IC: The Penhew Foundation - Andrei, Caroline & Timour

[SuAside]

"The way we're lugging around stuff isn't exactly inconspicuous either." Timour replies as he takes out one of the knives and slowly gives it a once-over "Do you happen to have a bag we can put these things in, Helen?"

[Raiko]

Upstairs, in Paul's Flat.
8:51pm - Thursday 29th January, 1925

"I don't think we've got the spare money to cover this months rent, Helen." Timour calmly notes "But if you feel threatened by his advances, we could persuade him that making an inappropriate move would be a bad idea..."

Helen smiles as she imagines how 'crazy Owen' would react to being confronted by Timour Rukov, but she shakes her head, "No, it's okay. Thank you Timour, but Owen is harmless enough, just a little creepy."
"I won't need to come back here again until we've found Paul."[/color]

"I don't like that someone knows we're here," Andrei interrupts in English. "I think we should get out of here at once." He starts to gather everything up off the ground.
"We don't have time to linger around anywhere. Maybe we should go to where the others were headed, then to the Railway Inn."

Caroline looks a little concerned and says, "Andrei, you're right we should get away from here as quickly as we can, but please lets try the Railway Inn first. Hopefully the others will be there by the time we arrive."
"Johnny is sure that the Blue Pyramid Club is the centre of this gang's activities, and Maksim and Nethaniel might need to wait until the club closes to speak with the dancing girl. If we just turn up there, then we might endanger them all."

"The way we're lugging around stuff isn't exactly inconspicuous either." Timour replies as he takes out one of the knives and slowly gives it a once-over "Do you happen to have a bag we can put these things in, Helen?"

"Yes Paul has a rucksack somewhere, I'll go and find it," as she leaves the room Helen adds, "These things should all fit in the truck of Paul's car anyway, if you want to keep them hidden."

The two daggers are virtually identical to each other. Each has a wavy blade, finely inscribed with elegant Arabic text. The silver is polished to a mirrored finish, although slightly tarnished where it has been engraved. The edges are razor sharp. There is no sign of blood on either blade, but there is a small stain on the ivory hilt of one knife that is almost certainly a splatter of blood. The engravings on each dagger are identical.

There is also a small rolled up scroll, tied with a ribbon, tucked inside the chest that contained the daggers.

[SuAside]

Timour has the urge to test just how sharp the blades are, but at the last moment thinks better of it. His interest now drawn by the small scroll, he carefully examines it and then gently opens it up.

[Raiko]

Unrolling the scroll Timour sees that it contains tightly packed, but beautifully written Arabic handwriting.

OOC,I'm going to message Coffee Demon to see if he's back.

[SuAside]

Discouraged, Timour puts the scroll back down. Why must it be arabic? It'll have to wait until they meet up with the others...

While he waits for Helen to return, he quickly tops off the magazines of his firearms.

[coffee demon]

Andrei swiftly moves over to Timour as he unrolls the scroll. He grabs Timour's shoulder, then relaxes once he sees that it's in Arabic. Nevertheless, he shakes his head in frustration.

"I think you would have learned by now that words can be more dangerous than weapons, Timour." Andrei slides into a condescending tone without his realizing it. His upper-class breeding and years as an army officer rear their ugly head, as they often do. He feels confused and out of control with his emotions and with the behaviour of people around him.

Before it can go any further, he stoops down, red-faced, and continues packing everything up off the floor.

"The Railway Club sounds fine."

[SuAside]

"The Inn it is..." Timour replies as he lets Andrei's remark slide "Do you think everything will fit in the bag?"

[Laraqua]

Upstairs, in Paul's Flat.
8:55pm - Thursday 29th January, 1925


Helen fetches the rucksack for Andrei. "Perhaps this will help?" She says it with a very soft and gentle voice, as if intuiting the pressures mounting within Andrei's mind. "Where are we going to go? The Railway Inn? Let me go find the keys." She searches around the place for a moment before finding them and she holds them out to the air somewhere between Andrei and Timour and her expression turns sad. "This is how I knew that he'd gone missing and hadn't just...." Her voice hitches. "....left. If he'd gone away somewhere he would've taken his car, wouldn't he? He would have...." Her red-rimmed eyes grow juicy again and she starts to chuckle sadly. "How silly you must think I am! After all that's happened, now this."

Andrei quickly packs the rest of the things into the rucksack. "All right. Finished. Let's go."

Timour looks at Helen for a long moment, taking the keys a short moment before Andrei would have the opportunity. "We'll finish this." He looks as though he might say more, but doesn't. "Let's go."

