Logs:Cherry Blossom Potpurri

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Cherry Blossom Potpurri

A discovery down an alley leads to all manner of filth

Dramatis Personae

Isaac, Nacho, Noah, and Sylvi. Lo'ihi as GM.

16 August, 2008


Some things just don't come clean

Location

Off Downtown, Honolulu

Plot(s)

Plot:Beyond Zebra


Even though it was after midnight, Honolulu was still awake and moving due to its condition as a tourist trap, a glittering jewel on the Pacific. Traffic had blessedly thinned out leaving the streets mostly clear of traffic. It wasn't hard to pick out the tourists moving from club to club, stopping to take the occasional selfies to update their social media accounts. Picking out the homeless was a more difficult thing, as one unshaven and unwashed beach bum blended in with another, and may very well have a job, a family, and a place to live.


Sylvi was enjoying the night in Downtown Oahu, spending a little time out with the shadows and making sure her knowledge of the island was up to snuff. Or, maybe she was just out having a nice, quiet walk while she made her way through the streets toward some specific destination. Never can tell with people unless you happen to be that destination, and even then, you can really only hope you're right, right? As it was, Sylvi's legs carried her in lengthy strides that didn't seem too overly hurried but managed to eat distance at a good clip. It was almost as if the woman didn't have a truly 'laid back' speed setting. Perhaps it was either this or a steady run.

Orrrr perhaps it was that Sylvi had an intended meeting in mind, and she was moving her ass to get there. When she came around a corner and saw a specific person ahead of her, about a block and a half, a wide, decidedly pleased smile curved Sylvi's lips and she lifted her arm over her head, waving. "Ooooh! You got out early!" And that was when she started to jog toward the walking form of Nacho, or as others may not recognize him, she started to run toward other people on the sidewalk, with her attention clearly leading by about a block and a half. Unless Nacho himself had been looking into the distance for her, he likely didn't even hear the blonde call him.

As for clothing, Sylvi was dressed in such a way that her assets were clearly demonstrated, if not from intention than from sheer necessity as clothes just weren't often cut to fit her loosely. She wore a set of shorts that stopped only a couple of inches lower than the curve of her ass at the hem and rested on her hips, the fabric looking soft and decidedly bright pink. For a top, she'd gone with a vivid orange tank top that looked to be close to the color of day-glo, but not quite, that left a good bit of cleavage showing along its scooped neckline and her arms free from the coverage of the ribbed fabric. From under the top the ties of a pale blue bikini could be seen tying around Sylvi's neck. For shoes, she'd pulled on a set of white Adidas with pale pink stripes and pink laces, and left her long legs bare of everything but the all-over, sun kissed tan that graced her skin. The long, thick drape of Sylvi's hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the back of her head and left to bounce down along her mid spine as she walked.


From within the shambling masses, Isaac can be seen. Shuffling down the sidewalk with no obvious destination in mind. Keeping an eye out for those paying more attention to their phones than their surroundings, he looks quite tired and possibly doesn't really want to be outside. As a concession against the night time air, he's wearing a long black overcoat, his hands stuffed in the pockets and his shoulders hunched. A rather rumpled black turtle neck shirt can be seen under the jacket, that and his navy blue jeans and black boots certainly make him less colorful than most of the tourists on the strip.

Stopping when a pair of tourists block the sidewalk to take a selfie, Isaac bites back a less traditional greeting and simple steps into the road, stepping around them and carrying on with his meandering journey. Spotting a flash of orange ahead, Isaac squints and looks over, a smile crossing his face as he spots a familiar figure. "Should have brought my sun glasses." He says, musing to himself and having to swerve at the last moment as a lamp post jumps out of no where while his eyes are decidedly focused on something other than the road.


Nacho was not, in fact, looking for Sylvi at the moment, but was instead looking at something on his phone. Whatever it is seems to be making him a little bit annoyed -- at least, he's frowning as he starts to tap the keys, presumably to send a text to someone. Or maybe not! Who knows what he's doing, really. And he does not, in fact, hear her quite yet, consumed as he is by the phone. Technology, man. It's going to ruin the world.


Noah was dressed in jeans, steel-toed bike boots and a tan Under Armour compression shirt. On his back, was an olive nylon biker's pack with a steel cap hanging off a loop of 550 cord. His black smudged hands were wringing a looped and frayed rubber belt as he strode down the sidewalk, muttering to himself about the advantage of chain over belt drives. Altering his course to take a line towards Isaac, he gave the man a nod as he neared. The edge of his mouth curled into a smirk, "You wouldn't happen to run an all-day parts store along side guns and survival, or know of one around here from a small business owners meeting? Because that would be really helpful about now."


Sylvi did, after a few moments, note she hadn't been spotted by the particular person she was running to meet, so she slowed a bit. Let's be fair, jogging should only be done by a well-endowed woman when she had on a sports bra or real bindings anyway, not a bikini top. Slowing up gave her the opportunity to notice that Isaac was giving her a smile, so she lifted her arm and gave him a big, happy wave with an even larger smile in return, white teeth flashing. "God kveldt, Isaac!" She kept walking, reaching up in an attempt to surreptitiously adjust the top of her bikini so she wasn't quite so close to having a catastrophic failure on the way to meet Nacho.


