2021-07-04 - The Hunt for Jersey

The break in the storm has still resulted in dark, churning grey skies and a light drizzle that hisses against unflooded streets and plip plonks into the flooded ones. Even then unflooded streets are a mess, with whole tree branches down, spreading canopies of leaves across the pavement and in some places making the area completely unnavigable by car.

Mrs. Cuddy's French bulldog Jersey got scared by the storm though, had broken free of his leash when she'd tried to take him out to the perimeter of the property for a walk, and had run. Frantic, she jumped on the Friendzone group for Broadleaf Apartments and asked anyone who was willing to go looking. Which had resulted in Conner grabbing a raincoat, and waders. He steps out onto the front porch now, squinting into the rain as if doing so might help him divine which way the silly dog went.

Isolde had decided against the Gymnasium after all. The apartments were relatively inland and windows had been reinforced so it should be fine. Right? It also meant that she happened to be peeking at her phone when the Friendzone notification came through. So, of course she wanted to help! She grabbed her boots and a windbreaker - because she didn't have a proper raincoat. She steps out on to the porch a few steps after Conner. "See anything?" She asks, looking out as she puts the hood of her jacket up and finishes zipping it. "Did she even say what way he ran off?" Looking to the left and right. "Jersey!" She calls out, though doesn't expect it to do much from here.

"She said into town, so not the Forest at least. At least, not initially." Conner scowls...the last thing he wants to do is hunt this dog in the forest, where everything might go wrong. "Down thataway, towards the hardware store."

He cups his own hands around his mouth and yells, "Jersey!"

But of course if it were that easy, the woman could have gotten the dog back herself. "Come on," he suggests. "The little guy runs pretty fast."

He scowls and says, "She didn't even pay a pet deposit. Just up and adopted him without talking to me." Like he cares. Like he pressed it. 90% of the residents have pets that their lease either says they shouldn't have or that they're supposed to ask him about and pay pet deposits on. Do you know what he does? He grumbles. And then gives the damned animals treats whenever he meets them. Conner is a softy and everyone knows it.

"Dog'd probably be eaten by now if it went into the forest. Soo yeah. That's a good thing." Isolde agreed, stepping down carefully, but already feeling water splashing up . "Oh wait!" Before they get too far away. "Do you have any treats? Should we get treats to lure him back?" She's likely seen Jersey a few times, maybe pet him once but she's not an animal person in the big picture, unless the animal is Lugi- Alexander's bird. She doesn't dislike animals, it's more that she just doesn't think she can handle that sort of responsibility. She has enough of a time looking after herself!

"Maybe she just figured he wouldn't be much trouble." Isolde mused. Not that this is a good excuse to violate your clause and all, but still!

Conner considers that. "I have some leftover bacon," he says. "Just let me go upstairs to get it." Better than nothing. That's the one thing he didn't think to stock up on. Pet treats. Because he doesn't have a pet,for crying out loud. He comes back with all of it sort of haphazardly thrown into a tupperware without a top, and offers some out to Isolde too.

He cooks a decent bacon. It's cold, but it looks like it was cooked just right this morning.

"All dogs like bacon, right?"

Isolde waits patiently, peering ahead down the road. Maybe Jersey would just...appear!

He did not. But there is bacon being offered as Conner returns, so she lightly plucks a piece and nibbles on it. "Thanks! And yeah, they should. I mean, everyone should love bacon." Otherwise, why would vegetarians want fake bacon? "Onward!" She takes another nibble of bacon, setting off in the direction of the hardware store. "This is pretty good by the way. I'm gonna have to get some tips or somethin' from you after we've got Jersey."

"Thanks," Conner says sheepishly. "I like to cook. I'll be happy to give you some."

Which suggests he might just do the cooking for the big resident BBQ they've uh. Cooked up.

He steps gingerly around and over fallen debris, keeping an eye out for the dog. He doesn't spot the little guy, who is grey and full of energy, but..."I suspect he might have bolted to a hiding place as soon as he stopped running. So he might be under a building or tucked into an alley or something similar. Maybe we'll hear him puppy whining."

"Sounds like a plan!" Isolde...doesn't cook. Not really. Ever since that miserable experience while trying to cook a frozen lasagna when a Dream interfered? She's been hesitant to try again. Even if it was over a year ago. So it's mostly take out, sandwiches, or microwaveable meals for her.

