Llewellyn Watts (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gadaboutdetective) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
aterat2021-06-28 05:09 pm
gadaboutdetective) wrote in aterat2021-06-28 05:09 pm
He just wanted to buy supper and go home!
Who; Llewellyn (And his Hollow!Sister) & whoever is around!
What; Hollowmen/women plot thing!
Where; Around the city, probably near the markets
When; Late June when stuff started happening
Warnings; Probable violence, Hollow creature, also I got wordy? Oops? I will update if anything major happens!
Llewellyn was on his way home for the evening… A quick stop at the market for something to bring home for him and Rhy to share, and maybe something for dessert. And then he’d be set. It had been, all in all, a pretty decent day. The detective was starting to feel a little more settled into this new world. Work was going well, and it was starting to feel like they were really building a life in this place.
He was still a little worried about the whole ‘Oh the directory was destroyed and the entities inside it are now roaming free, but it’s fine!’ conversation he had with Athony the other day… But so far nothing strange had occurred, and certain parts of the city were a little more safe for the average person to wander than it had been.
What Llewellyn hadn’t expected was to be drawn to a stop by a familiar voice.
“Llewellyn?”
Not a voice he expected to hear again, nor was he entirely sure he wanted to hear. It left a cold, hurt pit in his stomach just thinking about their last encounter… But he turned, eyes dragging to the sight of a woman nearly as tall as him. Dark, curly hair pulled up and tied in place, her garb casual but of the style of their world and time, Clarissa Watts.
Of all the people Llewellyn would have liked to see here, of course the universe decided to pluck her out of whatever estate in Europe she’d moved to after their parting and drop her here.
“Llewellyn, are you even listening to me? Or is your head in the clouds as much as it ever was when you were a child.” Her irritated, impatient tone breaks through his thoughts, and he chose to ignore the fact that maybe she’d been right this time. He couldn’t be blamed for it, though, not that she would understand…
“No, I hear you… I’m just surprised…? You have rather sprung out of nowhere, and I admit… I’m not sure why you’re talking to me. You did say you didn’t intend to ever see me again, didn’t you?” He responded, tone equally irritated. The usual concern that he showed others was absent, even if he knew he should be… slightly concerned. “Or do you want my help now? Do you want to talk to me because you find yourself alone in the world, without anyone to explain what you should do? I suppose I do have some experience with that.”
Alright, maybe he needed to rein in some of that bitterness… He knew well enough that she didn’t ask to be here anymore than other arrivals did. An awkward expression crossed his face, clearing his throat a little. Llewellyn still refused to look the woman in the eyes, though he didn’t really feel like seeing whatever barely restrained contempt she might still harbor there.
An awkward pause followed before a huff escaped her. “I just want to know what this all is, Llewellyn. I saw you walking and I just… I don’t know, you were a familiar face and I didn’t think.” Folding her arms, adjusting the shawl wrapped around her, she continued. “I don’t expect you to forgive me or to pretend things are normal. I just want to know what’s going on here and then I intend to be on my way.” And by her tone, that suited her just fine. “… If you at least humour me, I can answer questions you might have too, you know?”
That gets a sidelong glance, complex emotions welling up at the offer. Of everything she could suggest… That was probably the one thing that would get him. She’d been old enough to know them, to remember their family before the incident. It was so clear in recent years that there was a lot she had neglected to tell him, to teach him in the couple of years that she’d stuck around before she’d abandoned him for the life she’d wanted instead. “Will you answer honestly?”
Because when had Clarissa ever uttered something that wasn’t a lie?
… other than when she’d intended to use the truth to hurt?
He could see a grimace marring her face out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t have anything to gain by lying about them, Llewellyn. If you answer my questions, I’ll answer yours.”
“Right.” He huffed, and that was as much of a confirmation as she’d get, a hand waving in a direction towards a side street he liked to cut through to get to the stand in the market he liked to eat at. It meant to follow, and so she did.
Of course, Llewellyn missed the satisfied smirk on her face as she trailed behind into the alleyway. Seemed he was making this easy.
Once they were a decent way into the alleyway, no sounds could be heard from the street, it suddenly wasn’t Clarissa Watts following behind him, as the glamour dropped there was nothing but a creature made of bones, rot and rubbish that street sweepers would have swept up and out of the main roads... A bone here, broken dishware there, twigs and rotting wood from crates just haphazardly gathered together to make something in the vague form of a body.
