daniel lobo

daniel lobo. thirty-seven. sergeant. point tally: 400 --- Current Cases: Counterfeit Wands in Savannah The Flatwoods Monster Murder at Wizard Broadway The Death of Rodger Henshawe The Shadow of Cuyahoga Valley

[daniellobo]

margotbrendanawicz‌:

She let herself smirk finally as she turned her face downwards towards her notepad – a show, really, she wasn’t taking notes but liked to look like she gave a damn, and it gave her the perfect outlet to express her amusement at the woman’s conduct. Margot was certain she was about to burst into tears before her husband took over answering Lobo’s questions.

     “Incidents with her costume?” she repeats, when he sounds like he’s finished. She doesn’t believe that Alana had no enemies, but it’s a toss up between whether the director is protecting someone intentionally, or is just oblivious. “I’m gonna need you to elaborate on that, a little bit, if you could, Mr. Sheffield.”

He shrugs, as he answers, and Margot sees him put a hand on his wife’s back to comfort her as she continues to sniffle and dab at her eyes.

     “Just, you know… she had a few quick changes, in the show. Between scenes, where she would have to rush to get into her next costume. Only a handful of times she rushed off stage to find that her next costume was torn to shreds, beyond wearability. We had to replace them a few times, but we never figured out how they’d ripped – if someone had done it deliberately, or why…”

“Who all would have had access to her costumes?” Daniel asks, not knowing enough about the workings of a production such as this to know himself.

“Well, they were kept in her dressing room for the majority of the time, unless she had to do a quick change, then they were taken backstage to save on time. Anyone would have had access to them during that time.” Hmph, not exactly helpful then. Still though, it stood to reason that whoever destroyed the actresses’ costumes was likely the one who had cursed her.

“And what do you know of her relationship with some of the other actors? Specifically her understudy and then her costar, Mr. Whitewood?”

“Oh, her and Mr. Whitewood, got along swimmingly,” Mrs. Sheffield pipes up beside her husband. “He was so patient with her in the beginning when she was still learning her lines and everything. Being such a seasoned actor himself, he knows all too well of those first big show jitters.”

“And did they keep their relationship strictly professional?”

“They said as much”, she answers, but her coy smile seems to say she didn’t quite think so herself. “I wouldn’t blame her if she did though, if I were in her shoes- and unmarried of course, I probably would have tried my luck with him as well.”

[daniellobo]

lolatkins‌:

location: bergmann’s residence, cuyahoga valley, oh time: morning case: the shadow of cuyahoga valley status: closed to @daniellobo

Northern Ohio, there she was. Another case without Snow’s supervision, but if she was being honest, Danny was no better than the Chief. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to tease him, though - so she did wink at him when she saw him apparate right next to her. 

They needed to pose as no-maj P.I.s in order to actually get involved in this case without revealing themselves - a bit ridiculous, in her opinion, but the law’s the law - and their fake papers had already been prepared and delivered, probably in Danny’s possession. She couldn’t blame Snow for not trusting her with that information. She would have probably changed them up and gave them both funny names just because. 

“Morning, oldie.”, Lola smiled cheekily. “So what’s our cover story? I’ve been thinking of something like this. You’re an ex copper who was kicked out of the force because of stealing donuts so you started working as a private investigator to make some money; and I’m your very bright and talented daughter who’s willing to help you out of goodness of my heart because, well, because I’m awesome obviously.” The bubblegum balloon she blew next exploded quickly with a reasonably loud pop. “What you think, papa?”

There came a flood of mixed emotions when he saw Lola’s name typed below his on the case file he’d received that morning. On one hand he’d heard she was a fully capable auror, that despite Snow’s clear favoritism, there was a reason for it beyond that of her looks. On the other hand though, there was her attitude, of how she knew just how to get on his nerves and took full advantage of that fact. Much like she was doing now. 

“I think that I can’t be any more than ten years older than you, and hopefully haven’t aged so bad I look any older than that” he groans, as he opens the file that he’d held under his arm. “Unfortunately though they have given us the same surname. ‘Millie and Alberto Fernandez’.” His best guess was the department wanted them to carry on like a married couple, which he wasn’t even about to try to make an attempt at. “How about we meet in the middle and say we’re siblings, or uncle and niece even?” 

Whatever approach they took they were going to have to make sure it was believable enough that Mrs. Bergmann  bought it. Their whole cover relied on her hiring them, if they managed to fuck this up right out of the gate, it was going to be a hell of a battle trying to work with the local police. 

[daniellobo]

janusharley‌:

It takes some time for Janus to fall asleep due to the blend of longing and confusion stirring around in his chest. Danny is just a few feet away from him and so he feels like he should do something, because he still wants him just as much as he always has… he doesn’t think that feeling will ever go away, especially if six years of separation and silence has done nothing to change it… But in a morbid kind of way, it’s no different from when he though Danny was dead. Jan’s not lying there waiting for him to cross the distance between them, because he doesn’t really believe that’s going to happen. Things aren’t like how they were before, as much as he wants them to be. And he’s pretty sure Danny doesn’t want him anymore, not that Jan can blame him for that… But if that’s true, then this desire twisted up inside him means nothing; not if whatever existed between them died on the side of that fateful mountain. Jan doesn’t know what to do anymore, doesn’t know what he’s doing to begin with. But it obviously isn’t enough to make up for what he’s broken.

It’s hard to let go of someone when they’re still in the same space, when he still loves them with everything he’s got left and wants to fight for them, so Jan struggles with it in the painfully quiet stillness of the room. He wrestles with his demons in the dark even as they try to drag him down further and further into the bed. There’s a part of him still arguing with his reason, still battling against the decision to keep his distance, to let Danny control what happens between them now… because this was what it has always come down to, somehow… A simple touch, that could fix everything or lead to utter destruction… As much as he wanted to give into that urge, to reach out and feel Danny’s pulse under his fingertips, to see if that would change everything, he can’t now… the demons have subdued him and dragged him under, so far that the filtered streetlight peeking through the blinds of the motel room was only a tiny pinpoint of light now… They’d pulled him below the surface of sleep and cast him headlong into yet another nightmare.

