Re: My Little Warehouse

Zarhon Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:11 am

Busker follows after the clerk. "Is there something amiss?", Busker asks the clerk and foal.

Perception:

**Lapis-Lazily** Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:14 pm

Wraith seems to wrapped up in getting her new toy to notice anything amiss. She just rambling on and on about how awesome this toy store is.

Quietkal Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:21 pm

Crystalite wrote:Wrangler ends up stopping to ask directions from a dark orange filly with a thick accent.

"Foist left tha' way, then roight on Glenstone. Can' 'ardly miss it, mister," she says sassily before going back to playing with her ball.

The timber pony mutters a "Righ' thanks," as he moves to follow the filly's instructions.

Meta:

Elacular Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:47 pm

Meta:

Crystalite Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:31 pm

At Rockafilly

Sunspot has little trouble observing the goings on. The doll looks fairly ordinary, identical in fact to a nearby rack full of them... except for the fact that it's frowning; giving it a sad, forlorn look. Having come closer, you can make out clearly what the foal is saying.

"Where is he Mama!?" she shouts, almost hysterically.

Her mother doesn't appear to know either. Upon seeing you approach, she hails down the stag associate. "What kind of outfit are you running here!?"

"What seems to be the problem?" he asks politely.

"'Seems to be'? What are you at making toys that vanish like that!?"

At Golden Sunset

Following the filly's directions leads Wrangler to the hotel without issue. Upon getting to 2B, he finds it locked, with a Do Not Disturb tag. Farnsworth conveniently is walking down the hallway just then. "Hey Wrangler. Trotson's in there doing something with the vials we found. He chased me out though, won't answer when anyone knocks. What's up?"

Quietkal Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:01 pm

"Just catching up on the leads on yer side. A pair 'a guards showed up an' carted the thieves off, so I don' think they'll be a problem while we're here. The guards know about this room, but not th' other one." He pauses for a moment, before adding, "I guess that one thief knows too. Still, shouldn' be a problem. Resta th' team here too?"

Elacular Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:24 pm

Sunspot raised an eyebrow. "I've seen people do all sorts of things for a lawsuit, but this is bucking absurd." With a hefty sigh, she walked over and picked up the clown in one hoof, intending to give it back to the child.

**Lapis-Lazily** Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:52 pm

Wraith suddenly notices the familiar guard. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

Elacular Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:26 pm

Sunspot didn't seem to notice Wraith's voice as the doll sliped out of her hoof. "What...where...I-GAH! Sh-shut up! It's...where, I..."

The Pegasus guard hit the ground, front legs wrapped tightly around her head. She trembled for a moment, making quiet pained noises.

Meta:

Sunspot slowly got to her hooves, legs trembling badly and eyes teary and damp. She glared down at the doll and shook her head. Now aware of Wraith, she turned to her and shook her head. "What...what the hell was that?"

Zarhon Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:53 pm

"Well, that's certainly... odd. And hello there, miss. Are you, um, okay? Do you two know each other?", Busker politely asks, then uses his ventriloquism to silently relay, among other things: "Guess it's artifact time, team."

Audiomancy:

Crystalite Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:02 pm

At Rockafilly

The sad clown flops to the floor as Sunspot drops it. Eerily, it lands so that it's looking up at her. The young filly looks ecstatic as she snatches it up... Only to drop it again. "Now where did it go!?"

At Sunset

"Nope," Farnsworth replies. "They went on to check out their lead; some nurse's house, I think. I think they mentioned a toy store too. I wish Tromso had picked the other room, my project is in there, " He says, looking at the door with an irritated expression.

**Lapis-Lazily** Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:34 pm

"She was one of the guards at the hospital. She must have followed us. But that clown is obviously something cool! Ooh, two artifacts in one day! I'm so excited!"

Quietkal Tue Mar 18, 2014 6:59 pm

Wrangler gestures for them to move to the other room, rather than continue their talk in the hall. "Don' suppose they picked up anythin' I could trail one a th' patients from?"

Zarhon Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:23 pm

"Wraith, you know that part about being subtle and discreet? It's been defenestrated! You can look that up later. ANYWAY, miss potentially violent and/or suspicious guard who is stalking my friends! May we discuss things?", he pulls her aside, away from the ears of the clerk and customers. "As you yourself can see, there is something weird, kooky, and/or child-antagonizing going on here, and lucky for you, we're, oddly conveniently if I might say, the kind of ponies who can, should, and will deal with it."

"Now, what I want to know from you is three things. One, whether your intent is malicious towards my jolly little toy-shopping gang. Two, whether you want to help little fillies and colts in need, and thus ensure a happy shopping experience at the Rockafilly Toy Store for all. Three, whether you can play along as a team with handsome, complete strangers. Four, what the Tartarus that was that you just did a moment ago. Okay, four things. That was bad math, and now I look silly, okay, your turn to speak.", he ends with a huge grin.
Big Smiles, Sweetie

Streetsmarts:

Elacular Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:02 pm

Sunspot's head was still swirling from what had just happened, so at getting yanked away so quickly she nearly vomited. She hadn't felt this sick, confused and scared since the first time her wings had locked up on her while flying. "Ugh...gluh. What? No, yes, where and I have no clue."

