aterat | Clever subject line goes here

Entry tags:

Clever subject line goes here

Who; OTA
What; Pupper Shenanigans, Moving Day/Anniversary, Investigations
Where; All over
When; Early to mid-April
Warnings; None as yet! I will update if they come up and add the warning to the header of the tag

( I can also do personalized starters if you want! just let me know either on Discord: WhimsicalSpook#8219 or Plurk:

whimsicalspook You are also welcome to throw a starter at me if you want, I don't bite!)

A wrinkle in plans... - Open to all

A. Network Assistance Request?

[ Llewellyn wasn’t much for using the network, really. Tell-phones were something he tended to be more than a little clumsy with. It did help, though, that Enis had put his on a chain so he wouldn’t lose the darn thing so much. So there’s a light metallic rattle as he adjusted the phone and peered into the camera. ]

Er... Hello everyone. I hope you’re all... well?

[ That seemed polite, and he was trying to work up to asking for a favour. Somehow delivering news on a case was easier than this. Why was work always easier? ]

I’m just uh- looking to see if anyone would be interested in helping me out with a little project I’ve been working on. Some of you already know about it, since you mm... were around in the last world I was, as well. Pretzel’s particularly good at following scent trails, and we had thought he would be helpful in the event that people went missing back then. Seems as important here as it was there. Especially since this world has a lot more potentially confusing places to get lost, like the forest.

But! Anyway, I um... I’ve been spending the better part of the last year and a half training him in scent tracking. Rhy and I have mostly been working with items and making trails like that... But I think it would be beneficial for the little fellow to get experience looking for real people now.

Also... He’s very sociable, and because the last world we were in had very... few animals... [ Complicated in ways Llewellyn didn’t know how to explain, really. ] He doesn’t quite know what everything here is. He keeps trying to make friends with creatures that aren’t fond of dogs. [ A small amused huff. Pretzel really was as awkward as he could be sometimes. ] So if anyone has a particularly social pet that he might get along with, it might be nice for him to get to know them?

[ An awkward pause, then a nod. That was about it. ]

Uh- anyway, I’ll be going then. Thank you for your time!

[ The feed closes. ]

B. Open Log

Pretzel was a very energetic, growing ~~wrinkle~~ hound. It was important to get him out for walks so he didn’t get too housebound, and while the move was going to give the little guy more room to run around? It was going to be an adjustment, and Llewellyn was hoping to keep his routine as close to normal in all the excitement.

Especially since Pretzel had somehow gotten very good at slipping out without their notice to explore the city in search of friends. Neither he nor Rhy could figure out how the dog kept doing it, it was a mystery.

Llewellyn had decided it was just that the dog was rather intelligent, and he wasn’t being challenged or engaged enough. So the best answer he could come up with was to increase training and give him something a little more difficult. Challenge the clever little hound’s mind while they were out and about.

Afternoons where he wasn’t at the Gullwings office, Aerith’s garden shop, or with his husband were spent on very long walks around the market... Or running around the park with fake scent trails and dog toys as he tried to keep up with Pretzel’s training and exercise.

ooc: People could either run into them at the park (especially if you want to handwave them arranging to help with training) or bump into them around the market! Both Llewellyn and Pretzel are very ~~awkward~~ social!

Helping out a friend in need. - Closed to Lauri-Ell

Llewellyn adjusted his hat slightly, moving down a side street with Pretzel trotting dutifully at his heels. The detective had a somewhat concerned and definitely curious expression on his face as he took a shortcut to the forge where his friend worked.

Lauri-Ell didn’t tend to ask for assistance or favours much, in his experience. They had their weekly lessons for writing and sharing books... But this was a little different from that. She had sounded a bit frustrated and troubled, explaining that something rather important was missing...

It hadn’t taken more than a half second of thought to agree. He wasn’t fond of friends being troubled by things, especially if he could help.

So off he went with a quick note for his husband where he was going for the day in case he didn’t make it home till later in the evening, getting Pretzel’s leash on and making his way to their destination.

I know exactly what I want, and it's this life that we've created, inundated with the fated thought of you. - Closed to Rhy

This was it. This was moving day. Well... Moving week, really. They had been working for the last week or so to get their belongings moved from the red and blue building to the stonework house that was situated in a small neighborhood near the market.

But today, in particular, was special. It was moving in day. It was also, amusingly, their wedding anniversary. Which had felt rather fitting for their next step together.

There were other things, of course, that needed doing. The house was in livable conditions, but it did still need a little work here and there. Some painting needed to be done to freshen things, some small repairs here and there, and perhaps a little more cleaning where it had been vacant for so long...