This one is both different and entirely the same as the others. Wherever he is, it’s dark and cold, and there’s nothing but coarse, icy snow below his feet, which are bare. He doesn’t have a coat, and the wind is howling around him in a vortex, carrying with it a chorus of screams that belong to Danny. He’s calling out his name which is the strongest sign Janus has that something is terribly wrong- Danny’s never had a reason to call for him like that before. He runs blindly through the storm, unsure which direction his lover’s voice is coming from, and unsure of how much time he has before it’s too late. Every time he thinks he’s getting closer, a hand swipes at him out of the darkness and rakes claw marks through his exposed, chill skin. And Danny calls him from miles away so that the has to turn around and try to find him all over again. His feet begin to bleed, turning the snow around him red… He doubles back on his own path countless times until finally his legs give out below him and he collapses in a heap, the ground beneath him suddenly as smooth as marble. When he forces his eyes open again against the snow whipping around his head, he sees Danny below him under inches of ice, blood flowing around him like a river… And no matter how much he pounds on the frozen pane between them, he can’t break through. He bloodies his knuckles and fingertips trying, screaming all the while for Danny to wake up. But not even his voice seems able to penetrate the ice.

In an instant, Jan’s awake again, bolted upright in the motel bed panting with exertion as if he’s just run for the many miles he’d imagined in his sleep. His hands and feet too, are unnaturally cold, and he’s covered in a thin sheen of sweat, undoubtedly from his struggle with the demons of his dreams. It takes him a few moments to come back to himself in reality, to remember where he is and what happened to put him in the state he’s in now… When things settle in he unfortunately doesn’t feel any better, the guilt and sadness solidify and drop like a stone weight into his belly. Rubbing his hands over his face, running his fingers back through his hair, he tries to collect himself, get his breathing back under control… but it’s harder than he thought it would be. There’s a crave for the cigarette he inevitably uses to put himself back to sleep at times like these, and the more he resists it, the more his hands begin to tremble.

“Fuck…” he breathes softly, hoping not to wake Danny. He glances over at the other bed… can’t help it really, and luckily it seems his night terrors haven’t woken him up. That, or he’s ignoring it… The thought of it stings a little but, at the same time, he realizes it’s probably for the best… He wouldn’t know what to say if Danny asked him about it anyway… After a few more deep breaths, he quietly stirs, easing up out of the bed and fishing around in his discarded jacket for his telekit until he feels the cool familiar metal against his palm. He treads carefully to the door, hesitates for just a moment before slipping out into the cool night and trying to shut all of that darkness and sorrow away as he closes the door behind him.

He doesn’t want to go far… doesn’t want to give Danny any reason to believe he’s abandoning him again… Thankfully he spots a pool not far away, and his feet carry him to it automatically. He takes a seat on the edge and dips his bare feet in… Although the water is pretty cold, it’s still warmer than he feels right now. He pulls a cigarette out of his telekit and lights it, puffing a few times as he tries to piece the distressing dream back together. Not that it matters much… they’re all similarly disturbing, and as far as he knows they’re not trying to tell him anything but what a failure he is. Nothing new there… He exhales a wreath of smoke that drifts up over his head into the night sky and supposes he should get used to this feeling of perpetual coldness, with none but the stars to keep him company.

Since childhood Daniel had been a frightfully light sleeper. The sound of a door closing, no matter where in the house, or the wind howling against the pane of his window, would always draw him out his bed and into that of his parents. With age, and the dissipating fear of what lurked in the dark corners of his house, Daniel grew used being woken up several times throughout the night. Eventually he even came to grow thankful of the habit, liking the fact of how difficult it would be to sneak up on him at his most vulnerable. 

As Janus bolts up beside him, its the creak of the bed that stirs him from his slumber. Instead of turning over to face the other auror though he remains still, eyes still closed and facing the direction of the window at the front of the small room. It was no longer his job to check in on Janus in the middle of the night, he reminds himself, whatever night terrors had woken him now he could deal with on his own. Just the same as he had for the last six years. 

Eyes still shut, he can trace Janus’s movements around the room based off his footsteps, visualizing in his mind the path he takes to presumable is his jacket where his telekit lies. Six years or not, old habits die hard, and he knew all to well by now just what Janus usually sought comfort from when experiencing some kind of distress like that of a bad dream. When the door clicks shut, signaling Janus had stepped outside, Daniel lets out an audible sigh of relief, thankful the other had not tried to stir him awake to go with him. 

Between the blinds of the motel room, Daniel can see the outline of Janus’s tall figure step out and into the pool area. Closing his eyes again, he has every intention of falling asleep again, to put away any thought of just what kind of dream stirred Janus to find solace with a smoke by the pool. As much as he tries though, his thoughts always steer back towards the other auror, until finally he caves in. With a soft groan, he pulls himself out of bed, and towards the door, not bothering to throw on a pair of trousers given the ungodly hour. 

When he reaches Janus he’s just where he last saw him, cigarette between his lips and toes dipped into the cool waters. “When was the last time you think they clean this thing?” he asks from behind him, making no mention of just what had drawn both of them out of the room. Sitting down on the section of concrete beside him, he dips his feet into the water, which was just as chilling as he expected it to be in the middle of a Virginian spring night. 

“You don’t happen to have another of those do you?” he asks, nodding his head in the direction of Janus’s cigarette.” 

[daniellobo]

margotbrendanawicz‌:

     “Oh, thank god,” the woman says, her voice tinged with hysteria. There are tears in her eyes, Margot notices, big fat ones, threatening to spill over her heavily mascaraed eyelashes, and in her despair, she reaches forward, stumbling on several inch high heels – a surprisingly outfit choice, for someone who had allegedly been too under the weather to make it to the show for the night, and for someone who had managed to get here so quickly – until her hands find Lobo’s arm, seeming to clutch onto him desperately.

Margot stifled a chuckle, at the image, her mind conjuring the disgruntled look she was sure had crossed Lobo’s face, even as she was behind him and couldn’t see it. 