"I uh....oh." Isaac leans forward and peers at the belt in Noah's hands. "Sadly no. I know of a bike shop slash garage slash thingie but I don't think they'd be open at this time of night. Are you stuck far away?" Patting his pockets, Isaac pulls out a phone. "Do you need to borrow a phone? I'm sorry man but I don't know many bikers in the area or anyone with a trailer for that matter." Crooking his head to one side, he waves a hand in greeting to Sylvi. "Oh my goodness, she was jogging as well. My poor bloody heart." Turning back to Noah, Isaac finds himself gazing down the strip. "I seem to recall you had quite a nice bike. Will it be safe where is it? I'm really not doing much at the moment so I could give you a hand to push it if you like?"


Nacho sends off the text, and clicks his phone shut, sticking it back into his pocket with a little more force than is strictly necessary. Then he does look up, reaching up to rub a hand over his face before he looks around. First it's in the opposite direction, but eventually his head does turn. //That's// when he spots Sylvi, and whatever stress had been on his face from the exchange on the phone melts away into a smile. He starts toward her, though he has to wait for the light to change on the corner so he doesn't quite get there yet.


Noah gave the belt another twist, his lips pressing into a tight line as he shook his head. "I was hoping for a Christmas miracle or something. Maybe a tour of Hell's Angels will pass by with a stare belt. What's the Hawaiian equivalent of them? Beach Wizards? Fuck if I know." He waved off the offer of a phone, "I'd be waiting on a self-defense instructor with a 'Hey, remember me from the gun shop?', we want to come and fix my bike?" The man shook his head. "I'll just sleep in front of the office and pretend I came in early." He started to give Isaac a clap on the shoulder, pausing as he realized there was grease on it and settled for a 'white power' fist to increase the awkwardness. "It should be fine where it is, but thanks."


The sound of metal dragging over asphalt echoed down an alleyway, followed by clinks of shattering and bouncing glass. Silence filled the seconds before there was another crash of metal hitting a wall, and clattering to a slow stop. The occasional bystander that passed the alley way glanced down the way, but ultimately thought it get to move along and give the area a wide birth.


Sylvi chuckled as Isaac was nearly pawed with the grease on Noah's hand, then just shook her head and looked up ahead of her on the sidewalk again. This time, since Nacho was actually looking her direction, she lit up with a smile that likely caused her eyes to sparkle visibly enough for the man to see it from clear across the street, despite traffic. Lifting her arms above her head, Sylvi bounced and waved to him, laughing. "/Now/ you see me! Did you get off early?!" Why on earth she was attempting to have this particular conversation across a 4 lane road filled with moving traffic would be anyone's guess, but hey, she sounded excited. Enough so that her Norwegian accent lilted heavily on her words, making them sound like she was attempting to nearly rhyme while hopping a bit and waving her hands in the air.

Sylvi was obviously in the middle of attempting to start another sentence when she jumped back a little and turned her head toward the sound of loud scraping down a nearby alleyway, her shoulders twitching a touch when she then heard the glass shattering. Pointing at the sound, Sylvi looked across the much larger street to Nacho and then asked him really quite loudly, as if to make sure he could hear her over the driving cars. "Did you hear that?! It sounded like it came from the alley!"


"Do you at least have a sleeping bag?" Isaac asks returning the fist air thing for maximum awkwardness. "You might want to be careful with where you camp out though. The police around here are super strict with the homeless." Raising a hand, Isaac grins. "Not in like the night clubs to the noggin way but they will ask you to move on and what not. That and... well, you'd hate it if you woke up naked and there was a guy liking your feet right?" Isaac looks over to Sylvi when she calls out, quite unable to hear over the noise of traffic and the other distractions that take his attention. "If you're stuck for somewhere to stay, I can lend you some cash. Hotels are quite cheap around here and I don't mind as you're a customer and you have expensive tastes in ammunition."


"What?" Nacho cups a hand to his ear after Sylvi yells across the road at him, though his smile widens as he points to his ear, then shakes his head. Luckily, the light turns right at that moment, and he's able to cross the street and save Sylvi's voice this time. His steps quicken as he glances at the hopefully stopped traffic, then back to her. It's not too much longer before he gets to where she is, though, and he leans in to kiss her cheek when he does. He has either not heard whatever is in the alley, or has dismissed it as something not worthy of too much note. "Hi," he says. "I ducked out a little early." You're welcome, Sylvi.


Noah glanced at Sylvi, then back to Isaac, blinked once and took a double take of approaching Sylvi as he spoke aloud to Isaac. "It's like high 70s, you'd be a madman to use a sleeping bag. I have my woobie, so it's all good, but I'll keep the police and their homeless policing in mind." He gave Isaac the slightest shake of his head, "I got cash if it comes to a hotel, thanks for the offer though." Looking up to the sky, he whispered the words 'Thank you', then shook his head to stare down at the belt in his hands. The man blinked again when Sylvi pointed out the alleyway and he focused on it. "This is why I hate urban environments, there's always some noise or something breaking, no peace really." He gestured to Isaac and Sylvi, and even looked in Nacho's direction, offering the man a polite nod.


