yet another spooky jump in

(Ah sorry this is so late! I didn't see your reply earlier!)

When Robin left her room, Gifti was already enjoying breakfast. She smiled. "Right here. Good morning, I hope you slept okay on that old couch later night." It wasn't the worst thing to sleep on, but the young woman was aware it wasn't as comfortable as a proper bed. With her backpack in hand, she was ready to start the day, though wasn't sure if her guesst felt the same.

"I put that snake bracelet in my backpack by the way. It's still in the box and that in the bag, of course. I'm bringing it in case we can see someone to destory it." After what happened last night, Robin didn't want to any chance for someone to get under its control. She wanted that thing gone and the sooner that happened the safer everyone would be. She hoped Gifti knew of someone who could take care of it because she wouldn't even know where to begin to look.

"You ready to go?" The sooner they could leave, the sooner they could get a straight answer about her grandmother's passing. The redhead hoped it would be cut and dry, though with the older's woman involvement with the supernatural made her doubt it was simply natural causes. The more she thought about it, the more she doubted it was the case as well.

It appeared Gifti was well rested and even happy. That was a food sign. He was already eating a waffle as she joined him in the main area. Sparrow had made extra that morning for that very thing. Robin listened to the shapeshifter as he spoke. He was well-dressed and rather loved the couch. "Well good thing we're keeping the couch then. As for the witch, you think you could identify one? Assuming you don't know one of course." Gifti likely knew a witch around town. It wouldn't surprise the young woman at least. He seemed to have a few contacts in Echo Ridge and surrounding area.

When the man mentioned he was ready, Robin smiled. "Alright, let's get going then." She began to lead the way out of the house, grabbing her keys and wallet as they exited. She was glad to get an early start on their mission.

After closing the troubled door behind her, the woman began to lead the way out of the neighborhood. It wasn't long before they left the rows of houses and made it into town. People were out walking around. It was a completely different atmosphere with the Echo Ridge locals during the day. They were calm and almost carefree, completely different from what Robin had seen as it drew closer to night the previous day. People were simply going about their lives, which made the change come evening even odder. Perhaps it was because the locals were used to it or maybe it had something to do with them wanting to deny what came at night. The young woman wasn't entierly sure which it could be.

The waffles were gone. That was good. It mean their guest had eaten. Of course she also wasn't surprised because Sparrow was a good cook. She was too, but she hated doing it. The prep work, the clean up, the actual cooking was all tedious to her. Gifti began to talk about witches, which captured Robin's interest. "That's fascinating. Do other creatures have some type of energy around them too?" She asked the question as they began to head out, wondering if she could sense it too or if it was a supernatural thing.

The trip through the neighborhood was uneventful. The clouds were gray and overcast. Judging by what Gifti said, there would be a storm coming. She was impressed that he could sense that.

"What happens when it rains? Do the creatures come out then too? Or is it only a higher concentration of them than when it's bright and sunny outside?" Robin was curious about the answer. Partly out of genuine interest and partly because she didn't want to run into anything that could harm either of them. Despite being a supernatural creature, she wasn't sure how much Gifti could protect either of them. Of course she didn't understand a lot about shapeshifters, but there was only so much a Bengal cat could do. She didn't bring up the concerns with the young man as to not insult him.

The pair continued through the town, passing by locals and the many shops that lined the sidewalks. The police station wasn't too far from their current location, they would reach it soon. Robin grew more uneasy they closer they got to the station. She was never really close to either of her grandparents, but her grandmother's passing still had been hard. She wasn't looking forward to opening up those old wounds. Then there was also taking a look at the investigation. What if they did find something? How could she tell Sparrow? The thought bothered her, but she didn't want to think too deeply into it and jump to conclusions.

(I have Sparrow opened. I can get something up for him if you'd like.)

(I'll get a starter up soon.)

The shifter was silent for a few moments after Robin asked her questions. Perhaps he was thinking of an answer. The woman didn't dwell on it as he spoke up again. She nodded along as he talked about the various energies witches could give off. It was both intriguing and a little scary to know. "So you might not truly know if you're talking to a powerful witch or not then. I'm not liking that, but it is good to know." She continued to lead the way into town as they conversed.

