audio | @sdkbmri92kgb

[darkeyed]

_{[It's rare to see the owner of this un opt for the network over saying whatever he needs to say in person, but in this particular case, he can't go around asking everyone...]}

Has anyone seen Riku? Guy with silver hair. You can't miss him.

Let me know, thanks.

_{[Quick and to the point. But then in a perfect world this would be a quick and to the point mystery solved.]}


EDIT:


_{(OOC: After this thread, M.K. has taken pictures of Bruce's texts and posted them below his original message. Oho, you thought he hadn't learned his lesson about making copies of important documents, but he did.)}

Someone here has an idea of where he is and is hellbent on hiding it from the rest of us. If you have a way to track someone down, use it.

Comments

@stone, audio

[scarsolderthanyou]

Oh, are we asking about people who are missing on here? Because there's a lovely young lady with tusks and magic who I can't seem to find, either.

But if you have something that belongs to this Riku kid, I might be able to sniff him out. I have a very good sense of smell, I just don't have a scent right now to work off of.

private;

[darkeyed]

They're not the only ones.

_{[Clarke, too, hasn't stopped by the cabin in a while. Unusual, when she hadn't taken any supplies for an extended scouting trip. Unusual but not surprising.]}

People have a way of disappearing here--their lanterns go missing, and so do they from the network. Spirits, probably. Sometimes you find a body, sometimes not. Sorry, I don't know anything about whoever you're looking for.

_{[Only then does he acknowledge why he'd gone out of his way to switch settings when normally he'd have nothing to hide.]}

I'm not convinced him being missing has to do with the spirits, though. How does it work, this sniffing? How fresh of a scent would you need?

[scarsolderthanyou]

[There's an annoyed-sounding rumble on the other end. Something that might sound at home in the throat of a big cat, maybe.]

I'll keep looking, I guess, and hope I find something.

In the meantime, your friend? The scent doesn't have to be too fresh. If this Riku person had it on them or slept on it or something even a few weeks ago, I could probably still get a scent off of it, as long as it wasn't washed or nobody else used it since then.

[darkeyed]

_{[What is that? Was that him?]}

Tusks, you said? _{[To his credit, there's only the slightest hesitation.]} I'll keep an eye out.

_{[The rest--the rest requires a moment or two of thought. Like so many of the dead and the absent who've stepped into his life and left it, he doesn't have anything like what Stone is asking for. Nothing tangible, nothing to represent Riku. The only mementos he has belong to people he wants to forget.]}

--What about a place?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Thanks.

[And he does appreciate that. At this point he's not going to hold his breath, but it's a nice thought. Kettara Stone does know the scent of, and it's nowhere in Beacon.]

Depends on the place and how many people go in and out of it. But it could be enough. You know where he lives?

[darkeyed]

Something like that.

<sub>[He hesitates briefly. This is getting into private territory--a privacy he respects more than the brand Bruce had invoked.

But all roads lead to the chance Riku could be in some kind of danger. If he were to sit back and do nothing and something happened...? He's turned away and been turned away from too many times--he can't turn away this time.]</sub>

I might know somewhere. Can we meet?

[scarsolderthanyou]

That's the only way I'm going to get a scent, probably. So yeah. Just tell me where you want me.

[darkeyed]

_{[He appreciates the willingness to get down to brass tacks. The sooner, the better. He responds in kind, providing the sort of generic rendezvous point that won't draw many conclusions one way or another if any... less than savory types should prove able to read this. They can start from there.]}

Meet me in the square. I'll be easy to find.

_{[And so he is. Stone won't find many young men waiting at attention holding a lit torch--none, actually, who look nearly so tense with suppressed agitation. He's never been good at standing still, even when his impatience wasn't on behalf of someone else.]}

=> action!

[scarsolderthanyou]

[And the man who comes wandering up matches the voice: old. He's very tall, kind of spindly, and completely colorless but for bright blue eyes.

He holds up a hand to wave a little at him.]

I'm Stone. Are you that jumble of letters I couldn't read?

[darkeyed]

<sub>[Stone. Like the name on the network replies. Normally, M.K. isn't above judging a book by its cover--or at least thoroughly assessing it. Life expectancy is not high in the Badlands; between the lawlessness for communities outside the barons' protection and the back-breaking labor under the barons' protection, few cogs or clippers would live to see a man like Stone's age, unless allowed to retire comfortably like Waldo.

And he is--old. And thin. Not the build of a warrior, not by a long shot. But this is not about sizing up a potential opponent and passing judgement.

If this old man really does have skills that can help, then by all means.]</sub>

M.K.

_{[Another set of jumbled letters, just... in a shorter sequence. He stops the pacing he's been doing in place, nodding in acknowledgement.]}

I didn't want to give away too much over the network. It's not safe to talk on there.

_{[And doubly so now, with a correspondent having popped up on his post that had fired up all his worst suspicions.]}

[scarsolderthanyou]

[This is about finding your friend, M.K., don't judge the alien before you've seen what he can do. He shrugs at the warning about the network. Not that he's got anything he considers secret enough to really worry about. He doesn't know that any of this even really counts.]

All right. So where are we going for me to get a scent?