     “Finally. We were afraid you’d never arrive. It’s awful, just terrible, I can’t bear it, can you? On stage and everything? She just… she had so much promise, you see, I can hardly believe she’s done. It feels like some massive mistake in the universe, and to think that it happened during our production…”

She steps forward, finally, to rescue Lobo from the woman, moves up between the woman and her husband to go ahead and cut to the chase before anyone’s melodramatics earned them an goddamn acting award. Actors, Merlin, it really couldn’t get much worse than this. She’d lock them all away just to get them to stop talking, if she had the choice. 

     “Could you tell us a little about Alana? If she had any enemies, or rivals? If her behavior had been erratic or unusual lately?”

Daniel visibly stiffens as the woman’s hands take hold of him. He’d never particularly been a fan of unwanted physical contact, a distaste which only worsened after his near death experience several years ago. Not wanting to push the woman any further into hysterics though, he chokes down the urge to pull away until finally her husband steps up next to her, and she removes her hands from Daniel and back to the arm’s of her husband. 

“Oh no, everyone absolutely adored her,” the woman sniffles, and begins to dab under each eye carefully with a handkerchief so as not to ruin her mascara, “she would have fans lined up at the backstage door every night just to see her. I can’t imagine anyone would want to do her harm. She was such a lovely girl.” 

“And what about the actors, and everyone else that worked on the show?” Daniel asked, this time in the direction of her husband, hoping they may get more helpful information out of him. 

“As far as we know, everyone got along well with her,” he nods, “there were the incidents with her costume, but we were never able to figure out who it was. But that’s not exactly unknown in this business, rivalries are common, but this... I don’t know why anyone would do something like this.” 

[daniellobo]

holymosesgraves‌:

bethlehemramsey‌:

There are a hundred things she should ask: why he’d trusted them with this information, what he expected them to be able to do to save Sky while they were up against some nameless, faceless, seemingly omnipotent group of people desperate enough to use measures like these. Even how he could expect them to trust him, when they’d been lied to again and again, how they were meant to believe he was telling them the truth.

Instead, there’s something else on her mind.

Something selfish, maybe; a lingering through she can’t shake, a concern that she knows won’t matter to anyone else sitting here – especially to Lobo and Graves. She may trust Lobo, somewhat, or at least know that he feels the same way she does about some important things, but even their sojourn to DC hasn’t allowed her to shake her initial reservations about Moses Graves. And she knows her priorities are far different than either of theirs.

But she’s spent the past month and a half in this department for one reason, everything she’s done towards one solitary goal. And she needs to know whether or not the entire effort’s been for nothing.

     “Sir,” she says, because she can’t stop thinking of the question, and knows she won’t really be able to focus on the case until she knows for sure – it’s a sneaking suspicion, but the kind she feels deep in the pit of her stomach, an uncomfortable and hollow ache. “This… group of people. Do they have anything to do with why my– why the Department for the Protection of No-Maj Born Wix was shut down?”

Once they’re given a direction, a directive, Moses feels better. Sky. Find them, protect them. Maybe easier said than done, but a simple enough mission statement. Another child… The Ricamora twins flash before Moses’s eyes and her resolve thickens. She won’t let even more children get wrapped up in this fight between old men and high seats. Too often, she knew, the higher families of the wixen world paid no mind to the actual people of their community. Moses wouldn’t let that be the case in this situation.

She’s more than ready to go at Danny’s prompting look. Hattori may have only good intentions and she doesn’t want to see him dead, of course, but, well… Their plan was still government espionage. If it went through, Moses could only foresee even more turmoil. Real riots and exposure and, a sick pit in her stomach, more death.

But, Beth stops them on their heels. Moses turns a little, curious what their colleague is curious about. She knew of Beth’s department, that she had come to this squad after it had been shut down. But she wouldn’t have put two and two together. It did make sense, though… Once more, her mind flashed to Dawn and Aurora, their hidden bloodline. So much trouble… She brings a hand to her forehead, rubbing at her temples. She wasn’t built for this sort of deceit. 

Daniel’s nearly ready to get up and bid Hattori farewell- at least for now anyway, but then Beth speaks up, bringing up a question he hadn’t seen coming, and looking at Hattori neither did he. It’s certainly a legitimate one though, the department seemed busy and highly needed enough to warrant its place in MACUSA. He could name several others in its place that much more deserved a place on the chopping block than Ramsey’s. But the question was why? 

Hattori reflects on Ramsey’s question for a moment before nodding his head. “I believe so, yes, although I can’t say for certain. The method that was taken to remove the department leads me to think it is them. I hadn’t heard any rumblings of the department being cut until the days leading up to the decision. As far as I had known, everyone seemed to be in favor of having a department such as your’s, but then suddenly the script changed. Taheri’s office had to have signed off on the action though. Other than that, I’m afraid I don’t know anything else in regards to your department. If you want answers I’d recommend following the trail of who or what absorbed the funds left available after it was shut down.” 

With that question addressed, Hattori pulls a small brass pocketwatch from his jacket, letting out a tired sigh as he looks down at the small clockface.. “I’m afraid I have an appointment I need to head to, but if any of you should need to reach me, just go through Snow, and we can arrange another meeting. Due to everything that’s happened I have a reason not to trust any messages sent through owl, so I’m only taking meetings in person for now.” 

Having no further questions for his former chief, Daniel stands just as Hattori does, and extends out his hand for the other man to shake. “I know this was a lot to take in, but I am glad you are the one here to help take on this burden,” the man smiles as he holds onto Daniel’s hand for a moment, before looking to the other two aurors, “and that goes for you two as well. I understand this task seems an impossible one, but I honestly do believe that with all of us, we will be able to overcome these hard times. We will need all the help we can get though, so if there are any other aurors you feel you can trust with this information, please share it. The more people we have in our corner, the better our chances are.” 

[daniellobo]

holymosesgraves‌:

Moses just listens as Danny takes over the questioning a little. She’s more than happy to let him lead this part. She primed the kid to get to this point. Now Danny could keep him talking with a bit of fear instilled in him. She doesn’t recognize the name that the kid gives, but Danny seems to. And he is a part of the Children of Morgana… It seems like Chief Snow will get his collar after all. As long as they can find “Ludo.” 

