#ch:margot

[nelllraiser]

hell to pay | margot, remmy, & nell

LOCATION: a Ring base hideout. PARTIES: @g0t-ri5h, @whatsin-yourhead, and @nelllraiser SUMMARY: nell, remmy, and margot hunt down roy— charlie’s angels style, and the last nail is put into the ring’s coffin. CONTENTS: mild torture, violence

After doing in the other two big names of the Ring, this seemed like it would be a last step. The culmination of all her and Remmy had been working towards ever since they’d been holed up in cages beneath the Ring. Margot had told Nell and Remmy that this was where she’d seen Roy going in and out, and the witch was ready to turn the man inside out after what he’d done to herself, her family, her friends. She’d learned after Montgomery that the fastest way to escape danger was to eliminate the threat as soon as possible. The warehouse where Roy had been seen going in and out of seemed to be a treasure trove if the stills Margot had given them were anything to go off of. It seemed that the remainder of those trying to rebuild the Ring were holed up here as well. Nell knew that Remmy wasn’t all that interested in a massacre, so she’d brought something else instead, a nasty little curse she’d prepared beforehand, one that was simply waiting for the finishing touch to be brought into reality. That would be enough to make sure those responsible for the Ring never took an unwilling fighter again. “Are you ready?” she asked Remmy, crouched a good distance from the entrance to the building. Then she was speaking over to Margot in her remote location. “We’re about to go in. Is the camera at the front door still on, or can we start?”

This was going to be it, Remmy had told themself. This was the last thing they were going to do for the Ring. No more fires, no more prison breaks, no more shake downs. They weren’t sure they’d be able to do much more, anyway. And they hoped Nell understood, at least in some way, why they couldn’t raise their hand to others anymore. There was just too much of it, and they almost felt a yearning to be done. A need to be done. They’d put it aside for now, though, because no matter how they looked at it, this needed to happen. These people needed to be stopped, more than Remmy needed to solidify a vow of non-violence. So this would be it. The last hoorah. The last stand. At least...they hoped. They crouched next to Nell, eyes focused on the main entrance. They’d made sure to skip a meal before coming here, in case their strength was needed. And though hunger didn’t claw at them as badly as other times, they could feel the prickle. “I’m ready,” they said back to Nell, before listening in for Margot’s instructions. Whatever she was doing, they hoped it worked. They hoped no one needed to die uselessly today.

Margot had no idea why she was helping these two strangers. She had no vendetta or revenge plot like her accomplices, but this mission felt like the beginning of something. A gateway to a different world. What she was getting herself into she didn’t know, and while that fact scared Margot, it also spurred her on. Besides, she was in a safer place than Nell and Remmy at this moment. While they were on the frontlines, she was working from the comfort of her bedroom. Her set-up was a myriad of two computer screens she’d ‘borrowed’ from the AV club, her roommate’s gaming headset and a router she was using to tap the warehouse server. Margot could see the two of them crouching on one of the external cameras, just barely, invisible unless you knew they were there. “I’m ready if you are.” She told both of them, sensing their anticipation. Margot had managed to rig up Nell’s wireless headphones, and one of Remmy’s hearing aids so that they could all communicate. Margot was pretty confident that their transmission would be uninterrupted. “I’m going to cut the camera. But, get in quick, we don’t want them to catch on.” Margot executed the command on her keyboard. The camera feed that was showing them to her went black, and when it came back on, they were gone. “Goodluck.” Margot whispered. 

The moment Margot cut the cameras, Nell sprang forward from her hiding place, sparing a glance at Remmy to make sure they weren’t far behind. She sprinted the distance to the door as quickly as possible, thanking her natural speed as she went. Stopping at the door, she pressed a quick and urgent hand against the lock, muttering a spell under her breath as the door opened with a little click. Opening it, she ushered Remmy in behind her, closing it the next second. “Okay, we’re clear of the entrance,” she whispered into the modified AirPod Margot had made for her. “Do we know where the next camera is?” Already her heart was pounding, but it wasn’t from nerves. They were so close to what they’d been working towards ever since they’d been taken by the Ring, so close to finishing all of this once and for all. She could nearly taste it along with the knowledge that Roy was hopefully holed up here, ready for her to rip into him and make the piece of shit pay for all that he’d done. He wouldn’t be allowed to hurt her family, her friends, or herself any more.

Remmy followed close behind Nell. They were bred for this. Following, taking instructions, completing the mission, the task. They remembered how refined the world had been when they’d narrowed their focus down at the Ring. Too much had gone wrong there, they couldn’t let that happen here. So while they kept their focus on Nell, they let their eye wander around to take in their entire surroundings. No one was following, no one was up ahead. They pressed in close to Nell, crouched in the corner. Heard their voices clear through the speaker in their ear. Nell had her magic, Remmy had a taser they’d grabbed from Morgan’s drawer. If she knew what they were doing right now, she’d probably have their head. But they weren’t going to let Nell do this alone. There was no way. “The door is secure, there’s no one up ahead, either,” they muttered, turning to look down the hallway. “We know what room we’re heading for?”

Margot let out a deep breath. They were in. “There doesn’t seem to be a camera in the hall, not one on their servers anyway. You should be good to go.” Margot switched a few tabs on her computer. Squinting at the material she had pulled up. “Building plans I downloaded from city hall show a larger room through the corridor coming up on your right. Could be the place?” 

“Good,” was Nell’s simple answer to both Margot and Remmy, not seeing a reason to talk anymore than was necessary during a time like this. Carefully, she made her way up the hallway in the direction Margot had mentioned, barely daring to breathe as she crept towards the door on the right hand side. It wouldn’t do to have their cover blown so close to their prize. Every cell in Nell’s body seemed to be humming in anticipation, ready to catch the rats that were hopefully lurking on the other side of this door. “Do you wanna do this big or small?” She asked Remmy, knowing there were benefits to both ways. What she really was asking was whether they wanted to go in guns blazing or something more subtle. Whatever answer they may have, she didn’t hesitate to pull out one of her many hidden knives, tracing the tip of it along her thumb to create a pebble of blood. Wordlessly, she swiped it over one of her summoning tattoos along with a few mumble words of something that sounded vaguely demonic. In another instant, her three hellhounds she often called upon were assembled between herself and Remmy, ready for orders after being Summoned by her magic.

Margot’s voice was a comfort on the other end of the line. Knowing they weren’t going in blind helped calm Remmy’s nerves. They followed Nell down to the door that Margot pointed them to, stealing themself quietly against the wall when they stopped to gather themselves. They looked from Nell to the three dogs that had appeared, remembering them from the beach. Or, at least, what little they did remember from that day. That wasn’t something they wanted a repeat of. “If we go in big, there could be a fight. We should try and do this quiet. The less people caught in the crossfire, the better, right?” they suggested quietly. “And if things get out of hand, well..then we go big. Sound good?” A question doled out to both Nell and Margot, knowing it would be her responsibility to lead them out of here if things went sideways.

Once they had disappeared into the depths of the hallway, Margot had no visual on them. It seemed that this organisation had a habit of placing cameras sporadically and unplanned. This meant she did not see the curses that Nell had conjured up, or the three hounds that defied Margot’s rational beliefs. This was perhaps a relief; Nell and Remmy didn’t have time to catch her up at this moment. “Sounds good to me.” Margot spoke through her headset. She had her own plans if things went haywire, she just hoped the other two were as prepared. 

Scooby sniffed curiously at Remmy for a moment, as if wondering whether or not Nell had brought them the zombie as a snack. But the witch quickly gave the hellhound a stern look and shake of her head, and the pup was quickly back on task. As for less people caught in the crossfire...Nell didn’t entirely think that was a bad thing, but putting more deaths on Remmy’s conscious wasn’t something she was entirely willing to be responsible for...so a smaller entrance would have to do. “Sure...sounds good.” With another whispered spell, she unlocked the door separating them from their quarry, and inched it open. At first, there was no resistance, and as she stepped into the room with the dogs at her sides no one looked up from what they were doing, having no reason to think they’d been infiltrated. Most of the faces blurred past Nell’s eyes as she searched for one man in particular. The one she desperately wanted to rip limb from limb. “He’s not here,” she hissed, frustration getting the better of her as she found no familiar face. “Roy’s not fucking here.” 

