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Post by Anathema Device on Aug 20, 2012 22:28:23 GMT -5
Oracle pulled her hood closer to her face - it was falling off the back of her head, and at a time like this, she really didn't want to be discovered. Thankfully, the hood cast a nice shadow on her eyes - just enough to disguise her.
She snuck around the museum, late in the night, trying to see if there were any clues as to who could have performed the heist. Carefully, she snuck around in the shadows, thankful that she picked dark colors for her costume. It was much easier to camouflage that way.
She heard footsteps coming from behind her - a security guard? She cautiously rested her hher hand on the handle of her knife, still safe in the holster.
The last thing she needed was to get caught here.
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Post by Newton Pulsifer on Aug 21, 2012 23:29:57 GMT -5
Newt actually only meant to break into the security room so he could get a look at the tapes himself. No one ever expects someone to break into the security room, so it only took Newt a little bit of fiddling with locks and avoiding cameras to get inside.
Upon entering the drab security that was vaguely reminiscent of a slab of sidewalk, Newt immediately began fumbling with the machines, trying to eject the security tape. He had no way of knowing that the tape from the night of the heist was already in police custody for further examination and analysis. Being Newton Pulsifer, this means he accidentally disabled the cameras in the museum.
He knew this because the screens suddenly went blank and all the little blinking lights suddenly ceased. While Newt has never had luck with technology, he understood that this meant that something was broken.
He did his best to fix it really. But eventually, he figured since he didn't actually have any plans to steal something, it wouldn't hurt to take a look around the scene of the crime…
Newt exited the security room to the outside of the museum and pulled off the glasses that came with his costume as the Spanner--really, anyone who voluntarily wore sunglasses at night was a fool, it was so bloody difficult to see in the dark.
He instantly regretted taking them off when a hooded figure was in front of him, back facing him. "Err." Be firm, Pulsifer. He cleared his throat. "Who goes there?" He demanded1 in an impersonation of a security guard.
1. At least, Newton tried to sound demanding. The sound started off as uncertain before crescendoing into something that may have passed off as Clark Kent doing a night shift as a security guard.
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Post by Anathema Device on Aug 22, 2012 12:25:21 GMT -5
Anathema was quiet, making sure no one could hear even her breathing. Stepping lightly on the balls of her feet, she moved, almost catlike, towards the area where the painting was stolen from.
She thought she was being pretty sneaky when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. Startling, she turned around, her cloak spinning around from behind her to move into its new space. (Anathema always liked that about her cloak. It was made of yards and yards of gathered material, and it gave a nice swoosh when she spun. It made her feel a little more mysterious.
She looked behind herself and had to stifle a laugh. It was a man - he looked about her age, maybe a bit older - in the most ridiculous excuse for a hero getup she'd ever seen. The man was wearing a longcoat (maybe in an attempt to look cool), and a shirt and pants that looked a bit too tight for him, maybe even uncomfortably so. He looked like his eyes were adjusting to the darkness around him, and his voice sounded like he was desperately trying to impersonate a security guard who might wet himself out of terror at any minute.
"You know, if that was your best 'security guard' voice, it wasn't very convincing," she said, smiling genuinely from under her hood. This guy was funny, it seemed, in a way that clearly said he was trying very hard to be serious, but he was not very good at it.
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Post by Newton Pulsifer on Aug 25, 2012 22:47:16 GMT -5
The dark figure turned around to face him and Newt scrambled to shove the glasses back on his face. The person in front of him loo ed even darker with the tinted lenses on and Newt had trouble differentiating the city background from her figure. Which was problematic for him, but at least she couldn't see his face properly anymore.
He hoped she didn't get a very good look at it. "Hey," he said, offended. "I could be a security guard. You don't have to be a certain kind of person to be a security guard…" He could see her smiling under her hood (at least he was fairly certain it was smiling, he was really bad at the sunglasses at night thing.)
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he got a better look at the girl. She was short, a lot shorter than he was at least. And yet, the cloak she wore was dark and mysterious. He tilted his head down just a little bit so he could get a better look, one with more light. Still dark and mysterious. His suspicions slowly rose.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Are you the one who posted that message on the Internet?" He didn't actually read it, but he heard about it on the news. Newt was assuming that it was the warning note. If she was the girl who posted it…then maybe she was here to erase the evidence he came to collect. The thought made him nervous. He never had to deal with a villain face to face before...