"That makes sense. He's prolly cold and wet and just wants to go home." Isolde agreed, trying to keep an extra eye out. "I...wonder if I might be able ta hear 'im in my head? You know with the powers. We could try maybe?" Remembered that Conner had similar abilities based off their talk to the other day. Though she isn't quite sure if she can communicate with animals. She hasn't tried it, but she knows Alexander was able to and if he was able to, maybe others could as well.

"I think we can...control them? Animals? But I don't know if they need to be line-of-sight," Conner says slowly. "I've never tried that one before. But...wait a minute."

He snaps his fingers. "You're stronger than me. I think you can do this. If we go get Jersey's leash from Mrs. Cuddy, and if we work together, we might be able to read the residues to zero in on his location. And then go find him and use our abilities to keep him calm enough to bring back. I think I've heard someone really good at the mental stuff can do that...and maybe we can help each other. We might have to get close, I don't know if it will bring it straight to us if he's halfway across town but..."

He looks suddenly embarrassed, letting a shoulder rise and fall. "It's worth a shot, and better than wandering around all day."

Isolde pondered it over, listening actively to Conner's suggestion as she continued keeping an eye out. Finally she looked back to Conner with a grin. "I think that's a good idea! Definitely sounds more efficient." She already turning to start heading back to the apartment. "I'll bet we can get a lead at least from the leash. Then I can try and see if I can detect him at all. His mind. I wonder what a dog's mind is like.." She pushed a hand through her hair. "Anyway! We can definitely do this." She slips her hands in to her jacket pockets. "This is a much better start idea than just trying to wander the streets randomly."

"Especially since we don't know how long this lull in the storm is going to continue," Conner says ruefully. "I don't want to be out here when it starts up again. I wouldn't want to get hit by some of the stuff that's clearly been flying around."

It's not just tree limbs. Someone's porch umbrella, wisely left outside, flaps like an out-of-place carnival umbrella as it clacks and rolls its way down the street, uneasy in the remaining winds.

He turns and follows her back to the apartment complex, adding, "It will be an experiment to see if I can boost you at all. I don't know if that's a thing or not."

"Same. Being caught out when things start up again would be very bad. It's too bad we can't control the weather." Isolde laughed. "Then we could just will the storm away. Well, we'd prolly need lots of people putting forth the effort. But you get what I mean." She side steps a few toys that must have gotten over looked in preparation for battening down.

"I dunno if it is either! I don't really use my powers a whole lot. Not unless I have to." Isolde admitted. "I'm not sure the full extent of what I can do these days." She gets a weird look in her eyes like she might be thinking of something but then shakes it off. "I wonder how things are looking on the other side. I hope that elkfish is still trapped in the trees at least. He sounded kinda scary from what you said."

"Yeah. I hope so too," Conner says grimly. "But I think we'd know if it was out. You'd be hearing the give demand in your head. It would be trying to come for everybody's glimmer. There's an old man who is keeping him in until after the storm though. He explicitly said when the storm was done the elkfish would be our problem. I'm hoping we get a chance to talk to him before then. Or that someone who knows what they're doing does."

He sidesteps a puddle, but the street is so wet in places that there's no avoiding water, making the waders a decent idea. Which has him staring critically at Isolde's clothing.

"Do you want me to grab a spare raincoat while we're back there? I have one. It'll swallow you probably but...that windbreaker doesn't seem up to the challenge."

"Things hardly ever go our way in this place. But I'll hope that he can be talked to, too." Isolde agreed. "At the very least, maybe there's a way to avoid him becoming our problem immediately..." She looks down at her clothes when she notices Conner analyzing them. "Oh, uh, sure! Thanks." She looked a little sheepish. "Yeah I don't really have the best sorta clothes for this weather...it's on my list for next time though." And of course she hadn't expected to be leaving the house yet.

"I'm sure I can figure out how to not drown in it long enough to get Jersey and all." She chuckled. Seeing the apartment building she quickens her pace just a little. Once inside the building she exhales, a touch of a shiver running through at the change from wet to dry and the cooler air. She starts to peel off her wind breaker. "What floor is Mrs. Cuddy on?"

"She's on the second floor. #208," he says. "You go get her leash from her, I'll go get the raincoat."