Sylvi chuckled brightly, accepting the kiss on the cheek and giving one better as she wrapped her arms up around Nacho's neck and planted a sound, solid kiss right onto his jawline. "I'm glad! I'd rather see you early than late. If I keep having to hang out at the restaurant I'm going to be very fat, ja? Will have to start rolling me down the sidewalks and riding me home like the log in the water." Clearly this amused Sylvi to no end, and she chuckled again, squeezing Nacho tightly to herself before she cleared her throat and stepped back to give a modicum of decency to the encounter. Flashing a slightly sheepish grin up at the man, she shrugged a little. "It's alright, ja? I heard something down the alley, lots of metal, glass... I think I'm going to go check it out just to make sure all's OK. You can wait here if you like? I'll only be a minute?" She motioned toward the alleyway in question, then reached up and rubbed her thumb along Nacho's jaw and chin before she started walking toward the alleyway with those long-limbed strides of hers. Yup, blondie goes forth to save the world, one dark alleyway at a time, with her ponytail bouncing with sure purpose.


"A woobie?" Isaac asks, peering at Noah and then offering him a grin. "Well, I used to have a blanket I was quite attached to when I was older, couldn't sleep without it apparently." Nodding, he looks over from Noah to Sylvi. "That's like completely the opposite of what I'd do." Taking a breath, he waves over to Sylvi and calls out. "It's probably just a dog?" Watching as she continues to head towards the alley, he glances to Noah. "Probably just a dog right? I mean, alleyways are notorious for being safe and all that?" Glancing back to Sylvi, Isaac starts to move. "It'll just be a dog and then we can all have a good laugh. Totally. Just a dog. Nothing with tentacles or more teeth than you strictly need."


Nacho accepts the kiss, though a laugh does escape him at her words. "Don't tempt me, I like a challenge," he says, but his tone is joking, since imagining Sylvi fat definitely takes a little bit of doing. He starts to say something else, but when she goes on, his eyebrows raise. He peers down the alley, squinting, before he looks back at her. "That I can do," he says, and he gives her a thumbs-up, apparently not all that fussed about letting her go down the alley by herself. Or, you know, with Isaac. He returns Noah's nod, sticking a hand into his pocket as he waits for Sylvi to return.


Noah stood in place, his eyes trailing after the departing Sylvi. His head turned to Isaac with the default expression of 'Why does G-d place a higher than standard capa of these women on Oahu?' His expression grew incredulous, "A woobie. Poncho liners. It's the greatest invention the U.S. Army invented. Christ man, you sell them at your store, and you've never heard the term 'Woobie'? Think G.I. blankee." Shrugging a shoulder, his bottom lip pressed out. "I've shot my trash cans more than I'd like to admit, because of a family of mongooses that love MRE trash." Watching Sylvi go, Noah elected to stare at Nacho, arching a brow. "Man... Are you really letting your girlfriend charge blind into an alley?" He shook his head disapproving, and pointed to Sylvi with a bladed hand. "Like Dive always thought me, if your girl has fine ass, you stay one step behind it at all times so you have the only seat that matters." Noah let out a breathy chuckle, checking the street and heading towards the alley.


From the alley, there was another sound of rubbish being spilled, and more telltale clinks of glass and tin hitting the ground.


Sylvi peered into the alleyway, unmindful of her entourage following behind. She narrowed her blue-gray eyes a bit and kept walking. Once she felt she was seeing the picture to the best of her ability, Sylvi walked with a surety as she approached.. someone. "God kveldt! Do you need any help?" Her voice was friendly, accent clearly dancing over her words as she greeted someone. "It looks like you might be trying to find something in... all of those bins? Maybe?" She dodged her way around a trashcan that had been upended, and dented, and had rolled a bit away from whomever or whatever she was talking to. She also, of course, did her best to keep her white kicks out of the mess that might have been left behind due to a lack of desired smudges on the light shoes, and of course a lack of desired broken glass filling up the treads.


Looking over his shoulder, Isaac grins at Noah. "I was taking the Michael. Woobie, blankie... you get it?" Chuckling to himself, Isaac turns his attention to the alleyway. The alleyway, the alleyway. Do not stare at glowing things. Taking a breath and giving himself a bit of a metaphysical shake, Isaac slows his pace as he follows Sylvi, his expression going from amused to concerned as his eyes start to pick out details. "Oh okay. Not a dog." Seeming to brighten a little, he cranes his head to get a better look. "but also not Cthulu. Yay." The last is said in quieter tones, Isaac glancing over to Sylvi and gesturing with a nod to the person with the trash can. "Not the oddest thing I've seen and I once opened a lemon party link." Clearing his throat, Isaac looks over to the figure. "Hey buddy, are you okay?"


"'Letting' her?" Nacho looks over at Noah again, staring at him incredulously for a moment or two, before he shakes his head, turning back to the alley. "I didn't realize I was supposed to have veto power over what she chooses to do." The other comment is just left where it is without remark. Of course, then the other man is going down there, too. So, he does not say anything more, but instead just stands where he is and continues to wait.


Noah raised his hand over his shoulder in a tactical 'stop motion' in reply to Nacho. "The moral of the story isn't about making a woman do what you want her to do. It's to cover the ass of your buddy." The man let out another breathy chuckle as he followed Isaac and passed to the other side of the mouth of the alley to lean on the wall. Glancing at Isaac, he offered a tight lip smile. "Are we really letting her charge in alone?" Leaning to the wall, he kept an eye on Sylvi. "Fine line between hero and fool gets sorted before the Pearly Gates."