She briefly took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, remembering her endurance training. As she often did when she was scared or confused, she fell back on military bluntness. "What I meant to say was no sir, I just wanted to make sure the disease didn't spread and that this filly was safe. Yes sir, I'll do everything I can to help remove that...thing. I'm not sure if ethically I can help you beyond that since I have no idea who you are or who you represent and I honestly should probably be arresting you for entering a quarantine under false pretenses and endangering a foal. And I very honestly have no idea what happened back there, but I can give you a rundown of what I experienced, SIR!"

Zarhon Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:01 pm

"Well, there haven't been false pretenses, really - we did come to assist, investigate, and/or solve the pox problem, and I can assure you that Wraith hasn't, and probably won't come to harm by anypony but herself. Your concern of spreading the disease is valid, but likely unfounded, depending on the nature of what we deal with. Ethically, you'd be making the right choice assisting us, so long as it doesn't involve dropping anypony from 500 feet. Lawfully, well, you've already tripped on that one by breaking quarantine yourself, BUT we're all fine and dandy with that, miss-I-don't-know-your-name-yet. On that note, I'm no sir, this ain't the military, and you may call me Busker. Or Mr. Hot Stuff, your choice. My lovely jade-mane friend here is Jade, and you know our energetic shopper already. But yes! A gallop-down of what you just went through would be appreciated.", Busker motor-mouths, before picking up a random clown plush from a shelf.

"Also, this isn't a 'thing'. It's a clown. A pony so devoted to bringing joy to others they sacrifice their dignity for it, an act of courage many can't stomach. Some of my best friends were clowns, you see. This one is a toy, and it's happy, waiting for a child to take it home. And the one sought out by that little filly-", he says, pointing out the toy-challenged child, "-is a sad toy. Why is it sad? Why can't she see him? What is causing this mutual sadness? And why'd she see it again when you gave it an angry face? If you've got some answers or hypothetical questions to follow up, that would be lovely. Your turn again! Amaze us."

Elacular Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:40 pm

The Pegasus slowly exhaled, though she kept herself puffed up to look bigger than she was. "My name is Sunspot, rank of Private in squad 372, Celestia's finest. I'm a soldier. When I touched the...clown doll, I experienced a flash of hysteria and panic connected to my belief that the clown was no longer there and was filled with a desperate urge to find it. After that my mind...it sort of felt like everything inside it ground to a halt, and when it started up again, I could see the doll. But it felt like...we, it felt like all the gears in my head had instantly rusted frozen then broke through it to keep working. On a related note, my head really bucking hurts. Seriously, do things like that normally feel like you got hit by a train?"

**Lapis-Lazily** Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:10 am

"Train, truck, speeding pegasus, it all hurts the same. Some of them don't hurt. They just kill you fast. Or they don't cause pain at all. I'd say more, but you don't have clearance to know about that stuff. I'm wraith by the way. Sorry I pretended to be an adult doctor. Sometimes it's necessary to lie to keep people safe. You work for the government. You should know that."

Zarhon Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:02 am

"Well, what we've established, is that touching and/or interacting with that particular sad clown doll seems to cause bad feelings, so let's try not doing that directly. Jade, think you've got anything on it to add?", he asks before walking up to the clerk.

"I can't help but notice the sought-after clown doll appears to be slightly different from its other models, judging by it's 'expression'. Would you know by chance if it was factory produced, custom made, or sold to the store outside of it's normal source?", he asks the clerk, "And I don't suppose the little missus is interested in the other, near-identical dolls available? Or is there sentimental value in the picked one?", he asks the filly and her mother.

Spoiler:

Crystalite Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:56 am

At Rockafilly

If the Warehouse has the tech Bunker is thinking of, they don't have it with them. And your stag buddy seems to have vanished in the confusion...

At Sunset

"Doubtful. You'd have to ask them. You should be able to find them though."

Zarhon Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:31 pm

"Now where'd that guy go? Hm, this could get troublesome."

Perception:

Crystalite Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:48 pm

Bunker can just see the Stag ducking through a doorway labeled "Employees Only".

The filly and her mother have also left in a huff. Add " business/client relationships" to the things broken by Artifacts.

Elacular Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:22 pm

Sunspot gawked at Wraith for a moment before shaking her head. "Right. Not a normal filly. In retrospect, duh. Do you think that buck had anything to do with it? Also, I'm helping you. Also also, what do we do with the clown."

Zarhon Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:33 pm

"Depends, did it vanish, or did that buck-o take it? We probably want to follow after him, yeah."

Curunir Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:02 pm

"I don't know, Busker... I could tell you plenty about trickster gods or famous court jesters, but I'm not sure if I have anything on clowns, or toys: certainly not modern ones at least. We should keep in mind that the clown we saw might not be the Artifact, but had just been affected by one."

Jade glanced around to see if there were any other out-of-place looking toys.

"In any case, I agree we should try and find that clown doll and that employee."

Spoiler:

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