Dark*Matter: Discovery, the Beginning

9:03 PM, sometime in October
Public library in downtown Chicago

The rain was pouring down heavily outside, with the occasional crack of thunder to emphasize it. The storm had come up suddenly, just an hour ago, drenching Chicago and the people unlucky enough to get caught outside.

For one reason or another, you have all found yourself in the library this night.

Inside the library, Donovan Hanson, the usual librarian, as it at the circulations desk. At this time of night, there's only a handful of people around, mostly students, reviewing for midterms or writing essays or pretending to write essays. The library primarily serves a nearby college, providing students with access to references that the college's small library doesn't have.

All in all, just your typical, average library. Calm and quiet, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary so far as you can see.

Iwatt
[sblock]Janet Ford, the assistant librarian Larry's dating, isn't present in the main area at the moment, though she is on the job tonight.[/sblock]

Suddenly, the calm and quiet atmosphere of the library is broken by a woman's scream coming from the first floor meeting room.

(And we're off!)

Janet's going to love these concert tickets I scored tonight. Larry's on and off attempts to woo the lovely miss Ford had finally turned a bit more serious.

As he enters the library, Larry waves at Donovan. Got to play nice with the friends The older librarian wasn't known for his sparkly personality or witty banter, but Janet seemed to like him anyways.

Suddenly, the calm and quiet atmosphere of the library is broken by a woman's scream coming from the first floor meeting room.

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"What the ...." exclaims the startled Larry, "that sounded like Janet!" Larry set's off running toward the sound, concern overpowering his normal instincts.

Diego browses the small science fiction section, but he is bored and restless. He hadn't expected the rain, and didn't feel like roaming the streets in it. This local library rarely has new books that really interest him, either. At least he felt safe here; most gangstas wouldn't be caught dead in a library.

Suddenly, the calm and quiet atmosphere of the library is broken by a woman's scream coming from the first floor meeting room.

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Startled, he quickly decides to check out the disturbance. Probably just some silly thing. Still, as he runs towards the room where the scream came from, his hand finds its way towards the pistol concealed under his leather jacket. Not that I'd dare show it here, but if need be ...

Meredith was over in the periodicals section when the scream rang out, shockingly loud in the enforced quiet of the library. She looked up from the screen of the fiche reader, where she was running old archived copies of newspapers. For a moment she just sat there, unable to quite believe she'd heard what she'd heard. Then Meredith saw the same expression of dawning amazement and fear blooming on faces near her, and wondered.

In another heartbeat she decided. A scream in a library might just be a freak event. Some frosh or sophomore cheerleader encountering a spider or getting a spook from her boyfriend.

But it might be a story too. After all, news could happen any time, any place.

She jumped up from her station, grabbed her purse, and all but ran towards the place that scream had come from.

Nick's heart skips a beat when he hears the scream come from downstairs. He'd been so engrossed in his reseach in the local history section upstairs that he'd all but forgotten he was in a library in Chicago rather than at home in his study. Taking a breath and settling his nerves, he peers over the balcony to see several people running into another room almost directly underneath him.

Nick is typically not one to get envolved if he doesn't have to, but he lets his curiosity interrupt his research for now and continues to lean forward over the balcony to see what he can see.

OOC (Out of Character) - The following depends on if Falkus approves my character, which I think (as well as hope) he will.

IC (In Character)

Using the local free wi-fi, Cade had been searching for some old urban myth and legen references published back in the 70s, in the vein of 'In Search Of...'. Although he's been in town for several weeks now, Cade is still slow to find a social outlet, so, for now, he has been a bookworm, searching for texts and tombs relating to topics on previous nights' Coast to Coast AM Shows.

The infamous, as well as local, 'Lady in White' is the current topic of Cade's interest, however his peaceful browsing is interupted by the scream.

oO What the...Oo thinks Cade as he tries to scope out the direction of the woman's scream. Once he has a good idea of the direction, Cade shoves his laptop into his backpack and heads that direction, in a slight, yet steady jog.

Unarmed or not, Cade's not one to let such a scream go unchecked. OOC - I figured the library had enough security to keep weapons out, ala firearms and pocket knives, et ceteras.

The library's meeting room was a place where the adminstration staff discussed various issues concenring the library, and was occasionally used by local groups as a meeting room. It was pretty standard, just a long table with seats, though, oddly enough, there were a couple of wooden crates in the corner that looked out of place.

As you piled into the meeting room, followed by some students and Donovan, you saw Janet Ford, an assistant librarian, who was standing in the room screaming hysterically. She was wearing a pair of jeans, and a rose colored shirt. She had brown hair and eyes as well.

The cause of her distress was obvious. A middle aged man, with black hair and a black suit, was lying on the floor.

In a pool of his own blood.

His chest had been cut open. The man was quite obviously dead, and it wasn't pretty.

Seeing the growing crowd around the meeting room Nick decides that he wouldn't be too out of place if he joined them. He packs his briefcase and heads down the elevator nearest to his location.

He soon wishes he'd stayed upstairs after seeing the man opened up on the floor like that. Naturally curious, however, Nick can't take his eyes from the scene, and doesn't even realize that he is slowly making his way closer and closer to the dead man.

Moving towarsd the distressed librarian, Larry tries to soothe her. "It's all right Janet. It's going to be all right." Embracing her, he turns aroundso that she can't see the grisly sight anymore. Well, there goes the date. Two perfectly good tickets down the drain.

The young man continues to console Janet, trying to calm her down. At the same time he looks at the gawkers with an unfriendly glare, making it clear that he doesn't want anybody bothering his girl.


OOC: Intimidate 17 (take 10 + 7)

Seeing Janet's guardian, Meredith decides this isn't the moment for an interview. Besides, the woman was clearly hysterical. As for her...well, her hand shook as she went for the slim digital camera in her purse, but the gore didn't get to her too bad. Mostly she was afraid of screwing this up. A murder could be big; even in this town. And she was the only reporter here.

Easy. Stay calm. Get the shots. Find out who saw what.

She edged around the crowd towards the body and the crates and snaps shots of both...making sure that she gets a shot of any printing or symbols on the crates as well. She then gets a picture of the crowd, and carefully swaps memory chips...in case the cops decide to confiscate. The chip with the pictures goes into the little rip at the bottom of her purse, slipped under the lining.

Now. Who to talk to? Meredith surveys the crowd, and deduces that whoever found Janet first is the next best source of information. So she swims upstream like a salmon, wiggling through the crowd until she gets to Janet and her menacing protector. As she does, she pulls her cellphone.

"Relax," she says to the intimidating young man. "Do you know if the police or ambulance have been called? Who is that on the floor there?" As she talks, she starts dialing the police dispatch number.

(description: Meredith Rosenburg is a pretty young woman in her twenties, with russet colored hair pulled back into a tail and striking pale green eyes in a pixieish face spattered with freckles. She's dressed in a university T-shirt tucked into a pair of jeans with a dark brown purse dangling over her left arm.)