Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 2b: Skeleton Key

[Dawn OOC]

Renata found her hanger easily enough, but on her way back, she found that she had to detour around the quad. Several others were there, and they had attracted the attention of the sheriff. It was perfect for her, and she scurried back to the car - and to Victory!

Click to reveal..

Renata, Dex+Larceny, please.

[SalmonMax]

Renata hastily unravels the coat hanger into a hook on a wire and fumbles it between the window and door like she'd seen done before. Unfortunately, she never learned how exactly to do it, and found the inside of the car door to be a confusing maze of holes and protrusions and other, less identifiable, things. None of which, it turned out, controlled the door lock.

With a scowl and a quick look around, she jammed the hook back into a wire ball and into her pocket, then hurried to the side of the lot and hunted for a decent-sized rock. On finding one a little bigger than her fist she went back and before she could think too hard about what she was doing, smashed a hole in the driver's side window. Instantly the car started blaring an alarm. She froze and controlled her urge to flee.

Still have a few minutes. Even if he hears it and recognizes it, he's clear out in the quad. Can't stop now.

From there she cleared the glass out with her jacket and with her jacket around her fingers unlocked the door. It took a minute to find the trunk release, which she operated the same way...jacket around fingers.

She'd have to let him know it was her soon, but she'd rather it was on her terms, not his.

Then Renata ran around to the open trunk, grabbed the tied off plastic trash bag, and slammed it shut again...and then she ran, fast, back around the long way to campus, avoiding the quad. Behind the library she paused to catch her breath and start thinking of hiding places.

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Where is everyone?"

Standing in the dayroom, letters tucked carefully into a small envelope and clutched tightly in fingers that didn't quite tremble, Sylvia looked around. Lancaster was as quiet as a tomb, without a hint of the usual low drone of stereos and chatter provided by the student body. Indeed, the only sound was a car alarm, somewhere in the distance.

Were they still outside somewhere, after finding the body (a non-human body, she knew now with intense academic curiosity)? Had some of these others - these "Caramines" - returned in their decades-long feud? Had they stumbled across one of these "Doors", the existence of which granted a hopeless jumble of answer and questions? Where were her charges?!?

Concern and consternation dueled for control of her facial features... and something else besides. It took a moment for the anthropologist to realize that the low growl was coming from her own throat.

[Zack]

Zack made it back to the dorm without incident. He wanted nothing more than to retrat to his private room, but he knew he needed to see if anyone else had made it back yet. For that reason he headed to the Common room and was suprised to see Ms. Dorn standing there.

He smiled and nodded. "Hey Ms. Dorn." He looked at her hand clutching the envelope. "Did you find out anything else about our little incident. My Dad's going to want some sort of explanation, and I was hoping that whatever you'd taken would help me give him one."

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia didn't quite jump at Zack's return. But it was close. She'd been a bit too startled by that fact that she had apparently growled to pay much attention to her surroundings.

Still, seeing Zach was, if not serendipitous, at least very convenienct, and she recovered quickly.

"I may have actually found something, yes. I..." She hesitated. Bringing someone else into this mess - into your secret, something whispered within Sylvia's mind - had risks. The entire situation was insane. But those bones had been all too real, and so was the letter in her pocket.

"I was wondering," she tried again, "if it might be possible for your father and I to talk? He was a student here in the mid-1970s, and might have some insight on what's happening. It might also save you the trouble of having to explain all this," she added with a friendly little smile (something that none of the students were used to seeing on the infamous Miss Dorn's face).

[Zack]

The smile put him off. Ms. Dorn did NOT smile, not that he'd ever seen. I have to call him later on,if you want I can just ask him to come here. It wouldn't be too much trouble, and I think he wouldn't mind."

He smiles. "That said, Ms. Dorn, I'd like to know what's going on as well. I heard the music like everyone else, I want to understand what's happening here. I just saw two students look like a big dog mauled them, yet neither seemed willing to go to the doctor for it. Mr. Burke damn near ignored me when i asked what happened."

