182nd page

[curseshit]

You broke the curse! Or well, the weird spanish guy doing magic is on that right now, finishing it up, but the group should be fine. Or fine and fine.

The townsfolk is as confused as you are. Some of them have been under the spell for years. The guards are giving up their weapons as they realize they don't want to fight for this guy. It was all for the money. He used them. If you want to question him while he's still alive you better keep him safe inside the church.

[ mission: deal with the post-traumatic stress. ]

Comments

[inenochian]

[ this house definitely requires a good smiting. ]

[ tempted to wait outside while the humans go fish. ]

[ whatever was in that jar deserves a burial. ]

[recurred]

[tries to find some stable floor beneath papers and god knows what else and makes sure she's nice and steady before letting go of him]

I haven't even made it to the other rooms, but I'm fairly certain the compass is here somewhere. [and her mother's ring, but that's a personal quest]

[sawedoff]

[continues making god why faces as he turns in a semi circle to survey the ravaging effects of aging kleptomania. his kingdom for a sars mask. picks a direction and starts combing through crud for any sign of their stuff at her behest, calling back as he searches]

Most of our stuff was in the pawn shop before it got whored out. Did you check the sales records yet?

[inenochian]

[ toes through the litter in the last untouched room. ]

That's assuming it was sold and not looted once the curse over the townspeople was broken.

[recurred]

[warily shoulders into the bedroom. stops when she sees something shuffling under the mess of blankets in the corner of the mattress]

I combed the records first thing. Some other people are still working on them, but it's not on it. [b lines for the vanity that's covered in a shrine of shiny things] It's also very possible whoever snagged the map knew to snag the compass.

[she really should have thought to go there first but she'd got so caught up finding the screwdriver first thing she had a lapse in priorities]

[sawedoff]

Wait. The map's gone?

[yeah that would have been pertinent to mention first. pauses in the middle of pulling a drawer out in the kitchen. silverware, silverware, a remote control? picks it up and huh's at it before tossing it aside, silverware, old watch, machete. hauls it out. daddy missed you.]

[leans out doorway to look down the hall]

"Whoever"? Yeah, that's a real mystery.

[recurred]

Hey, someone could've beat him to the punch.

[pauses mid shuffle. yeah he could have been. probably not. but he's not going anywhere]

[this would be a good time to cut to hook riding off on a horse laughing maniacally]

[frowns as she tries to untangle a necklace from a mound of necklaces. jesus lady why. just why]

[sawedoff]

[some people have cats.]

[rolls his eyes and ducks back into kitchen to ransack for anything familiar. pots and pans clanging loudly. tossing junk around. sighs loudly when he gets mystery goo on his hand and flicks it off with the most long suffering face]

I think I'm gonna throw up. What makes you so sure Grossman's got it?

[can't keep an eye out for tiny shiny objects if you keep it on the DL]

[recurred]

Well...She's the town klepto, that's why.

[sounds a bit frustrated as she's been meticulously picking through a funhouse of rings and brooches, having found a couple of her own but not the important one.]

It wasn't on the record, who else could've taken it before we got there? It's old and broken.

[sawedoff]

Maybe we should be looking for Hook instead. 99.9% chance he's got at least one part of the matching set. Turning Winona's bachelor pad upside down is gonna take days at this rate.

[wipes hand off on an old musty towel with a disgusted noise and steps back out of the kitchen. this is too much. he'll crawl through piles of corpses if it's a guarantee yeah but going through the town hoarder's 60 year old habit on the offchance, no thanks. he'd rather go after the sure thing]

[recurred]

[throws down rings and looks over her shoulder to call through the labyrinth of junk at her back]

Then go after him, I'll cover base here.

[frowns as she looks back, bending over to start pulling drawers out]

[sawedoff]

[stops in the doorway of the bedroom and watches her tear it up. has no idea what she's looking for but it's obviously not the compass because no one in their right mind wouldn't take that out, not unless they were looking for something that meant something]

You sure? [i mean zany cuts to hook twirling his mustache and riding into the sunset aside he's definitely not getting anywhere fast] You know two pairs of eyes're better than one. What'd you lose?

[recurred]

[knows he's right there, but she's not stopping until he finally asks after she's ripped a whole drawer out off its track to shuffle through a sea of buttons and earrings and tiny shiny metal bits.]

A ring. [slows shuffling, tossing a handful back knowing it probably wouldn't be in there because that drawer probably hadn't been open for years.] My mum's.

[sawedoff]

Why didn't you say so? I got two hands and time to kill.