But they were both rather eager lovebirds, after having been searching for the right house for a few months now. Especially since this one had been perfect, hitting most of the marks that they had agreed on for a home, which felt rather lucky.

Llewellyn had been... Well, he was up to something. Rhy would be able to tell that much as they got ready for the day. The detective had never been good at hiding things unless someone’s life depended on it (and if it was his life, then less so). So it was clear enough that he was keeping something to himself while they went over last-minute plans.

It was their wedding anniversary though, so what on earth did the man have up his sleeve today?

“So uh- we need to stop off at the shop to get the um...” He gestured at the windows lightly from where he was standing next to the closet, trying to button his shirt and get dressed for the day. “The materials you picked out for the curtains and your projects? And I have to get some paint to work in the kitchen in the next few weeks...” He tapped off the list on his finger, forgetting his task of getting dressed for a moment. “Should probably see if the carpentry shop has some of the things we commissioned finished, too. I think the note I received from the messenger said they had Pretzel’s bed and a few other things ready.” He added, piling a few more things onto the list while he tried to decide on a green waistcoat or a blue one.

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She awaited her friend and the scentbeast (dog) nervously, pacing just outside of the forge. Outside being because Gili was done with Lauri-Ell pacing inside the forge. Still, the apprentice blacksmith was clearly agitated, and when she saw her friend approaching, she quickly turned to regard him.

"Friend Llewellyn. Thank you so much for your haste."

Llewellyn shook his head, “Think nothing of it, Lauri. I’m happy to help, you know. I’m just sorry that it happened at all.” He responded with a small frown. He didn’t like for someone he cared about to be troubled like this. Clearly, whatever was missing was important to her, and the sooner he helped, the better in his opinion.

Plus, haste was usually how he worked. Letting trails go cold could mean turning up empty-handed. “Tell me what happened? And uh- what’s missing?” He asked carefully, giving Pretzel the signal to sit and wait. The little hound wasn’t really sure what was going on, of course, he just knew he was getting a surprise walk and that his friend Lauri-Ell was here. Though the pup seemed to sense that someone was upset, tilting his head with a small whine in greeting at the woman, choosing to sit at her feet instead of Llewellyn’s. Pretzel had been good at knowing when people were distraught, all the way back to when Llewellyn had got him at the Sphere.

Which was, of course, part of why the basset hound had been given to him. Something to help settle his nerves and help him deal with some upsetting things that had happened.

What happened. What's missing. Yes, these are good questions. If only her Universal Weapon would allow her to see so small a crime. Well, it had, but not enough to follow a trail.

"Gili has rivals, other smiths. They do not like her much. This was not a fact I was aware of, for it has been 'calm as tits' lately. These are her words. However it is no longer calm. Last night, after we closed down the forge for the night, people came into the forge. She believes it is people under the employ of these other smiths. Many things were tossed and made messy. Gili will be spending the day righting things and restoring what is damaged. Or working to replace it. Even those commissions we had finished or nearly so will need made anew. But..."

And this was the sad part. It hurt her deeply, even though it should not.

"My touchmark stamp is gone. It was stolen from the forge. My tools as well, I can forge new ones. All smiths forge their own tools from the tools of first their master, then from old tools. I can and will work to replace those, but my touchmark stamp is more important."

All smiths marked their work, and while Gili felt that an apprentice needed to work up to the point where they would be allowed to make and use a mark, Lauri had attained that level. And she'd only just attained hers.

"We keep the touchmarks in a safe, well, Gili keeps hers there, different sizes depending on what piece she is finishing, and other ones for stamping numbers or dates onto things for commissions if requested. Or names. But mine? We had just finished it last night. It is a delicate process, made harder for me because of the size of my hands compared to the stamp head. I can make another of course, but..."

But it was a symbol. A mark that she was finally considered worthy of marking her own pieces for sale, rather than just imprinting her letters on smaller works she made for friends.

"They stole my touchmark. And I hoped you could help me find it. I know it won't be easy, because a scentbeast could not track the scent of metal alone. Or even metal and soot. But I found something dropped by one of the thieves. Could that be enough?"

Llewellyn listened very carefully, as everything they already knew or suspected was important. Even smaller details could be integral when trying to piece events together, and to decide which direction to start with. Though he raised a brow at the description Gili used to how calm things had been, even if Lauri-Ell hadn’t mentioned that it was Gili who said that, the detective could have easily guessed that the words hadn’t been his friends. He couldn’t imagine her saying that otherwise, after all. In other circumstances, it would have been a bit amusing to hear come out of her mouth.