The man at the back of the alley continued to make his pleased and happy slurping sounds with the opening on the garbage can held over his shoulders. "Help?" The word hissed and reverberating within the can in reply to Sylvi. "Are you police? If not, you could do me the favor of leaving a window open at your residence..." The figure let out a raspy cackle, "Please leave a forwarding address though, else we'd both be wasting our time." The man was dressed in filthy and tattered clothes, inked from the drippings of multiple trash cans, his skin was a sickly pink and yellow with boils. He turn in place towards the mouth of the alley. "Help? No. No. I can reach just fine, thank you."


Sylvi stopped moving forward, mid-step, like she'd just been caressed by the beam of a freeze ray. Of course, the stillness only lasted for a moment before a full body shudder crawled up her spine and had her pressing the back of her hand against her mouth firmly. A little 'guuuuuuh' sound came from her as her stomach threatened to empty whatever acid might have built up in it during the anticipatory walk she'd taken earlier. She shook her head and finally turned it to the side to spit a mouthful of forced saliva onto the concrete. "Uhh... Nacho! Call the police, there's a dead body back here. It smells... very dead, but dead as in dead man, not dead rodent." Sylvi's voice was attempting to be loud, but sounded a little thin, like her throat was almost too tight to push air through it due to attempting to keep her stomach down.

With the words of the man-shaped thing down the alleyway, Sylvi stared at it and cocked her head to the side. "Not sure just why you'd want a window open to my house overnight unless you were planning to come in and be properly met with some sort of extreme reaction." She spit again, attempting to get past the gut churning scent. "Maybe you should move on to somewhere a little less populated so we can get whatever dead person is back there with you to the morgue where they belong, ja?"


Isaac stops moving rather abruptly, not wanting to run into Sylvi or get any closer to the smell. "A dead guy? That's what I can smell. Oh man..." Isaac blinks and looks over the figure. "A window open? No, I don't think you'd like my place anyway, it's terribly cluttered." Taking his hands from his pockets, Isaac lets them hang by his sides, his posture tensing up a little. "Like she said man, you need to move on. A visit to a dermatologist or a bath probably wouldn't hurt either. Can I also recommend perhaps a 'you' day? Maybe go to a spa, get your nails done. Oh and your hair, yeah you want to perhaps dunk that in some water."


Nacho rolls his eyes at the man's back, but he doesn't say anything in reply, just waits. That is, until Sylvi calls that to him. This time, he does hear, and he frowns, reaching into his pocket for the phone again. "Are you all right?" he calls back, and he starts toward the mouth of the alley, though he doesn't go down it yet, just looks from the end. It doesn't take him too long now to get an eyeful, and his mouth twists as the smell hits him. "Ugh," he says, and he opens the phone to dial quickly, putting it to his ear.


Noah tighten his grip on the broken drive belt in his hand, watching down the alley. "Flashbang... Listen for the pop, check lines, weapon at the ready. And then I realize that I'm a civilian that should be minding my own business." The man let out a breathy laugh. "So much for a busted bike being the worst part of my day..." Noah took a deep breath to calm his nerve, leaning off the wall, and stepping into the alley. The smells didn't cause so much as a muscle twitch, his lips pressed together in a hard line. He took one look at the metal dressed man, before scanning the corners at the far end, and looking up the sides of the building.


The man let out a melodramatic sigh into his garbage can. "I swear I'd be just like Santa Claus. I'd slip into your place, quiet as a church mouse and take my milk and cookies. There would be no need for extreme reactions... You'd gasp with surprise the next day, and may even smile." There was a wet scraping sound within the can and a hum of delight. The man dropped the can onto the ground, causing a resounding thump of metal. He seemed more human, the sickly pink and yellowed skin continuing on his boiled face. Hanging from his mouth was a what looked like an oversized and warted uvula, inches thick and long to reach into the can at his feet. The fact is moved like it was prehensile, sweeping the inside of the can wetly to run through the liquid that dripping on the can before drawing back into his puckered lips with the speed of a tape measure. It blinked its pepto bismal colored eyes and tilted its head. "Move along? I'm not so rude as to disturb your meals."


Sylvi nodded once when Nacho asked if she was alright, though she did put her arms out to either side of herself as if to stop anyone from passing her deeper into the alleyway. To Nacho, she called out, "I'm alright, it's just the smell of the dead. Nothing a nice bath and some lavender won't kill out." Syl forced herself to swallow down the next mouthful of saliva that jetted from her salivary glands, and took another few steps forward. Yes. She was moving closer to the possible re-enactment of The Fly. Maybe he'd be Jeff Goldblum when he was done sucking down trash nasty. "I didn't plan on interrupting your meal, but... Now that I know there's a dead body back here, and we're calling the police, I'm just saying it might be a good idea to leave so nothing gets too crazy?" Sylvi blanched a bit, fading to a lovely, soft green color under her tan as she watched the probuscus of ick travel down into the trash can. "Uhhh.. and I think our trash is all good. So, the offer is kind. Really though, you look nothing like Santa. And I've been ruined for Santa, after having to get to know the man. A better comparison might have been like.. you are like the Amazon. You deliver, you know?" She attempted a little chuckle, glancing away for a moment so she didn't again attempt to gag.


