In My Time of Need [Ask]

George's grip on his hoe noticeably tightened when Rowan asked if anyone had seen "the thing" but he seemed to keep a calm if not frowning expression.

"Well, let me think..." George muttered, lowering his head. "Aside from me, I think Trey the hunter saw it. Ah right, Eunice in the community kitchen said she  saw something. Aside from that, I think there are some trees that got knocked over by the edge of the forest. Aside from that, I can't say I know much of any... remains from attacks. And I never gave much thought on its patterns. "

~~~~

"Ah... actually there is one thing...."

Jinn was hunched over a table when Liseran approached him. He slowly turned around, dark rings under his eyes that somehow formed in less than an hour.

"Please help me with paperwork!" Jinn shouted, waving in front of his face a bunch of scattered documents with tears in his eyes.

"Please maintain some pride, Officer Jinn," the intelligence officer scolded nearby, calmly sipping a cup of tea while flipping through a small book. "A man in your position must be accustomed to parperwork."

"These documents are nonsense!" Jinn exclaimed. "Report on what we're eating for lunch down to nutritional value? Report on the local weather? Report on number of bathroom breaks?? What harassment is this???"

"The kind granted to a delayed escort mission."

"Geh!"

Rowan's head tilted slightly at the man's reaction. Curious, but potentially unimportant. The man was an angry sort it seemed, who knew what would set him off. Both him and Kiara stood quietly as he spoke, each listening to the information and processing it among themselves. By the end Rowan nodded. "Where might they be? It would be good to get their accounts."

Kiara nodded in agreement, but also turned towards Aspen, leaning in slightly. "We also should look at the trees though right? There might be some marks or, if we're SUPER lucky, something got left behind."

While the question hadn't been directed at him Rowan nodded in agreement. "We should be quick about this then, we don't have that much time after all."

"Well, you two aren't wrong about either thing," she said. "The trees should be easy to do on our way to Trent the Hunter. Oh wait, Trey. Right."

She scratched her head before pointing to the direction of the forest.

"If we're to go off of what the detective said about everyone being on their working hours, this Trevor guy might be out there in the woods anyways, right?"

Aspen would wait for the others to follow suit. By the time they'd reach the forest, she'd survey the area for the knocked down trees, and approach the wreck to investigate.

***

Liseran was rather surprised to see Jinn so flustered, and she could only stare in dismay as sweat trailed down her temple.

"I-I'm afraid even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know how to make heads or tails of your paperwork, Detective," she apologized. Then shaking her head to get a grip of her objectives, "And that's not what I came here for. I want to help with the investigation. My weapons and charges are here, anyways, and I graduated from Cartic school. Surely that qualifies me to be able to help, right?"

She then eyed the other supervisor and scowled.

"Besides, my father would prioritize the safety of his citizens over a simple house punishment."

Probably not, but, eh, worth a shot to lie.

Just as the farmer described, there were a group of toppled over trees at the edge of the forest close to the forest. It was hard to really look around due to the fog, but aside from that nothing seemed particularly dangerous. As the group got closer though, a voice barked at them from behind.

"OY! Don't go there!"

Behind them was a scrawny man with greying hair and an uneven stubble. He wore a ragged cape over his left arm but aside from that, he seemed normal.

"I don't know what ye bunch are doing 'ere but you shouldn't go near those trees. The forest is cursed I tell ya."

~~~~

"Orders are orders young miss," the officer stated as he poured another cup of tea for himself. "Why not take the time to, oh I don't know, gossip or something with the other women here."

Kiara and Rowan were pretty quick to follow Aspen out, the former furiously waving at the farmer as they left.

Thankfully it was a quick trip to the aforementioned forest. Much to Rowan's chagrin, a voice suddenly barked out at them. Idly he turned to see a...random citizen probably? His eyes narrowed at the man as he shouted about curses and the like. "It's just a beast." He deadpanned. Its not like her didn't believe in curses, but this whole situation had already been explained. No need to muck it up further with some superstition.