His frown deepened, though, to hear what specifically had been stolen. Touchmarks were rather important things to blacksmiths, and what Lauri-Ell’s symbolized was terribly important given it was her first one…

Instead of interrupting with a couple of questions, he continued to listen carefully. Llewellyn already had a few thoughts, but they could wait till they were ready to get started.

Brows perking up as she finished her explanation, Llewellyn hadn’t expected to have something to go off of so soon. “Yes, that actually should be quite helpful. Pretzel’s doing quite well with following scents, and given this all happened last night… The trail should still be pretty fresh, especially with something to direct him.” He nodded, humming lightly. “Let’s uh- start with the safe, and you can show me what the thief accidentally left behind too.” He tapped the back over his shoulder lightly, having managed to put together some basic things for investigation. “I promise we’ll do our best to find what was taken.”

"The safe is still secure," Lauri said, frowning. Would it be worth looking over? But she wasn't going to argue. She nodded and moved back into the forge. "It may be best to keep Scentbeast Pretzel close. There are many dangers in a forge.

"Thank you, my friend. I will repay you."

Llewellyn nodded. “It may be secure, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t attempt to tamper with it. Might be some decent prints. We can use as a little more proof, especially if Pretzel leads us to someone.” Good to have a little extra proof, rather than have people question the reliability of a young scent hound. “He’ll stay at my side. You have my word.” The detective added, giving Pretzel another command to walk by his side, drawing the lead a little shorter in case he did try to wander.

Her comment about repaying him gets a small shake of his head. “No need to worry about that, Lauri-Ell. I’m happy to help a friend. This will be good practice for Pretzel, too.” If she was insistent, though, he could probably use a little help one day with repairs around the house he and Rhy were moving into.

"Prints?" she asked. This was not something she worked with. Even as an Accuser.

But with his assurance she guides them into the covered, but mostly open walled area of the forge. She is deliberately careful to move around the edge of the forge to keep away from work areas.

"Over here. Under the stone shelves."

“Yup! If we can lift some prints off the safe that aren’t yours or Gili’s, we can use them to compare against possible suspects, since they’re all unique to each individual person.” Llewellyn tried very hard to not imagine the slightly smug look that Murdoch would have on his face to hear him talking about taking prints, especially given the amount of times he’d found the man’s speeches on the subject so terribly boring.

Following her into the forge, he kept an eye on Pretzel while they went. The dog was well behaved though, trotting along behind them on his leash, nose in the air as he took in the interesting scents of this new place.

“Ah- thank you.” He responded, opening his bag and taking out the dusting kit he’d managed to put together and getting to work.

This was all so very strange and interesting. Lauri-Ell crouched down to watch the other man at work.

"How do you tell if a 'finger print' belongs to someone?"

Truly she had no concept of all of this. None at all.

Llewellyn smiled a little as he realized he had an audience. “We compare what I lift from the safe to those of suspects once we have things narrowed down. Everyone’s fingerprint is a slightly different pattern of mm… concentric circles and spirals. I’ll need samples of yours and Gili’s of course, to make sure I don’t mix them up.” He explained as he began dusting and lifting prints from the safe.

Well… He’d need Gili’s. Lauri-Ell’s would be rather obvious considering she had much larger hands than the average person. Still, it was something he could show her. “They won’t come in handy until after we narrow things down, of course. But it’s best to do this as fresh as possible, to avoid contamination. I expect Gili is going to need to make use of the safe in the meantime, after all.” Especially while they were off following Pretzel once he was on the trail.

"EVeryone's?"

Lauri lifted her fingers to her head to inspect them. Could that really be true? She wasn't seeing one. But this part of the forge was not as close to the fires and thus not as well lit at this early hour.

“Everyone’s!” Llewellyn confirmed, glancing up from his current task to see Lauri trying to see if she had finger prints. A small smile crossed his face at that. It was definitely too dim to see them right now…

So he dug around in his bag for the ink pad and a piece of paper to save her from squinting at her fingers. “Here, you can see them if you, um… press your fingers into the ink and then press them to paper. It will leave visible marks, easier to see than what I’m doing at the moment.”

It would also give him a chance to finish up so they could get to the next phase.

"I was not properly born. It is possible I was not designed with them," Lauri-Ell says. She does accept the tools though and tries to do as instructed, though it is nervous and awkward.

That gets a small pause, glancing up from his work again. “Mm… I suppose that’s true, if they didn’t want you to leave evidence of having had your hands on things. But finger prints are for more than leaving marks behind. They help one grip things as well.” He commented absentmindedly, moving back to finish dusting and taking prints off the safe.