[Laraqua]

Paul's Flat.
8:57pm - Thursday 29th January, 1925

Andrei, Timour, Caroline and Helen head out to Paul's car which is parked on the street outside his flat. It's more than a little sad for Helen having to get back into a car that used to bring her so many pleasant memories visiting places and cinemas and good night kisses. Still she manages to strengthen her resolve as she hops into the back seat. Now they were doing something they would soon find her fiance and save him from this mess. Timour takes the keys in hand and hops into the driver's seat, eager to get back to the Railway Inn to meet up with his brother and wreak bloody vengeance against this cult. He only regretted not being there to do the same in New York. Caroline stares out the window in one of the rear passenger seats, wondering what she would need to say to Helen if they found Paul dead. Andrei's thoughts were hectic and confused as they headed back along the streets toward the Railway Inn[/]. Really he just wanted to sit down and really go over the forms. Andrei draws the rucksack up onto his lap and pulls out the small wooden box with the ornate scroll, unfurling it and staring down at the Arabic words.

Andrei Only,This scroll was important. It had to be important. Why else would it be placed in such an important position? If only he could speak Arabic. If he only he could pry into the deep dark secrets held within. Perhaps it would be a clue as to the meaning of all of this. Why they were targeted? Why his whole world had been turned upside down? Why did these sorts of things even exist? Was it power? Something else? He stares at the words as the thoughts brim through his mind and for a moment he feels like he might be close to understanding it. Some of the words are even in English. Why hadn't he noticed that before? The letters, almost spidery, but still recognisably English even if the letters have been twisted and mutilated to almost seem like Arabic words - though obviously they weren't because otherwise how could he read them? The words unpack themselves and he unconsciously starts to mouth the words: [i]What is there may be again and what was never there may never be but sometimes there are times when the truth within the mind's eye clears itself so nought to do but begin again for that is the threat and the price of the unwary and that price is one which I accept.[/i] [b]Andrei[/b] gets a very bad feeling deep down in his guts but the feeling soon dissolves along with each and every memory of this despicable time. One by one they wink out like stars - the pain, the misery, the near-deaths - all that had happened since the bare moments before entering Elias Jackson's hotel room. It was odd. So very odd. He could feel the space in between like a fog. Something had happened. Time had passed. The view through the car windows was not of New York nor Russia. He knew vaguely that he had travelled recently but to where and why? Bubbling out of that fog, however, were threads of knowledge. Knowledge of otherworldly entities that live just beyond the skin of this world. Of a court of mad demons piping around an insane blind god. Of fogborn entities that can choke the life from those it meets that are summoned from eggs. Of strange cults calling to stranger beings labelled gods by humanity's desperation to see the truth beyond the world and yet survive it. There are things on this world, and beyond it, realities and dimensions through which things burrow and slide and twist and live lives of co-existence through mutiples of such planes of existence. [b]Andrei[/b] knows this but he does not know how he knows this.

[Nero]

Andrei blinks at the strange scroll in his hands. He blinks again, quicker and more intensely this time trying to shake off the feeling of knowing. All this did was cause a him a half-drunken stupor. "Where am I?" He didn't look up, but instead worked on trying to dispose of the scroll.

[Laraqua]

"Busy getting lost down these one way streets," growls Timour. "Do me a favour, will you and see if there's a street map in that glove compartment? I'm pretty sure we just past a Perkins Street." It was only then that Timour noticed Andrei's rustling. "What are you doing?"

Andrei,How are you disposing of the parchment? Putting it away? Ripping it up? flinging it out the window?

[Nero]

Andrei knew something wasn't right about this paper, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He began to roll down the window in an attempt to throw it out.

[Laraqua]

"Wait, what are you doing?" asked Timour. "It's cold outside."

"Please stop it," says Caroline, unnerved by Andrei's actions but unwilling to stop him even if he was going to throw out the scroll.

The window slides down just far enough for him to toss out the scroll, leaving it to whichever unlucky soul happened to stumble across it.

"That wasn't very responsible," sighed Caroline, but she wasn't in the mood to fight him over it. "Should we go back to pick it up?"

[Nero]

"No! I am not sure why, but we can't go back for it." Andrei could almost feel his eyes bugging out.



"I am not sure what is going on..."

[Laraqua]

"Can you read Arabic?" asked Caroline. She pinched the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger. "Can any of us? Maybe we should go back for it anyway? We can put it back in the box and put it in the trunk if it makes you feel better, Andrei."

Timour sighs. "Might as well stop. Need to get my bearings anyway. Andrei can you check the street directory?" He looks at Helen through the rearview mirror. "I'm guessing Paulhad one?"

"I'm sorry, I really don't know," says Helen.