"Ah that makes sense. I figured storms make things darker, so things would prowl around. I mean they still probably do, but you get the idea. Personally speaking, I love it when it rains as long as I can be inside under a blanket with tea or hot chocolate or something. So perhaps not all that different from you." Though Robin had a feeling the man's reasons for disliking the rain had to do with his shifter form. Of course those were just stereotypes of cats, perhaps there was a grain of truth with people like Gifti.

The pair eventually reached the entrance of the police station. Robin drew in a breath as she gazed at the building. She hadn't been there since her grandmother first passed. After a moment of hesitation, she entered in, holding the door for the shapeshifter. Once inside, the young woman headed to the front desk to speak with officer in charge there.

-0-

Sparrow was at the local hardware store for work and he was bored. He was more bored than usual, wanting to explore the supernatural with his sister and Gifti. Instead he dealt with rude customers and equally bored coworkers. The young man wanted work to end, but unfortunately he wouldn't get that for a few hours.

Currently, Sparrow was restocking some shelves. It wasn't like any chain hardware stores where there were huge sections for various material. There were only a few shelves dedicated for each of the supplies in the store. As the work droned on, someone approaching caught the man's attention.

Why anyone would think sending Jack to some store was a good idea he was clueless.And why he would ask for assistance he was also clueless.I was generally confused about this whole day.But it was of his friend's request and he wasn't going to bother letting them down.

Approaching the worker wasn't something he was fond of though.He didn't want to possibly make their day worse with his apparent idiocy.Tapping on his shoulder the large man made his request."Um,excuse me and my stupidity but where might one find a ratchet?"

Robin was surprised by the shifter's answer. The witches she was used to were always cruel and deadly. They couldn't be trusted and were generally old hags. Of course those were in fairly tales. This was real life where witches existed and were people just like anyone else in the world. It was good to know they were open about their powers, though that was likely for other supernatural creatures only. And the occasional human as her grandparents had proven.

"I didn't even think of that possiblity. Maybe no supernatural creature like the rain." Robin lightly giggled. "That's fair." He had a point. She loved the weather, but hated how her clothes and hair could become soaked. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world either.

As they entered in, the young woman noticed how Gifti looked slightly nervous. Was he in trouble with the law? There was no time to ask as they headed in. She doubted that was the case, otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to come. Unless there was something about the situation that interested him. A sinking feeling dawned on Robin, what if he wasn't as good as she and Sparrow thought? He had shown integrity when he he shifted into a human in front of the twins. However it could be a part of his plan. Robin didn't want to think negatively of the man, however it was an unfortunate possiblity she had to consider. What if she was bringing bad news into her personal life? She shook her head and shoved the thoughts away. She couldn't be thinking like that, especially now.

The man at the front desk spoke up as he saw the pair approch. "Yes, good morning sir. Um well, I am Robin Wyatt, granddaughter of Carol Nancy Wyatt. You might know her case. She passed away last winter and I wanted to take a look at her file if that's alright." Would he let her just take a look with that kind of story? After a moment of thinking it over, the woman added on, "This is for a class I'm taking. A forensics class actually."

(You can go ahead if you don't mind.)

-0-

The young man forced a smile as the new customer approched. He was tired and wanted to go home, but he had a job to do. Unfortunately. "Yes, sir. Right this way." Sparrow began to lead the man towards his search. As they headed to where the ratchets were located, a thought popped into his head.

Work was boring. He wanted to be out researching with Robin and Gifti. However in the hardware store he could talk to locals and question them about the stranger occurrences in Echo Ridge. With a newfound excitment, Sparrow glanced towards the large man. "So you new in town or what? That is if you don't mind me asking. I've never seen you come in before."

(No worries. There was enough for me to get a reply up.)

The man really caught her attention when he mentioned her grandmother was a good woman. She blinked in surprise. It sounded like he might've interacted with the elderly woman personally, maybe even had known her to some degree. "Thanks. Um..if you don't mind me asking, did you know her?" Her grandmother had never mentioned knowing any officer, but she also never mentioned she was a monster hunter. Of course it was likely wistful thinking on Robin's part. She wanted to know about her late grandmother and was interested if the young man had any information.