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Post by Anathema Device on Aug 26, 2012 23:08:58 GMT -5
"Yes you do," she answered back matter-of-factly. She rolled her eyes at his sunglasses and felt the strange urge to pat the man on the head, but that would probably not work because 1) she'd definitely alarm him, and 2) he was much too tall for her to do that anyway. No matter. She smiled back at him, her eyes looking up at the ceiling. "I think security guards talk a bit more confidently than you. Work on your diction. You're also a few minutes late, by the way." She'd have to make a note of it in the Book.
Anathema walked closer to him, pushing her hood back a bit. It still cast a shadow over her eyes, but not as much. She lifted up her knee and dusted off the toes of her boots, which got dirty from being up against the walls so much, and she wondered if there was a way to dust walls.
"Of course I'm the one that posted the messages. If you'd seen it happen, wouldn't you want to get the word out about what's going on?" Realizing she might be dealing with opposing forces here, she added quickly, "If that's your thing, of course."
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Post by Newton Pulsifer on Aug 31, 2012 15:05:19 GMT -5
"I am confident," Newt insisted, standing up a little bit straighter. It made him look even taller than he already was, and even Newt couldn't make the overcoat look anything but impressive. Even if it didn't quite match his demeanor. He jutted his chin up, intending to look militant. The image only lasted a moment before he slumped back into his normal slightly hunched over pose, puzzled. "Late? …You knew I was coming?" He asked, stepping back a few steps.
She was smiling at him now--Newt was at loss as to what a smile could mean. He faltered and returned the smile, running a hand through his greasy hair. He had combed it back before leaving to check out the museum, but once again it fell into its natural messy state.
"You saw it happen?" Newt asked, suspicious again. Of course he would want to send the word out if it could be prevented. But why didn't she simply stop it from happening if she was there? There was something he was missing. "Yeah, of course…so you were here while it was happening? The theft, I mean."
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Post by Anathema Device on Aug 31, 2012 15:17:18 GMT -5
"That's much better," she said, clapping her hands at him and motioning him to walk closer. "Of course I knew you were coming. I'm a prophetess. That's what we do." When she realized he was going to spend more time staring at her than actually walking towards him, she walked over and grabbed his hand, beginning to walk him briskly towards the scene of the crime. "Come on. We don't have much time. I'm Oracle, by the way."
She looked up at him running his hands through his hair. He looked clean-shaven and relatively clean - he'd had to be showered, he'd had to be. Maybe his hair just grew that way. She'd heard of cases who didn't really grow out of being that sweaty since puberty, after all.
"No, I didn't see it happen here,, she said, pointing in front of them at the ground. Hopefully he'd understand that she'd meant that she hadn't seen it in the physical plane. "I saw it here," she said, pointing to her temple. "In my mind's eye, you know. I got here as fast as I could. My bike doesn't go very fast."
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Post by Newton Pulsifer on Sept 1, 2012 2:01:31 GMT -5
Newt nodded, quickly understanding. The idea that there were prophets in the world did not come as a surprise to Newt. Perhaps if the world had been a little less strange, he would be a little more wary to accept these words. But he could feel an odd vibe coming off of her that he couldn't explain--which was basically the story of Newt's life whenever he was trying to explain his tracking abilities. "I'm the Spanner." He gave her a small smile in (quite the late) greeting. He still didn't know which side Oracle was on, but at least she seemed friendly.
He paid a little more attention to the vibe he was getting from the girl now, trying to memorize and pinpoint the differences from the feelings he was already familiar with. It got easier when she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the scene of the crime. "Oh. Did you see someone coming soon or something?" He paused for a long moment as he mulled over another thing on his mind. "…Do your prophecy powers come with a mental clock? I mean, they must be awfully accurate if you can tell I'm a few minutes off." A hint of (healthy, Newt considered) skepticism made its way into his tone.
Newt nodded again, catching on quickly. "Okay. Gotcha." He bit back the question lurking in the back of his mind. Which one are you? She dressed in really dark clothing, but Newt knew that it was terrible to judge a person based off of what they wore. He crossed his arms as they neared the scene of the crime and tilted his head, clearly puzzled. "What exactly did you see anyway?"