A piece of broken wood swung out to catch him in the side and slammed him into a wall. With a yelp, he stumbled to catch his balance against its surface. A sound both shocked and confused escaped him as his head snapped back to see what he certainly hadn’t expected.
No, Llewellyn had never seen the likes of this before… One hand going to his side, while the other raised to block his face as a branched hand reached for him. So he ran, darting down another side alley as he tried to process what was following him and what he should even do.
Stupid, stupid, stupid Llewellyn. Should have known better. She wouldn’t have ever wanted to talk to you, anyway. She would have avoided you and found anyone else to talk to here.
What; Hollowmen/women plot thing!
Where; Around the city, probably near the markets
When; Late June when stuff started happening
Warnings; Probable violence, Hollow creature, also I got wordy? Oops? I will update if anything major happens!
Llewellyn was on his way home for the evening… A quick stop at the market for something to bring home for him and Rhy to share, and maybe something for dessert. And then he’d be set. It had been, all in all, a pretty decent day. The detective was starting to feel a little more settled into this new world. Work was going well, and it was starting to feel like they were really building a life in this place.
He was still a little worried about the whole ‘Oh the directory was destroyed and the entities inside it are now roaming free, but it’s fine!’ conversation he had with Athony the other day… But so far nothing strange had occurred, and certain parts of the city were a little more safe for the average person to wander than it had been.
What Llewellyn hadn’t expected was to be drawn to a stop by a familiar voice.
“Llewellyn?”
Not a voice he expected to hear again, nor was he entirely sure he wanted to hear. It left a cold, hurt pit in his stomach just thinking about their last encounter… But he turned, eyes dragging to the sight of a woman nearly as tall as him. Dark, curly hair pulled up and tied in place, her garb casual but of the style of their world and time, Clarissa Watts.
Of all the people Llewellyn would have liked to see here, of course the universe decided to pluck her out of whatever estate in Europe she’d moved to after their parting and drop her here.
“Llewellyn, are you even listening to me? Or is your head in the clouds as much as it ever was when you were a child.” Her irritated, impatient tone breaks through his thoughts, and he chose to ignore the fact that maybe she’d been right this time. He couldn’t be blamed for it, though, not that she would understand…
“No, I hear you… I’m just surprised…? You have rather sprung out of nowhere, and I admit… I’m not sure why you’re talking to me. You did say you didn’t intend to ever see me again, didn’t you?” He responded, tone equally irritated. The usual concern that he showed others was absent, even if he knew he should be… slightly concerned. “Or do you want my help now? Do you want to talk to me because you find yourself alone in the world, without anyone to explain what you should do? I suppose I do have some experience with that.”
Alright, maybe he needed to rein in some of that bitterness… He knew well enough that she didn’t ask to be here anymore than other arrivals did. An awkward expression crossed his face, clearing his throat a little. Llewellyn still refused to look the woman in the eyes, though he didn’t really feel like seeing whatever barely restrained contempt she might still harbor there.
An awkward pause followed before a huff escaped her. “I just want to know what this all is, Llewellyn. I saw you walking and I just… I don’t know, you were a familiar face and I didn’t think.” Folding her arms, adjusting the shawl wrapped around her, she continued. “I don’t expect you to forgive me or to pretend things are normal. I just want to know what’s going on here and then I intend to be on my way.” And by her tone, that suited her just fine. “… If you at least humour me, I can answer questions you might have too, you know?”
That gets a sidelong glance, complex emotions welling up at the offer. Of everything she could suggest… That was probably the one thing that would get him. She’d been old enough to know them, to remember their family before the incident. It was so clear in recent years that there was a lot she had neglected to tell him, to teach him in the couple of years that she’d stuck around before she’d abandoned him for the life she’d wanted instead. “Will you answer honestly?”
Because when had Clarissa ever uttered something that wasn’t a lie?
… other than when she’d intended to use the truth to hurt?
He could see a grimace marring her face out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t have anything to gain by lying about them, Llewellyn. If you answer my questions, I’ll answer yours.”
“Right.” He huffed, and that was as much of a confirmation as she’d get, a hand waving in a direction towards a side street he liked to cut through to get to the stand in the market he liked to eat at. It meant to follow, and so she did.
Of course, Llewellyn missed the satisfied smirk on her face as she trailed behind into the alleyway. Seemed he was making this easy.