She makes a face at the thought of a strip club – Siren’s Song is familiar, but only from hearing it on the tongues of over criminals and the like. She’s not looking forward to going there, if the case leads to that. And the idea she has is leading in that direction… As Danny wraps up, Moses pats her hand over the boy’s shoulder. “Thanks, Jamie. You were a big help. And if you ever think you or your mom is in danger or something, come to the aurors instead of any shady characters instead, okay?” The kid doesn’t look up but gives a soft “Okay” and a nod.

Once they’re out on the street again, Moses sighs out heavily. “Well, that sure was something.” Good thing they got the kid to talk – he gave them quite the lead. “Do you think it’s worth it to try a little undercover work? Try and meet Ludo at the Siren’s Song and catch him out for some counterfeit goods?” They can bring him in for some questioning based on what Jamie told them alone, but that likely wouldn’t get far. “Or should we just wait and see what Cal can tell us about those wands?”

She’s a little hot for action, raring to go now that they have a solid lead, an idea of who’s doing this. After meeting Hixson, she wants justice for them as much as for the Ricamoras.

After stepping outside, the first thing Daniel does his reach for his telekit to retrieve a cigarette from the no-maj proof compartment. He knows exactly what their next step should be from here, has known ever since the name Ludo popped up in addition with the Children of Morgana. In his and Cal’s last case they were able to get close to this elusive wizard, damn close, but lost grasp of him in the final hour, instead having to settle for the small troop of lackeys he’d left in his wake. But now, now they had him. Not just with a witness who could help pin the crime on him, but an actual location to his whereabouts as well. 

He’d been against Cal joining in on this from the start, even he knew it wasn’t fair to shield this case from him any longer. Daniel wanted another stab at Ludo just the same as Cal had. And after the weeks they’d spent training together, maybe it was time to test his skills once again. 

Taking a long drag of his cigarette he nods his head to Mo’s final question, letting out a disgruntled sigh before vocalizing his answer. “Yeah, we’ll need to get Cal in on this. Even if he can’t tell us more about the wands, he needs to be here,” he replies before adding, “this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of Ludo. His name was brought up in the last case I had with Cal. He deserves to see this thing through too.” 

[theaurorfileshq]

– The Shadow of Cuyahoga Valley 

CASE LEVEL: One

POINTS REQUIRED: Sixty

OVERVIEW:

In the past several weeks, there have been reports of a total of nine missing persons in and around the forests of the Cuyahoga Valley in northern Ohio. Multiple eye-witnesses who were with the now-missing persons in the forest report having heard something move behind them, but seeing nothing when they turned around to look; some also reported seeing the shadow of a tall figure coming from behind a nearby tree but finding nothing on the other side of the tree when they checked. The missing persons range from age twelve to age sixty, both wizard and no-maj alike, and disappeared at all times of day, though most occurred in the late afternoon, shortly before sunset.

The local no-maj police force has gotten involved in the disappearances, as have many members of the local no-maj population who believe that a vicious and undiscriminating serial killer stalks their woods, but one witch who saw someone taken insists that some kind of magical being is responsible, and that whatever it is, it is either invisible or has the ability to disappear in an instant. None of the missing persons have been heard from, and no bodies have been found; it is unclear whether the victims are being killed or if they are just being taken somewhere else.

Three days ago, a local auror investigating the disappearance went missing as well, and the local auror office contacted MACUSA for assistance. However, the presence of the local police force will make the forest itself harder to investigate and search.

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Laney Stevenson: The only current wizard eyewitness, who reported the disappearance of her no-maj girlfriend Suki to the local aurors; Laney and Suki were sneaking around in the woods when Laney heard Suki gasp quietly behind her, and when she turned around Suki was gone. She is eager to assist anyone who thinks they might be able to find Suki and bring her back unharmed.

Rebecca Bergmann: The mother of one of the missing persons, a twelve year old boy named Eric who was the first to go missing. Shortly after the most recent missing person report, she wrote an op-ed for the local newspaper insisting that there was a serial killer in the area, and calling for the community to rise up and search out the wolf among them in order to save their loved ones.

Marcus Stone: The local no-maj Sheriff investigating the disappearance. He is unlikely to take kindly to anyone else investigating the woods, and has officially cordoned them off to anyone but his officers until he has solved the mystery and located the missing persons.

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Anytime no-majs are involved means we’re going to have to take extra precautions. The local police force isn’t going to take kindly to a couple strangers suddenly poking in on these disappearances, so you’ll need to be have a good believable cover when you do. The cover the department has set up for you is that of two P.I.s, we have all the necessary paperwork and licenses you’ll need. Your first task will be to offer your services to Ms. Bergmann, and get her to hire you herself. From then on you must carry on like no-majs would, such as drive a car, stay in a local motel, etc. Hopefully you payed attention during your no-maj courses at the Academy. 

Stay safe out there, 

-Allen Snow

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

| RPG HOME | PLOT | WANTED CONNECTIONS | OPEN CASES |

[callistasole-blog]

daniellobo‌:

After giving himself a few minutes to catch his breath, and just let his body lay still for the first time in what felt like all day, Daniel hauls himself back up again at Cal’s request, wincing at the sharp stabs of pain that shoot through his side after his scuffle from earlier. The entire process takes him far too long, to the point Cal looks like he’s given up on him by the time he makes it over to him. 

“Stop that before you hurt yourself any more,” he groans with a roll of his eyes. Holding out his hand for Cal to take, he’s just about to help haul him up before he takes one look at the lengthy frame sitting before him, his arms aching at the very thought of trying to pull him up as he was. “Here, before I haul you up, how about you switch to a smaller size, alright?” he bites back before adding, “And whenever I stop feeling like pulverized shit, I’m going to show you how to actually put that damn skill to use in a fight. Fucking hell, just because you stepped into a fight with that face doesn’t mean you should keep it.” 

