bedsheets immaculately folded in the hallway closet.

Once the sheets were in the wash he shit, shaved and showered. Then the first cycle was done. Setting the wash to another full cycle he cooked one perfectly poached egg, one perfectly browned toast, and one glass of orange juice. No salt and no pepper. No butter. No added sugar. After breakfast, he started the second washing cycle, dressed in his suit and attended the bathroom where he carefully and meticulously combed his short black hair, then commenced removing even so much as a shadow of lint from his suit coat with a lint roller.

After several minutes of antagonising over his appearance, he came to accept everything was perfect. His tie, perfectly straight. His suit, void of marks. His clean shaven face and strong jawline, clear of blemish. His intense translucent blue eyes, as always without flaw. Black boots could have been used as a mirror. His hair… remarkable.

‘You are the perfect man,’ He told himself, ‘She is out there, somewhere.’

Once another cycle of bedsheets was complete and the fourth cycle started, he was ready to exit the house and start his day - but first, there was one other thing to do:

He arrived in the lounge room, furnished only with a stereo system. The low budget stereo was centred in the otherwise empty room. He touched the play button as if touching a priceless gemstone. The music began to play. And there he stood swaying to the music, eyes closed, a faint smile riding his face.

Devils and Dust

@Pyxis

Ah, yes, hello newcomer. Welcome to the Guild! As for this RP, consider yourself had XD

Devils and Dust

@Zaxter996

Indeed it does, consider me pleased to have you aboard!

Devils and Dust

Good to hear! And I'm sure you're right.

On the matter of your characters, I'm anxious to find out what you have planned - but keep in mind you can use both characters if you want. No problem at all.

Alright, I'm assuming Capn is still good to go too, so I'm going to get writing on an OP. Probably be up in a day or two!

Devils and Dust

Well, I am neither a mind reader or an expert on this matter, but I feel it safe to assume that losing a potential neighbour to the land of ghosts and goblins isn't a promising sign XD

So, Captain Crunch and Vertighost, how do you feel about an extremely small group of three? I mean, at least until other interested peeps come along.

Devils and Dust

@vertigh0st Thanks for the Thank to let me know you're still in. Feel free to ask any questions you might have as well.

Still waiting on @AyElEmAy for confirmation they are still in as well. If they're still in then it looks like we have, at least for now, a four person party.

tbh small groups aren't a bad thing. Good, actually, but maybe some more players will join soon enough as well.

@MissCapnCrunch You're welcome lol

I am very curious to what everyone has in mind, too. But I also like surprises. I'm glad you are hyped for this! Looking forward to seeing what is knocking around in that head of yours. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has in mind, actually.

To answer your question: I think a mix would be great. Assuming that all our characters come from the same neighbourhood, doesn't necessarily mean they know each other beforehand, so I'd like to leave that aspect up to each player do decide. If you want your character to meet other charters in the IC, that's cool. If you would like to poke and prod for information about another players character to know them before the story starts, that is also cool by me. Personally, I'm preferring to jump into this blind and let things flourish from there.

---

Also, peeps! At this point I would like to point out that you are not limited to one main character. A few is okay, and of course, since this is a suburb in a city, various NPC's are welcome too.

Also like to mention post size and speed. I don't go much on free-style size. But you don't have to write a novel each time either. a few paragraphs on average is all good. long as we know what's going on and it's legible, what else is there to ask for XD

As for speed, well, I don't like applying pressure. There is no fun in being on demand in my view. Right now I'm in a couple of 1X1's where a post might even happen once a month at times. and I'm perfectly okay with that. Yeah, I know groups are different, since we have more than just one other person and plot stuff to think about. So with that in mind, yeah, don't feel pressure when posting. Take it easy and post when you can and have fun. There is no time limit, per say - because RL circumstances and such - but if you see it is your turn to post, then getting a post out as soon as you can is all I ask.

Oh wow, that post was longer than I expected it to be. Not a windbag at all