[ CLOSED ]

[blackscales]

WHO: Wrathion, Anduin, Kaneki
WHEN: Early March
WHERE: Ke-Waihu
WHAT: Investigating wells and trying to make friends with a spooky snakey friend
WARNINGS: Potentially some discussion of child kidnapping, harm to children, and if a snakey lady friend might be... eating children.

Dead ends.

Nothing but dead ends.

Wrathion paces by the well, turning over everything he knows as he waits for the others to arrive.

Kaneki had said she was a mother looking for a child.

Children had gone missing, three daughters one son. No common location. All over the last ten days.

His theory about the dark water, too, may be amounting to nothing. It seems their slithering friend predates it by around a year -- divine punishment.

Frustrating.

She hasn't been witnessed eating these children, so there's a chance they are still on the right course, but neither have they any proof of anything else.

Frustrating. Wrathion handles frustration poorly. He likes to make clear progress, to plan, to work towards a goal -- but the goal is still unclear here. The path is forked, and he knows not which one they are taking

Are they helping a creature, or killing a monster? Are they going entirely down the wrong path, and will they imminently find out she knows nothing and has simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Will children keep vanishing, all the while?

Having no solid lead is agonising, especially when time... continues to grow short.

He can only hope they don't run out.

Comments

[chosenbylight]

Anduin frowns at the direction this discussion is going.

Luring her out into the open. Cornering her. He had hoped they might be able to try and communicate in some way, if -- there were any way of doing so at all. He has a feeling that such methods may not endear her to the group, if so.

He glances around, doing his best to think quickly on his feet.

"Should we not... Give her an offering of some sort?" Anduin wonders aloud. He realizes how that might sound, but perhaps Wrathion will understand what he means.

[blackscales]

Wrathion's eyes flit between Kaneki and Anduin thoughtfully, arms folded, fingers tapping at the fabric of his coat as his considers this.

"I'd rather not begin with aggression, but if she won't appear to us willingly we have to assume there's a good chance she'll flee on being found out, or be hostile. We need to be prepared for both, especially when we're uncertain of her intentions to begin with."

Worth remembering: everyone has sympathy for her, wants to help her if they can, but there is a chance she isn't interested in help. There is a chance this will end poorly.

"If there's a chance she'll run, limiting her exits will help us. Equally, however, perhaps she could be... encouraged to stay calm."

Which is within Anduin's skillset, if he's inclined to do so. He taps his fingers against his arm thoughtfully again, considering the room.

"If she does turn on us, I assume you have some... combat ability? Preferably to restrain, so we could still question her."

That last question directed at Kaneki. After the little... display earlier, Wrathion is inclined to believe he could probably do something with those tentacles.

[enucleation]

"I have left her food, but that doesn't seem to do anything. We can try to leave behind something alive, but not an actual child." as he said before, he won't use people as bait.

Kaneki has been trying to talk to her peacefully and quietly. He has been giving her offerings of food in places people have spotted her, but nothing worked. And while he is worried, when he learned children were involved, it just... it's hard. He believes that she had nothing to do with the disappearance of the children, since her own is missing too, but he also believes she might know something the people in the village don't. Plus, he does want to help, but it's not possible if they can't even approach.

"I don't like the idea of chasing her. But we need to agree on what to do if she does try to flee, even if it's just stepping in front of her and telling her we are here to help." and decide what to do if instead of listening, she tries to strangle them to death instead.

He glances back at Wrathion, and then at Anduin before he sighs. "I can restrain her." yeah, sure - Kaneki can restrain her, given that she is made of flesh and is not a spirit or a curse. But he also doesn't like that idea, he doesn't want to be rough on a woman who is probably just looking for her lost child and terrified of what the villagers might do to her just because she isn't human.

[chosenbylight]

Anduin frowns, but Kaneki is right and Wrathion had said it before as well. Food had not worked before, he supposes that children are the only real lure they know that they have. He agrees, they cannot use a real child. But... There may be a way around that.

"I can try to keep her calm," Anduin suggests. He glances aside at Kaneki, and explains, "I have a power that is called Mind Soothe. It -- is pretty much exactly as it sounds, and it may not work. But I can try."

He glances between the pair of them.

"We do not know how she will respond to any of this," he says. "We need to approach her as directly as we can. If food will not lure her out, and the shawl itself will not work... What are our other options?"

[blackscales]

Wrathion looks between the two of them a long moment, thinking, then lets out a sigh. He unfolds his arms and gestures quickly. The figure of a young boy with dark hair appears in the middle of the room, looking around thoughtfully. Wrathion folds his arms again, and the figure mirrors the gesture.

"If she requires more than a... visual cue, this may not work."

They may need to combine things, in other words.

i missed part of the last tag like a dumbass. I apologize!