"We have a service for all that and well... urgh. I tell you this though, there's fast food joints nearby, the alleys round the back must be full of yummy goodness." Isaac grimaces, doing his level best not to breath through his nose. Speaking once more, his tone becomes sharper. "I really must know though. The dead body, was that your work?" Raising an eyebrow, he watches as Sylvi takes the lead, turning his head to glance at Noah. "Is this how it usually goes? I'm really getting confused here." Lowering his voice, he leans closer. "Are you armed? I may have a spare if you aren't..."


Nacho holds a hand over his nose, angling the phone so that he can speak into it while blocking the worst of the smell. Hopefully. "Hello." he says when someone picks up. "Yes, I'd like to report a dead body." There's a pause as whoever's at the other end speaks, before Nacho gives an address, and then adds, "There's also someone who may need some help. Possibly homeless." He listens to whatever is said, before continuing, "Thanks." With that, he hangs up.


Noah stared as the situation unfolded, his jaw opening for all of a second as its tongue was pulled back into its mouth. The man froze in place, tilting his head a tick. "Well... You don't see that every day." Shutting his eyes tightly to blink the image out of his mind, his head turned to regard Isaac. "Like with a weapon?" He gestured with the belt in his hand, tapping it on the helmet hanging off his backpack. "I have that... And for extreme cases? Well, shit can get real if need be." He let that sink it, "Does shit need to get real? Because I'm feeling this fits in the category of surreal." His attention shifted to Nacho, and he gave the man a nod as he spoke into the phone, and his attention moved back to Sylvi and the figure.


The homeless creature blinked at Sylvi and turned its head with an unnatural swivel to look at the body, "Herman? He's been so quiet that I completely forgot he was here at all. Deliver?" Its eyes narrow as it moved with disturbing grace to the wall, its torso facing it. "Like the jungle? I'm not sure I get your meaning?" It paused to consider, "Like the boxes? They are terrible boxes, clean and plastic." Placing its hand on the wall, he arched an eyebrow at Isaac. "My work? Its pants were already undone, I just pulled them down farther..." It hummed a cheery note at the thought, its tongue reaching out to draw over the back of its hand before returning to its mouth, moaning in ecstasy. "So very delicious..." A second hand met the wall and like a human shaped spider it pulled itself off the ground so it could effortlessly place its bare feet on the wall.


With the creature moving aside and the talk of bodies and the smell. Under a pile of garbage bags at the back end of the alley, two shod feet were sticking out along the ground from under the garbage.


Glancing over her shoulder quickly, Sylvi shook her head softly. "This should be alright, ja? Just... keep the h'stkuk on the pants for a few until we need to worry about more than just getting the dead out of the alley?" She glanced over at Noah then, offering him a smile, and despite her slightly green pallor it was obvious she was trying to assure him that things didn't need to get /real/. "Surreal as it gets." Nacho's voice floating down the alleyway while he was on the phone with the Emergency line seemed to relax Sylvi even further, and she craned her neck around to purse her lips to him, blowing Nacho a soft kiss.

Naturally, when the creature spoke to her again, Sylvi turned her head back around to look at him and nodded. "Ja, that Amazon. Not the river, or the forest. I don't think either apply to the here or the now." She looked over to the side where the corpse of 'Herman' was laid out and sighed softly. "Well, save for the number of lives perhaps the area takes in a given frame of the time." Reaching a hand up, Sylvi smoothed her palm back along the sleek hair that ran to her ponytail, then nodded. "At least we can show the police where the body is. You should go, unless you want to stay to answer questions, too. If you head out, we can just let the cops know that we found a body here because I heard something and came to investigate, thus finding the body." Sylvi looked back over to the human fly sticking to the wall and offered a smile, a little pale and wan, but a smile none the less. "I'm sure you can move even a block or two down and find even more tasty morsels, maybe one without a dead body and a bunch of intruders to interrupt your meal this time? Is this your usual.. route?" Ok, curiosity might have gotten the better of Sylvi, because it definitely colored her voice when she inquired as to the 'routes' of the possible garbage monster she was talking to.


"Plan for the worst, hope for the best and all that." Isaac grins to Noah, glancing to the man before turning his attention back to the figure at the back of the alley. "If you haven't hurt anyone, I'm fine with you moving on so that the gentleman on the floor there can be taken to rest with a little dignity." Isaac sighs, stuffing his hands back in his pockets. Leaning forward, Isaac squints. "I uh, I don't think that's a homeless chap." Taking a breath through his mouth, Isaac starts to move forward. "I'm just going to check out Herman, I'll not interfere with your gargbage gourmet thing that you've got going on."


Nacho stays at the mouth of the alley -- and speaking of mouths, is attempting to breathe through his as much as he can, too. He does see Sylvi's gesture, though, and he manages a smile for it despite the smell. He takes a half-step back and toward the side, then turns to look down the street as he waits for the cops to come.


