#6 Main St.

[PoeticJustice]

Alice seemed to mostly be filtering out the chatter and listening for relevant sounds or orders. Her eyes were closed and she was moving slowly, lips parted as if in some kind of trance. She doesn't react when Sally suggests she might string up poor Victor.

The raised voice makes Alice's entire body shift, shoulders rolling back as her stance shifted to one ready to pounce at... something. Her hands curl into fists and there is an inhale and exhale as she winces. A hand raises to her temple and she closes her eyes as if listening to something no one else could hear. She muttered something under her breath and pulled her hands away.

"Can never feel broken people," she said in Sally's general direction, only now noticing the footprint. She followed it's trajectory towards the water with her eyes and her eyebrow raised and she shook her head.

"Misdirection," she predicted with a shrug.

[Sally]

As Kelsey looks over the print, with Victor in tow, Sally does his best to lean back and be out of the way as much as a 6'3", 220 lbs man standing directly atop something can be. He looks to Alice, and as the young woman looks on with intent, he nods along. He has little conception of what the abilities of their sort lend to, but he knows Alice's little motions well enough to know she's not getting anything.

When she points out the very strong likelyhood that Liberty Blue was goading him into diving into the lake like a good little croc-o-dile, Sally whacks at this forehead. Tricksy, their Blue fox. Catching Alice's eye, Sally gives a short nod up the path to the hill, towards the trees, to the best vantage point to anyone wanting a good show.

"How you doin' over there, Mr. Mad-ri-gus?" Sally says, "Them chip-munks all sortsa fricasseed yet?"

Sally then looks over to Leo and says, "Anythin' you think we should be doin' while Holmes n' junior High Watson here is busy de-duc-in'?"

To anyone watching, perhaps from a distance, Sally's attempts to draw attention to himself, and away from Alice, are quite clear.

[Owle Isohos]

"It looks like she dove into the water here," Kelsey said, squatting down by Sally's feet to examine the footprint. "But Alice is right. It's the only track she's left around here, and she could've just stood here on her toes to lead us astray..."

She pointed out in the direction the footprint was facing, straight out over the water. "It's pointing this way, though," she said, shaking her head with a smile. "If you still want to dive in and look for her. I wish I had better ideas."

Then she smiled appreciatively at Victor. "That was well-spotted. Do you see anything else around? Cause I've got no idea where else she might have gone."

[PoeticJustice]

Wordlessly, Alice trotted into the woods, keeping her eyes peeled for any movement or flash of color. She began to head up the hill, keeping to the trees and the shadows and slipping as quietly as she could. She kept glancing around, hoping to get a better vantage point to see something the others may have missed.

[kimp]

((Gar - off the freaking rez again! You challenge the narrator. Just saying...))

Making her way around a tree, narrowly avoiding a slap to the face by a wayward branch, Alice runs right into a pricker bush. Jabbing ensues.

The universe sure hopes she's wearing pants. And boots. And possibly Kevlar. This is one tough pricker bush – large, sprawling, with enough clearance at the bottom of it for a less than sensible but potentially wily individual to pull themselves under.

As an assessing look is given to that space there is a rustle from within the bush. A poke of the head – ouch, was that your eye or just your eyebrow? – underneath reveals…

Two black squirrels crouched on a pile of what might be feathers. They look up at the intrusion, gobbets of bird meat in their little squirrel claws. The fur on their faces looks fairly slick. Looking at it, you know that ain’t no hair gel. One of the squirrels digs its paw back into their kill, yanking out something glistening and solid before scampering off deeper into the bush, its dark coat blending into the shadows there so it almost appears to disappear.

Black squirrels. Ninjas of the animal world.

Hey, but you know what Alice doesn't find? Liberty.
Well... it was worth a try

[kimp]

Does anyone hear that?

From the left of where Sally stands, and others crouch or cluster or ambulate, and a bit along the waterline comes a subtle susurration.

(What? The narrator wants to use her big words!
And is bored.
And is contemplating a showing of small, entertaining wildlife.)