"There's alot going on here that I just don't know, and considering how long I've been here that bothers me."

[Sylvia Dorn]

The smile wavered just a touch before slipping into something far more disturbing: a careful neutrality that could conceal anything from deep concern to murderous intent. Sylvia's voice took an even tone as she replied to the young man.

"There is something going on here, of that there's no doubt. My hope is that your father, who was here the last time things went awry, might be able to shed some additional light on the situation. If this needs to be a three-way call, then so be it, though it is possible that I may need to speak privately with your father regarding certain details.

"And believe me: I will be speaking with Mr. Burke. Is that acceptable?"

[Zack]

"I wasn't speaking of a call, more like I have him come here to talk. Considering how he sounded, I think he'll come. If not than I can just take him on and off speakerphone."

He smiles. "Hopefully we can work this out."

[Sylvia Dorn]

She smiled once more, and that proved the trifecta to the Day of Ms. Dorn's Creepy Expressions. "Face-to-face would be wonderful, if he's willing to come. Earliest convenience, all things considered."

With that, the house-mother of Lancaster turned to prowl her halls.

[z022]

Lucia had followed behind Renata, wondering exactly what the girl was up to. Once it became obvious, the student body president silently gave the girl points for guts and wondered if she should take them back for probable sheer stupidity. She followed the girl all the way from the theft to the pause at the quad. She stepped up behind Renata and spoke quietly and quickly.

"C'mon. They'll rip up the campus looking for that, but they can't make too much of a commotion without people asking too many questions about it." She grinned at the other girl, "So we have to hide it somewhere public, like in the storage room of the science department. We tag the bones with a reference number and put a records sheet in the file in there, make it look like it's been there for a while. Then we go tell Ms. Dorn, since she seems to have the same idea as us on just how much to trust the sheriff. Sound good to you?"

[SalmonMax]

Renata jumped and whirled at the voice from behind. For a second her heart felt like it would explode...then she heard what Lucia was saying, and she relaxed a bit outside. Inside she seethed. Who did she think she was, trying to take over like this? The bones were hers. She'd taken all the risks to get them, after all!

But she had to play it cool. If she went off, then this girl would run off to Dorn, and that'd set up a whole lot of shit that would complicate her life.

"I was thinking something else," she replies guardedly. "He could get dogs on this without many questions since something was obviously taken from his car. Dogs would track this to a storage room easy."

She looked around, then back at Lucia. "What's your name again? I saw you at the stable, but we didn't exactly exchange introductions."

[z022]

Lucia arched a brow, a little nonplussed. "You must be new. I'm Lucia Blake, the student body president. And the sheriff would need to explain why he's calling in a canine unit to search the school for bones. He'd also have to give the dogs something that smelled strongly enough of those bones for them to track it. Most canine units are trained to drugs, not bones. You heard them in the barn, though; they want this to just go away. If you have a better idea, by all means, please share it, but I don't think they're going to make a huge effort to recover the remains. They said they were just going to dump them somewhere obscure anyways."

[SalmonMax]

"Yeah, but that's just it," Renata points out. "They can't afford to have someone run off with them. The sheriff doesn't have to say the dogs are to find bones. Just that he wants them to track evidence that was stolen from his car. He's the boss. Unless it catches the eye of someone over him, who's going to ask him to explain? His deputies?"

She shakes her head.

"Right now I'm thinking...up. Dog can track something into a building, but they can't track up a wall."

[z022]

The dark-skinned girl shrugged, "Okay, then let's put it on a roof. There's a storage shed on top of Winchester; it's locked, but a trashbag leaned up against it wouldn't look out of place to anyone that happened to go up there before we could get back to it."

She watched the other girl, gauging Renata's reaction to her. "Look, whatever's going on, both of us felt the pull to the barn, along with others. We should look out for each other on this, otherwise who knows what else may happen to us? I mean, we're talking about the skeleton of a Dalton student already. Better to stick together than try to go this alone for whatever reason."

