When Shawn got back to his house it was only on the walk back that he realized that it was early morning. No, mid-morning even. The depths of the vision that Feddler had tried to show seemed to last all night and into the early hours.

Opening the door, Shawn saw that the house was immaculately clean. Mom had taken the time to clean up all of the plastic plates and wine glasses that had been used the night before. There was a pleasant smell, perhaps some kind of perfume that had been sprayed on the rugs. Upstairs, Shawn heard the slow humm of Mom pushing around the vacuum.

Shawn's body was aching, and he felt fatigue creeping up his neck and almost forcing his eyes closed.

Shawn realised he had been missing for hours, and that was really bad; not just having thrown off his plan (was Michael still waiting for him in the woods), but because he'd probably get in huge trouble for going missing. He crept up the stairs, trying to figure out what sort of excuse he'd use, but the fatigue was almost too much to bear.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Dexterity + Stealth +4(Noise from Vacuum) with the following results

0 Successes: Yikes! Mom hears Shawn and finds him

1-3 Successes: Shawn stealthily sneaks by upstairs towards his room

4+ Successes: Shawn stealthily sneaks by so quietly, that he is able to get to his room and notice something before Mom does

OOC: 7:32, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 3 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 1,8,9,8,2,1,7,1,6.  Dexterity + Stealth +4.

Shawn's Mom was humming a jaunty little tune, the vacuum drowning her out with its loud noises as Shawn made his way passed her in the all and into his room.

"hmmmmm..hmm..hmmmm"

Shawn slipped into his room with an inward sigh of relief, having avoided any immediate awkward questions. Though thinking about it, it seemed rather strange that Mom was calmly cleaning up this morning - had she really not noticed he'd been missing for most of the night? He gave his room a quick once-over to see if anything was amiss before deciding to put on pyjamas and get in bed. It would be both an alibi for where he'd been last night, and maybe he could get a few minutes of shut-eye before the day began.

The house might have been clean. But Shawn's room was exactly as he left it. It was as if Mom hadn't gotten to his room to clean it yet. The G.I. Joes were still out on the end table. There was loose change that was planned to be spent on the ice cream truck earlier in the summer. And of course, some dirty laundry on the floor.

Shawn got into bed and then closed his eyes.

OOC: Shawn chooses:

1) Shawn decides to go to sleep = No penalty for fatigue

2) Shawn stays up = Penalty rolls for fatigue during this scene.

Shawn gathered up the laundry and tossed it in his hamper before crawling into bed and trying to get a little sleep.

......A few hours later.......

"Wake up God Dammit!!" The harsh voice screamed. A man's voice. It sounded angry. And it was right in Shawn's ear.

"God Dammit! I said wake up!" The voice again, banging hard against Shawn's barely conscious mind like a hammer on an anvil.

Shawn snapped awake- or at least he tried. He couldn’t tell if the voice was coming from inside or outside of his head, but either way, yelling was bad.

Shawn's face was foggy from sleep, his mind still grasping at the fading mist of whatever dream he was having. But all these feelings came to an abrupt and as the voice hammered down again on top him.

"GET UP!" Dad yelled.

Shawn staggers out of bed and tries to comply. "Sorry, I'm really sorry..."

"Fucking Police Shawn, really?" Dad said, as if Shawn was somehow aware of the situation the entire time and knew exactly what Dad was talking about. It was as if Shawn wasn't entirely waking up and had in fact, just did whatever Dad was really angry about.

"Mr. Kramer." The police officer said, and Shawn recognized the voice. "This is just some routine knock-and-talk. I don't think we need to go about blaming anyone just yet. We're trying to get the facts straight is all."

Shawn felt a pit open up in his stomach, but he automatically kept that from his expression. Instead, he let his genuine confusion shine through. "What's going on?"

"Hello Shawn." The Officer said while getting down on one knee so that he was looking directly into Shawn's eye. His 'Hello' was said in a way that sounded like 'Hi, Shawn, we've already done this before and I'm back again. But we both know that that isn't a surprise.'

"We've got a lot of reports lately about missing kids around this neighborhood. Do you know a girl named Tiffany?"

Shawn nodded, keeping his expression confused but also anxious to help. "Tiffany? She's Anthony and Michael's sister. We've played together a couple of time, I guess?"

The Officer said nothing, scratching down on his notepad the things that Shawn was saying. In the interlude, Shawn could hear Dad's angry breathing. Whats-more, Mom popped her head in and gave a look of confusion.

Then the Officer said. "And when was the last time you saw Tiffany?"

