Play@YSDC

"It's a ceremony to Agoué, loa of the sea," says Laurent. "That basket is a little boat that they'll set adrift at dawn, and they'll throw the sheep into the sea as an offering." He looks back behind Pierre. "There's a pale figure running down the beach. I wonder if it's our American ami. It looks like he's not wearing any clothes."

Fabrice follows Laurent's gaze, 'And maybe he attacked my pitit fi' he says, and runs after the vanishing figure. Lt Etienne looks confused for a moment before following on behind Fabrice.

Laurent hurries after them.

Laurent runs extremely fast.

Florence looks after her husband and the others, but she still wants to get Marise home, so she keeps going, whispering reassurances into the girl's ear. She spares a respectful nod for the procession.

Laurent easily outpaces Fabrice and Lt Etienne, his feet pounding the soft sand as he thunders after the pale figure. He can see now that they are definitely naked, with pale white skin glistening in the moonlight. Thinning hair, the man is tall but overweight. Despite carrying all that fat the man is fast, like an athlete, and he is soon pulling away from Laurent.

-----

Laurent collapses down into the sand, panting raggedly, completely exhausted. He watches the figure disappear into the darkness up the beach, towards to Azagon Hotel.

He hasn't been able to see any distinguishing features of the man but did notice that his left calf had a pattern of several dark marks, like a bite wound.

-----

Eventually Fabrice and Lt Etienne catch up with Laurent and help him up. Glancing into the darkness that has completely swallowed the man.

OOC,That was a fail since the first die was a 6 which opposed Laurent's 5. In future, if you want, you can reroll by adding in an Insight die if you don't like a result - with the risk of insanity of course - and you can keep doing this.

------

Florence and Marise continue to make their way slowly back into town, finally the three men join them, still breathing heavily after their unsuccessful chase.

"We couldn't catch him," says Laruent, panting for breath. "I was fast, but he was faster. He ran toward the Azagon Hotel. I did see that it looked like he'd been bitten on his left calf." He describes the man.

'Sometimes I think that hotel is more trouble than it's worth' says Lt Etienne, 'Especially since they turned it into some kind of hospital.' Fabrice grunts his agreement, 'Americans!' he curses. 'I will ask around, see if anyone else saw the naked man, I wonder what bit him, I can't imagine he was in the water' says Lt Etienne. He says his goodbyes and leaves the others as they make their way back up the hill into the town, the sounds and lights of the ceremony continuing behind them, the rasping trumpet of conch shell horns adding to the cacophony. Marise remains sullen and silent.

-----

When they arrive back at the house the children are all asleep, even Pierre. Marise slumps into a chair, her face expressionless. Fabrice turns to Laurent, 'Mèsi for all your help tonight, compère.' His face is dark, 'I do not know what happened to my pitit fi but I intend to find out.' A look of anguish comes over him, 'But Pierre and I need to take out the boat tomorrow morning, I promised to pick up George Benson from Cap Matelot, some St Joe City politicians are taking out his big cruiser, Ti Maman.'

OOC,As an aside, if you ever want to know if your character knows any more about something you think they should now about, e.g. who someone is or about a location in the area, then just roll for it.

Laurent knows all about George Benson. "I was glad to do what I could," he says, though he likes Americans in general. "I could help tomorrow."

Florence kneels down beside Marise, taking her face in her hands. "Please talk to me, ma petite. You are safe now. No one can hurt you any more."

'Well that's very kind of you Laurent says Fabrice, perhaps you could help Florence tomorrow,' he turns to Florence, 'Your sister could take the children, give you a chance to ask around about tonight, find out what happened.'

-----

Despite Florence's best attempts Marise remains sullen and quiet. She won't make eye contact and will not speak.

Florence,That's going to take a roll - I'd say you get the two d6, human and career. Plus you can add Insight if you like.