[Zack]

Zack gets out his phone and makes the call to his father, asking him to come up to the Academy, that one of the professors would like a word with him. Considering he was already on the way, He said he'd be there that night.

Zack looked to Ms. Dorn and smiled. "He'll be here around ten. Hopefully then we can get some answers."

[SalmonMax]

Goddamnit! Renata raged inwardly. It was already FUBAR'ed. Even if she got away from Miss Beauty Queen, it wouldn't stop her from going to Ms Dorn and telling everything. And then they'd get more in on it, and...the whole idea to use this against the Principal and Sheriff would only work if she was the only one they could turn to. Not to mention, with all those people looking for the bones, she probably couldn't keep them hidden long. And someone would talk to the cops eventually. Someone always did.

Unless Miss Beauty Queen never made it back to Dorn, said a little voice in the back of her head. Then no one would know but you. Outbreak contained. Dustin Hoffman: One, Monkey of Doom: Nothing. A winner is you.

Renata looked away from Lucia, unsettled by the thought. Worse than anything was how much sense it made. Lure her somewhere secluded to hide the bag. Beat her senseless, strangle her. It wouldn't be hard. It might even be fun.

Her blood went absolutely cold suddenly, and she felt a wave of nausea wash over her.

What in God's name was she THINKING?!

Her eyes were wide, nearly panicked when she looked back at Lucia and felt a mad, desperate urge to apologize. "Yeah," she agreed. "You're right. Honestly this...these...this whole thing is creeping me out. It's messing with my head. Lets find someplace to get rid of them so I can wash my hands forever, alright? I don't care where. Anywhere. Just now."

[z022]

Lucia nodded and led Renata towards the science building, making a quick stop in the janitorial room next to the environmental sciences classroom. There was a set of keys for the building there, stashed on the top of one of the shelving units. Lucia'd found her first year there when she'd volunteered to clean up after one of the classes; so far as she could tell, no one even remembered they were there. They'd certainly never been moved by anyone other than her.

She snagged the keys and made her way up on to the roof, point out the small shed she'd spoken of once they were up there. "C'mon. I don't think anyone can see us up here, but best not to tempt fate."

[SalmonMax]

Renata had to laugh at that...a laugh that was just a fringe shy of hysterical.

"Yeah, like we haven't already done that..."

She headed for the shed, nearly ran, now eager to be rid of this damned thing. As she waited for Lucia to open it up she asked, "So what do you think Miss Dorn's going to want to do with these?"

[z022]

She shrugged, "Not a clue, other than as leverage over the sheriff. Honestly, I'm more interested in the box she managed to get out from under their noses. Whatever was important enough for that student to be buried with, I bet it has something to do with the Troubles and maybe even that insanity the other day. Either way, it's worth looking into." And having some leverage on getting Dorn to share about it.

Once the door was unlocked, Lucia motioned for Renata to put the bag inside. Her adrenalin was still running high and she was trying not to fidget or move suddenly; the other girl still seemed jumpy herself and Lucia didn't know her well enough to know how to effectively deal with her. "Shall we go look her up together or are you wanting to be quit of this whole thing? I wouldn't blame you and I'd keep you out of what I'd tell her, if you want."

The offer seemed genuine and her tone was completely neutral.

[Sylvia Dorn]

As she walked up through the halls of Lancaster, Sylvia tried to come to some kind of cognitive peace with what was happening. Otherworldly sword-wielders... dead bodies buried on the grounds... secret keys to secret doors....

That was the moment that, from above, she heard a faint thud. The sound, in fact, of a door. A door, from the sound of it, at the north end of the attic. On three passes through this dormatory, she'd found not a single living soul in the attic - or anywhere else, until meeting Zack in the dayroom.

Taking stairs in twos and threes, the Sylvia raced upward toward the sound.

[Dawn OOC]

Click to reveal..

3 xp for all of chapter 2