[enucleation]

kaneki thinks about the cursed doll of his, which could work, but it's a doll - not alive, and no proper living smell or heartbeat. It certainly doesn't smell of a child either. And would the doll even stay there long enough to be bait? It's following Kaneki around and just randomly appears where he is.

regardless -

There is a child now. A ghost? Kaneki stares at it, before he looks back at Anduin and then back at Wrathion. Is this normal?

"A ghost?" he has to ask. kaneki is being haunted by a cursed doll, maybe Wrathion is being haunted by the ghost of a kid? It's entirely possible and the ghoul has no understanding of magic or how these people's powers work.

it's all good!!!

[chosenbylight]

The illusion is honestly a bit of a surprise for Anduin himself. While he knows Wrathion well, there are still parts of him that he does not fully understand. His powers are definitely one of those things.

Anduin glances aside at the illusion of the boy and the way that it mirrors Wrathion's movements, then at Wrathion, raising an eyebrow himself. He doesn't feel entirely qualified to explain this for him, but he can certainly try, if needs must.

"Ah, no," he begins. "Not exactly. It's... A spell." Well, it is, isn't it?

Help him here, Wrathion.

"An illusion of a boy. But do you suppose that she will need more? If food was not enough, perhaps the bait may need to be... Living."

[blackscales]

"I cannot make it living," Wrathion points out, mostly for Kaneki's sake -- to be clear, this is indeed an illusion. "However, I suppose we could try... staging things. Place a chair, have it sit on a chair with the shawl draped over the back. Perhaps... if the signature of something living is required, we could find something else to keep in the room with it."

A little artful manipulation, and it might all add up?

[enucleation]

Why does everyone know magic and spells in this place. it's so tiring; kaneki is used to more... physical things. It's hard to keep up with everyone's abilities and what they entail, and being the paranoid person he is, kaneki sure would have loved to know all spells these people can do before getting into this.

Too late now.

But the idea isn't bad. Might as well try a bit of it all, right? Kaneki nods "I don't think we would need a big creature if we already have a visual cue as smell." a fox comes to mind, but then he remembers what foxes in this place do. Ravens also seem a bit off-limits. "A rabbit?" they aren't very noisy, so it'd be easier to keep it in place.

[chosenbylight]

Anduin hums slightly at the suggestion. Wrapping the illusion around more sensory cues.

"If she smells the child on the shawl, sees the child you have created, and hears the heartbeat of the animal you have built the spell around... It just might be what we need to entice her out."

He glances toward Wrathion. "Is that something you can do? Weave the illusion around something else, that is? Something -- living."

Anduin is familiar with Wrathion's magic, but only to some extent.

[blackscales]

"Something smaller and I might," Wrathion suggests, "I cannot put the animal to sleep."

Rabbits are large and reasonably strong, and could chaotically hop around even hidden in a box until the box tips over. That would somewhat ruin the whole affect, the animal breaking free and running around.

[enucleation]

So there are limitations. Fair enough, if everything was easy they wouldn't be stuck in this world.

Smaller? Then- "A frog?" it could still hop but it wouldn't be something very drastic. "A small reptile could work, but I have a feeling those would be harder to catch." kaneki has zero experience in catching any of the two, though, so does it matter?

Which he admits to, a bit more shyly "I can't say I'm good at catching animals." he probably would be too rough with them.

[chosenbylight]

Anduin glances aside at Wrathion at the suggestion, though he doesn't seem to object to the idea of a frog. And they are on the edge of a forest. It shouldn't be too difficult to find one.

"Right," he says, determinedly. "You two, don't move. I'll be right back."

True to his word, it doesn't take him too long to find the small creature in the undergrown of the trees. He gently Soothes it into a state of calm then reaches to scoop the little thing up into his hands, hurrying back to where he has no doubt left at least one of them very confused.

"Will this do?" he asks, the question directed more to Wrathion this time, since it is his magic. He scans the room for something they might be able to trap the creature under, as the spell begins to wear off and the frog begins to struggle in his grasp. "Here, hand me that box."

[blackscales]

Wrathion isn't suspecting such quick decisiveness after the long period of slow meandering thought. Perhaps Anduin is anxious about the result, so speeding things along. Admittedly, he is also likely the best person for this. Kaneki has admitted he isn't good at catching animals, and Wrathion himself lacks in easy non-lethal methods. Anduin has a gentle touch, and far more patience about it all. He glances over at Kaneki and lofts an eyebrow, then begins to re-arrange the room. Moves a chair to the very back, far away from the door so any visitor will have to come all the way in to engage, and unpacks the shawl he lifted from a previous family. He thinks a moment, then drapes it over the seat of the chair to conceal anything he hides underneath it should things go awry.

"Let us hope she is open to negotiation."

He patrols the house, checking doors and windows so she has only one way in and out -- better not to be snuck up on. He's just bordering on starting to generate impatient energy when Anduin comes back.

"Ah," he says, and moves to grab an old box to offer to Anduin. "I had no idea you were a talented aquarist. Come, tuck your new friend out of sight and I'll recast. I suggest we then move ourselves into the shadows to see what comes of this."