The woman nodded when he asked for some identification. "Of course." She pulled out her wallet then her driver's lience. It was a photo of her from when she got it almost four years ago at that point. She wrinkled her nose at it, but handed the man the card. She glanced at Gifti for a second. He seemed to have calmed down some, which was good. She didn't want the police thinking they were guilty of something.

She wouldn't know why the shifter would be acting odd. Maybe police stations made him uncomfortable for one reason or another. Perhaps it was the possiblity of getting into trouble somehow or maybe he really did have some sort of record. She would question him about it later. The police station wasn't a good place for that.

"Ah, very poetic," the young man commented. He found himself rather liking the customer despite only knowing him for a few minutes. Most who came in were boring, rude, or both. This man, however, had style and was interesting. That was probably why Sparrow liked him so much.

When the man mentioned the night, Sparrow whipped his head back towards him. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. Work had become interesting. "What have you heard about what comes out at night?" His voice was laced with curiosity and interest in what the man had to say.

Ugh, Norman could tell this man was going to give him a headache from now until he finally left his sight. Great.

Not only did it take him far too long to respond - which honestly probably wasn’t that long but Norman wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with and had never exactly mastered the art of patience either - but when he did finally respond it was a stumbling mess of...whatever all that was.

Norman folded his arms, brow raised as he looked over at the strange man that “wasn’t” staring at him. ”Well you shouldn’t be staring in general, it’s rude,” he retorted with a huff of his breath and a snort from his nose as he rolled his eyes and looked away from the other man.

Now, obviously by now Norman knew that whoever he was hadn’t actually been staring at Norman, however by now he had also pieced together that whoever this man was, didn’t belong here any more than Norman did...which was to say, not at all.

He walked anxiously, like he was running from something and afraid to look back in case he might see whatever was chasing him, his eyes had glazed over with a look that only an extremely lost someone hold hold within them and he spoke as if his mere existence alone was wrong and he should apologize for it.

Typically most people didn’t think like that about random strangers they met like two seconds ago, but it wasn’t really his fault, Norman had a talent for picking up those small, subtle details about people from the first time they met and this guy...wasn’t really subtle.

Huffing again, Norman sent a suspicious glare over towards the other man. ”See now that makes me think maybe you’re the illegal ones here,” he snapped at him quickly, feet dangling off the chair as they bounced back and forth; it wasn’t very threatening and probably made him look less like an intimidating person and more like an antsy squirrel, but he couldn’t help what his legs did when he was all needlessly riled up over something stupid, they had a mind of their own..

Time --
Yeah...yeah, the guy had a point. Staring was bad, but Time was new to that whole concept. He personally had never liked staring people down, but it had been something he had tried out every now and then. He could recall when he was a lot smaller and younger a moment when he had been out and about with his dad, and his dad picking little Time up and sitting him atop his shoulder while pointing at some poor random passerby. That's when his dad had given him some advice that didn't actually work in the "real world", and for Time the real world was, well, it was the actual civilized part of the world where there were rules that were actually followed and people not acting like complete and total heathens. But anyway. His dad's "advice" had been to look people straight in the eyes and stare them down, show them who the boss is, and if they wanted to try and come out as the dominant one then ridicule them by sticking a wasp down their pants. And if that didn't work then evisceration was a good idea, too. But if you did that you had to make sure you were hungry because eating the corpse afterwards was a very important step. Of course, Time had never really liked that advice, but he had tried it out anyway for the sake of his dad, or at least he had practiced his dad's advice once he had gotten back home, and being the idiot he was he had tried it out on his older sister. ... Which resulted in him being punched hard enough to knock a few of his baby teeth out and his face swollen for a few days. So for Time staring at people had been encouraged, but it usually had ended up with him being punched. Though staring his older sister down had been a really bad move on his part in the first place. 

But back to the point here.