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Post by Anathema Device on Sept 1, 2012 22:06:13 GMT -5
"The Spanner, huh? How'd you come up with that one?" She smiled and pushed her hood off, shaking her hair out a bit as she walked along the hallway, stopping at the scene of the crime. "Sorry. It just gets so hot under there sometimes." She didn't really have to worry, anyhow. This Spanner fellow had a good, bright aura - though it flickered sometimes, as if it was nervous to show itself. She had a good mental laugh at that - it figured.
"No, it doesn't come with a mental clock - I just sort of...hoped I was right, you know?" Anathema's lip twitched a little; now that he'd mentioned it, she kind of wished she did have a mental clock. She shook her head at him. "No, the late thing came from a book of prophecy. My ancestress wrote it for us; she said you'd be here at 9:45. It's 9:54." She laughed a little bit. "Agnes always did mix things up."
She walked over to the glass case in the middle of the room and peered in - the Declaration was still missing. "I saw a sleepy looking man walk in here in a dark trenchcoat. He lifted up the glass case - almost as if it was already unlocked, and just walked out with the Declaration. No sirens, no lasers, nothing. It was awfully underwhelming, to be completely honest with you. I'd always thought they kept that sort of stuff under wraps better."
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Post by Newton Pulsifer on Sept 13, 2012 6:45:44 GMT -5
"I didn't," Newt said automatically. "It was a media thing. Because I kept messing up other people's plans." In reality, Newt would have chosen something a little more heroic. Like the Seeker. Or the Detector. (Not the Detector, it reminded him of metal detectors and he could never pass through those without setting off the alarm. Even after emptying his pockets.) "Oh. I guess I can see why." The cloak looked like it would be as hot as his overcoat. He considered taking it off and got about a quarter of the way to actually doing it before thinking better of it. Carrying around the thing would be a hassle, especially if they had to run from actual security guards. Or someone worse.
"So I wasn't late then," Newt said somewhat triumphantly. "Your ancestor got it wrong. Err." Newt belatedly realized that probably wasn't the best thing to say and he didn't mean for it to sound like he was insulting her relatives. "Sorry." He took off his glasses and cleaned them with intense interest, avoiding the Oracle's gaze.
"Maybe he disabled everything beforehand," Newt offered as he walked around the glass case in a half circle, ending at the wall. It didn't seem like it was very well protected. Maybe there was a trap alarm if you lifted the case. "Or maybe movies aren't all that accurate." Which was strange to Newt, considering the strange powers people had these days. The more protection the better.
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Post by Anathema Device on Sept 15, 2012 21:55:06 GMT -5
Anathema snorted through her nose, her shoulders shaking as her small laugh turned into a fuller one. "Figures. They always come up with something original, though really, they're never very clever." She shrugged and reached into her hood, pulling her hair out of the back so it was more comfortable. "There, that's much better." Anathema thought for a second, trying to remember if the media ever caught on to her pseudonym. "I really made up mine myself, to be honest. Oracle was the most obvious choice for me, occult names aside. I suppose I could have been 'Professional Descendant' or something along those lines."
"No, you were definitely late," Anathema said, with the wearied tones of someone who has been around this block more times than she cared to admit. "Agnes was always precise and accurate. She just wasn't always specific. That's the catch, really." She looked over at him cleaning his glasses and rolled her eyes. "Having fun over there with your glasses, Spanner?" She beckoned him over to the case with two fingers.
"You know, that would make sense. A lot of villains and thieves seem to be good with technology. They'd have to be, otherwise it would be a lot easier for me to catch them." She laughed quietly, then realized that no one else was, and covered her mouth. "They really aren't, to be honest. It's a lot of work of good writing to trick the audience, really. I suppose that's what makes them so good, though." She looked around. "Do you see any security cameras around? We can probably watch the tapes if we can get at them..."
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Post by Newton Pulsifer on Sept 17, 2012 13:48:49 GMT -5
Newt watched as his companion laughed and he couldn't help but at least smile. It was an odd meeting and he actually didn't get her real name, but she seemed nice enough. "Oracle is a logical choice…Professional Descendant sounds like a mouthful though. Or something you get on a card. Like 'private detective'."
