"No." Michael answered, evidently needing some kind of prompt to shift over to what he was saying.

Shawn tried to think of what else Michael could mean by this. "Are you saying you want to stand watch? Like we were at the door?" Of course, that didn't explain why Michael mentioned the naked people. "Or is there something up there that might get us in trouble?"

The more questions he asked, the more he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere by just randomly fishing. "I'm sorry, I don't think I'm getting it. Will you tell me what you meant?"

Shawn heard Corey sigh in exhaustion above him on the ladder. It was a petulant, annoyed sigh, like he wanted others to hear it.

"I counted them." Michael said.

"There were 14 bar stools. Seventeen women with no tops. Five women that were completely naked. There were about 10 costumers that day. And there were two red doors, not counting the door that was open."

It was an impressive bit of recollection, but it still took Shawn a second to figure out how it might be relevant. "Oh! Did you do the same counting when we visited the house?" That could tell them a lot, especially since Michael had potentially seen different parts of the house than he had.

"Yes." Michael said robotically.

“That’s great, Michael - it’ll really help everyone.” Shawn used an even tone, trying to match Michael’s general affect to make him comfortable. “Come on, we should get going to the tree house.” Unless Michael had any further objections or points to make, he started climbing again to let Michael on the ladder too.

"Whatever." Corey huffed in an annoyed tone.

"I hate waiting. It's soooooooooo boring."

Shawn made it to the top of the tree house, right through the trap door in the bottom. When he emerged from the ladder, the room appeared bigger on the inside then on the outside far below. The interior was made of notched wood, cleanly lacquered to make it appear shiny. It was like no other tree house he had seen.

At the far end of the room there was a small desk and behind it a girl with a frumpy look on her face and an enormous head.

Shawn looked around the fancy tree house as he clambered through the trap door, clearly impressed. He cleared out of the way of the entrance so Michael could join them, getting a little closer to the small desk. "Umm, hello? You're Edith, right?"

As Shawn got closer, he saw that the girl had red hair with two small, pony tails. She was writing notes down on some kind of notebook, the sound of pen on crisp paper and the scratching of fast cursive handwriting audible in the silence around them.

Closer still, Shawn could see that behind her, one full wall of the tree house was covered in a sort of diagram. Names of people were written under hand drawn pictures. Relationships between the entities connected threw strings of yarn, colors of yellow, orange and red. Above the diagram was a title written out in large blue crayon:

"The Case Of The Fairground Horror"




"You!" The girl said, clearly surprised that Shawn was here, and clearly recognizing him, though from the sound of her voice, she wasn't impressed.

"What are you doing here?" She said, a hint of disgust at Shawn's presence.

Shawn was immediately put in mind of the more hostile auditions his mom had taken him to. The onus on him to justify the use of everyone's time. He tried to seem confident but not cocky, eager but not desperate, friendly but not needy. "We heard you were investigating what's happening on Main Street. We wanted to find out what's going on; and help too. I live there, after all."

Edith looked Shawn over, as if deciding what she thought about what he said, and maybe even judging him like some kind of judge at the Olympics.

Shawn Rolls with the following results: Presence + Expression + Specialty +1

0 Successes - Less than impressed: Edith's reaction is positively hostile towards Shawn

1-3 Successes - Lukewarm and suspicious: Edith's reaction is cautious, but not hostile

4-6 Successes - Quick tongued and rude: Edith displays a sharp tongue with Shawn and is slightly rude to him, but doesn't display anything that might indicated she is suspicious of him

OOC: Wasn’t sure if my Acting speciality applies, so I rolled it separately. Exclude the second roll if it doesn’t count.

19:36, Today: Shawn failed (no successes) using 6d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more.  Presence + Expression + Specialty +1.

 19:37, Today: Shawn rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more.  Speciality .

OOC: It counts - 1-3 Successes - Lukewarm and suspicious: Edith's reaction is cautious, but not hostile


There was a moment of silence in the tree house. Shawn could hear Corey swallow audibly.

"What do you know..." Edith started, what sounded like a line questioning from a Magnum PI episode

"...about Circuses?" She finished.

Shawn didn’t show it, but he was a little unnerved by the question. He’d been told Edith knew a lot, but he hadn’t anticipated she’d know that much. He decided to hedge a little, so it sounded like he was being honest if she truly knew what was happening, but could play it off if she was just guessing. “They’re places with big tents and clowns. Kinda spooky, though. I don’t really like them.”

"I see." Edith said with a tone of judgment. She opened a little note book on the desk that Shawn saw. The notebook had an image of My Little Pony on the outside. But after she flipped the cover open Shawn saw a fresh page. Edith wrote down the words "First Interrogation of Subject: Shawn of Main Street"

"Let me be clear" She told Shawn. "This is an official investigation."

"An official investigation." Corey repeated, as if he was somehow a part of the questioning, even though he was just basically repeating what Edith just said.

Shawn squinted a bit to see what Edith was writing upside down. At least it said 'Subject' and not 'Suspect'. He tried to maintain his air of friendliness. "I just want to help. There's some scary stuff happening on Main Street."

"We'll get to that." Edith said.

"First, I want you to know that we've been watching everyone in the neighborhood. And that just because you've been on TV that doesn't mean we'll be cutting you any slack." She told Shawn.

"Nope. No slack." Corey echoed.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:49, Wed 28 July 2021.

"In fact, I don't even like TV." Edith said.

"Except sometimes My Little Pony." She said, shutting the notebook and looking up at Shawn and then Corey as if daring someone to say something about My Little Pony.

"That's okay, I like being treated normal." Shawn nodded agreeably. He'd never really seen My Little Pony; it had never been said out loud, but he'd always got the impression that his Dad would be mad at him if he caught him watching.

"I have a few more questions." Edith told Shawn. Then she flipped through the My Little Pony notebook as if the questions were somehow in there. Stopping at one page. She looked down and then up at Shawn with what looked like an accusing stare.

"There was a girl down the block. She lived on Main Street. She had blonde hair. Her name was Tiffany. Do you know where Tiffany is?" She asked.

"Tiffany is my sister." Michael said. Though by the way he stated it, you wouldn't have known it because it sounded more like he was explaining how to give instructions on what homework needed to be done.

"I don't know where she is. I have been looking for her."

Edith's pencil scratched furiously in the notebook. But Shawn noticed that the 'Head' didn't say anything to Michael. Instead, after writing down some notes she looked up at Shawn as if expecting him to answer.