He chuckles suddenly, shaking his head with amusement. They keep running back to their building. It's a real good thing they've figured out how to make the search efficient, because the launch, at least, is not efficient at all. It's probably a good thing neither of them bill themselves out as pet detectives or anything like that.

He lives on the top floor, and dashing up the stairs.

"Good plan." Isolde agreed with a chuckle. She followed up the stairs, veering off at the second floor exit and starts walking down the hall, looking for the apartment. She also wonders if maybe she should try to slip up to apartment to change her shirt too...Isolde shakes her head. Not yet. Leash first at least.

She found the apartment 208 and listened a moment before knocking a few times. "Mrs. Cuddy, are ya in here? It's Isolde from 303."

Mrs. Cuddy has flyaway grey hair and spends zero time at any beauty parlor trying to tame it. It curls down to her shoulders and frames bright blue eyes. She's dressed in a yellow button up blouse and jeans, and Keds. "Isolde, hello. Have you seen my poor Jersey? I tried to chase him but I'm just not fast enough. My hip, you know."

She peers at Isolde hopefully. Even though anyone can plainly see that there is no dog in her arms nor anywhere in her vicinity whatsoever.

"Not just yet Mrs. Cuddy. But, Mr. Hawthorne and I are on the case!" Isolde gives her a reassuring smile. "I was just wonderin' if I could borrow Jersey's leash? We think it'll be easier to get 'im if he sees something familiar. Oh, uh and we have some treats but do you have any of his normal treats on hand? Those might work even better."

"Oh, yes, of course," Mrs. Cuddy says. "Please do come in."

Her apartment is at least spotless, though filled with photographs. Some of her and her late husband. Quite a few of the dog. She limps towards the kitchen to pull down a bag of high-end turkey flavored treats. "These are his favorite," she says. And then she offers out a battered blue leash. "And here is his leash. It's so sweet of you to go looking. Most of the residents there on Friendzone just chastized me for taking him out."

She gives Isolde a slightly helpless look. "He had to go potty. What was I supposed to do?"

Isolde followed in, looking around the apartment curiously as she follows Mrs. Cuddy to the kitchen. "Thank you so much." She doesn't take the whole back, but does take a few and slip them in her pocket. "We're sure to get him back now."

She shakes her head a bit. "People are just stupid. Don't let 'em get to you. I'm happy to help. I'd hate for anythin' bad to happen to him. Especially when I'm fully capable of helpin' out." Isolde smiled again, starting to head back to the door once the leash and treats are acquired. "We'll be back as soon as we have him. Promise."

"Thank you so much. You're a good girl, Isolde."

By the time she gets back out, Conner is there in the hall, holding out this massive green rain coat that looks practically industrial with an apologetic expression on his face. It's not much different than the one he's wearing now, except the one he's wearing now is kind of a nicer navy blue. Still, it will get the job done, more or less.

"Round three," he says, with a rueful smile.

Isolde did make the detour to change her shirt but it didn't take too long. She flashes a grin to Conner. "Thanks for lettin' me borrow the coat." She trades him briefly, taking the coat and letting him hold the leash while she puts the coat on. "I also got some of his actual treats too. Just in case the bacon don't work." She adds, getting situated. Isolde is on the taller side at least so it doesn't quite drown her that way. But it is certainly a size or two too big. She rolls up the sleeves some and then puts the hood up.

"Third time's the charm." She agreed. "Do we try to read the leash now? Or once we're further down the road?"

"Let's try it by the hardware store," he suggests. "That's kind of our anchor point, and we know he's not here. It'll probably work better the closer we get to him."

Once more into the breach, it seems, but he holds the door open for her when they get downstairs and back to the front stoop. At least it's not that long of a walk, and the weather seems to be holding steady. The wind has picked up, but only a little, and not in any way that is concerning at this juncture.

He offers a quick grin. "This will be pretty cool if it works."

"Hardware store it is." Isolde agreed, stepping down and back out. She tilts her head down slightly against the wind, waiting for him to join her. "I agree! It'll be good to know for future stuff too. Mrs. Cuddy is very thankful that we're lookin'." She adds, peeking over at him before their trek resumes once more. She steps carefully, not wanting to get tripped up over any possible debris. Or over herself in the oversized raincoat!