He wasn’t there. They’d come all this way, and the one person they’d been looking for wasn’t there. Remmy could feel Nell’s frustration, her anger-- she’d wanted so desperately to punish the man that had poisoned her sister and her, and Remmy. They’d both wanted him to be there, and Remmy felt the pain of this loss after the realization hit. “Where is he!?” they asked, teeth grit, jaw clenched. None of the men had moved yet, pressed into staying where they were thanks to the three flaming dogs flanking them. “Where’s Roy? Why isn’t he here!?” they shouted, anger gnashing through their throat and onto their tongue. 

“He’s not there? I could swear—” Margot had been sure he would be there. She’d been watching camera footage for days measuring his comings and goings. Margot hadn’t seen him leave, but she supposed there could be some kind of back entrance she didn’t have eyes on. Her brow furrowed in annoyance and confusion.“Well, shit!” Margot threw up her hands. What were they doing all of this for if the ‘big bad’ wasn’t even there? Margot did what she could to recompose herself. “Is the plan still a go? Or is it over?”

“It’s not over,” Nell bit out into her modified comm through gritted teeth. It’s not fucking over. Nell’s own fury matched Remmy’s in an instant, and a frustrated growl was ripped from her throat as she advanced on the man that looked most frightened of the hellhounds. “Tell me where the fuck he is,” she began, tugging on the collar of his shirt to make him bow to her height. “Tell me where he is, and I might think twice about turning you into a dog snack for my friends here.” As if on cue, the hellhounds began to circle the man, nipping not so playfully at his heels. His body grew tense, and the effect of the demon dogs was instantaneous as he stammered out an answer. “I- I don’t know! I don’t know! He never tells us where he goes! Says it’s safer that way!”

Remmy watched Nell advance on the man that looked most afraid. She might’ve been small in size, but she was not small in stature. Her presence could fill an entire room. They kept their eye on the other two, who looked ready to run if the opportunity presented itself. One of them made to move, but Remmy sidled into their path, simply shaking their head, eyes sharp. They weren’t sure they’d hurt the man, but they would restrain him from leaving. They had to. They looked to Nell, feeling Margot’s frustration as well. “Now what?” they asked, ready to follow whatever instructions either doled out. “Do we just...go forward with the plan?”

Nell’s gaze burned into the man in front of her, jaw set in a stubborn and angry line that spoke of a determination that made her willing to do nearly anything when it came to getting what she wanted in a situation such as this. A sound of utter disgust was pulled from her lips as the man proved useless, and she released him from her iron tight grip. Then she spoke to Remmy, though the words were for the benefit of the whole room, a foreboding tone filling their syllables, letting the air of a threat fill the promise. “We go forward with the plan. Maybe they’ll be a little more willing to talk by the end of it. Just something to jog their memory” A snap of her fingers had an animal hide appearing in her open hand, summoning a curse she’d prepared at home specifically for this situation— it would only need the finishing touches. As she unfurled it, a circle drawn in blood came into focus, runes of all sorts filling it in a careful pattern. It was about the size of a bearskin when laid across the floor, and with the utterance of a commanding word in Latin, the nails on the edges of the skin drove it into the wooden floor beneath them, securing it in place.

“Now it’s your turn,” Nell said with a sharp grin to the man closest to her, roughly shoving him into the center of the set up and into the circle. “Don’t be shy,” she sweetly commented to the other few men in the room. “Go ahead and join your friend.” They didn’t have much of a choice as the hellhounds herded them onto the animal skin, snapping their teeth. Then began her chanting, more Latin repeated in a cycle as she circled the men like prey, watching them with hungry eyes. The hounds mirrored her in a counter-clockwise motion, making sure to deter anyone that might have been thinking about making a break for it. Once they were huddled neatly in the center, Nell drew the rest of the nails from her pockets, and went over to the last man who had stepped into the circle. Without skipping a beat, she stuck the very tip of a nail into each of the man’s shoes before straightening. Then, without hesitating, her own foot came down on the man’s left foot— her strong and fluid motion driving the nail clean through the flesh and sinew, effectively nailing him to the floor. A gasp and grunt of pain was wrenched from him, but Nell paid it no mind as she went on to the second of his feet, repeating the process. Then it was on to the next man, and then the third— each one growing more fearful as she went, their agony etched into their faces. They couldn’t move without forcefully pulling their feet from the ground along with the nails that had been hammered into them. They were trapped, unable to escape. Just like all those innocents had been underneath the Ring. Just like she had been along with Remmy. She couldn’t deny the perverse pleasure she got in knowing how thoroughly the tables had been turned, that they were now the ones welling with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Finally, she got to the last man, and the first one she’d approached after entering the room. 

“I said I might reconsider by the end of this. So are you going to tell me what I want or not?” Nell offered him the chance to save himself from a similar fate the others had faced. For a moment the adam’s apple of his throat wobbled, as if he were weighing his options. “I don’t know where he is- I promise, I don’t. But I know- I do know…” He hesitated, and Nell grew impatient, lining the nails up along the tops of his shoes, foot poised above them. “I’m waiting.” That was all the incentive he needed to continue with his train of thought. “Roy’s undead! I’m not even supposed to know, but I heard it by accident! That’s something you can use, right?” he asked desperately, hoping the revelation had saved him. “Sure is,” was all Nell smugly said before jamming the nails through his feet, a wail warbling forth from him as she finished the job. Men like him didn’t deserve second chances. Not after all they’d done, not after all the hurt and harm they’d brought to the world. 

Remmy flinched with each nail that was driven into the men’s feet. This needed to be done, they told themself, this needed to happen. They knew this wasn’t going to end without someone suffering, but the pain the men experienced felt like nothing compared to the pain Remmy had felt in the ring. When the gargoyle had ripped them in half, when Jax had driven them to the brink of starvation, when Remmy’s own hands had ripped through Ben’s flesh. They felt a burning in their chest, their eyes, the back of their throat. A raw anger that they could taste. The smell of blood filling their head. Even if Remmy never wanted to hurt someone again, these men deserved this pain. They looked away as Nell drove the last nails in, clenching their jaw. They pushed their mind to focus on something else, wondering what Margot, someone outside of all of this, thought of what was happening. If she would still think of Remmy the same after they got out of this. 

Finally, Nell paused. Remmy looked over at her. “Undead,” they repeated quietly, “like me?” It was the only thing they could think of to say. Was the man who had done all of this just like them? Or was he a vampire? Or even something else? Were there other undead species Remmy didn’t know about yet? They swallowed the questions. “Undead means...he can still be stopped,” they said with a quiet realization to Nell. “It’s not over.”

If Remmy hadn’t been here, the men would probably already be dead by Nell’s hand and the teeth of her hounds. But she knew they hadn’t wanted more death involved in this, though she wasn’t sure whether or not she agreed with them. It was more complicated to know what the right choice was with every day that passed. What she knew at the most base level was someone couldn’t do any more harm if they were dead. It didn’t matter, though. She’d already made the decision to work with Remmy’s preferences. All that was left to the curse now was the finishing touch. Her own sacrifice. Pulling one of her knives from its hiding place, she dragged it smoothly, evenly along the mottled scarring of her forearm making a cut large enough to procure a good helping of her blood. Letting it fall onto the tops of the shoes of the men she’d just nailed to the floor, and once again moving in a circle, she spoke a final chant, focusing her mind into a thin line when it came to her goal, and what it was that these men would be carrying with them so long as they continued to live. When the Latin was done, she spoke it once more for those in the circle. Not for their own benefit, but because she wanted to see the blood drain from their faces as she told them the news. “You’ll never take an unwilling prisoner or fighter ever again. You’ll never cause harm to those that don’t deserve it. And you’ll never profit from another’s misery. Or there’ll be hell to pay.” As if she’d said their names specifically, the hellhounds growled their affirmation, adding their own promise to the end of her’s. 