-----

George Benson is an American fisherman. He's been in Dame Marie about six months with his wife Alice. He was hired by the St Joe government, or provided by the US government, to teach the local fishermen in modern fishery techniques. He has an office in Dame Marie and a 30ft twin engine cruiser Ti Maman that is usually moored in Pointe Pierre. Since his boat is provided by the St Joe government it is sometimes lent out to politicians as a pleasure cruiser. Most of the fishermen are pretty happy with George's help. Before George came along it had been a good day if the fishermen's wives or merchants had a few jacks or Spanish mackerel for sale, along with trash fish that nobody really wanted. Now it was a poor day if you couldn't find grouper and weakfish and mango snapper and sometimes even pompano as well, along with what old timers still called poisson rouge and poisson noir - and even herring sprats.

The name Ti Maman is St Joe slang, it means somewhere between 'little mother' and 'sweetheart', a mistress or sweetheart who has borne a man a child. It kindles memories of the old song:

• Ti maman
  Fe ti ha pou mwen
  Pa kitém allé...

'Ti maman, give me a little kiss, don't let me go...'

Laurent,Laurent thinks George said he is from somewhere on the US Eastern Seaboard, Massachusetts maybe. Laurent is particularly pleased with the new outboard motors he's introduced, since they provide extra work for him keeping them going. He has also noticed that George's wife Alice is very attractive in a pale sort of way. Laurent doesn't know much about fishing but the transformation in the catches over the last six months seems nothing short of miraculous to him. ----- OOC: Laurent scored a 6 so he needs to roll against Insight

Once again, Laurent is very hard to disturb.

Mephistophilis wrote: ↑Sat Apr 03, 2021 10:56 pmDespite Florence's best attempts Marise remains sullen and quiet. She won't make eye contact and will not speak.

Florence,That's going to take a roll - I'd say you get the two d6, human and career. Plus you can add Insight if you like.

OOC,Rolled 3 and 6, no insight necessary.

Florence will take Etienne's advice the the next day and go out with Laurent to ask questions. She will tell her sister that Marise was hurt, but no more than that.

Marise is mostly silent. She throws on a shift and collapses into a chair, staring blankly at the wall. After much coaxing all she will say is that she felt like walking on the beach, felt like walking naked. She says she left her dress on the sand and doesn't know what happened to it. She wanted to be by herself and think, but she says Florence would not understand about what. She says she just sat on the beach and looked at the sea and did not see anyone else in Anse Douce until Lt Etienne found her.

Florence stares at her daughter, she used to be such a kind and loving girl, the last few months she has been increasingly detached, irritable, complaining of headaches and spending more and more time out at Pointe Pierre. Now Marise seems barely there at all. Pushing up her chin and looking into her eyes, Florence sees what Laurent was talking about, usually hazel, they have a deep green colour in this light, like seawater. She was so beautiful, so full of life, but now her usually lustrous complexion looks flat and grey. Recently she's shown little concern about her appearance but this glistening hairclip is new.

Florence,Florence reflects, darkly, that it's like Marise's 'ti bon ange', her spirit, has gone, and all that is left is her 'gros bon ange', the basic biological functions, like the old stories of the zombi. Looking closer at the hairclip, Florence is sure she's never seen it before, it is unusual, made from a burnished golden alloy, intricately crafted with a certain exotic beauty, it seems to depict some kind of sea creature, a cuttlefish perhaps, but it's oddly shaped, bloated. Just looking at it makes her feel uncomfortable, queasy even. ----- OOC - Florence will need to test Insight - 1d6 and if you roll above current Insight (2?) then Insight goes up by one

OOC,Laurent does indeed seem to have an iron will. Any more to do tonight or is everyone ready to go to bed and start again tomorrow?

OOC,I rolled above Insight, so it's now 3. First chance she gets, Florence wants to get rid of the hair clip, but she doesn't want to take it off of Marise now - she can tell Marise isn't telling her everything, and has the worst fears of what the rest might be.

Florence will let Marise sleep for now, and turn in herself.