"He couldn't have gotten too far I don't think. Weather still isn't great so that was probably some kinda deterrent."

Once they're in front of the hardware store, Conner says, "Okay. Let's give this a try. We'll both..."

He furrows his brow. "I guess both just hold one end of the leash and focus on it like we'd read anything." Experiments are great things. What's the worst that can happen?

No, he probably shouldn't ask that. He probably should just state, unequivocally: the worst that happens here is they still have to work to find the dog out in the wet. Something might take him up on answering the question in a way neither one of them is going to like very much, and that...just won't do.

"I guess? Never done this before either but that sounds right." Isolde said, taking hold of her end of the leash and started to focus. "I..think I'm gettin something." She offers up softly, though closes her eyes. Trying to concentrate a bit harder. Focus on Jersey. Where did he go? How is he feeling? There's got to be a little something this leash will give.

The scene resolves itself. There's an alley. Full of trash. The smell of fish. Fried fish. A dumpster! Darkness. Yapping, clanging, garbage. There's no exact location, but there are certainly plenty of clues. There's the sense t hat he panicked, ran up and in, and then got himself trapped somewhere. Over the wind and rain and with everyone inside and nobody going to places that smell like fried fish...well, nobody's probably heard him.

The leash also helpfully informs Isolde that it belongs to Mrs. Cuddy and Jersey. Her gift providing that information even though she already pretty well had it.

Isolde's nose wrinkles up some. Seafood, ick. The vision fades and she opens her eyes slowly. "...How far is that fried fish place from here? I...think that's where he ran off to." She looks around a moment. "He...might be trapped in the dumpster?" She focused back on Conner. "Unless you know any other places that serve fried fish?"

"Captain Catfish? Ugh, that place is a menace. I think about a block from here though."

He shoots her a grin. That totally worked! It's really comforting, almost, to know that they can use their abilities for things like this too. Helping people with perfectly mundane problems. Though his face falls. "Ugh. We're about to have to go garbage diving aren't we? Captain Catfish's...well. I'll go in. No need for both of us to get disgusting."

He frowns and says, "I wonder if I can get Miss Hyacinth to set the health department on that place."

"Great...gross. I think I've passed it once or twice but I don't really like sea food so I haven't had a reason to ever stop." Isolde shook her head. "But we know he's there! That's a good thing! Hopefully he's not too far down." She winced at the thought. "I wonder if...I got a bit a telekinesis? If we can see him maybe I can just use it on his leash? That would be way better than either of us getting gross."

Isolde chuckled and turned to start in the direction of Captain Catfish. "Maybe she can. I don't know 'er real well or anything. But I know she's an Addington. And Addingtons have a lotta power around here. So it's worth a shot at least I'd think."

"That would be even better, if you can do it without us hurting him," Conner says, ruefully. "I like seafood, but I do not like Captain Catfish."

The little fish place is a dilapidated wreck. It's got a faded yellow sign with a burly catfish made up to look like a pirate on it. It's got a drive-thru window. Drive thru windows and seafood are not good signs most of the time. There are exceptions. Very few ones. This is not one of them. The paint is peeling on this location, so faded that it has become a sort of generic grey color. Faded window paint says that the fish sandwich is on special for 99 cents. It has been on special for 99 cents since approximately 2005.

Out back, bags of garbage are all piled up around a dumpster. Captain Catfish's owner doesn't like paying the garbage pick up fees. He just lets it pile up. The stench of wet garbage and fried catfish mingle pretty close to the parking lot. Some of the garbage has been thrown around by the storm or gotten into by other animals, and has spilled out across the back parking lot.

Conner puts an arm over his mouth and nose. "Telekinesis," he chokes out. "Definitely telekinesis." There are limits to his gallantry.

They can hear the little dog though. Yap yap yap! Bork bork bork! Clang clang clang!

Isolde does not get good feelings as they come upon Captain Catfish. The place looked about as bad as the smell. And then they got closer and Isolde gagged at least once before burying her face in the crook of her raincoat. At least she didn't feel like she was going to vomit! Yet.

"Ugh, yeah, definitely." Isolde agrees, though it's muffled. "Hopefully his collar is intact." Because unfortunately it didn't work on living things. She shuddered and advanced closer. "I gotta get eyes on him."