He could probably stand there lecturing the kid about everything in the book he’d done wrong that night, but he cuts himself off there. At the end of the day they manged to get what they came here for, a bit more broken and bloodied than he wanted, but they managed to do it. The fact Cal had managed as much as he had with so little training tells him he’s got the potential to really make something of himself in this field, he just needed to get his own head out of his ass first. That was an argument for another time though, after they finally put this case to bed. 

His jaw tenses at the suggestion – not just of morphing to a smaller size now, which now that he thought about it made some sense, but at the suggestion that Lobo might be able to teach him anything about his gift, like Lobo had any idea what it was like to me a metamorphmagus… He didn’t want to think about it like a weapon to be used in a fight. That’s not what it is, not why it was given to him.

Still, they need to get out of there before anything goes wrong. All in all, he feels like things have done okay. Maybe not as smoothly as he’s used to, but with the same kind of spontaneous luck that his cases normally go: they’d ended up with the wands, and both alive and relatively unharmed, and with a possible lead about the Children of Morgana that they could follow up on once they’d had some time to gather their wits. 

But he lets out a sigh, shifts to his other usual form, though it feels strange and uncomfortable today, not the body he wants to be returning to now that he’s himself again. But compact, light, small enough for Lobo to pull up off the ground without much of a struggle. Utilitarian.

     “Alright,” he says, though he’s not entirely sure to what. He knows he sounds more resigned than he should, and he hates it. “Let’s get these wands back to HQ.”

[daniellobo]

callistasole‌:

     “Fuck you,” he answers, through deep breaths, though there isn’t any malice in it – there’s still too much adrenaline running through his system for that, too much for him to process anything but the high of having done it, having survived and gotten the wands and completed the mission – at least, part of the mission. This part. There was still more here: the Children of Morgana, whoever this Ludo character was… but that was all a matter for another day. For now, they needed to get these lackeys and the wands back to headquarters before anything else went south.

And he needed to stand up, which was seeming to present itself like more and more of a problem with each passing moment, the spaces between his ribs screaming out in protest with each breath, his arm radiating pain in every direction. 

     “You wanna give me a hand, or what?” he says, after a moment, holding a hand out for the second time that day for Lobo. For the moment, at least, he’d rather but all of the animosity between them aside until they’re back to MACUSA and have this damn thing wrapped up. He doesn’t have the energy to be pissed off, which is honestly maybe a first for him. 

Lobo looks about as rough as he feels, especially with a good dose of blood and spit coating his lips – neither of them, he realizes, could take much more of this right now, even if they had to, so it’s better to keep their personal shit out of it. He tosses his own bear tooth wand back in the direction of the nearest crate and makes one more attempt to haul himself to his feet.

After giving himself a few minutes to catch his breath, and just let his body lay still for the first time in what felt like all day, Daniel hauls himself back up again at Cal’s request, wincing at the sharp stabs of pain that shoot through his side after his scuffle from earlier. The entire process takes him far too long, to the point Cal looks like he’s given up on him by the time he makes it over to him. 

“Stop that before you hurt yourself any more,” he groans with a roll of his eyes. Holding out his hand for Cal to take, he’s just about to help haul him up before he takes one look at the lengthy frame sitting before him, his arms aching at the very thought of trying to pull him up as he was. “Here, before I haul you up, how about you switch to a smaller size, alright?” he bites back before adding, “And whenever I stop feeling like pulverized shit, I’m going to show you how to actually put that damn skill to use in a fight. Fucking hell, just because you stepped into a fight with that face doesn’t mean you should keep it.” 

He could probably stand there lecturing the kid about everything in the book he’d done wrong that night, but he cuts himself off there. At the end of the day they manged to get what they came here for, a bit more broken and bloodied than he wanted, but they managed to do it. The fact Cal had managed as much as he had with so little training tells him he’s got the potential to really make something of himself in this field, he just needed to get his own head out of his ass first. That was an argument for another time though, after they finally put this case to bed. 

[daniellobo]

margotbrendanawicz‌:

While the prospect of interviewing at least two actors and one director wasn’t the most promising way to spend an evening – she had honestly been hoping for some easily-bullied stagehand with a practical mind and less of a dramatic flair, but you couldn’t win all your battles – she knows Lobo’s instinct is right: if the cursed item, whatever it is, isn’t on the body, someone had to take it off, and if no one else was cursed, whoever it was had to have known that it was cursed, had to have been in on the plot if not entirely responsible for it. If only three people other than Ortega had been close enough to the body to discreetly remove an item, then they had three possible leads.

It was just a matter of where to start: the shaken-up paramour who had been onstage at the time; the hysterical understudy who, frankly, sounded a little dramatic even for an actor; or the director. All of them would have had an opportunity to take something off the body, and any of them would have had time in between to stow it away somewhere safe and out of sight during the minutes it took them to arrive on the scene.

     “The understudy sounds suspicious to me,” she says, letting her first instinct guide her. “We should get more on her, see if the screaming and sobbing sounds like it was for show. At least one hypothetical motive is pretty obvious there.”

It would be a mistake to go into questioning Fowler blind, though. They needed a fuller picture of Alana’s social relationships to know what to ask: who liked her? who didn’t? who had she pissed off recently? It’d be easier to start broad and work their way into specifics, and only one person was guaranteed to have a wide view of what was going on amidst the life of the cast as a whole.

     “Let’s start with Sheffield, see if he’s got anything to say about Fowler. He can give us a list of who was supposed to be backstage, too, stagehands or anyone who might have been likely to hand her a prop.

“Sounds like a plan,” he nods. With the place on lockdown there was no rush to get to any of the more suspicious suspects first. Sheffield should have the most information out of the three when it came to the inter-workings of the place, he very much doubted the actors knew the stage hands all that closely. That is of course unless they had a particular reason to, such as for the replacement of a prop. 

“Well, while you two do that, I’m going to take Alana back to headquarters to do a more closer examination. If I find anything out I’ll shoot you a message on your telekits.” Ortega says, then chuckles lightly as she looks between the two aurors, “Try not to make too many people cry, yeah?”  With a wink, and flick of her wand, both Ortega and Alana vanish from the stage, the whole scene looking a bit like the morbid final act of some no-maj “magic” show.