Once they were a decent way into the alleyway, no sounds could be heard from the street, it suddenly wasn’t Clarissa Watts following behind him, as the glamour dropped there was nothing but a creature made of bones, rot and rubbish that street sweepers would have swept up and out of the main roads... A bone here, broken dishware there, twigs and rotting wood from crates just haphazardly gathered together to make something in the vague form of a body.
A piece of broken wood swung out to catch him in the side and slammed him into a wall. With a yelp, he stumbled to catch his balance against its surface. A sound both shocked and confused escaped him as his head snapped back to see what he certainly hadn’t expected.
No, Llewellyn had never seen the likes of this before… One hand going to his side, while the other raised to block his face as a branched hand reached for him. So he ran, darting down another side alley as he tried to process what was following him and what he should even do.
Stupid, stupid, stupid Llewellyn. Should have known better. She wouldn’t have ever wanted to talk to you, anyway. She would have avoided you and found anyone else to talk to here.
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“Your best friend, my sister…” He made an uncomfortable sound, not wanting to continue the train of thought. “How would they even know to look like people we know? It’s not as though we have things in our heads here, Harry.” And it had been so damn convincing. Or maybe he’d just been too upset and annoyed to really pay attention.
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"So... Spirits without corporeal form, capable of disguising themselves as people we know... Even if they shouldn't be able to." Llewellyn knew he should stop getting hung up on that part, but it was hard to not be sore about the whole thing. "I don't know if anything like this has been seen around this world before, but I certainly hadn't been warned about it like I was warned about those 'sha' things... So! It's quite possibly new."
And he's frowning more deeply, because if it was new then he would have a hard time wondering if this was related to the recent incident at the Historium.
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Or they had some way to know things that they hadn't encountered yet. "Maybe we're looking at this from the wrong angle. Let's go over what we do know." He hooked the leather loop at the handle end of his blasting rod over the latch at his belt and started ticking things off on his fingers. "One, they aren't corporeal, but they can effect the physical world enough to collect a form around themselves. Two, they can read our memories at least enough to construct a believable glamour. Three, they really want to hurt us, and they do that by getting us alone. Am I missing anything?"
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Because that seemed like a problem. Who knew if someone they knew had just arrived or if they were a disguised entity out for blood?
Harry was right though, and the detective tried to focus less on the residual panic from the encounter and more on the facts. Which... Was surprisingly difficult this time. "I don't believe so, other than perhaps it's hard to stop them without some considerable force? The one that hit me seemed fairly solid till you uh- exploded it with that lightning."
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"Yeah, they don't have much in the way of preternatural defenses. It was pretty much exactly what it looked like: a walking pile of garbage."
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Llewellyn shook his head a little. Walking piles of garbage... What was next? “Hearing it out loud like that, sounds so absurd.” He let out a long breath. “So they aren’t prepared for people who have other means of defense, only the physical, that’s a weakness that could be useful for people to know until this is over. Another thing for the list of odd traits that might help identify them. If other people have encountered them too- “ Though he hoped not, “Perhaps they might have noticed other things we could add to that.”
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He nodded, agreeing with Watts' reasoning. "Right. Why don't you get on sharing information, and I'll see if I can't work out a way to catch one."
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“I don’t know that we’ve done anything to be hated so much other than simply arrive and trying to live? The only thing I’ve been made aware of that didn’t like us without a given reason were the spirits in the Directory that were recently freed. Athony said they shouldn’t bother people though.” His tone, of course, was one to suggest he knew how stupid that sounded at the moment. “And I know when I tried to follow up with your suggestion to try asking them about themselves beforehand that they weren’t interested in speaking with me much.”
Llewellyn felt a brow rise a bit. “I’ll work on it, see if I can’t find out anything that might not have been as apparent in our encounters that was in other peoples as well. Might help you figure out uh- what to do on your side of it.”
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And they really didn't like them at all. "And they've got a grudge, too. Hells bells, I would too. You get shoved into a ball with several hundred other souls and forced to answer annoying questions all day while all the living get to go on around you? You'd be pissed off. I would be."
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"I am glad it's not crazy that I thought of them, I know I can be a bit paranoid at times..." He generally tried not to be these days, but it sure was hard not to be now. "Anyone locked up for any length of time against their will is prone to seeking revenge. Even if lashing out at us doesn't make sense, if angry enough... I imagine they could justify a lot, especially where we've been free to roam and settle as though we belong here while they were contained."