Now it was done. The blood from Nell’s arm sank into the men’s boots, as if it were being sucked through the tops of them, marking them, following them wherever they’d go. Coming out of the near trance-like state of magic she’d been in, she turned back to Remmy, wrapping her arm in a bandage she’d summoned from home. “I don’t know if he’s like you. But you’re right.” Another satisfied grin spread over his lips. “It means he can die just like you or me. And then all this will be over.”

Margot heard screams, and chanting, and pain. The three together made her ears ring. What had she been pulled into? It sounded like some kind of satanic ritual, but that could just be the connection. Margot was sure that was it. Her modification to the ear pieces had malfunctioned somehow and she was experiencing some kind of feedback. “Hello?” Margot called out a few times, testing the connection. “Can you guys still hear me?”

Despite Margot’s assurances to herself that this was some kind of technical issue, the words “undead”, and “like me”, were unmistakably spoken by Remmy. Margot wasn’t privy to whatever they were talking about, and that was something she wouldn’t settle for. Still, she knew this wasn’t the time for an interrogation, at least not for her to conduct. “What’s happening? Is it done?”

The ritual made Remmy’s stomach churn, but it was a lot better than having to watch these men die. There was already too much death, even if these men deserved it, Remmy didn’t want anymore death. They didn’t want anyone else implicated in these deaths. The ring had taken enough from them, it would not take the part of them that wanted to do better as well. They would not give in. They looked away when Nell started chanting, backing into the corner, watching the door behind them to make sure no one else was coming, though they supposed Margot would warn them. They wondered if she could hear the chanting, if she understood what was going on. Nell had she didn’t know if Margot knew about the supernatural, but it seemed as if she didn’t care at the moment. That she didn’t mind implicating someone in this. No-- Remmy shook the thought away. Whatever happened, they would protect Margot, as thanks for doing this. They were pulling her into a dangerous world, but Remmy silently vowed they would make sure she was safe, protected. They could do that. They wanted to do that. 

Finally, Nell was done, wrapping her arm up and looking back over at Remmy. Margot’s voice chimed in on their ear pieces. “It’s done,” they said quietly to her, to Nell. “We’re done.” 

[dariodanoite]

catch of the day | margot & dario

TIMING: before the fish rain ended. PARTIES: @boogaloomagoo and @dariodanoite SUMMARY: dario and margot make their best attempts at catching sky fish. met with...limited success.

Dario had brought the trash bag. He wasn’t entirely sure why the girl from online who he’d been mentally referring to as ‘wood woman’ since realizing he hadn’t gotten her name had insisted on a net. You didn’t need a net to catch fish that were already on the ground. Dario had sent her another message just some ten minutes ago, alerting her of a fish rain he’d heard of that was happening in the streets of downtown before rushing over here himself. After all- fish were good and these fish were free. Now he waited for her to show, staying just outside the radius of the falling fish to avoid getting pelted by them. At least these ones didn’t seem to be the enormous bluefin tuna another girl had mentioned falling from the sky. Getting hit by a 200 pound tuna, even if they did taste delicious. But he was growing restless, having the irrational fear that someone else might be getting all the good fish while he waited here for the girl to show up. At least he knew what she roughly looked like from ‘creeping’ her profile. That was a term he’d just recently learned, but it was proving to come in quite handy. Seeing her approaching from a distance, he raised a single, lazy arm to signal her over, not having a name to call out.

Margot wasn’t exactly sure why this random guy on the internet seemed so intent on cooking his fish on a wooden plank, but honestly, she couldn’t find the will in her to judge him. After all, she herself had gone through cravings so insatiable that until she did finally carry out in fulfilling it, everything else seemed fairly inconsequential by measure. Maybe he was just super into getting his seafood on? Either way, their little arrangement seemed harmless enough, though she still donned her swampers and raincoat after receiving his message. And getting both large fishing nets from the backyard’s shed. Seriously, a trash bag? That would help in carrying them back, she supposed, but, it didn’t seem terribly sanitary. Then again, it had been a while since she had gone fishing, but she still felt the need to bring an ice chest alongside the nets. She didn’t take long getting downtown and, true to the other’s word, fish were already flopping on the streets and cascading from the heavens. Seriously, did no one else find this completely disturbing? Ah, well. At this point it almost seemed close to normal. Blue eyes flitted across the expanse of road before eyeing someone who was waving in her general direction and - yep, he fit the one, grainy picture she had seen of him. She flapped a hand back, having it hooked around the arm of the two nets she’d hauled along before quickening her step towards him. “Yo,” She greeted, plopping the ice chest down between them and motioning to his trash bag. “Go ahead and line it with that. It’ll be a lot easier to carry.”

As the girl grew closer, Dario’s generally stoic expression turned into the beginnings of a frown. What the hell was she wearing? It looked like she was getting ready to go jump in puddles in the middle of a hurricane. Was fish catching really all that serious? And why was everything so...yellow? “You look like a duck,” he said nonchalantly, a simple observation that perhaps wasn’t the most cordial of greetings. But it was the first thing that had popped into his head. His skepticism only grew as she asked him to put the trash bag over the net. What was the point of that? Why not just pick the fish up, and plop them right into the bag? “Is the trash bag not fine by itself?” he asked stubbornly, not yet realizing they were on different pages. And what was this ice chest? He’d never been regular fishing or sky fishing before, not having had a reason to in the past. Well- at least not while he was human. He had vague memories of catching and eating fish while stuck as a jaguar, but those were fleeting, as he still had trouble recalling exactly what had happened for much of those thirteen years. “We should get over there soon, though. I don’t want someone to get all the good fish, first.” Perhaps he was overestimating just how many people would be out ‘fishing’ on this day.

Margot’s brow furrowed, lips parted in utter speechless shock. A duck? The first words out of his mouth were that she looked like a freak-fracking duck. Well, this was definitely gonna get off to a wonderful start, wasn’t it? “Hey, I look prepared,” She promptly corrected him after finding her voice, shaking her head with a light scoff. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be bed-ridden again just because I didn’t wear the appropriate gear,” Seriously, did people just not hear about the news? At least the parts that were potentially life-threatening. No, they probably just read the gossip portion, sports or entertainment and called it a day. She rolled her eyes at the thought, before being brought to attention by his question. “It’s a start. And not in here, in here,” She tapped the top of the ice chest before opening it up and, if he allowed, taking the bag from his hands. If not, she’d simply extend one of the nets out to him. “Okay, then let’s get going,” Though she highly doubted anyone else was going to be desperate for fish at this point - if anything, she thought everyone would be fairly sick of the very idea of seafood. He actually picked a decent time to do this. “Were you looking for a specific kind of fish, or just the biggest one you can find?”

“Yes, you look like a prepared duck,” he insisted, the very beginnings of a tease entering his voice to overcome his often monotone words. Dario was still getting used to this whole...speaking thing again. At the mention of her being bed-ridden, he glanced down to her ankles, once again affronted by the footwear she’d chosen. “Is it okay to catch fish with your ankle?” he asked, not entirely thinking it’d be the best idea to go traversing through a storm of scales when an ankle might give way on you. But...he really wanted to catch some fish. Dario was hungry, and he was getting rather tired of the same old chicken flavored ramen day in and day out. In contrast to her apparent readiness to get the catch of the day, Dario had thrown on a random t-shirt, jeans, and the sole pair of sneakers he currently owned. It would have to do. His frown deepened as she took his bag, wondering what he was meant to put his fish in now. “And I get a net now, yes?” He held out an expecting hand. “Unless I’m just meant to catch them bare-handed.” As for types of fish. “I’ll go for anything that doesn’t look too squished. But the other girl also told me to catch only the live ones.”