[which is not a euphemism. hm. and time to kill is subjective, considering he could be out looking for his own junk, but she's looking about two seconds shy from flipping the drawer. steps over an entire barbecue pit she somehow managed to drag indoors with a this bitch is loco widening of his eyes before kneeling down next to her to yank another drawer out and commence the combing]

What's it look like?

[recurred]

[because its her problem. thats always her excuse.]

[but it still means a lot, so she's not going to stop him if he wants to help her look. snapping out of her moment of watching him start to rifle before starting to look again herself]

It's silver, set with an embellished opal.

[sawedoff]

[clears a space on the floor, shoving a pile of fishing tackle?? out of the way to dump the drawer out and go through pieces, occasionally holding up a ring that sounds like she described for the yay or nay]

So you close with your mom? [slants a look at her as he tosses another nay] You talked about her before, but- [different memories, i guess. who knows.]

[recurred]

[nays to all of them. she seems to have an easier time looking through everything because she knows exactly what she's looking for, but her expression stays at something rather frigid. its literally a needle in a haystack]

Yeah, me and her would just drive my dad mad. Going off on adventures causing a ruckus. She's a wily enabler. [small lip twitch before it dies off] She died when I was sixteen.

[sawedoff]

[pauses reaching for another drawer to look at her, eyes downcast before nodding in understanding and pulling the drawer free to add to the pile]

...Sorry to hear that.

[spreads mishmash of jewelry out and picks through for the non-ring ones to separate into another pile so it's easier for her to just go through the rings instead. besides they can sell the other junk. hey. be practical.]

If it means anything, she must have been a hell of a woman. Did somethin right if the way you turned out's any indication. [dead parents are a touchy subject. he can relate but it's because of that he's not generally one to bust out the trite, so that's probably the most he'll go into it]

[recurred]

[busies herself with sorting so she doesn't have to emotion eyes at him because it's coming. mum feels are upfront and all around. smiles a little at the comment, responding first with an amused noise]

She was. [briefly looks over to snag the little bowl of rings he's started filling] God knows what she'd think of this place.

[or that i lost her ring in a hoarder house. though she'd know she'd be told it doesn't matter, that it was just a ring, but it's not enough to stop her except for maybe not finding it.]

[sawedoff]

[glances up with a terse kind of fleeting smile for a long moment, doesn't know what to say. rubs at his chin before emptying the last drawer and sifting through the contents. no rings.]

No luck?

[well. it's here somewhere.]

[crotchbite]

[ hel went to a shody...ier part of the klepto haven after they arrived whatever. killed a raccoon that tried to hump her leg, crushed its little skull under her boot. sorry raccoon (she's not sorry)

holds up the compass ]

Got it. [ watches them look for... whatever and tilts head to dean ] I'll get the map. [ she's pretty sure hook has it and let's be real she's probably the best person to get it back ]

[recurred]

[opens mouth to answer but clearly its a big resounding 'nope' but hel is there so she holds up and looks over her shoulder]

Right. Good luck. [she probably is best qualified but don't hesitate to shout gurl if he's being problematic]

[sawedoff]

[looks up surprised she actually managed to find the compass in this dump. bitches get stuff done i guess. but yeah no argument about her playing hook ambassador. nods at her in agreement]

Yeah. Punch him for me.

[for being a little shit. works himself up to his feet without using anything to hang onto to avoid a mystery goo repeat and starts kicking the reject pile of the jewelry into an open bag]

[recurred]

[turns to look at their pile of junk jewelry once Hel's gone on her one woman mission. Trying not to panic, like a person wants to do when they feel like they've exhausted all reasonable options, and turning to dump the rings into the bag with the rest of the scrap.]

Okay. [that's all she's got before she resorts to bending over to look beneath the vanity, lifting up every little thing like 'yeah it totally could be under this flimsy scrap of paper plastered to the floor, totally' then then around and under the bed and lifting the gross blankets that make a velcro noise when she lifts them. ew no drops them]

Maybe...maybe she's wearing it. Or or it's in a pickle jar or a cigarette holder. Sewing box. Floor vents. Junk drawer. [overwhelmed hands]

[sawedoff]

[ties bag off and stores it inside jacket since its mostly just tiny jewelry pieces]

[steps over more junk to lay hands on her shoulders. calm your tits. shh. shh]

You know Marge's not the only klepto this side of Mordor. Hook's practically a hoarder too, he'll lift anything shiny. Maybe it wasn't in the records because he didn't sell it.