AEFAE Log One || That's Not Normal
Aug. 31st, 2019 03:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_topaz posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsTopaz' insomnia pays off, for once.
It was mostly dark in the suite, save for a little ball of blue light coming from the couch, where Topaz was scrolling mindlessly on her phone. If she left now, she mused, they wouldn't know she had slept on the couch. Again. For the... how long had it been now?
Her thoughts drifted off as a news alert popped up on her screen, and she tapped it to check the article, eyes skimming it quickly. "What the..." She sat up, frowning. "Okay, that's a new one." She copied the link and pasted it into a text to Amanda, adding Morning, check the news.
There was a long pause and then some soft thumping noises which meant Amanda was awake, had checked her phone and was getting up. When the elder witch appeared, she peered owlishly at Topaz. Her hair was a veritable haystack and the sleeveless t-shirt she was wearing as a nightshirt barely decent. But at least she'd bothered to put on a pair of track pants to avoid embarrassment.
"Don't you ever sleep?" she asked Topaz, more confused than accusatory. "And what's happening in Denver?"
"Ugh, I will put the tea on." Another sleep-mussed head popped out into the hallway. Marie-Ange's hair was escaping from a braid, and while her pajamas were more than decent, it was clear they were not hers - a long-sleeved t-shirt with "Taco MTWTFSS" on it and a pair of sleep pants with hockey pucks and the logo of the Denver Avalanche on them. Then she paused, rubbed her good eye and repeated herself, in actual English and not sleep-confused French. "If it is a demonic horse statue, I told you so."
"No the demonic horse statue was a couple weeks ago," Topaz said, sitting up and unlocking her phone. "News is saying the entire airport's gone dark. No one is coming out, no planes are moving, no one can call in, and anyone who tries to go near the building turns around and tries to walk to the nearest highway. Which is easily weird enough, but it's not the first weird thing. Stuff's been happening there for..." She paused to yawn and think, "I don't know, a couple months. May, maybe? One of the gargoyle statues was seen moving, people getting lost in non-existent hallways, an entire airplane disappearing off the runway, the demonic horse statue fell over for no apparent reason and almost killed someone..." She was flipping through her phone as she spoke, finding her mobile notes. She had a much more comprehensive version of this on her laptop. "Can I get some of that god-awful tar tea?" she added, holding the phone out for Amanda.
"Hm." Amanda scrolled through the notes on Topaz' phone. "Better make that two for the tar tea," she added absently as she read. "Something like this over this amount of time... it's not likely to be a mutant manifestation. Unless we have another Billy out there who has a gripe against Denver Airport."
"Do we have anyone in the area who can get close for surveillance?" Marie-Ange busied herself with the kettle and pots of tea until she found the canister of darkest and most bitter tea, labeled in Cyrillic, and set cups steeping. "Has there been emergency response from the police?"
"They tried. Two cops had to be tasered before they stepped onto the four-seventy and got run over by a truck. So now the entire area is just blocked off until they figure out what's going on." Topaz rested her arms on the back of the couch, then put her chin on top of her arms. "It sounds kind of like the effect Avalon has on people, except instead of creeping them out, it just plain turns them around and makes them leave." She was trying to stay honest and tell all the facts, but she was also really hoping one of them would tell her she was being dramatic and send her on her way.
"So someone wants the place to themselves. The thing is, why? There's nothing valuable there, is there?" Amanda frowned in thought. "It's got some weird energy, but not really enough to be useful for a summoning."
"It is an odd place, it has all variety of conspiracy theories.." Marie-Ange added, bringing over the cups of tea, and a canister of honey. "We have looked into some of them, just because Doug grew up there. It is like if London had a strange airport, or Lyon. You look at what is close to home." She spooned honey into her tea, took a sip, grimaced at the taste, and then spooned in more honey. "Amanda this tea is abominable. What could you do with the largest airport in North America? It is not a hostage situation, not if it is gone dark and no one has taken credit. It is not terrorism, I do not think, again, no credit and no deaths we know of yet?"
"Nope, just weirdness." Topaz took the mug, taking a long sip. Months of energy drinks had taught her to just drink without tasting. "The only thing I can think of is maybe something's gone to ground there? I mean, weird things have been happening for a couple months, now this. One moving gargoyle or falling horse statue is a coincidence. Both of them together, plus a missing plane, plus people ending up in corridors that don't exist..." She waved her hand as she went on before taking another sip of the tea. "You see where I'm goin' with this."
"Things are still twitchy between dimensions with the whole Frankenberry Cat thing," Amanda observed. "With all the weirdness and the rep the place has, it's probably a hotspot of some sort that's been triggered." She took her own long drink of tea, ignoring the heat and the taste. "What's the call, boss? Suit up?"
Marie-Ange nodded - her demeanor almost altogether switching to someone wearing their boyfriends' borrowed pajamas. "Rouse Clea, she can start pulling together travel plans." She downed half her cup of tea in one swallow. "There must be a private airport nearby that small aircraft is being routed to, we can start from there. Topaz, gather up the rest of the magically adept available. I will see who from X-Force is available quickly. Half the team is out of country."
"Problems have great timing," Topaz muttered as she took her phone back and flicked through her contacts, stopping on Pixie's name to call her. "Who doesn't love a good wake up call?"