When they make it out into the lobby, a wizard, who Daniel can only assume to be Truman Sheffield is leaning against the counter of one of the several ticket windows that align the wall. Standing beside him is a glamorously dressed woman, who appears to be wearing his suit jacket, despite the fact it was just a tad too short on her much lankier frame. “Mrs. Sheffield?” Daniel mutters, as he looks over to Margot. Their case file said she was home sick during the play, which begged the question- how on Earth had she managed to get in here, despite the lockdown Ortega had mentioned? 

As they near the couple who appear deep in conversation, Daniel clears his throat before holding up his badge. “Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield? We’re the aurors Dr. Ortega called in, do you mind if we ask you some questions?” 

[daniellobo]

holymosesgraves‌:

bethlehemramsey‌:

It made more sense than it should have – she’d been as surprised as anyone to hear that Hattori or Henshawe was a part of the Rappaport party, remembered making some comment to that effect while talking with Lobo at the gala, just before the chaos had broken out, though the memory of everything that had happened that night prior to the attack seemed fuzzy, now, and far away, like it had happened another lifetime ago. It was almost a relief, to hear that the two former aurors she’d spent so much of the last few weeks despising were, in fact, on her side after all, that the very people her colleagues looked up to weren’t bigots, but trying to do the right thing.

And it made sense, too, when Hattori brought up the Abigail Potter case: something hadn’t felt right, a confession out of the blue, the case left entirely unresolved at a crucial moment. Of course there had been interference, but she hadn’t imagined that the depths to which that went were quite what Hattori was telling them. 

Still, it didn’t sit right. It felt too clean, too easy an explanation: the good guys are the good guys, after all, and there is a mysterious and unknowable force at play, controlling people to manipulate the government. Still, she didn’t have a choice but to believe it – especially with a case to solve, a kid dead because someone used an Unforgivable Curse to force him to kill himself. 

     “And what are we supposed to do? If you couldn’t do anything to stop them, how can we?”

Moses feels her stomach drop sickly at the mention of Simon. He had been under Imperio. She wondered as much, especially after learning the wix’s history and the last of criminality in it. He was just a child really and they had used him for some shadow plan to take over the government… And yes, Moses was a supporter of the Rappaport law, thought both NoMajs and wixen were better off without any interaction. But this is something else entirely. And if wixen were going to do this sort of thing to each other…

She doesn’t want Rappoport abolished. And she doesn’t quite agree with Hattori’s underhanded plot, but a secret sect of the government working to control things isn’t something she’s in favor of either. Especially not when– Flashes of green. Henshawe’s slack mouth. Simon must have a family, a mother and father… And she and Beth had them in their sights, or close to, when it came to Abigail Potter and that case. 

She feels herself go a little weak and takes a tighter hold on Danny’s chair to keep herself steady. She wants Cal and his steady chest. She wants her Uncle Percy and his deft mind. She wants her mother. But no, she’s an auror. This is her job, what she trained for. She might be more explosions and wand duels than espionage and underground movements, but dammit if she’s going to let this slip by.

He doesn’t say anything at first, his mind still reeling from everything Hattori had said. He’d always thought something felt off about all of this, from the way Hattori suddenly appeared out of no where to enter the race, to his vary alleged involvement in the Rappaport Party. There is still something about all of it though that leaves a sour taste in his mouth though, Hattori’s reason for running was to help take down a group that manipulated things to their favor from the shadows. Yet that is exactly what he claims to be doing himself. 

Beth’s question pulls him out of his own thoughts as he looks up to hear Hattori’s response. 

“I will be the first to admit we made some mistakes in how we approached this, we’d hoped we could shield you all from it, to take on the burden ourselves, to allow you all to carry on with your own duties. We’d thought it’d be enough, but clearly we had underestimated them,” leaning up he folds his arm over the patio table between them, looking at each auror for a moment before speaking again, “The only thing I can ask of you is to continue what you’re already doing, to stop violence before it spreads, and prevent another innocent life from being taken. I have no knowledge of Sky’s whereabouts, but they are in danger should they fall into the wrong hands.” 

He pauses for a moment before he speaks again, his gaze flickering over to his home behind them. Daniel doesn’t think it’s the house itself he’s thinking of though, but rather the witch within it, and it’s then when he begins to realize the full gravity of this meeting. Whatever plan Hattori and the other higher-ups had concocted wasn’t going to be one the older wizard was planning to come back from. When he looks back at them, there is a sadness to his gaze, one much deeper than that he showed when they mentioned Henshawe. “As for my part, I will continue the current path I’m on now for as long as I’m able to. Whoever this is has gotten bolder, the Gala is evidence of that. They will be even more so when it comes to disposing of me, which will make them easier to track. Underestimating our enemy wasn’t our only mistake, it was underestimating you all. You are the future of this department, and it is only with all of us working together will we be able to save it and this community.” 

So then, Daniel thinks to himself, this meeting wasn’t just one to ask them for their help, it was to warn them of the battle ahead. One where they may have to fight without several of their generals. 

Having nothing else to ask of Hattori, Daniel looks back at his two partners, looking to see if they had anything else to ask of the former chief, before they began their search for Sky.

[daniellobo]

callistasole‌:

His shoulder is screaming in pain again when Lobo appears, and he can’t help but let out a breath of relief at the appearance of the other auror. He’s hoping that the distraction, Lobo’s sudden appearance, will be enough to pull his arm free, but it isn’t – Lobo’s intrusion and the sounds of chaos that come with it only serve to tighten the man’s grip on his arm through the duration of their exchange.

There is a flare of panic, in his chest, at Lobo’s response, instinctive and irresistible even though he knows that past his partner’s flat affect and casual movement, there’s something else going on – it’s all he can do not to shout before Lobo’s spell sends him hurtling backwards, colliding with the wall and collapsing in a heap on the ground below, the wind knocked out of him and his ribs aching in pain for the second time that day. 