Noah stared at the creature climbing the wall, "Okay... Fuck no judgement, because now things are climbing walls. Give me desert, people killing people over religion, invasions, towers being brought down, and it makes sense to me. This?" He pointed to the licker and shook his head, thumbing over his shoulder. "You guys got this, I'm going to read a book or some shit." The man turned on his heel and walked out the mouth of the alley, giving Noah a nod with the questioning 'That's normal!?!' look.


The licker's hand stayed planted in place, leaving its arms in a twist as it slowly walked its feet up and around the wall. It shrugged its knotted shoulders, making a sickly popping noise. "Usual? I feed where I may, no one leaves the windows open for me anymore... It is the sad state of things. This..." Its pink eyes narrowed, "Makes them high, makes them moan, makes them dry and never to drop its chocolate again. It is wasteful, so very wasteful. Then one probably believed in the bald man with his shiny head." A long sound of disgust rattled in its throat. "Not homeless, you're right. Clubbing tourists are the worst. The homeless leave their presents, so I look out for them. Yes." With a ripple of light, the creature just disappeared from view.


Sylvi watched Isaac as he moved toward the body, but waited to follow him for a moment, looking at Noah and offering him a slight shrug. "I could blow your socks off with some stories about things weirder than this. At least this guy seems to have a purpose. And he didn't try to kill us. That's hands and maybe even shoulders above what we usually have to deal with." She watched him walk out to where Nacho was, and held her finger up in the universal 'Just a minute!' motion to let him know she was going to be coming out of the alleyway soon.

When the creature spoke again, Sylvi looked up at him and blinked, her head tilting to the side, before she looked over at the feet and legs of the dead man. "Det er interessant." Her tongue slipping back to its native Norwegian easily before she lifted a hand to wave to the departing creature "God Kveldt!" Because manners. Then, she walked over toward the dead man hot on Isaac's heels, peering toward the legs. "I wonder if it was the drugs? I mean.. Heroine stops everything up bad, ja?" She looked at Isaac, her light blonde brows raised high. "Either way, if you want to look at him, should do it the faster, not the slower, so we can get out of the alley before the police get here."


"Bad Santa?" Isaac asks, glancing over to Noah as he makes to leave. "It's not that odd really, it's just a weather balloon caught by the suns raise that in a rare weather pheno... Okay, perhaps not that." Nodding to Sylvi, Isaac approaches the feet that can be seen from beneath the rubbish. "His socks off eh? That's quite the talent, although I've heard it's mean to be just..." Isaac shakes his head, the stench of death ruining his usual good humor. "He doesn't look homeless so yeah he might be a clubber. Although, aren't those chaps more into the pills? This just has a bad vibe about it." He glances around, squinting at the air to try and guess where Mr Boils went off to. "I suppose on the plus side, he did lead us here so the chap wouldn't be left for the dogs." Saying a silent prayer to the gods of penicillin, Isaac starts to clear away the rubbish, doing his best to expose the body without touching it too much. "You poor bastard." He sighs, his head canting forward. "He's been here a while. I really can't tell if the chunk missing from his neck was the cause or just post mortem." Turning, he looks to the end of the alleyway. "You friend is calling the Police? Okay, well I'm not doing CPR, this poor fellow is way beyond that."


When Noah comes out of the alley, Nacho does return the nod, and then he spreads his hands and shakes his head a little bit. Whether it's meant to say 'that is decidedly //not// normal,' or that he has no idea whether it is or not, may be hard to tell. Then he glances back down the alley, catching Sylvi's gesture. "They should be here soon," he calls down, before he turns away again to scan the street. Not how he thought he was going to be spending his evening, that's for sure.


Noah shook his head, once and twice before turning to stare down the alley. "No, this isn't me freaking out, this is me taking the opportunity to process and assimilate what is happening. I'm also contemplating taking up smoking, but that's mostly to work the smell out of the nostrils." Noah took a couple of cleansing breathes, placing his thumb on his clenched jaws and pushing until his neck popped audibly. He called down to Isaac, "Death isn't a weather balloon, that part is processing fine." He looked back to Nacho, "I am a terrible liar, and I have no idea how to answer the question 'Did you see anyone suspicious?'"


The body itself was ashy and pale, maybe in his mid to late twenties. His pants were pulled down to his knees, strained brown on the seat of the pants. The fact of the matter, his junk was completely clean. Without a light, it was difficult to tell, but there seemed to be no blood pooled on the ground, garbage or clothes. The licker's voice echoed in the alley, "Wasteful creatures..." His hiss carrying up through the alley and it was seemingly gone.


"I uh...yeah. I don't really want to be here when the cops come or be the one to explain why certain parts of him are clean as a whistle." Managing to smile, he looks to Sylvi. "Or just really clean. It's so odd and the chap who veiled is creeping me out. You'll be okay?" Not really waiting for an answer, Isaac starts to back away and then turns and heads up the alley way, at one moment about to put his hands in his pockets until he remembers. "Does anyone have a moist towelette? Urgh..."


The hole at the neck was clearly the cause of death. The fact that his skin was drawn tight and ashy, struck you as wrong. His body wasn't properly bloated as it should be, compared to the other signs of decay when the white eggs over his eyes, nose and mouth. His body was partially preserved as the result of complete exsanguination. It got the gears moving, and your eyes were drawn to a wound on his thigh, 1.5 to 2 inches wide, like someone had used an exacto knife to cut remove a wedge of flesh. They should have cut farther, because at each end of the wound channel, it was clear that it started with two puncture holes. The one positive note to sink in was the fact that there was a body and it wasn't walking around at night.