Once he was done, though, he straightened and set them aside carefully. Taking a moment to stretch a bit from having been crouched for a little while. Instead, he turned his attention to Lauri as she tried to follow his suggestion, feeling a little bad that she seemed nervous about it. In hind sight, he realized he probably should have anticipated that considering what she’d said about her life… But he was pretty sure she must have prints of some sort.

"We wear gloves in the army," Lauri-Ell answered. So it didn't have that risk.

HEr life was, in strange ways, sheltered.

"Do we seek now?"

Gloves definitely made sense, he supposed. But her question gets a quick nod. “Indeed, we seek! Do you have the item for me?” He asked, adjusting Pretzel’s leash and guiding them back out of the forge. The hound seemed to get a bit excited, sensing the shift in his father’s tone. Yes, there was something fun to anticipate here! A game of seeking!

Because work to them was fun for him.

Lauri-Ell pointed to indicate a scrap of torn cloth. One with blood on it.

"There," she said, nodding to it. "I have not touched it."

“Excellent, that will do well.” Llewellyn responded, pulling on his pair of gloves. Taking it up and pulling a clean bag out of his satchel to transport it without contaminating the scent too much while they were on the move. “You up for the challenge, Pretzel?” He asked, crouching once they were at the doorway to the forge. Giving the hound instruction carefully, working from the signals he’d been teaching him before letting the dog get a good sniff of the cloth and watching him start to focus.

At first there was a bit of befuddled snuffling around the floor from the dog as he seemed to be trying to sort through it all. Then he started to look a little more focused, tugging on the lead as he caught the trail. “Off we go, then!”

"You believe it will work?" she said, hopeful as she strides after Llewellyn.

That tool was important after all.

"Has he recovered things before?"

Llewellyn keeps his eyes on Pretzel, letting the dog guide them as he trotted along with his nose and ears dragging along the ground. Lauri-Ell’s questions are good ones, though… And he had to be honest with her, of course. “I’m… quite confident in his ability, though I admit it’s hist first time taking on something serious.”

Serious as in, not a trail they’d set up for him or the hound catching the scent of someone he liked and following it to find them.

Still, he had a good track record with that much. “He’s excelled at finding both items I’ve hidden, and people he’s looked for, though. Even people that he hasn’t seen or been around in a long time- few weeks ago he somehow ended up on the trail of a friend who just arrived. I wasn’t even sure if he’d remember her.” He shook his head a little, clever dog had even somehow gotten out on his own and found his way to the woman on his own.

“So… I think we have a good chance, Lauri. It helps that you have something that belongs to the thief. It’ll help if he needs to refresh the scent on the way.” Which was why the cloth was kept carefully in something that wouldn’t contaminate the sent. They’d need it again if Pretzel found the trail got a bit muddled and he needed to find it again.

"Alright then. I shall put my faith in this scentbeast. Kree do not use creatures like them, so I am unfamiliar with how effective this c ould be."

But if he had faith, she would too.

“No?” He asked, dividing his attention between the conversation and watching Pretzel as the dog changed directions, leading them down another street after a moment or two. “I can’t say it’s an effective method all the time, but there has been a lot of success with scent tracking dogs. From the books I read in the last world, it’s something that endures through time? Even well into the future of my own world, from what I could tell.” So that said something, at least.

Watching as Pretzel paused, seeming to snuffle around in one spot for a bit as he tried to pick up the direction the trail went in, he moved forward and let the pup take another sniff of the cloth before he refocused and lead them off again.

“Mm… So are these rivals of Gili’s a problem often?” Llewellyn asked, wanting to get a better feel for the situation itself.

"That is interesting to hear, especially that you were able to determine this was true in your future."

She is definitely interested in all of what is going on actually. That Pretzel was happy to take a new sniff and set off again was exciting.

"They have not been before since I joined her."

“I did. There were some uh- unexpected perks when it came to the knowledge available in the last world I was.” He responded with a small shrug. It had gone a long way for figuring some things out. Some of it good for the future, some of it less good, but Llewellyn was the sort to take knowledge where he could get it. In times where there was very little to control, at least he could delve into something to focus on learning.

Still, turning down another alley, he watched as Pretzel picked up speed a bit. Llewellyn found he had to quicken his own steps to keep up, though he at least was a little more used to keeping a pace like this. Between spending so much time working on the go and jogging some mornings.

He hummed though, “So it’s a newer escalation...” He wondered what prompted the behavior… Well, jealousy and the business, probably. It was clear Gili was skilled, and that Lauri was improving her trade as well? Petty of these rivals, certainly, but people could be terribly petty when they couldn’t compete.

"Newer to my knowledge. But she implied it is old among them."

Perhaps Gili's rivals had been sick for a while. Or in Jail. Or something else.

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