He lays still, for a moment, not moving, but it only takes a split second for the pain to go away, and with it for the realization that Daniel’s plan must have been to send him within reach of the wands to come. He moves slowly and quietly, making sure the man’s focus is on Lobo and not on him, and extracts one of the wands from the crate, its heft and its thrum of power familiar in his hand after this morning.

     “Expelliarmus!” he shouts, a bright jet of scarlet light shooting from the wand towards the man, knocking him off his feet and sending the wand out of his hand and up into the air.

He force of it, though, sends a shockwave of pain through him and he realizes, belatedly, that whatever Cora had hit him with earlier was returning in full force – or that whatever the mediwix did to patch him up is finally wearing off. He drops his arm, wand still gripped in it, and doubles over, trying to catch his breath.

He keeps his gaze fixated on the wizard in front of him, as Cal goes flying into the area behind him, closest to the bear tooth wands, and in turn their salvation. It’s hard not to check on him, not to throw a quick gaze over the other man’s shoulder, to see if his plan worked. Instead he keeps his wits about him, continues the cold and steely facade he’d been using ever since he’d walked in on the two wixes. 

“Fine, you won’t tell me who you are, then so be it,” the wizard laughs as he shakes his head, a laugh that soon fades away eerily as he raises his wand in Daniel’s direction, “Ludo can find out for himself, and trust me, you won’t like how.” It’s just then, as both he and Daniel go to fire at one another when a red spark shoots through the air, sending both the other man and his wand flying back. Daniel’s side cries out in pain as he reaches his arm up to catch the wand before the other has a chance to. With the wand now in his possession he uses his own to stun the wizard where he lands on the ground, which is where Daniel leaves him as he turns to Cal. 

“Merlin’s fucking balls” he sighs as he heads in his partner’s direction, his movement visibly more stiffer and pained now that he doesn’t need to hide his injuries from any lurking enemy. Walking past Cal where he stands doubled over, Daniel lifts off the lid of the crate beside him, letting out a quiet sigh of relief at the sight of all stolen cases within it. Letting the lid fall back down with a loud slam, he falls back against the crate, and slowly slides down to the concrete floor. 

“Next time you wanna go on a suicide mission, you’re goin’ by your damn self,” he groans, before spitting out the blood that had began to pool in his mouth again. “I’m too fuckin’ old to be savin’ your ass all the time.”

[daniellobo]

janusharley‌:

Jan gets back later than he expected, but he feels like he’s gotten sufficient information out of the kids, and more than that he actually had fun with them… which is such a nice pace from his usual anxiety around other adults that he doesn’t even realize he’s still smiling as he crosses the threshold of the motel room. Distantly, he registers the sound of running water as he comes in, but he doesn’t really piece together what that means until unbidden images flood into his mind of other rooms, other showers… other versions of himself and Danny together… Oddly enough, instead of feeling awkward about it, Jan just feels this warmth blossom over his chest that he hasn’t felt in ages… He think it might be fondness, or happiness… He’s not awfully familiar with positive emotions these days and so he’s not really sure. Regardless, whether it’s wise or not he lets those memories wash over him as he settles into their shared domestic space, setting his things down on the empty bed and shedding his jacket to make himself more comfortable.

As he turns to examine the wall, he tosses his jacket aside and unbuttons his shirt sleeves to roll them up, unbuttoning the first few buttons at his collar as well so he doesn’t feel quite so stuffy. As he expected, Danny’s already laid out all the information they’ve collected so far in an organized manner over the atrocious yellow and olive patterned wallpaper, and the information summarized there seems to support the conclusion he’s come to after interviewing the kids… He goes about adding his own findings- statements and descriptions from the kids, a few drawings, and of course a red x where they encountered the creature. He’s about to add something else when he hears the door to the bathroom open, and despite himself he can’t help but turn his head as Danny emerges.

It’s a little harder to maintain a cool facade than he’d like, seeing him in a state he was intimately familiar with, the memories of Danny’s body wet beneath his hands and his mouth flooding his mind more vividly with each step the other takes towards him. But instead of looking away this time, instead of letting himself be ashamed, he just smiles warmly and openly. He wants Danny to feel as warm as he does again, wants to be responsible for making him feel good like he used to… But now’s not the time for that… not yet at least… Maybe he’s being overly optimistic in imagining a time like that might come again, but if he doesn’t hold onto that hope then what the fuck is he even doing here, trying to fix this?

“Yeah, I think we’re dealing with a boggart, for sure…” he prefaces, turning to the kids’ drawings now pinned to the wall and gesturing lightly. “They argued over the description of it so much that eventually I just had each of them draw it and well… they’re all different… One’s got a clown nose, one’s got teeth, one makes a rattling noise like a snake… Other than something unknown… what else could it be, right?” He flips through his file until he comes across the map he took with him and then steps up to the wall to add the location of their sighting to the one on the wall. He gestures to the red x, which seems to be in a strange place compared to the others… off on its own where the others make something of a line…

“They told me about this… fort thing they have in the woods… it’s not far from the entrance of an old mine right… here…” he explains, circling a smaller spot nearby and looking back at Danny as he continues. “But here’s the most interesting part… after they saw this creature, it chased them away on their bikes…” Turning back to the map again, he draws a line along the path they said they were pursued… It swoops along the outer edge of the forest, running a distance of about a half mile, forming a curve that connects it back towards the other sites. When he’s done, he almost laughs at the picture that is formed. “Look at that,” he says almost incredulously, as he realizes the locations of the various encounters form something of a half-circle around a certain area… “Looks like those mines might be where it’s established its territory… I wonder what it’s doing there…?”

It feels good to be doing this again, even if it’s not the same as before… Janus falls comfortably into the rest of their evaluation, going over a plan for tomorrow, talking to Bernard about the creature over the odd device of the no-maj phone on the nightstand… By the time they’ve finished, he’s sore and a little tired, and nothing sounds better than a shower before bed… Once upon a time, it was him changing behind the closed door, having private and steamy thoughts about Danny in the shower… but a lot has changed since then, and his inhibitions are thoroughly nonexistent now… He’s already unbuttoning his shirt before he can think about how Danny might react, and then it seems silly to stop now… Helpfully, his mind chooses this moment to remember Fitz’s thoughts on the subject… And maybe it’s a silly thing to risk, but he’s feeling bold somehow… and more than that he still wants Danny to know how he feels about him, even if it’s going to blow up in his face.