Sylvi looked at the body, then looked over at Isaac. She nodded to him once as he stood to leave. "I'm fine here, Isaac. Go on, it's not going to be such a big deal and I can play hysterical blonde white girl just fine. I might just speak to them in Norwegian and leave it at that." She smiled to him, then went back to staring at the body. Her attention was... precise. Sylvi examined the man from stem to stern, checking each of the places of damage, looking over the cleaned state of him, and as she wasn't one to shy away from nudity anyway, she spared no part of him her perusal, though she did avoid touching the dead man entirely. When she finally stood up, it was with a hissed breath from between her teeth. "Blodsugere." Sylvi's face turned to something of pity for the man, then she simply shook her head and turned to make her way back down the alley.

As she came up near Noah, looking at the street to watch for the police, Sylvi ran her hand up and down her bare arm. The fact that she had wheels turning in her head was obvious, as was the fact that her seemingly easy smile was pulled to a taut line of displeasure while her eyes remained distant in focus. She spoke quietly, after an elongated moment of standing next to him silently. "Blodsugere."


Noah unsnapped his pack, and shrugged it off his shoulders to let it slide around his body and rest on his feet. Unzipping a pocket, he picked out a few packages of wet naps to pass them to Isaac on his way out. Scratching at his head, he lifted the bag to put it on one shoulder. The man settled into an aura of calm, offering a wet nap to Sylvi as well. "Lemon scented, helps to clear the smell from the nose too." Open one himself, he wipe the edge of his nostrils with it before balling it up and pushing it into the fold packet, slipping the bundle into his pocket. "Blood sugar? I think I have some MRE peanut butter in my pack if you think you can keep it down. I probably won't eat for a week." The man offered a faint and hallow smile to Sylvi.


Sylvi reached out to accept whatever Noah was handing her without really looking at it, only blinking when she closed her fingers around the wet nap and the sides of the packet stuck at her skin. She nodded, gave him a "Oh, yes, takk." And opened the thing so she could sniff at the lemon scent. She closed her eyes a moment, then took another breath. "It's only a dead man, and the scent will leave the nostrils once you replace it, or you could always rip out your nostril hair to get rid of the smell faster." Syl opened her gray-blue eyes and looked at Noah with a soft smile. "Your body will be ready to eat quite soon, even if your mind doesn't want it to be, but I believe you know that already. And I didn't mean the sugar of the blood, like from food. It was my fault for saying it other than in English, ja? Blood suckers. Vampires. He was drained of all of his blood, from a bite at the neck and at the thigh."

Sylvi slid her fingers along her neck where the man was cut into, and then moved her hand down to her thigh to mark across her artery, where the man had been bitten. "They didn't remove the puncture wounds well enough. They were sloppy." She rolled her shoulders, then leaned her her head to the side, popping several vertebrae, then doing it to the other side to pop the rest. "Sloppy and murderous drinkers of blood don't happen as often as they once did, but this... I'm fairly sure this is going to be a bigger problem. The thing that cleaned him was far less a problem than the cause of the corpse in the first place. At least he wasn't desecrating the dead, but cleansing him. Almost performing a kindness in his own way, even if it wasn't his reason for doing so."


Noah moved at leaned against the wall to the alleyway, watching out over the street, and those moving about at the hour. He gave her an open handed gesture, "I've been out of the service for over two years, and I still can't put the MREs down. Save the wet naps and Tabasco just in case." Watching her out the corner of his eye as she explained what had happened to the victim, his chin wrinkling as he pressed his bottom lip against the top. "Now vampires I've heard a thing or two about, mostly rumors though. A war is an easy place to hide bodies... I didn't really put much credit in a whispering troops. I thought of it as a coping mechanism, a few troops dehumanizing the enemy." Noah rubbed his face, his chest shaking with a soundless laugh. "It's easy to judge a book by its cover. I glad you went in first. Kept the situation calm, and stopped it from turning violent." His eyes refocused on the street as he took a deep breath. "A man has way more blood in them than most think. If it was for food, I'd understand. But there is time between the first drink and the last. Time to recognize that it is more than a simple feeding. The breath gets shallow, the body relaxes... And there's a point when you can see the light leave a person's eyes. That point they stop being human and they become a corpse." Reaching back towards his pack, he fished out a small case to get a business card, offering it in Sylvi's direction, "I'm not completely useless in spite of what my hip says. I've been a monster for a long time... So if I can help you, I will."


Sylvi reached out to accept the card that Noah offered, looking at it and nodding her head. "Nice to meet you, Noah. I'm Sylvi. And I really hope I never need more of a monster than I am when necessary. But, I'm sure there are other things you're good at." She offered out her right hand for a proper handshake, and gave Noah a warm smile. "There are too many things that people don't understand to go crazy at the beginning. I try to hold off on that until I know that something is a real problem, but it's not always easy depending on what you see in the beginning of a situation. And despite all of that, I was nearly eaten by a shark in a hot spring not two months ago. So, you never can tell. Even if it was only hungry, I suppose I couldn't very well let him rip my leg off to sate the pangs."

