7th Howl [Text, Tuesday morning before school]

[professorwolf]

Good morning, Mr. Lyall here.

[He's given up on code names, hiding his name, or otherwise pretending he's not him. He's already given his name out to too many people, and it's just too difficult to keep track of things.]

Has anyone else had a visit from a charming gentleman by the name of Detective Jason Sherman? If he shows up, I'd be wary, just as a heads up. He smells off the way some of the other police officers smell off and he asked questions about Paul.

Also, has anyone been keeping an eye on that statue in the dead district? I've been trying, but I only have so much free time, and I'd rather not be too obvious about it. I know someone mentioned the possibilities of cameras? Or we could set up some kind of schedule. It's the only place we can reliably watch without risking arrest, so I think we probably should.

And finally, on a less serious topic... has anyone lost a ferret? Or knows someone who has?

Comments

[Text]

[shiromadoushi]

You met the one that's been in the Dead Zone for the past few days?

And my camera hasn't seen anything around the statue. It doesn't pick up anything at night, though, since it's a cheap one, but during the day, there hasn't been much of anything.

[Text]

[professorwolf]

I brought her home, actually.

So the camera is yours. All right, thank you. I'll see if I can't get someone with a better one for night, and place it at another angle :)

[Text]

[shiromadoushi]

I'll save the chicken for later, then. Or for a visit.

It was that visible? I'd thought I'd hid it well enough. It was the one on the 3rd floor of the yellow apartment building, right?

text;

[angelskills]

Mr. Lyall?

[Text]

[professorwolf]

Randall Lyall, biology teacher at the high school. I guess we haven't spoken yet, or if we have, I didn't share my name :)

[Text]

[angelskills]

So it is you! I'm so glad you're here.

Um, well, it's dangerous here so I'm not glad about that... but I'm happy to hear from you.

[Text, smartphone]

[wordsgate]

Wait--Mr. Lyall? Not Randall Lyall? Locke High?

[Text, computer]

[professorwolf]

Yes? Let me guess, another one of my students?

[How many of them are there on this network? This is worrisome, dammit.]

[wordsgate]

Yes, sir. A former one, anyway--Sam Iwata. The kid with bleached hair and a tiger mom?

...Well, "tiger mom" is an exaggeration I guess.

text

[unfearing]

I haven't been out that far, but I'm headed over to that area fairly soon. I've been meaning to get a better look at that statue.

Re: monitoring the statue - I could provide a wireless security camera if someone could help me install it. Is anyone up for this?

-Lizzie

[Text]

[professorwolf]

There is apparently already a camera there now, but it doesn't have very good night vision. I am not particularly good with computer bits, but I'm sure there's someone around here who will be. The owner of the current camera might be able to help.

[iaijutsu]

...I suppose it really is a small world.

Could you tell me anything else about the police officers, since you've looked into that? I'm trying to get together all the important things in a short list, since the longer this goes on, the less helpful telling people to read the backlog to know what's happening is going to be.

[professorwolf]

Small world. Someone else called me that just the other day :P Former student I'm assuming?

Well, first, there's another statue there like the one in the dead district, except with the heart on top instead of the bottom, and with the apparent purpose of making people trust Police Chief Edward. And when I was there, several of them smelled off, vaguely like animals. And strange animals, not your everyday dogs and cats, since I recognize those smells and I didn't recognize all of the ones in the station beyond "furry" or "scaly".

And to explain that, I have an extremely sensitive nose, as of the first. Beyond any normal human range. I can't explain it, but it's quite useful.

[iaijutsu]

Ah, yes. I had your AP class. Fujisai? [Since he knows the first name might not be enough in itself...]

How can you tell that's what it was for? It just...makes you feel like you should?

[Text]

[chalicejoker]

I went to see the statue the other day.

Haven't been sleeping well since then, I guess that's as good a way as any for it to try to keep me away.

[Because it's not like he remembered something that's been giving him nightmares ever since touching that thing, of course not...]

I haven't seen the detective, but I'll keep an eye out.

[Text]

[professorwolf]

[Uh-huh, not fooling anybody, buddy. Lyall is quick to ask.]

What did you see? Or would you rather not share? You can send me a private message, if you would prefer.

[Private Text]

[chalicejoker]

I saw weird monsters rampaging through a city somewhere...they were hurting people. Going to hurt people.

It's stupid, but I've been having nightmares about it ever since.

[Mostly because he was one of those monsters and he was about to hurt a child, but then the vision or whatever it was ended there...but he sees no harm in mentioning that he saw monsters.]

[twopercent]

Smell off?

[professorwolf]

Yes. He smelled like a sheep. Not as if he were hanging around with sheep, but as if he actually, really had some kind of sheep DNA mixed in with his. Or whatever that might smell like.

[There is a pause as Lyall makes a realization, and a second message sends.]

I suppose I haven't mentioned it so openly on the network before. But ever since my first encounter with those tiny sprites infecting animals, my sense of smell has magnified exponentially. I may be on par with a bloodhound or even a hyena. It makes no sense, nothing about my nose has changed, but there it is.

[twopercent]

Huh. I guess that's more useful than ...anything else. [Jack hasn't really gotten into the details of his Echos with anyone and has no intention of starting now]

I'm starting to sense some kind of animal theme going on here.

( audio )

[argents]

I went to see it for myself, that statue. After hearing about the first one last week.

[Audio]

[professorwolf]

[The mic on Lyall's computer isn't the best, so the response is a little tinny.]

And what happened? Did you get a new vision, as well?

[Since a few other people seem to have. No one seems to have gotten the nasty shock he did. Hmph.]

[argents]

[ Prof. you definitely need better gear! ]

It wasn't a vision. At least, it didn't seem like the others. It's so much more vague.

[text]

[abidan]

Smells off ... literally? Or did you mean figuratively?

[Text]

[professorwolf]

No, I mean quite literally. I guess I should put it out there more obviously, but ever since all this began, back on the first, I have had a rather phenomenal sense of smell. And some things just smell strange, like they shouldn't smell. I know the way people smell, and I know the way animals smell, and with that detective and some of those police officers, the smells were merged strangely.