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[sylvanguard]

Ariel appears on the network through the video feed of her laptop looking fairly worried but also a little annoyed.]

Has anyone seen or heard from Liam over the weekend? I know hes been having some troubles lately, but he usually keeps in touch with me. Except he stopped doing that Saturday. [Only she hadn't noticed until Monday because of reasons.] His last text was pretty normal for him so now I'm worried that he might have been kidnapped.

Before anyone asks, yes I've been to his house and no he isn't there and Jack seems to be gone too. I am really worried about him though, Like seriously worried. Anyone who has known him for five minutes will know why.

Comments

[sylvanguard]

Poor cats. I ope you don't traumatize them too much. I can speak from personal experience that traumatized cats act funny. Like my black one Naya. The one that tried to commit suicide while I was in LV? I'm pretty sure she'd eat Liam's soul if she could.

[She is trying to make this as easy as possible for him, breaking early and slow, and no taking turns too fast.]

Some of them are pretty nice yeah... I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[espigeonage]

Eh, they're fine. They can cuddle up to Suzaku if they get scared, he's the one who likes them. Some of them are all right but I'm not letting animals chew on me.

Maybe you should stick Naya in a carrier or on a leash and she could track down the man she hates most.

[He's trying not to poke holes into her ceiling with his claws - they've gotten a little long and sharpen as they go.]

Just enjoy the good while it's good. You can't really control the onset of shitty pulses.

[sylvanguard]

[The idea of using Naya to track down Liam gets a laugh from her.]

Yeah, l I have to look out for is the signs of hatred intensifying. Only problem is, I am still learning to understand cats. I'm pretty sure the burning hatred will be directed at me if I stick her in the carrier or on a leash.

[They're almost there now, as she turns onto the road that leads to the house. The road is a lot more bumpy now since it is more rural.]

[espigeonage]

That's a conundrum! And you live with her, so that could end poorly. Lucky you you have athelas to kill infections.

[He winces.]

Man, you'd think rich people would put in more to keep their roads maintained.

[sylvanguard]

Yeah. [Her attention is more on the road currently, and less on him, as she is trying to make the trip comfortable and stable as possible.]

I think it costs a lot to maintain your own road so they don't repave it as much. Almost there.

[espigeonage]

[He's peering upside down through the windshield and thinks he recognizes these trees.]

I think they're jerks. Living somewhere with two pools hasn't changed my opinion - though, the real owner's kind of a car nut, so he does keep things maintained.

[sylvanguard]

When we find Liam, you can yell at him about the road as much as you want. We're here.

She pulled the car to a stop and killed the engine. Need help getting out?

[espigeonage]

This one would more be on his uncle, I don't think Liam knows who to call. Yelling at Teagan sounds dangerous, too.

Can you pop the trunk open?

[sylvanguard]

Hopefully you'll find that he wasn't kidnapped, that he dropped his phone and broke it, and couldn't be arsed to get a new one and is just ignoring the network because he is knocked out on sleep pills?

[She is hoping on the NOT DEAD part of this all, and not kidnapped.

She hides her worry as she pops open the trunk and then slides out of the car, ready to assist Julien if he needs it. Meanwhile she is listening for the sound of Jack barking or something as well.]

[espigeonage]

[Julien slithers out the back on his own, barely manages to keep from hitting his head standing up, and shakes his head, then his wings and tail. White feathers rouse, puffing up and laying back. He can see Ariel's concern and hopes if he seems steady and sure that will help.]

We'll find out. [He's taken out his future smartphone] Let's see, security...

[sylvanguard]

I'll leave this in your capable hands dude. I'm supposed to uphold the law, not break it.

[Meaning her former park ranger training as a peace officer.]

Far as I can tell Jack isn't here. I should have heard him barking by now.

[espigeonage]

Don't you throw me in jail, Tinseltown.

[He tries to loop a wing around her shoulders.]

Ah, yes, ears that are both pointy and sharp. Hmm. Security's disabled actually. I'm trying to rouse it up but it could take a while. Guess I should see about getting inside the manual way. [He eyes the house with speculation.]

[sylvanguard]

Back to nicknames are we? [But she does smile and gives him a hug.]

...It's Liam so that means nothing about the security. I guess it means it is easier to break in. There is a front door and a back door as far as I know. Not sure abut windows and stuff.

[espigeonage]

Of course! [Julien squeezes her, careful of her side and the recent tattoo, and lets go.]

Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if he has it off most of the time. [He touches a scaly finger to his chin.] Now, I could boost you up to a window, I bet, but I'm going to go look at the... oh, the back door, I expect he has to open that more often to let the dog out.

[sylvanguard]

[She is grateful for his consideration.]

I rather not do any acrobatics if it's all the same. Let's just hope the back door isn't too difficult. From what I remember it's a pretty simple lock?

[espigeonage]

Right! Let's circle around to the back.

[Julien is fastidious walking, avoiding spots that look completely normal to human eyes. He frowns more noticeably the farther he goes.]

...yeah, Jack hasn't been out here in a while. There's no fresh urine, none that looks like it's from a dog anyway.

[sylvanguard]

I... am not sure I even want to know how you know that.

[I's a little strange and she does not want to upset him.]

So if Jack isn't here... maybe the dog got out and ran way and Liam got lost in the woods looking for him?

[It sounds very Liam like.]

[espigeonage]

There's a color to it. And yes, it is gross.

[Reaching the back area, he crouches to come closer to the grass, frowning at it and muttering to himself. If Ariel had had human hearing she'd have missed much of this.]

Should've taught me tracking like you said you would, but no, you had to go and- [He straightens and pitches his voice back to normal conversational levels.] I can tell it's been days since this stuff's been trampled around on, but I can't say how many or if there's a trail. It's pretty possible, though.

[sylvanguard]

[Don't mind her. She is just looking from him to the dirt and grass and back again with a puzzled look.]

Wow it is good I had you come along. I wouldn't have known that. The last text I got was Saturday... I just didn't bother checking my phone really until Monday.

[espigeonage]

[When there was an Aragorn in the game they went tracking a thing, and Julien could see what he was picking up on even though he didn't understand. Aaron was going to teach him Ranger skills but didn't get very far.]

I have good eyes. But, it's been some days and it's rained, so there's only so much I can tell.

[Julien heads for the door and fights the knob. His scales don't grip very well on the smooth curved surface.]

[sylvanguard]

[She shrugs, clearly amazed by his perceptive abilities.]

Well still better than anyone else I know. By the way, tried that, the door is locked.

[espigeonage]

Right. Guess he's not that bad.

[Crouching to get his head on that level, Julien eyes the lock and raises a wing, touches it with the short prehensile feathers around what's left of his hands and probes into it.]

If I could just... [An echo hits and he rocks backwards wide-eyed, tail pressing against the ground.] Whoah. What?

[sylvanguard]

[As worried as she is for Liam, it does get a laugh out of her that people think he doesn't know how to lock a door.] yeah he does have some se-- Whoah, what?

[espigeonage]

Got a pulse. I think... Well, let's see.

[Julien reinserts his allula feathers. There is fiddling and little clicking sounds, and under the threshold of human hearing he mutters things like "That's the next tumbler" and "Fuck."

Then the bigger click as he gets things aligned and turns the lock, and Julien straightens.]

Hah. There, you open the door now. Doorknobs suck.

[sylvanguard]

Interesting? [Ariel claps, impressed he managed to unlock the door,and then goes to open it at his behest.] So what your other self was a burglar or something?

[Opening the door revealed his kitchen, which was as usual pretty messy. She looked around before stepping in, hoping to god that she would not find a dead body once she was inside.]