Sylvi patted at her own hip, then oddly patted at her chest, just over the curves of her breasts, then chuckled. "I don't have any cards on me, I was just expecting to meet up with Nacho and walk back home for some dinner and sex, I didn't figure to be needing a card. I work in personal security, keeping people safe from those that would harm or kill them. I've even gone through some of the training you have, if not in a different arena." She winked to Noah.


Noah leaned off the wall to square his shoulders with the woman before reaching out and giving her a firm handshake. He offered a ghost of a smile, "Don't let the DOD line fool you, it's not like I have a black ops team on standby." Managing a breathy chuckle, he took a deep breath. "I feel like the Brit isn't Nacho, so I'm going to assume he's the other guy. The next time you have his full attention, you should tell him to stay close to your ass. It draws the eyes, and a jealous man would eat up having to fight every guy that passes you down the sidewalk." Noah leaned up on the wall, waiting for the distant sirens. "Personal security? I feel like most assholes that could afford it are likely the last assholes that deserve to be protected. You have my sympathy." He breathed out a laugh and shook his head, his expression sobering. "I guess you can expect a shark to do shark things." He nodded to the alley, "If it's how you say it is, it went way past a simple feeding."


Sylvi's handshake was firm as well, and her skin wasn't entirely smooth, instead there was a ridge of notable callouses along her fingertips, just past the first knuckle. "Don't worry, I do have a team of black ops equivalent standing by." Sylvi smiled softly and nodded to him. "I appreciate your concern for Ignacio being able to worry properly about my ass, but I promise you, I tend to worry about my own. He knows what I do, what I am, and knows full well I can take care of myself entirely. He doesn't have to worry. In fact, it's more likely I should keep a closer eye on /his/ ass if anything." Sylvi chuckled, not at all worried, it would seem. "Personal security in so far as I usually have to protect someone important from something that wants them dead. It's not a terrible gig, and I travel all over the world. It's actually why I'm on Oahu, I was sent here by the company I work for." Sylvi looked at Noah for a long moment, her attention suddenly sharper on the man as she studied his facial features, careful, precise, but didn't quite meet his eyes for more than a scant second. "And the shark is dead, both of them are, actually. As it grew legs and walked on land, coming out of the hot spring. I don't know if I could have left it swimming in the hot spring in good conscience, really, knowing someone else would have jumped in and been eaten."


Noah made an expression akin to someone who wanted to laugh something off when they caught someone trying to pull their leg as he listened. The laugh never came. Rather he gave the slightest of nods in reply. "So you work for a company like Blackwater USA who happens to keep walking sharks on their radar because ignoring the possibility of them and hunger madden vampires would be the opposite of security?" The man sighed, "I seriously think my career counselor lacked vision when she went over job opportunities with me." His gaze picked up off the ground, and he regarded again, "It sounds like solid work. And not that I'm knocking it, thank for clearing the hot spring. What does your company think of you taking on extra work like that? It seems like some bean counter would complain about you deep sixing the possibility of a contract."


Sylvi just shrugged slightly. "I'm pretty sure they'd rather I were alive and fully functional instead of recovering in a hospital somewhere and figuring out just what I should do to regrow a leg. I have no doubt they'd get pissed if I went full fledged after a nest of vampires in the area without clearing it through them, first, though." She glanced back at the alleyway and sighed. "That, and I wasn't alone at the springs. There were other people there, people that helped. People that were hurt. When it's not just about me I tend to worry far less for paperwork than I likely should." Sylvi's eyes glittered slightly as she gave Noah a lopsided smile. "The paperwork is the bane of all the things, really." When she smiled a little wider, and finally let out a slow, rolling laugh, Sylvi did so at the same time she reached over and gripped Noah's shoulder firmly, squeezing and shaking him slightly as she did so.

She certainly wasn't attempting to hurt him, but the grip was obviously one of a person that could have probably picked him up and benched pressed him over her head. Scratch probably, really, because he could /see/ the musculature in her arms and know it wasn't even bunched with effort. "I would say you should put in an application, Noah Dunn. But I don't believe you'd like the requisite body modifications." She winked to him. "Still, if you're ever looking for work I could possibly give you some sub-contracts. I'm not at all unwilling to spread all of the love around to those that might want some." Sylvi let go of Noah's shoulder then and clapped him once on it, making a dull thud. "I'm going to go see where the sweet boy of mine has gone off to, because I seriously need sex after all of this. You have a good night, though. And feel free to leave, I'll talk to the cops with Nacho and make sure they realize I can barely speak the English enough to even help them figure out more than where the body is." Sylvi lifted her brows up a couple of times playfully, and allowed her long legs to carry her off toward where Nacho was waiting for her and the cops.


Noah took at all in good humor, even letting out a laugh along the way. "Do you have any idea the number of inventory checks involved with the government track explosives? Just from the ones I've filled out, I'm likely personally responsible for a deforestation of a third world nation." He nodded in agreement, "Thank you again, Sylvi. I suppose I'll give them my statement as well. You have yourself a good night, hope you have an iron bed frame..." The man shook his head, and headed over to the cops to wait and give his statement.