Shawn considered what to tell him, and settled on a variation of the truth. "Umm, I think I saw her yesterday evening, before my birthday party. She was over at Bradford's house, he's another kid that lives in the neighbourhood." It was dangerous, and he probably wouldn't have done normally, but if the officer went over to speak with Bradford, that would make it harder for him to do...whatever his next awful plan was. At the very least, if he got interviewed, that would be time he couldn't spend on doing other things.

The Officer raised an eyebrow. His eyes now looking level at Shawn's own eyes.

"Bradford Stork?" The Officer asked to confirm Shawn's story.

Shawn nodded guilelessly. "Yeah, that's him. I remembered 'cause she doesn't usually hang out with him. But he might know where she went next."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:53, Wed 24 Apr 2019.

"Bradford Stork..." The Officer said, jotting down the name. "Bradford Stork." He sounded like he was trying the name out in his mouth, speaking it to see how it sounded.

"Do you know anyone that Tiffany had been hanging around with? Maybe she mentioned places that she liked to go? Or people that she may have like to see? Anything strange that your remember?"

OOC: Shawn Rolls Intelligence + Socialize with the following results

0 Successes: No further insight can be deduced from the Officer's questions

1 Success: Shawn has a good idea what the Officer is getting at

2 Successes: Shawn has a good idea of what the Officer is getting at, and the right way to make sure that none of Shawn's answers to Officer's questions implicate Shawn in any way

3+ Successes: Shawn knows where the Officer's line of questions are going, and can comfortably predict the Officer's next action, where he will be heading next in the investigation. None of Shawn's answers will implicate Shawn in any way.

Shawn took a moment to consider his answers...

OOC: 19:57, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 3 successes using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 10(+8),9. Intelligence + Socialize.

Based on the Officer's questions, Shawn could tell Officer Dawson appeared interested in finding Tiffany, and that Shawn's activities were not his focus.

It was clear that the Officer was rounding the block, and that he would stop at all of the homes to speak to both parents and children as his investigation continued.  His next stop, would be Bradford's house.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:24, Mon 29 Apr 2019.

Shawn didn't show his relief (since that would be suspicious), but he felt a little more relaxed as he realized he wasn't a suspect for now. "Umm, not really - we didn't really hang out much. I guess aside from seeing her at Bradford's, I didn't see anything strange."

"Oh-Kay" Mom said, in false chipperness, which seemed to indicate that she had had enough of the questioning of her son, and now was ready to put an end to the interview.

Officer Dawson read the clear social signal and got up, putting away his notepad, the cardboard flap folding neatly over top.

"Just let us know if you hear about anything." He said to no one, but his eye contact seemed to indicate that he was speaking to Shawn directly.

"Of course." Mom answered, continuing the verbal joust with a parry of her own before Shawn could say anything.

And with that, Officer Dawson left and the room was silent.

Just Mom, Dad and Shawn in the same room, the silence expanding as the front door closed, the sound of Officer Dawson's footsteps outside.

"I hope they find Tiffany and she's all right." Shawn looked mildly concerned, but in a distant way, like you'd be for an acquaintance you didn't know much about. Inwardly, he was relieved that the cop hadn't seen through him - and if he really was heading for Bradford's, that bought him time to put his own plan in place.

"What the hell was all that about!?" Dad yelled once the officer was gone.

"Robert! Please. Don't use that word. You know I hate that. He's still a young boy."

"Hell? You're worried about the word hell? There's a missing girl in the neighborhood and the cops come by and start asking our son about her. And you're worried about me using the word hell?"

"I swear Ethel. Sometimes you're so naive I'm surprised you can even put your shoes on."

"Well, at least I'm not relying on money from my parents because I can't find a job. At least I'm doing something productive." Mom snapped back.

That comment seemed to anger Dad. It also seemed to fill some holes into where Shawn's parents were getting the money to keep finances in the household going.

"You stupid bitch." Dad muttered under his breath so Mom couldn't quite hear it, though Shawn could here it. Then Dad rose his voice so everyone could hear.

"Sitting around cutting coupons and filling out Publisher's Clearing House? That's productive."

"If it wasn't for me we wouldn't have this house. And you wouldn't have anything! Times are tough. And they're about to get tougher."

Shawn was learning a little more about his parents' relationship and how they were keeping the house, but he didn't want to see them fighting like this - it made his stomach clench. So instead, he slipped out of bed and started getting dressed. He needed to go see Junior and Michael and start to move against Bradford while the boy was distracted. "I'm going to Junior's house to play, okay?" As much as he hated to see them fight, hopefully it meant they wanted him out of the house before he saw too much of it.

Mom nodded quickly at Shawn with a false, chipper smile and then curled her lip as she re-engaged with Dad, eager to win the bickering.

Dad for his part, began to fight back with increasingly large shouts and a jabbing finger that stabbed at the air in front of Mom as he made accusations.

OOC: Shawn joins thread

Shawn: At Junior's House