Time was doing his best to adjust to the social norms of this world he had escaped into, and a lot of the rules here went against what he had been taught throughout his life. Staring had been encouraged, yet here he was now, learning that staring wasn't something he was supposed to be doing. "Yeah, sorry about that," he apologized sheepishly, a hand coming up to rub against the side of his other arm in a gesture of unease. He didn't like that he had upset somebody already, and he really hadn't been staring at the other guy, but he wasn't going to push it. Time could simply just apologize and leave it at that.

The whole illegal topic was brought back up, and instantly Time felt him stiffen ever so slightly. That last comment he had made had been pretty suspicious, hadn't it? He really needed to think before speaking. 

Yet right now, he was sure he was in the clear. Unless staring was illegal, Time hadn't done anything that went against any rules that he was aware of. And, like the idiot he was, Time quickly and softly asked, "Staring isn't illegal, is it?" It was a genuine question, nothing meant to be taken sarcastically or snappy. Sure, he had done a lot of questionable things, and still did ever since running away, but that was all in the past. He couldn't be held accountable for those things now, right? He didn't know how the legal system here worked, or how any legal system anywhere worked really, but he was trying. He really was.




Gifti --
"Ah," the officer breathed when, from what Gifti assumed, he realized he hadn't given his name in any introduction to the two. "Officer Swan."

Now with names out of the way, Gifti could focus on the task at hand. He breathed out a faint sigh of relief when Robin held to her word in wanting the shifter to tag along. He didn't think she would keep him out of the rest of this investigation, but minds could be changed rather quickly, especially in situations where the topic could be difficult on the person making the final decision. This wasn't just some run of the mill investigation after all. This was something a lot more personal to Robin than just trying to figure out more about these monsters. This was also about the death of her grandmother, and that wasn't a topic handled lightly.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Officer Swan spoke up once again. "Here, I can take you two back. Chief Galil's office is just down the hall here. She'll have the files you're looking for." Officer Swan motioned for the two to follow him on back. Gifti glanced over at Robin before heading down the hall, once again feeling odd that he was inside a police station in which he wasn't in for being in trouble or anything. He was inside for information. There was nothing wrong with that. 

It wasn't long before the officer stopped in front of a shut door. He knocked, receiving a quick "Come in" from a gruff female voice. He opened the door, peering in, Gifti sure with a smile on his face. "Chief Galil, we have two visitors here hoping to look at some files on Mrs. Carol Nancy Wyatt. Her granddaughter and a friend," he added, giving information that would have likely been asked for anyway.

There was a second of silence before a response came from inside the room. "Very well, I have some time to spare."

Officer Swan gave a nod as he stepped back and motioned for Gifti and Robin to enter the room. "Hope you find what you're looking for. I'll see you at the front later." With that he left, leaving Gifti and Robin alone to now face Chief Galil who unfortunately seemed a lot less friendly than Officer Swan.

crap i’m sorry, i totally forgot to reply here. D: i‘ll try to get a post up tomorrow!)

Officer Swanson, the woman thought. It would be helpful to know another local in town, even if it was just by name. Robin and Sparrow really didn't know anyone in Echo Ridge besides Gifti at that point. As the officer lead them elsewhere, the young woman glanced at the shifter. She noticed him sigh in relief. Did he think she wouldn't bring her with him? She didn't have much time to dwell on it as the pair reached an office. Swan knocked on the door and was invited in. The woman inside invited the group in, though she didn't sound enthusiastic about it. She was likely less chipper than Officer Swan.

Despite the woman sounding like she didn't want to deal with people, Robin was glad they could see the file. Her attention turned back towards the officer as he left. "Yes thank you," she managed out before he left. The chief didn't say anything to either Gifti or Robin. After a moment, she spoke up.

"I apologize for bothering you. I just wanted to take a look at my grandmother's file." The young woman didn't know what to expect from the chief. She gazed at the woman, waiting for her to say something.

-0-

Sparrow was getting excited. Not only was the man open about what happened in the night, he had the added bonus of not being creepy! Of course things could change, but for the moment Sparrow enjoyed having the conversation with the stranger. He rather liked the way the man explained things. It was unique, very interesting, and almost beautiful in a way.

"So, have you ever seen these creatures?" The young man asked with curiosity. After a moment, he introduced himself to the customer. "Oh, my name's Sparrow by the way. Sparrow Wyatt."