The deadpan Margot fixed him with could have withered even the brightest of flowers. “Oh yeah, that’s much better,” Well, she would much rather be a prepared duck than an impaled cool… looking person. Which was what she assumed was the alternative to her own attire, although she rarely ever cared about what she wore. If it was practical, comfortable and easy to maneuver in, then it was in her closet. And even that wasn’t terribly big to begin with. Already, she had noticed that he had a rather distinct accent when he spoke, though she couldn’t place the origin right off the bat. Perhaps she would ask him about it later. For now, she tilted her leg a bit to the side, a small wince resulting from the angle. If she had actually just sprained it, she would have been fine. Having serrated jaws sink into it was an entirely different story, however. “Yeah, it’ll be alright. If it gets sore, I’ll just let you handle the bulk of it. Sound fair?” At his request, she snorted lightly before placing the pole into his hand. “Duh. That’s why I brought two. It’ll be super easy to catch them with these,” Wait, too squished? Why would they be… Oh, no. “Uh, you’re also not going to pick any up off the ground, so that won’t be a problem… right?” The blonde appeared distinctly appalled that he would even suggest doing such a thing. Using a fish that had already hit the ground sounded like the worst possible idea ever. No, they were going to do this properly - with a net, and some seriously coordinated catching from the heavens. Just like… some version of Mother Nature intended. In some universe. Sure.

She was pricklier than he’d anticipated from their online meeting, but so far- it was amusing to watch her face crinkle up when she made her funny little expressions. “Thank you, I thought so too,” Dario quipped back, apparently undeterred by her stern looks. At this point in his life, self preservation wasn’t exactly a primary instinct. But his frown returned as she tested her leg, not entirely sure whether or not to approve of it. “Yes, I’m familiar with the whole- man does all the work while needy girl benefits.” It was yet another poke of fun, though he was curious to see if she’d only get more prickly the more he pushed. Nevertheless, he’d try his best to be aware of her ankle and how it was faring. However he was pleased as she handed him a net, feeling just a bit more prepared, and like he now had an official job. “Why wouldn’t I pick them up off the ground?” he asked casually, heading towards where the fish were falling, the strange slapping of them against the ground growing louder. Not entirely waiting for his answer he simply said, “Let’s go,” his senses being overtaken by even more fish smell as one sloshed onto the ground next to his foot.

The urge to stick her tongue out towards him was so very pressing, but Margot resisted it in favor of rolling her eyes to the opened heavens. So he was a wisenheimer, eh? Just her luck. Her father had always warned her about those types of people, though, so she felt fairly equipped to deal with any shenanigans he might throw her way. And though she bristled at his comment pertaining to gender roles, she simply snorted and smirked. “Obviously. What else would men be good for if not taking care of the one’s doing the real heavy lifting?” She quipped with a tap to her forehead. “And, I can’t believe I have to actually explain this but, you seriously don’t see a problem with picking up ground fish? I’m already skeptical about eating one of these things, the least we could do is get one that hasn’t been flopping all over the dirty road,” Granted, had they been ‘sky fishing’ in the forest, she wouldn’t have been so adamant. Not that she made a habit of eating off of the forest floor, but man-made pavement and cement just had such a generally… gross feel to it. Chewed gum, shoe marks, people spitting all over the place. She shivered just thinking about it. “It’s a lot safer to get it straight from the sky. And… I can’t believe I actually just said that, but, it’s out there,” Walking beside him, she held the pole a bit against her side, net opened and waiting. It didn’t take long for one to fall into the netting, and though she stumbled a bit, she didn’t fall. “Oh, sweet! I think it’s a rainbow trout,” 

The corners of Dario’s lips tipped upwards in the slightest grin, perhaps a little amused that she seemed so ready to combat his every claim with one of her own. But then he gave her a lingering once over, summoning as much of a judgemental look as he could before continuing to tease. “I don’t think you could lift all that much.” Not exactly an eloquent reply, but he thought it got the point across when it came to ruffling her duck feathers. As far as the street fish went...he still didn’t see a problem. “We clean them after. And we’re not going to eat the scales.” Right? He’d never prepared fish but- he’d never eaten a fish that was still fully intact. Jaguar moments exempt. “I don’t think that’s right,” he said succinctly, obviously not convinced on the whole ‘sky fish are better’ concept. It sounded like much more work to try and pluck one out of the air. At least she didn’t fall over when she caught the fish, though. He looked into her net at the fish, recognizing it from it’s pattern rather than her words. “Yes- I know that fish. They taste pretty good.” Not to be outdone, he proceeded to use his own method of ‘fishing’, bending at the waist to pluck a nice looking fish from the ground that was still flopping about. “Look- I caught one too,” he said smugly as he plopped the thing into his own net. 

That little...! Margot tried not to appear phased, but the corners of her mouth tightened just a tad, giving into a small pout at his judgement about her appearance. Oh, if only he knew. "Looks can be deceiving," Was all she gave back in response, deciding that for the time being he wasn’t worth getting any more agitated or going in depth about just why he was incorrect. “Okay, but it’s still kind of… I don’t know, shifty to eat the ones already on the ground. I might settle for if it just landed on the ground, but then you can’t even be too sure…” Was she likely being too anal about the whole process? Maybe so. Did it really even matter considering they were talking about potentially eating fish that had rained down from the sky? Perhaps. In the end it could have all been futile and already signed her death warrant the moment she agreed to help him catch fish in the first place. But it didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world after she had talked to some of her co-workers, who had claimed to have eaten some earlier in the week and found nothing awry. Still, she would always have her doubts. If nothing else remained about her, those would withstand the test of trial and time. “It is. And that was super easy, too-- Oh, come on!” She huffed, narrowing her eyes up towards him before shaking her head. “Fine, you eat what you catch, and I’ll eat what I catch. And we’ll see who winds up with a belly ache,”

“Sure they can, Ducky.” Dario had decided to make that stick, perhaps only because he thought it amusing how it seemed to make her expression a little more scrunchy. But he simply rolled his eyes at her continued attempts to have him not eat the ground fish. “I am pretty sure that you’re just being paranoid. Scaredy cat.” He’d never entirely liked that phrase. Cats weren’t scared. They were fierce and regal. Unless it was one of the cats that didn’t like him. Those cats could eat it. “Won’t even eat ground fish,” he finished in a mumble, still apparently finding too much fun in his teasing. This time, he nearly almost chuckled as her outrage was voiced, somewhat surprised such passion could come from the girl in front of him. “That sounds like a good deal. I’ll take that deal.” Then he was bending over again, choosing the most questionable fish he could find, and picking it from the asphalt to toss it into her net. “Oh, look. You caught another. You’re pretty good at this. Must be the hat.”

Okay, was there anything this guy wasn’t going to call her? At this point, Margot simply rolled with the nickname, piping up with a gleeful, “Yep, yep yep!” And not caring if the reference whizzed over his head or not. The Land Before Time was a treasure. “Oh, sure, I’m a scaredy cat for not wanting to get food poisoning... Ignoramus,” There, see? Two could play at this game of name calling, and one could use big, fancy words, too! Obviously superior and sure of herself, Margot continued to angle her net in order to catch another, smaller fish from the sky. This one she wasn’t sure of, but the moment she bent over the opening to examine it further, she gasped as he tossed a fish into her net. “What the heckie?!” Did he seriously just do that? Oh, he was so done for-- Growling, she reached into the net, pulling out the disgusting, contemptible ground fish out by it’s tail and, without hesitation, tossed it in the general direction of the other’s face. “I don’t want your gross ground fish, jerkwad!”

The reference, indeed, entirely missed Dario. However his uncertainty seemed to be rather effective when it came to making him be quiet. Though, perhaps the strange thing was he hadn’t even had a problem with being quiet until this moment. At least, not since turning back into a human. The word ‘Ignoramus’ proved to be no better, and it took him a second longer to make a connection between the word he was pretty sure she’d made-up to the word ignorant. “No,” he insisted. “I’m very smart, thank you.” Not exactly a scathing response, but giving any sort of flak back was enough for him, as well as proving that he could figure out her silly names. When the fish hit him smack in the face he was actually grinning, perhaps for one of the first times in...well he wasn’t sure how long. How could he not, though? She was simply too hilarious of a picture. But that smile was quickly wiped away, replaced by disgust and fish slime as he recoiled and cursed. “Merda!” He didn’t mind the smell. It was the texture that got him. “Jerkwad?!” he simply repeated before taking his own fish out of his net, and chucking it towards her face. “Now who’s the jerkwad?”