No wonder he was able to get up into the dumpster with all the damn garbage bags. Isolde was definitely on team 'close this place down'. She presses her face tighter into the raincoat as she tries to peek up and over, into the dumpster to see where Jersey was.

Jersey is there yap yap yapping away, leaping up, trying to get up and over and scramble over the top, but really unable to do so. The garbage had shifted under his tiny feet. He looks up at Isolde and whines. He is wearing his collar though, the exact same shade of blue as the leash. He whimpers more, like a little child begging to be lifted up and out.

It probably looked like a fine hiding place when he was running from the scary thunder.

Isolde lifts a hand, focusing on the collar. Summoning up her Glimmer. After a moment or two, she can feel it take hold and she starts lifting the pup up and up and...out! Into her arm - which she has reluctantly freed her face from and is trying very hard not to gag any more with the smell. "There we go Jersey. You're safe now!" She tries to sound cheerful but she isn't going to be happy until they've got distance between them and this place.

She walks back over to Conner. "Put on the leash?" Half asked as she keeps a hold on the pup for now. "I'm glad he was in there at least. And that our plan worked."

He clips the leash on there quickly, and that blessedly might allow her to put the dog down, because he's just as stinky as Captain Catfish's. Conner pulls a face but offers the end of the leash back to Isolde if she wants it. She was the primary rescuer here, after all! Jersey just keeps trying to lick her face, which might be...way not desirable.

"Me too," he says, with a relieved grin. He glances up at the sky, where the clouds are once again dark enough to start blotting out the sunlight. Street lights are starting to come on.

"Let's get him home fast?"

Isolde doesn't hesitate to set the puppy down. "Oof, after you've had a bath you can say hi to me proper." Isolde promises the dog. She feels like she's going to need about twelve showers herself and she didn't even get in the dumpster!

"Yeah, fast as we can!" She agrees. Her pace would be quick, but still trying to be careful. Just silently praying to whomever might be listening that the rain hold out just a littleeee longer.

It gets a lot heavier by the time Conner is opening the door to the apartment building to let them both back inside, but not dangerously so. Still, it's enough that the raincoats are both getting a workout. He shakes water out of his face and the dog helpfully shakes water from all over his body, barking in excitement.

"Looks like the little guy knows he's home at least," Conner says, with some amusement.

Isolde half gasps, half laughs as they get inside the apartments. "Woo! We did it!" She grins. Flinching some as the dog sprays them. Thankfully the raincoat manages to get most of it for Isolde. "Yeah. Mrs. Cuddy will be super happy we found him! You wanna come up with me to bring her back?" She asked. "And then I think I need like a thousand extra showers to get that smell out of my brain."

"Yeah, of course," Conner says. Though he winces in sympathy about the Catfish Dump of Eternal Stench out there. "Yeah. Me too. And just to get the chill out of the bones now. I swear I'm calling Miss Hyacinth not long after that. Really."

The dog is all but trying to pull poor Isolde up the stairs, yapping his little silly head off, tail wagging hard enough that it looks like to fall off. Conner's lips twitch a little, the lines around his eyes crinkling.

"If she says ya need signatures, I'll be-" Isolde starts to say, gasping in surprise as Jersey starts running up the steps. She stumbles a bit, grasping the railing to right herself with a laugh as she continues up the steps. "I'll be happy ta sign." She exhales. "Almost there, Jersey! Don't worry!' She calls to the dog.

Once in front of Mrs. Cuddy's door, Isolde knocks a few times before scooping Jersey up again so he doesn't try and bowl over Mrs. Cuddy.

Mrs. Cuddy answers quickly, and she lets out a squeal of delight. "Ohhhh! You are an absolute hero and a delight, Isolde."

She lets the stinky dog lick all over her face, to Conner's general horror. "Oh! Someone needs a bath, doesn't he? Yes he does, that's my good boy." She baby talks the dog and tucks him into her arms before saying, "I will make you some lovely cookies," she declares. "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me."

Isolde takes a slight step back after the dog is safely back with his owner! "You're more than welcome Mrs. Cuddy. No trouble at all really. Promise. But I definitely won't turn down any of your cookies." She agrees. "You take care alright?"

Once the door had closed again, Isolde looked back to Conner with a grin. "Despite the smell, I'd say that was a pretty fun adventure! Maybe in the next day or two we can talk 'bout those bacon cooking techniques."