As he listened to her explanation, he wondered if she had this same conversation many times before. Then again, most people explaining their powers probably got tired of explaining them…unless the Oracle foresaw the times she had to explain things. The thought was confusing and he immediately pushed it away, deciding to concentrate on the conversation instead of thinking of new questions to ask. "Precise and accurate…but not specific. Sounds confusing." He glanced at his glasses and let out a defeated sigh before shaking his head. "Not at all. It's not that easy walking around at night and indoors with these on." He wondered how those security-guards-slash-secret-service types in the movies managed that. It seemed like an awful hassle if you weren't trying to conceal your identity.
"Err." Newt smiled the kind of smile a school kid uses after they're caught breaking school property. "I kind of tried that and I think I disabled the security cameras instead." He looked up and surveyed the area, his aimless gaze landing on a nearby security camera. He stared at it for a moment before shoving his shades back on, just in case the contraption was still active and wondering why two people were mulling around an empty glass case that used to hold an important historical document.
"But," Newt pointed at the camera. "If it was functional, there should be a tape. Or file. Something like that. Did the news say anything about disabled cameras?"
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Post by Anathema Device on Sept 19, 2012 20:22:20 GMT -5
Anathema shrugged. Of course she didn't give him her real name. It simply wasn't safe to do that these days. She figured if this guy was a good guy, and furthermore, if he was good at what he did (which she still wasn't exactly sure about - in fact, she wasn't exactly sure what he did to begin with) they'd come across each other again and again and he'd find out her real name eventually. She vaguely remembered a man of his description in Aunt Agnes' book, but she was sort of hazy on the details.
"It is a bit confusing, and often tiring, if I may be completely honest. I have to spend days and days sometimes on a prophecy with note cards and indexes just trying to make sense of things. A lot of her prophecies didn't really make sense until after they happened, anyhow." She laughed again, shaking her head a little. "So take them off. You don't have much to hide, really. Your aura tells me you mean no harm, plain as day. You're very easy to read, Spanner."
She nodded and raised an eyebrow - oh, so that's what he did. She had heard about that; so he was probably the one in the book after all. He was probably going to be important - she'd have to read the book again tonight, cover to cover, if she could help it, and look for more information about the spanner. "What've you got, technological interference powers or something?"
She shook her head no. "Not that I remember. They don't really pick up on nuances like that. We should find the security room..." she said, drifting off and walking around in a circle, trying to find a door labeled as such.
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Post by Newton Pulsifer on Sept 22, 2012 1:51:07 GMT -5
"Oh. I see…" Newt actually didn't see as well as he claimed to. It sounded like it was more effort than it was worth if they didn't even make sense until after they happened. Why not wait for time to take it's course? "They're more so the cameras can't see my whole face." He took them off and slid them into his coat's inner pocket.
"I'm easy to read?" Newt asked cautiously. He couldn't tell if being deemed harmless was a good thing or not. It was no good to not be intimidating in this business. But he wasn't trying to threaten her or anything, so it was good that she wasn't wary of him… He settled on a positive thing. "Thanks, I guess."
"Probably…" Newt sighed, still unwilling to admit it was a part of his powers. He liked technology a little too much to have a built-in breaking one, particularly since he couldn't control it. "I'm not sure yet. I could just need to spend more time trying to learn how to use things…"
He watched her wander for a moment before jogging a bit to catch up to her, his footsteps echoing in the empty museum. "I was just in it if you want to try fiddling with whatever I did," said Newt, attempting to be helpful.
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Post by Anathema Device on Sept 23, 2012 18:16:27 GMT -5
Anathema took a look at his face. It was odd to her - generally speaking, heroes who wore some sort of glasses were more attractive when they removed them. To begin with, heroes who wore sunglasses tended to have an aura of mystique or strength around them. This one, however, this one just looked a bit squinty, as if he was having difficulty adjusting to the light. If what Agnes had said about this man was true, though, it would be something she might have to get used to.
"Quite, actually. To be honest, your nervousness is practically written across your forehead, Spanner." She laughed, covering her mouth. "Buck up, you'll be alright."
"Really? I'd like to see what you found..." Anathema drifted off again, still trying to find the security room. The museum was a lot darker now than it would be during open hours, which didn't help at all. "Can you show me where it is?"
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