“Hah!” Margot pumped a triumphant fist into the air, elated that her aim had been spot on in smacking him with the sea creature. Normally, her father would have chastised this sort of childish behavior, and in the back of her head she wondered if maybe this was taking things a step too far. But those thoughts were quickly wiped away as she saw him reach into his net, and she dropped her own to raise both arms in order to protect her face. However, she was a second too late, and the slippery sting hit her cheek, causing her to shiver and recoil. “Ugh!” All thoughts of catching any more fish virtually forgotten, she grabbed two fish with each hand, hurling one at him and not caring where it hit - so long as it smacked him somewhere. “It’s still you!” She retorted scornfully, tossing the other fish at him as well. 

Dario nearly growled as she took pride in her triumph, not at all pleased with having been apparently bested by the all yellow girl. It was utterly ridiculous that someone who looked like an oversized duck could get the jump on him. But all that was fixed by the sweet satisfaction of seeing his own fish meet its mark, and his grin was back in full force, along with an actual laugh. Once again, it was wiped away as soon as it had been wrought, as he warned her with a raised hand before she struck, “Don’t you dare-” It was all for not. Again he was covered in fish and slime, and a sound of pure frustration and vengeance was brought from his lipe. “No! It’s you! You’re the jerkward!” In a move he thought to be rather inventive, he took his now empty net, and tried to hook it over the top of her to catch her in it. “Now who is gross fish?!”

Okay, this was actually starting to become annoying. Margot, though displeased with how wet she had become through getting thoroughly whumped in the face with a fish and touching so many that had been on the ground, still found herself smirking as he was nailed again. The momentary triumph fled from her features at his next comeback, however, and she made a maneuver to duck below and off to the side. Skidding a bit as her knees hit the pavement, she ignored the sting in favor of taking another, smaller fish in her hand. She leapt up as best as her ankle would allow and surged towards him. With his hands preoccupied by hanging onto the net, she hoped he wouldn’t have time to stop her from shoving the still wiggling fish down his shirt. “Pretty sure it’s you, fish boy,”

Damn it, the net had missed. Whatever, he’d go back for another for another swipe the next chance he got. Dario wasn’t sure what to make of her practically launching herself at him, but didn’t have any reaction other than standing there in surprise, and by the time he realized what was happening it was too late. Another sound of utter disgust later, and he was reflexively trying to wrap his arms around her, and lift her feet from the ground. If she couldn’t move, she couldn’t shove fish down his shirt, right? His words still held something of their teasing element, but the air of frustration was also prominent in them. “Ducky, if you wanted to get into my shirt that badly- you only needed to ask.”

At this point, there were more than a handful of people observing the two fighting amongst the fallen and still cascading fish. Probably just as flabbergasted as Margot was when it came to how this whole scuffle even started, but that really didn’t matter to her at the moment. Right now, they were fighting, and that meant she needed to focus on winning. Everything else came secondary. A very child-like ‘Hah-hah!’ sing-songed past her lips and straight into his face, the blonde revelling in watching his expression curl into displeasure. But the moment she felt a pair of rather muscled arms wrap around her, and begin to raise her up from the ground, she uttered a shocked squeak and began to writhe in his grip in earnest. After a few seconds of this, she locked eyes with him, putting as much fury and ice into her gaze as possible before practically growling out, “Put me down. Now,”

Dario was blissfully unaware of those watching the show, or perhaps it was simply that he didn’t care. Perhaps in his past life, he would have minded. But now what did it matter? The only person’s opinion he had to consider anymore was his own. There wasn’t anyone else, particularly. As he tightened his grip on her, he rested most of her weight against his body, not seeing how else he’d be able to maintain this for an extended amount of time. Vengeance was sweet as he smirked at her reaction, looking like the cat who had caught the canary. Which she might as well be when dressed the way she was. “No,” he replied succinctly, stubbornly. He wasn’t about to give up his success and let her through another fish now his shirt or something.

When it came to close contact with others, Margot typically held off on it for as long as possible. Brushing against someone on accident was an unavoidable occurrence, but as for purposeful gestures such as handshakes and even high fives? Those were reserved for a very few, something to be cultivated over time. Even going in to shove the fish down his shirt was a gutsy move, and one she normally wouldn’t have carried out had she been in her right mind. But with judgement clouded by seeking to gain the upper hand, she had placed herself in a terribly uncomfortable situation, and was now paying the price for not using her common sense. Her discomfort only heightened as his grip became tighter, and Oh, if someone could burn a hole through steel solely by glaring at it… Well, she had a trick or two up her sleeve as well. Though he had her at a disadvantage height wise, his tactic also left him vulnerable in a couple of areas. The thought of spitting in his face crossed her mind, but it was fleeting and soon replaced by another manner in which she could get him to release her. Smoothing out her furious features, she simply shrugged in his grip. “Fine, your loss,” Without another word, she reared her right leg as far back as it would go before delivering a swift kick with the toe of her boot - directly against his shin. 

Dario, perhaps opposite of Margot, was generally quite a touchy person. It was simply the culture he’d been raised in, as well as the family. And in addition to all that- the warmth of another person was something of another little reminder to tell him that he was alive. As he continued to grip onto her, he took in her expression, trying to figure out if she was still simply angry, or if this was actually uncomfortable. As he was pondering this, and whether or not to set her back down to see if that helped, it seemed the woman made his decision for him. Pain. His shin suddenly burst out in a sharp pain that made him instinctively want to get whatever was causing that pain  as far away from him as soon as possible. So he dropped her none too gracefully, not entirely thinking about how she may or may not land. “Foda-se!” And then he took off in rapid Portuguse, far too distressed to deal with anything but his mother tongue. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” His words found him clinging to where she’d kicked him, his hand rubbing over the spot in a soothing motion.

Thank goodness Margot still had one ankle that wasn’t totally out of commission. And had rough housed enough with her father to know where to hit someone where it hurt. Judging by the words he yelped - likely an expletive of some sort in whatever language he was currently speaking - that had definitely hurt like a bitch. But, as with even the best laid plans, or haphazardly tossed ones, she had miscalculated just how high off of the ground she was. When he finally released her, she attempted to ready herself for the impact, but her bad ankle hit at an awkward enough angle that she crumpled, falling back flat on her backside. “Agh! Son of a bitch, cock-sucking-- fuck, my ass!” She groaned in both annoyance and pain, keeping both hands placed behind her in order to keep herself upright. The pain from her ankle spread up the length of the entire leg, and when she tried to put even a bit of pressure on it, she winced and swore under her breath once again. Strings of blonde locks were plastered to her damp face, and through them she glared up at the male with pure loathing. “You’re such a fuck-head!!”

At first, Dario felt the sweet and glorious feeling of vindication rush through him as she cursed, glad that he might have at least gotten a smidge of revenge in return for her little stunt. Reflexively he quipped back, “Well I do love a lady who knows what she likes and wants.” But the words came out as more of a sneer than anything else. His frown turned a bit deeper as she seemed to struggle, uncertain if she was faking or not. What if she simply wanted to get him close to kick him again? “Why are you sitting there? Aren’t you going to get up?” Again, his brow furrowed in disapproval, and perhaps some confusion this time. Was ‘fuckhead’ an insult that had sprouted up since he’d been gone? 

