Burn The Witch || Arriving
Oct. 6th, 2015 07:00 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
x-topaz.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsX-Force gets to India. Amanda is horribly unamused to find that Topaz isn't answering her phone.
"This is Topaz. Guess I'm not around so leave a message and I'll call you back when I can."
Amanda ground her teeth. "Topaz, call me as soon as you get this. And you bloody well better have not gone back to that church," she grated out, her anger all the worse for the deep worry she was feeling. She disconnected the call and looked around at the others. "At this point, I think we can assume she's gone and done something bloody stupid," she announced.
"Uh huh." It was a robotic response that Gabriel gave, one that he hoped made it seem like he was paying attention instead of gawking at their surroundings. India. This was India. He couldn't understand why nobody else found this amazing; it made him feel small and provincial in a way he wasn't accustomed to.
He watched a street vendor pile chutneys and veggies onto some kind of puffed something and whistled appreciatively. "Incredible. Where do we start?"
Wade quirked a smile despite himself, enjoying Gabriel's reactions to their new surroundings even as he let his own eyes scan the area. "Hotel to drop our stuff. Probably recon." This wasn't his mission, though, so he was deferring to Amanda on everything. "Heya Sammy, can we get another rundown real quick of what intel you've got, once we're settled?"
"Sure, tho' it's not much. Girls going missing, no bodies, and a crackpot preaching damnation and hellfire against local witches." Amanda shrugged, shoving her phone into her pants pocket. The leather jacket had been left behind in deference to the weather and the local culture and instead she wore cargo pants and a loose white cotton shirt. "I'd say a couple of people should go check out the church on the downlow, see what's going on there, while the rest of us try and track down Topaz. Not even she would be stubborn enough to go back to the church and get caught, but something else might have happened."
"I can play tourist," Jubilee murmured, dressed in standard tourist faire. India was not somewhere she could blend into the crowd, so she'd gone in the opposite direction and made herself as obnoxiously American as possible. She would be seen but she'd also just be 'That American tourist' and nothing more. "Gabe, you wanna tag along? Give you a chance to do some looking about, since this is your first time in India and all."
Jubilee could remember when she'd been that excited about foreign countries - it hadn't exactly been that long ago in physical time, even if mental time made it seem like forever ago.
"Or, you know," Gabriel piped up from behind the screen of his phone, where he was taking a photo for his Instagram account, "anywhere." He put the device back in his pocket and turned to face the group. "Sure, if that's what's best for the group. I don't get to make decisions yet, I don't think?"
"I am not sure tourists are going to get the information we need, if Topaz is in trouble, but we should find out what the local people will warn tourists of." Marie-Ange said. "Doug, can you make sure we are all connected and online? I do not trust cell reception here to be reliable. I have .. one and a half bars." She had dialed Topaz as well, with no answer. "I stick out like a sore thumb. Ugh. I do not think we can all pass as tourists..."
Doug had gone for 'British ex-pat' in terms of his look - he obviously couldn't pass for Indian, but he could probably pass for someone whose parents had 'gone native' and as a result be from somewhere vaguely local if pressed. He soaked up the bits of accents around him as he went by, tapping at his phone. "We'll have satellite connectivity in the hotel," he assured Marie-Ange, patting the shapeless bag that hung over his shoulder
"I don't have much choice but to be a tourist," said Emma, who was wearing a hat so large it almost required its own postcode. "I hardly give off "denizen of the tropics" vibe." She shuddered slightly, beneath layers of crisp white linen. "I can go to the hotel and do telepathic quartering of the city over the world's largest gin and tonic, if that would be useful?"
"You know that better than I do, Ms. Emma," Amanda replied with a snort. "But it sounds like we have a plan. First stop, hotel and debriefing, and then we all have something to do."
"This is Topaz. Guess I'm not around so leave a message and I'll call you back when I can."
Amanda ground her teeth. "Topaz, call me as soon as you get this. And you bloody well better have not gone back to that church," she grated out, her anger all the worse for the deep worry she was feeling. She disconnected the call and looked around at the others. "At this point, I think we can assume she's gone and done something bloody stupid," she announced.
"Uh huh." It was a robotic response that Gabriel gave, one that he hoped made it seem like he was paying attention instead of gawking at their surroundings. India. This was India. He couldn't understand why nobody else found this amazing; it made him feel small and provincial in a way he wasn't accustomed to.
He watched a street vendor pile chutneys and veggies onto some kind of puffed something and whistled appreciatively. "Incredible. Where do we start?"
Wade quirked a smile despite himself, enjoying Gabriel's reactions to their new surroundings even as he let his own eyes scan the area. "Hotel to drop our stuff. Probably recon." This wasn't his mission, though, so he was deferring to Amanda on everything. "Heya Sammy, can we get another rundown real quick of what intel you've got, once we're settled?"
"Sure, tho' it's not much. Girls going missing, no bodies, and a crackpot preaching damnation and hellfire against local witches." Amanda shrugged, shoving her phone into her pants pocket. The leather jacket had been left behind in deference to the weather and the local culture and instead she wore cargo pants and a loose white cotton shirt. "I'd say a couple of people should go check out the church on the downlow, see what's going on there, while the rest of us try and track down Topaz. Not even she would be stubborn enough to go back to the church and get caught, but something else might have happened."
"I can play tourist," Jubilee murmured, dressed in standard tourist faire. India was not somewhere she could blend into the crowd, so she'd gone in the opposite direction and made herself as obnoxiously American as possible. She would be seen but she'd also just be 'That American tourist' and nothing more. "Gabe, you wanna tag along? Give you a chance to do some looking about, since this is your first time in India and all."
Jubilee could remember when she'd been that excited about foreign countries - it hadn't exactly been that long ago in physical time, even if mental time made it seem like forever ago.
"Or, you know," Gabriel piped up from behind the screen of his phone, where he was taking a photo for his Instagram account, "anywhere." He put the device back in his pocket and turned to face the group. "Sure, if that's what's best for the group. I don't get to make decisions yet, I don't think?"
"I am not sure tourists are going to get the information we need, if Topaz is in trouble, but we should find out what the local people will warn tourists of." Marie-Ange said. "Doug, can you make sure we are all connected and online? I do not trust cell reception here to be reliable. I have .. one and a half bars." She had dialed Topaz as well, with no answer. "I stick out like a sore thumb. Ugh. I do not think we can all pass as tourists..."
Doug had gone for 'British ex-pat' in terms of his look - he obviously couldn't pass for Indian, but he could probably pass for someone whose parents had 'gone native' and as a result be from somewhere vaguely local if pressed. He soaked up the bits of accents around him as he went by, tapping at his phone. "We'll have satellite connectivity in the hotel," he assured Marie-Ange, patting the shapeless bag that hung over his shoulder
"I don't have much choice but to be a tourist," said Emma, who was wearing a hat so large it almost required its own postcode. "I hardly give off "denizen of the tropics" vibe." She shuddered slightly, beneath layers of crisp white linen. "I can go to the hotel and do telepathic quartering of the city over the world's largest gin and tonic, if that would be useful?"
"You know that better than I do, Ms. Emma," Amanda replied with a snort. "But it sounds like we have a plan. First stop, hotel and debriefing, and then we all have something to do."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}