[vVv]

victor smiles back at kelsey with growing adoration in her bright eyes. it's been awhile since she came across an adult who understood what vic's REAL talents were, not just that stupid performing stuff she'd done at school. she was born for this!! wondering idly if ms. graham might even get her in on that red wolf or fox or whatever thing she'd mentioned, and ALMOST allowing herself to trail off into some kind of cool secret-agent daydream reverie (hey, she knows she has TONS of potential, so why not?), victor quickly snaps herself back to attention and drops into a wary crouch, eager to show off her supreme tracking skills, now that she has an audience..

some kinda whispering down along the waterline? sounded kinda human.. victor makes what she hopes is one of those badass shhh-keep-a-lookout gestures, and, maintaining her spy-movie creeping movement (which probably, to an outside observer, does not look *quite* as cool as intended), moves carefully along the waterline towards its source, moving as quietly as possible as she peers 'round, keeping a keen eye trained in the direction of the sound..

[kimp]

There is a disturbance in the undergrowth along the edge of the water, a few bent and broken reeds or tall grass or whatever you call that stuff that juts out of the water showing where someone climbed out of the lake. Just clear of the foliage a blue lollipop sticks out of the soft ground. Next to it is a small hole the size of a lollipop stick.

Less than five feet into the woods Is a small clearing. The ground is littered with leaves and pine needles. There is a fallen tree to the left, its bare limbs jutting up from its bulk with some intact and others broken off like jagged spears.

Across the clearing was a grey squirrel approximately the size of a chicken. That squirrel had been eating *good*.

It is staring rather intently in the direction of Victor and flipping the bird. Or scratching its nose. With its middle finger.
Squirrels were like that. *Attitudes*

Otherwise, the trail goes pretty cold at the squirrel. Who appears to be chewing on a blue lollipop.
Squirrels and sugar. Never a good thing.

Maybe Victor wants to back away. Slowly. No sudden moves. Hands at sides. Because, that big squirrel is eye-balling her. With intent. Might be ready to make a run at her, if the bunching of its haunches and the evil look in its little squirrely eyes is any indication.

[vVv]

victor does exactly what the old Grizzly Man had taught her to do in such situations.. maintaining eye contact with the Fell Beast and being sure to keep her head up, breathing even, confident but unthreatening, she backs away slowly til she's safely near to the (rather formidable despite their ridiculous appearances) group, then bursts out of the underbrush in a tangle of skinny flailing limbs, tacky little-girl fashion sense, and wild excitement..

"GUYS I FOUND A BLUE LOLLIPOP!!!!! BLUE!! AND A TRAIL!!! but there's a kinda scary monster over there and i could prob'ly take him but i wouldn't wanna risk myself cuz then what if i couldn't help you and GUYS COME ONNNN LET'S GO WHAT'RE YOU WAITING FOR??! somebody else should go first though.."

[Sally]

Sally looks to Kelsey, following her eyes around, until it seems there is a safe place to stand that is not atop her clue.

When he dislodges himself out the way, he makes sure not to look anywhere near where Alice has gotten off to, lest he give her away, and as he starts to confer with Leo and Madrigus about their next move, Victor's flailings interrupt good sense.

Her mention of monster again see his KA-BAR knife drawn, and he dashes into those woods, quicker and lower than a man of his size might normally be thought to move.

Scuffle. Chittering. Profanity. Further scuffle.

Sally Lautner returns, knife sheathed, and arm extended. Hanging by the scruff of its neck from his balled fist is a massive, rotund gray squirrel with blue sugar-sap 'round its face and murder in its eyes.

"Jus' a golldarn two-pot squirruh," Sally says, eyeballing the rodent. "Too much pudge on it to make good eaten' though, 'nless ya dress it with some lean rab'bit to even it out some. Too much fer a pie, anyhow."

He looks to Madrigus, remembers the man's run in with the chipmunks, and makes the executive decision that critters need not be tolerated. He'd seen Madrigus on the field. His method of dealing with such things would surely be effective, but would likely result in a breaking of the 'no funny stuff rule.'

With a flick of his arm, he chucks the squirrel back into the brush with a kind of casual indifference that suggests Sally may not be a member of PETA. And may have spent a summer or two removing possums and raccoons from musty farmhouse attics and haylofts.

Looking to Leo, he says, "Les' give the Chickadee another minnit to see if she spots anythin', then do like we said 'fore and head inta an' round the Triple-A?"