Where did he get the gal-- Who did he think he was-- Ugh. UGH. Margot could feel herself getting worked up again, the ache and that sneer of his sending her blood boiling - but the sensation didn’t last very long. The pain emanating from her ankle was winning out over any urge she had to somehow one-up him, focusing all her attention on how she was going to maneuver on it now. After scooting herself into a sitting position, she felt a sting on her hands and, upon raising them to her face, cringed. They were skidded, a few beads of blood beginning to seep out of the slivers lacing her palms. Wonderful. Rolling her eyes, she tentatively placed both hands atop her thighs and shook her head. “What do you care? Just… just leave me alone,” 

Dario watched her carefully, still trying to figure out if this was some sort of ruse or not. He was vaguely aware of some memories while he’d been a jaguar that included animals acting hurt to get the better of him- but...well the girl wasn’t an animal, was she? At least- not in the traditional sense of the word. His nose twitched for a moment as he smelled the blood in the air, a flash of guilt going through him for the slightest moment. “You’re hurt,” was his simple answer, not a question, and more of a statement than anything. He hasn’t wanted to hurt her. She’s just been so insufferable. “You can’t walk home like that- you can’t walk anywhere like that.” He’s most likely have to help her which was….not the most appealing to him at the moment. But- she looked much more innocent on the ground, unable to move. 

The blonde’s features scrunched up in further irritation as he stated the obvious, fingers curling into the fabric of her dark jeans. “No shit,” Margot refused to look at him, choosing to glare at his shoes through her slightly tousled hair. He was so stupid. People were stupid. It was a mistake to think that just because someone seemed personable that they wouldn’t wind up being trouble in person. Why had she even agreed to help him in the first place? It seemed like the nice thing to do. Well, now it resulted in a throbbing ankle and scraped up palms. And now he was acting concerned? She huffed out a decidedly humorless laugh - more of a scoff if anything. “I’ll figure something out. Why are you still standing there, you don’t… have to feel sorry for me. Or are you just gloating because you ‘won’?” It seemed likely, however the venom that had previously been in her voice was replaced by an exhaustion. The fire had burned out, and now there was nothing but wisps of smoke, not enough to carry her anger any further, and so it simply faded into exasperation. 

Dario didn’t bother to resist the roll of his eyes when she spoke again, apparently unable to not be annoyed by her even now. Perhaps he could have left her here on the ground, but...he supposed she hadn’t needed to say yes to come and help him try and catch fish in the first place. Why had she agreed to it? Beyond that- he could practically hear his mother’s displeasure at how ungentlemanley he was being. Most likely she was rolling in her- ah- he didn’t know if she had a grave. The sting of that was far too sharp to linger on, Dario not particularly being a fan of processing emotions as of late. For now, he pushed that realization down, though it had strangely softened his expression. “I don’t feel sorry for you.” Though he did still feel that bit of guilt. Now that her claws had seemingly retracted, it was easier to swallow a portion of his pride. Now she just seemed...alright- perhaps he felt a little sorry for her. “Come-“ he said with little explanation, reaching out once more to try and lift her from her spot on the ground. “You can’t live there.”

Then why does it feel like you do? But Margot wouldn’t dare ask that question, knowing she likely wouldn’t care for the answer. She wasn’t one to garner pity from anyone, at least intentionally. Having people look at you in that way, the one where you could just sense a ‘Poor dear’ on the tips of their tongues. It almost made her sick. Even glancing up at his outstretched hand caused her to frown, staring at it as if a viper would materialize from his palm and strike her. But of all her options - hobbling home, crawling home, calling her dad - this one seemed the least likely to wind up putting her in more distress than she already was. Plus, she considered it would make them even for all of this… mess. Sighing, she grabbed onto his hand, wincing slightly at the sting of contact against her skin. “You don’t know that,” 

It was mostly the guilt that had Dario reaching out, though was also, perhaps, the beginnings of remembering an age old human tradition re-emerging. Helping your fellow human. Not that he was any sort of bleeding heart, but he couldn’t just leave her there- no matter how annoying she might be. Gripping her hand lightly, he moved forwards to try and wedge another hand beneath the pocket of her arm, to help him bring her to her feet. This time, it was rather obvious to see which of her ankles was the problem one, and he did his best to avoid jostling it. An arm went around her to try and help with steadying, though it wasn’t heavy against her. Despite it all, his eyes crinkled again at the corners, glad to see that some of her determination to be difficult was still present. Though- wouldn’t he be better off if it wasn’t? “Maybe I do know it,” he answered childishly.

Margot utilized his grip in helping her stand upright, although she still remained wary of his intentions. Any minute now she could see herself landing right back onto her butt due to his carelessness - which definitely wouldn’t bode well for him, so, maybe he was actually attempting to be a decent person. Maybe. “Or maybe you just have to pretend that you know everything to be even more annoying…” She murmured under her breath, trying to lift as much pressure off of her bad ankle as possible. It felt a little odd, using someone she barely even knew or recognized for support, but, they were well past the point of being awkward about it. This was for function, not comfort’s sake. “Wait--” Her expression bunched up as if mentally warring with herself, before she sighed and waved a hand in the direction of the still flopping ground fish. “Pick one up and put it in the ice chest. I can hold the nets,” 

Dario didn’t entirely understand what it was about her annoyance that amused him so much, at least when she wasn’t throwing fish at him. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself from feeding into it. “I never said I know everything. Just that you cannot live there on the ground.” He’d been readying to head out to...wherever he needed to take her when she caused him to pause, and a half-smirk began to form. This time his tease was barely perceptible, not wanting her to go back on her words after she’d said them. “You want me to...take one of the ground fish?” Still, a moment later he was releasing her as carefully as he could to consider the fish that were still flopping around. He chose one that had fallen most recently, and didn’t look too dirty or anything of that sort before plopping it into the ice chest. Once he’d straightened, he looked her over, lingering on her ankle. “Can you walk?”

The blonde could practically feel the smugness emanating from him, and had half a mind to insist that he forget the whole affair entirely. But then that would mean they hurried out here, fought each other and got herself injured for absolutely nothing. At least this way they would be coming away from the situation with something for all the trouble. Even if it was ground fish. “Yeah, yeah, don’t - don’t rub it in,” She mumbled, attempting to balance her weight on her good ankle while he retrieved a fish. At the mention of it, another throb of pain went through it, and she winced when even a bit of pressure was put onto it. “... I’m not sure. Hop on one foot, maybe, but walking’s gonna be slow going,” 

Dario abided by her request for the time being, happy enough that’d they’d at least gotten one fish after all this trouble. But he wasn’t sure how to get everything back now, Margot’s hurt ankle that he felt at least partially responsible for complicating things. He hummed for a moment, looking around at everything. “Would you be able to carry the ice chest and the nets? And then I would carry you with them.” It shouldn’t be too bad, right? She seemed just a bit taller than average girls. 

… Was he serious? Margot’s lips formed a thin line as she pondered the offer, needing a moment to process it fully. Wow, deja vu had never felt so, incredibly, absolutely infuriating before this very moment. “Fine,” She ground out, before she could over-think the matter and stop herself from accepting the much needed help. There was absolutely no other way they were going to make it back without more physical pain; so she would settle for a blow to her pride. Without waiting, she grabbed the chest, nets, and held them in front of her before motioning for him to go ahead and get on with it.

Dario only just managed not to roll his eyes. He was offering help, and this girl was going to be snippy about it? Honestly- was there a more ungrateful person on the entire planet? But, whatever. He wasn’t about to let her walk home in this state, despite his current opinion. Once she seemed ready to go, he bent and carefully lifted her in his arms, one arm under her knees, and the other cradling her back. He shifted her weight a couple of times, finding the position that was most comfortable before asking. “Where to, then?” As if he were a taxi service. Again, he realized he still didn’t know her name, and figured now was as good a time as ever to ask. “What’s your name, anyway? Have to know what to put on the death certificate if you don’t make it with that ankle of your’s.”