"OOOOO, why do you say that?" Of course, Kiara was quick to follow up. "Like a hex or something? Tell me more before we go in!" She shuffled closer, her eyes sparkling. Of course, she was also taking this news with a grain of salt. But hey, this could drum up to be something really cool!!!

Aspen observed very polar replies from her two companions. She resisted the urge to sigh and merely approached the man with raised hands.

"We're just trying to investigate," she reassured. "We're hoping it will give us a better idea about the monster we're dealing with. That said, my friend has a point. What is this curse you believe in and what led you to believe it?"

Aspen was honestly in agreement with Rowan that there was no monster, but at the same time curses and folklore stemmed from some form of truth. Perhaps it could give them some ideas about the nature of the forest and the monster.

***

Liseran was fortunate she didn't have her weapons with her, because otherwise she'd make the officer's chair flip in its place and force his head to hit the ceiling. Her cheeks burned but decided to reply more calmly.

"With your own calm demeanor while everyone else is out fighting, I'd assume you wanted to engage in lady gossip, Officer," she said. The way she was staring at him, she didn't seem to care that she had just shot herself in the foot and was just glaring at him. "You yourself disagree with these informal hires, why not let another person who knows Expiate magic like myself go? I'm sure if you pair me up with someone, you don't have to worry about me 'getting away', am I correct?"

The gruff man frowned and huffed, crossing his arms.

"Because anyone that gets too close to these woods disappears," the man stated. "Just like George's boy and that fool of a farmhand. The gates of the netherworld themselves have opened here and if you know what's good for ya, you stay far away before the evil spirits drag you down too!"

~~~~

"I think you and I both know a raging monster is more preferable than facing your enraged father," the officer scoffed as he sipped his tea. "The same man who absolutely does not want you involved."

There was a beat of silence that followed the man's next sentence, but it was abruptly cut off by Kiara suddenly laughing. She placed her hands on her knees, shaking her head back and forth as she tried to get a hold of herself. She held her breath, shaking slightly before suddenly bursting out laughing again. "Gates of the netherworld!" She finally repeated. What kind of asinine garbage was this man spewing? "Yeah, p-people tend to get attacked by beasts in woods you know?" She cracked slightly, pushing herself up and wiping a tear from her eye.

While Rowan mostly shared her sentiment, he didn't exactly agree that this was a laughing matter. "It could've been the beast though correct? When did they go missing?" At the very least it provided SOME kind of lead.

After Kiara got her laugh, she would feel a not-so-friendly nudge in her ribs by Aspen. She'd give her a warning glance. The last thing these three needed was the villagers not being on their side.

"Forgive her. She got tickled by a bug in her shirt," Aspen said calmly before turning back to the person. "The Nether, you say? And people who go deeper into the forest disappear. No one's ever tried going in deeper to find the ones that don't come back?"

Despite the man's warning, Aspen would take a few steps forward to look out ahead. It was definitely foggy alright. She would look at Rowan and Kiara.

"I can try pushing the fog aside, if you guys are willing to go with me deeper in."

***

"Last I checked, he didn't even know this was an issue," Liseran retorted. She let out a tired sigh. "Whatever the case, I'll just have to find someone who agrees to go with me."

Without letting the two officers stop her, she started looking around the inn again.

The villager's jaw clenched at Kiara's outburst.

"So you're just like those do-nothing Expiate folk, eh? We're just a village of country bumpkins who mistake a forest bear for monster! Well no bear flies in the air. No bear can do THAT!"

The man vehemently jabbed a finger at the crushed trees.

"And no bear in the world makes people disappear without leaving behind even the bones! You want to get dragged down by the demon, then fine! You had your warning!"

The man hobbled off, grumbling to himself. It doesn't look like he'll give anymore on the matter.

~~~~

"No can do, miss Veiler, " the officer said plainly. "You're effectively under house arrest. Besides, no one qualified is left here."

Just as he said, the inn only had the innkeeper, a maid, and some tired farmer. There was still no sign of Alice either, to the ignorance of Jinn. Where had that girl gone?