It was mostly dark in the suite, save for a little ball of blue light coming from the couch, where Topaz was scrolling mindlessly on her phone. If she left now, she mused, they wouldn't know she had slept on the couch. Again. For the... how long had it been now?
Her thoughts drifted off as a news alert popped up on her screen, and she tapped it to check the article, eyes skimming it quickly. "What the..." She sat up, frowning. "Okay, that's a new one." She copied the link and pasted it into a text to Amanda, adding Morning, check the news.
There was a long pause and then some soft thumping noises which meant Amanda was awake, had checked her phone and was getting up. When the elder witch appeared, she peered owlishly at Topaz. Her hair was a veritable haystack and the sleeveless t-shirt she was wearing as a nightshirt barely decent. But at least she'd bothered to put on a pair of track pants to avoid embarrassment.
"Don't you ever sleep?" she asked Topaz, more confused than accusatory. "And what's happening in Denver?"
"Ugh, I will put the tea on." Another sleep-mussed head popped out into the hallway. Marie-Ange's hair was escaping from a braid, and while her pajamas were more than decent, it was clear they were not hers - a long-sleeved t-shirt with "Taco MTWTFSS" on it and a pair of sleep pants with hockey pucks and the logo of the Denver Avalanche on them. Then she paused, rubbed her good eye and repeated herself, in actual English and not sleep-confused French. "If it is a demonic horse statue, I told you so."
"No the demonic horse statue was a couple weeks ago," Topaz said, sitting up and unlocking her phone. "News is saying the entire airport's gone dark. No one is coming out, no planes are moving, no one can call in, and anyone who tries to go near the building turns around and tries to walk to the nearest highway. Which is easily weird enough, but it's not the first weird thing. Stuff's been happening there for..." She paused to yawn and think, "I don't know, a couple months. May, maybe? One of the gargoyle statues was seen moving, people getting lost in non-existent hallways, an entire airplane disappearing off the runway, the demonic horse statue fell over for no apparent reason and almost killed someone..." She was flipping through her phone as she spoke, finding her mobile notes. She had a much more comprehensive version of this on her laptop. "Can I get some of that god-awful tar tea?" she added, holding the phone out for Amanda.
"Hm." Amanda scrolled through the notes on Topaz' phone. "Better make that two for the tar tea," she added absently as she read. "Something like this over this amount of time... it's not likely to be a mutant manifestation. Unless we have another Billy out there who has a gripe against Denver Airport."
"Do we have anyone in the area who can get close for surveillance?" Marie-Ange busied herself with the kettle and pots of tea until she found the canister of darkest and most bitter tea, labeled in Cyrillic, and set cups steeping. "Has there been emergency response from the police?"
"They tried. Two cops had to be tasered before they stepped onto the four-seventy and got run over by a truck. So now the entire area is just blocked off until they figure out what's going on." Topaz rested her arms on the back of the couch, then put her chin on top of her arms. "It sounds kind of like the effect Avalon has on people, except instead of creeping them out, it just plain turns them around and makes them leave." She was trying to stay honest and tell all the facts, but she was also really hoping one of them would tell her she was being dramatic and send her on her way.
"So someone wants the place to themselves. The thing is, why? There's nothing valuable there, is there?" Amanda frowned in thought. "It's got some weird energy, but not really enough to be useful for a summoning."
"It is an odd place, it has all variety of conspiracy theories.." Marie-Ange added, bringing over the cups of tea, and a canister of honey. "We have looked into some of them, just because Doug grew up there. It is like if London had a strange airport, or Lyon. You look at what is close to home." She spooned honey into her tea, took a sip, grimaced at the taste, and then spooned in more honey. "Amanda this tea is abominable. What could you do with the largest airport in North America? It is not a hostage situation, not if it is gone dark and no one has taken credit. It is not terrorism, I do not think, again, no credit and no deaths we know of yet?"
"Nope, just weirdness." Topaz took the mug, taking a long sip. Months of energy drinks had taught her to just drink without tasting. "The only thing I can think of is maybe something's gone to ground there? I mean, weird things have been happening for a couple months, now this. One moving gargoyle or falling horse statue is a coincidence. Both of them together, plus a missing plane, plus people ending up in corridors that don't exist..." She waved her hand as she went on before taking another sip of the tea. "You see where I'm goin' with this."
"Things are still twitchy between dimensions with the whole Frankenberry Cat thing," Amanda observed. "With all the weirdness and the rep the place has, it's probably a hotspot of some sort that's been triggered." She took her own long drink of tea, ignoring the heat and the taste. "What's the call, boss? Suit up?"
Marie-Ange nodded - her demeanor almost altogether switching to someone wearing their boyfriends' borrowed pajamas. "Rouse Clea, she can start pulling together travel plans." She downed half her cup of tea in one swallow. "There must be a private airport nearby that small aircraft is being routed to, we can start from there. Topaz, gather up the rest of the magically adept available. I will see who from X-Force is available quickly. Half the team is out of country."
"Problems have great timing," Topaz muttered as she took her phone back and flicked through her contacts, stopping on Pixie's name to call her. "Who doesn't love a good wake up call?"