Once in the position that felt far too familiar for her liking, Margot attempted to relax herself as much as possible. The ice chest rested in her lap, the nets atop and turned so they wouldn’t smack him in the face as he walked. Though the image of it happening brought the beginnings of a smile to her features. “Start down the street here, then make a left at that lamp post,” She motioned a bit further down with her free hand. After promptly rolling her eyes heavenward at his… attempt of a joke, she contemplated giving him a fake name just to mess with him further. “Don’t joke about that - some people have actually died because of a sprained ankle,” She paused, gnawing on the inside of her cheek a bit before finally mumbling, “Margot,”

Dario followed her directions carefully, still rather miffed that they’d only gotten one fish. Still- at least they weren’t going home empty-handed. Though...he seriously doubted the girl would want to cook the fish with him now after their entire debacle. Besides, did he even wanna cook it with her, anymore? But then, who would get the fish? Maybe she should have it. He barely knew how to cook it, anyway. Damn it. He’d really wanted to figure out the fish thing. Oh, well. “Oh- I’m sure,” he simply replied blandly, not looking to start another fight at the moment. “Margot,” he said after a moment, trying her name out. Then he gave a musing hum, as if deciding whether or not to give his own name in return. “Dario,” he offered gruffly, and just like that, the fish rain had come to a stop as soon as it had started

[nelllraiser]

hacker voice: | margot & nell

LOCATION: pat’s place. PARTIES: @g0t-ri5h​ and @nelllraiser​. SUMMARY: two snoops get snooped a la spiderman meme, and a deal is struck.  CONTENTS: mass poisoning, food poisoning.

alternatively:   

Margot was simply curious, or obsessed, depending how you looked at it. She knew what had happened at Pat’s Place was no accident. It was a feeling she could not shake, a feeling that had kept her awake, tossing and turning the past week. Now that the sun had gone down, Margot felt a spur of energy and couldn’t stand the thought of another sleepless night. So she’d put on her warmest coat and backpack, and made her way to Pat’s. When she arrived, she found it plastered with caution tape that no one had bothered to remove, and why would they? This place would never reopen. Margot was saddened at the thought. She’d only been there once, a burger last December when she’d come to tour the university. Margot hadn’t enjoyed the tour, but the burger had been delicious. She shook herself from the memory. She wasn’t here to reminisce, she was here to investigate. Margot rounded the building and came to the back alley, where a feral rat greeted her with red eyes. She hissed at it jokingly, watched it scamper away and out of sight. She leaned against the brick of Pat’s back wall and slumped down to sit. Her laptop out, she booted it up. Then -- footsteps. Margot could hear them coming closer, seeing the outline of who, or what was coming her way. “Hello?” She called out.

Nell hadn’t realized that Remmy wouldn’t want to go back to the site of the poisoning, too caught up in getting to the bottom of everything to think that her friend might not want to revisit the site of such a traumatic event. Who in their right mind would? Then again...what did that say about Nell? Shaking that thought from her head, she pushed the memories of choking on air, being unable to breathe, and ultimately passing out from the poison from her mind. She needed to be focused if she wanted to find anything of worth here, even if the sight of that Pat’s Place sign set her slightly on edge. Remmy had mentioned something about a man in the alley, and that would be the witch’s first stop. Creeping under the caution tape, Nell froze as she heard a hissing sound, body tensing as she tried to determine whether or not it belonged to a threat. But someone who’d poisoned an entire restaurant wouldn’t return to the scene of the crime, right? That’d just be irresponsible. Nevertheless, she approached with a wary gait, brows furrowed in confusion as she saw the face of a girl illuminated in the glow of a laptop. “Who are you?” she asked with a frown, not entirely sure what to make of the sight.

A voice. Margot was relieved by the sound, not that she believed in monsters or ghosts or anything. “I’m Margot.” She closed her laptop hastily, not wanting the stranger to see what she had been doing, or planning to do. She knew how suspicious she must look, crouched in the back alley at the site of a triple murder. Margot hoped it was not some detective she was face-to-face with, or someone who would question why she was there and what she was doing. What she had planned wasn’t entirely legal and may be considered a felony in some states. Margot squinted through the darkness, trying to make out the person’s face. “Hey, I know you.” Margot recognised her from her profile picture on Facebook. “Penelope isn’t it?” Nell had told Margot about Faetal Attraction; how exclusive it was and how she should avoid it. It made Margot want to go there even more. Like a moth to a flame. “What are you doing here?” Margot said rather rudely, as if Nell had interrupted her.

Margot. Nell remembered the name from their online interactions as well, and now that she looked closer at the other girl, it did look like the little picture that had been next to her messages. “Yeah, Penelope.” It seemed too ambiguous and tense of a moment to mention that most people just called her Nell. The witch’s frown only deepened at Margot’s tone, eyes narrowing slightly as her arms crossed over her chest. “What are you doing here?” she echoed back out of pure stubbornness. In truth, she wasn’t all that opposed to revealing what she was looking into, but she also didn’t know much about the girl before her other than she was relatively new to town, and a college student. It didn’t exactly provide any reasons as to why Nell should trust her or not. And what was with the laptop? Margot had mentioned computer science online, but who just decided to set up camp in the back alley of a recently poisoned restaurant? “You a fan of Pat’s?” Had the girl been here for the poisoning? 

Margot wanted to snap back, an ‘I asked you first’ retort, but she resisted, knowing that it would get her nowhere. “I was just - I don’t know, interested? I want to know what happened.” Margot didn’t want to give out more than that, not knowing what the girl’s intentions in being here might be. Hell, Nell could even be the notorious poisoner for all Margot knew. “Your turn.” Margot mimicked Nell’s stance, arms crossed in opposition, staring her down in the same manner, “What are you doing here?” She waited for Nell’s answer, hoping it was something good. This interaction was beginning to sound like an interrogation. Margot felt like she was on trial, as if she were guilty of something, maybe she was. “I came here once, a while back. I wasn’t poisoned, lucky for me I guess.” Margot looked grimly at the back door to the restaurant. “It’s sad though, ‘was a pretty good meal. I would’ve liked to come back.” She turned her attention back to Nell, “Were you there, you know, when it happened?” Margot had only heard about the incident through the newspapers, and that had been horrific enough. 

Nell gave Margot a once over, trying to glean whatever she could from the girl’s stance and body language that might aid Nell’s decision of whether or not to trust her for the time being. “Can’t I be interested too?” she asked back, though this time it had less of an edge to it, a hint of tease entering the words. Nell was fairly certain Margot was telling the truth about not being poisoned, as she couldn’t remember seeing anyone that looked like Margot at the grand re-opening. “Yeah, it was good before the whale shark crushed it.” Had Margot been here long enough to know about the real strangeness of White Crest? “I was here.” There wasn’t any real need to mention she was poisoned, right? Nell hated admitting to the fact, as if it somehow made her appear weaker, more vulnerable, so she’d keep it to herself for the moment. “So you’re just nosing around? Is that it?” That’s what ‘interested’ meant, didn’t it? After all, Nell herself had given the vague excuse on many on occasion when she was doing something she most likely shouldn’t have been doing.

The distrust in Nell’s eyes was obvious. Margot knew she wasn’t going to get any real information from her, at least not yet. “A whale shark, that’s how he died, right? The owner? I think I read it somewhere.” She had, just a few days ago, using multiple search engines and a small hack that let her into the White Crest Press’ database. People needed to encrypt their data more thoroughly. Margot had found more while she was there; the reporter’s notes on last week’s tragedy, the names of the deceased. It had made her more determined to figure out the mystery. It was worse to hear that Nell had actually experienced it, firsthand. “That sounds awful.” Margot said no more, sensing that it was a subject better left untouched. She couldn’t stand this beating around the bush any longer, it was getting them nowhere, “I was going to connect to this place’s wifi router.” Connect. That was a better word than hack. It sounded far less illegal, “Maybe find out if they kept receipts of everyone who ate here on that day, trace the credit cards used, or even see what employees were working at the time.” Margot’s plan was a broad one, one that she hadn’t considered greatly before coming down here. 

“Yep,” Nell confirmed, wondering whether or not Margot believed the story of the whale shark. There were still a good chunk of White Crest residents about it even after having seen fish rain from the sky with their own two eyes. “I guess sushi was their real competitor all along.” Was it ill to joke about the dead? Probably. But Nell was bad at boundaries, and she hadn’t known Pat that personally. “But yeah, I don't imagine it was a fun way to go.” The mention of connecting to the router was already sparking Nell’s interest, though. Wasn’t the thing password protected? “That’s handy.” She took another step closer to Margot, her intrigue growing larger by the second as Margot listed off all sorts of information she could apparently obtain. Another thought came to her mind. “What about cameras? Could you also see who was around?” Specifically a well-dressed man in this very alley way that tipped his hat to my friend, was her unspoken addition to that request. 

Margot sniggered at the pun, “At least death by sushi is an unique way to go. More exciting than a heart attack or pneumonia.” Margot didn’t think anyone around here died via heart attack, or any natural cause for that matter. Fish deaths might be more common than she even knew. As Nell took a step forward, Margot opened her laptop back up. There was no point in hiding it now. Margot thought about Nell’s question for a moment. It was admittedly, a better idea than her own. “If they had the camera feed transmitting to a harddrive or computer inside, it should be no problem.” Margot got to work, opening up her cracking software. “Looks like Pat was too cheap for free wifi. That would’ve made this easier,” Still, she’d only have to run a basic dictionary sweep to get the wifi password. Margot didn’t speak for a few moments, deep in concentration. The password: bigkahuna543. Margot nudged the screen so Nell could see the result. “Original.” Margot commented. She entered the password and scanned for devices, finding a server connection that looked like their target. “And, we are in.” Margot brought the server up remotely on her screen. They were now looking at the camera feed. “When was the poisoning?” 

“We can only hope for such an interesting death,” Nell joked back in a rather dry tone. At one time, Nell had been a victim of the folly of youth, and the sense of invincibility that came with being young. After all, she’d had an incredibly lucky streak when it came to escaping deathly situations by the skin of her teeth. But that had shifted after Bea’s death. Now, she couldn’t help but feel that she’d meet a bloody end some day. It was only a matter of time, just as it was for most everyone. There wasn’t time to think about all that now, though. She only vaguely understood what it was Margot was saying about all this tech stuff, but it sounded promising. “You really should meet my friend, Winston. They’re a giant ass computer nerd.” A pleased and vindicated grin came over Nell as she saw the product of Margot’s work displayed on the screen, suddenly much more invested in this girl and what she was delivering. “That was beautiful,” she praised before carrying on. “The thing started at seven, but what I’m looking for probably happened around a half hour later— in the back alley. A well-dressed man with a hat.”

“Winston.” Margot repeated, “I’ll keep their name in mind.” It might be nice to know another techie in town, they seemed so few and far between around here. “Okay, so we’ll start the footage from seven, go from there.” Margot changed the time and date stamps to match. They were accessing three camera feeds, one inside the restaurant and two externally. Margot began the clip, watched as the horrific event unfolded inside. She could make out Nell, though the footage was grainy. Margot looked towards the girl now, swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat. Perhaps seeing this again would cause her to relive it. “I’ll skip ahead.” Margot whispered, feeling as though speaking at a higher decibel would be insensitive. She fast forwarded. It was difficult to watch the chaos ensue, even more so at two times speed. The panicked expressions on each of the diners faces would be ingrained in Margot’s mind for at least a few weeks. Twenty minutes or so into the recording, she hit play. It was now the aftermath of the tragedy, medics and body bags. Then, just as Nell had predicted, movement on one of the external camera angles. The back alley, almost exactly where they sat right at this very moment. Margot stayed silent, as they watched. 

“I can point you their way after all this, if you want,” Nell said with a shrug. Of course...it might be best not to mention the hacking outright to Winston. Not when her friend worked for the police, still. As the poisoning began to replay itself, Nell’s jaw tightened, momentarily fixated on her own form going limp, eventually losing consciousness. Her eyes settled on Bea for a fleeting moment before she realized she couldn’t watch her sister die again, not after the first time. But watching Jared, Remmy, and the other assorted faces wasn’t any better, anxiety clawing its way up her throat at the thought of her loved ones dying. Instead, she focused on the outside where Remmy said they’d seen the suspicious man. “There he is!” Nell practically leaped towards the screen, trying to get a closer look. Here was the key to figuring out what the fuck had happened, and whether or not she was inadvertently responsible for what had happened at Pat’s. Squinting at the grainy picture, she was dismayed to find that she didn’t recognize the man. But maybe she knew someone that would. “Can you send a shot of that to me? His face and everything?” 

Margot zoomed in on the unknown person. A man, brown hair, average build, not someone she had seen around town, and it seemed that Nell didn’t recognise him either. “You don’t know him?” Margot asked, just to be sure. There wasn’t much to make out, his features were obscured by the poor quality of the footage. Was he the one responsible for such chaos? Were they looking at the face of a murderer? Margot clipped the image of him in the alley, a full body shot and a few close ups of his face. “Type in your email.” Margot turned the computer in Nell’s direction and waited for her to enter her address before hitting send. Nell had a bigger stake in this investigation than Margot did. Margot just wanted answers. Nell needed them. “What’re you going to do? You know, when you figure out who he is?”

Nell continued to scrutinize the picture of the anonymous man, trying to wrack every inch of her brain to remember if she’d seen him anywhere near the Ring or not. But it was fruitless. “I don’t know him.” There was only a tinge of frustration to the words before her tone shifted into something harder, and a plan began to hatch. “But I might know someone who does.” She’d been planning to hunt down the rest of the big Ring names anyway, might as well ask them if they recognized the photo while she was at it. Her phone pinged, and she glanced at the screen, confirming that she’d gotten the picture as the corner of her lips twitched upwars in satisfaction. Then she looked at Margot, taking in the girl in front of her. She couldn’t be any older than Nell, and it was hard to tell if she was familiar with the supernatural or not. Maybe she was simply good at hiding it. Either way, Nell didn’t want to take the risk. “I’m gonna make sure he doesn’t do it again. Or anything like it.” 

Nell seemed satisfied with Margot’s work and she was glad to be of service. This hack had proved advantageous for her too, now one step closer to uncovering this town’s secrets. Yet Margot wasn’t satisfied; “I usually charge people for doing work like this.” Margot explained as she began to pack up her equipment. “But, I’d be willing to waive my regular fee, if you promise to keep me in the loop.” Margot had no leverage in this scenario, she’d already done what Nell wanted, but she had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time Nell would need her help. A partnership could benefit both of them. “I want to find that guy as much as you.”

It made sense that Margot would charge, after all a girl had to eat. Nell had already been thinking about how useful it would be to have someone like Margot helping with this entire thing, but at the mention of money...she wasn’t entirely sure how feasible that would be with her current situation. Then the mention of a waiving came along, and an eager expression quickly replaced her previously neutral one. “I think I could do that. You can tell me a bit more about what you do, and I can tell you a bit more about what I’m doing.” And if Margot was passionate about finding this guy along with her, Nell wasn’t going to ask too many questions. But she did have just one. “Why do you want to find him?”

Margot hesitated. Would her reason for being here make her sound insane? A kook? She took a deep breath. “Ever since I moved here, I have this feeling. Like I’m missing out on something -- like there’s some big secret I’m not privy to.” She looked at Nell, gauging her response to the confession. “That’s why I want to find him. Not just for those poor bastards who died last week, but for me. I want to know the truth.” It was a selfish reason, but it felt right to be honest. She needed Nell to trust her. 

Nell matched Margot’s hesitation, knowing just how well knowledge of the supernatural could make or break someone’s life. It was a hard line to walk. If you didn’t know enough, you might just waltz into a vampire’s lair and become a midnight snack. But if you knew too much...it sucked you in and never let you go. Made you realize that the world was full of things that were trying to kill you and everything you loved, and that there was only so much you could do to combat it. But maybe Margot didn’t need to know everything. Maybe they could find that balance. “Alright,” Nell replied simply, giving the other girl a single nod. “Then it’s a deal.”