He doesn’t look at Danny beyond the quick glance he gives him as he stands up from the bed, still removing his button-up. He circles around the bed towards the bathroom, taking his time as first his shirt and undershirt and then his trousers all fall to the floor, until he’s naked as the day he was born for Danny’s viewing pleasure… There’s a mess of tattoos and countless scars that weren’t there before, his body a tapestry of those six years the two of them have spent apart and the way the world has worn on him… The heart on his forearm beats quickly and glows brightly because the thing Janus has always wanted is only feet away from him… the roses on his shoulder are blooming for what seems like the first time in as many years… Before he slips away into the bathroom, he spares one more look over his shoulder, just curious to see if his little show is having any kind of effect… His smile as he looks at Danny is still warm, and a little mischievous, but it only lasts a fleeting moment as he slips away into the shower, leaving the door open to continue the show… It’s hard not to let his imagination get the better of him in the shower, not to give into the desire he’s feeling, beginning to pool in the pit of his stomach. But his muscles are sore and so he just leans into the hot spray of water and tries to let some of the tension melt out of them.

By the time he finishes, he feels better but the prospect of facing Danny again is somewhat intimidating… The shower did little to assuage his desires, in fact he’s half-hard just from the heat of the water and the memories it draws to mind again… Still, he’s done tiptoeing around the other auror and the feelings he still has for him so intensely… he doesn’t want to run or hide anymore… After opening the curtain, he dries himself off haphazardly before stepping back out into the main room, still dripping water, with the towel held loosely around his hips. He fetches some pjs from his bag and lets the towel fall away again so he can dress himself before reclining with a sigh on his respective bed, arms folded behind his head. They’ve probably got a long day tomorrow, but he finds himself wanting to stay up and talk like they used to… about everything and nothing… He wants to get shitty late-night food and laugh with him over stories of the kids hanging off of him like a tree… wants to hear how he intimidated a couple of teenagers and probably got along absurdly well with some curmudgeony old man… but especially after his little show, he feels like he’d be asking too much…

“Night Danny,” he says instead, trying to settle in for the night. It’s hard to be so still when in his mind there are images of Danny pressing in close to him, and the memory of his lover’s hands all over his body. But he has to be content with that, for now, until Danny decides otherwise, because he’s determined not to fuck this up, this time.

Just as they had back at the diner, the two of them seem to fall back into their old pace, making it easy to forget the large shadow that hung over them the last several weeks since their first run-in at Hattori’s retirement party. Janus’s gaze on him has become less guarded than it has been, even when his back is turned he can feel him looking at him, studying the curves of his back as he bends down to ring up Culpepper on the old rotary phone in the room. He doesn’t necessarily ignore the new attention he’s being given, although he doesn’t quite quite welcome it with open arms either. 

This task proves all the more difficult after they’ve wrapped up for the night, with the conclusion that the only way to truly figure out what the boggart is doing out in the mines is to track it down themselves. He’d faced plenty a boggart in his own time before, but this is the first one he’d ever seen so territorial- and out in the wild no less. These thoughts still plague him as he collapses down on the bed he’d claimed as his own, his head ducked down as he goes through his notebook, adding in their recent findings. 

The work of writing in the notebook isn’t what makes the night any more difficult though, but rather what Janus decides to do while he does it. When he first notices the other auror strip off his shirt he pays no mind, that is until his undershirt comes off, and exposes the new array of tattoos and scars that weren’t there the last time he’d seen him in such a light. He studies them for a moment, trying to piece together each one’s possible meaning, and the origin of the scars, trying to figure out what could be from the ambush, and what could be from afterwards. He doesn’t realize he’s staring until Janus turns around, a playful glint in his eye as he strips down completely- the bastard. 

The complete role reversal isn’t lost on him, as Janus smirks in his direction, a move Daniel had done so many times before in other far flung motel rooms. As Janus had done, he lets his gaze linger as well, taking in the familiar curves and hardened ridges of Janus’s nude form. He doesn’t follow him though when he steps into the bathroom, door wide open, asking for him to join him. True he’d thought of the same moments himself only an hour earlier, but now that Janus was actually infront of him again, he couldn’t do it, not with the story those new scars told still lurking in the back of his mind. 

Realizing he wasn’t going to get any work done after that little show, Daniel flicks off the lamp that sat by his bed, and curls up under the sheets, his eyes shut but still facing in the direction of Janus’s empty bed. When he returns, once again paying no mind to his state of undress, Daniel opens his eyes for a second, his gaze wandering down to the sight of his old lover half-hard still even after the shower. It’s perhaps a testament to just how truly stubborn he was that he still remains in his bed after this, and when Janus calls out his goodnight, he echoes it back, in a short “Night” before turning to face the other side of the room, and away from the temptation that lay only several feet away from him. 

[daniellobo]

holymosesgraves‌:

bethlehemramsey‌:

Hattori’s house shouldn’t surprise her; none of this should. The secrecy of the whole case, the grandeur of the former chief’s house. If she weren’t still so stunned by the necessity of it all, it would be exactly what she expected: MACUSA wanted to keep its dirty laundry well out of view of prying eyes, especially when it involved someone as well-paid and high-up as Hattori – who, from the looks of his home, had earned more per year than it took to pay her entire department to operate.

But she wasn’t here to hold grudges. There was work to be done, and so she nodded respectfully as she shook Arlene’s hand, and then followed alongside Graves and Lobo as they followed her directions and made their way around the sidewalk to the back of the house, where Hattori himself was standing, clearly waiting for them to arrive, near a small patio set with well-kept garden furniture.

He gestured to the four chairs in front of him as he greeted them, and Beth noted that he looked tired– not just tired, exhausted, like one might expect him to look after losing a good friend, but also like whatever he had to tell them was weighing greatly on his mind.

     “Thank you all for coming,” he said, with a nod, and then, “Please, have a seat.”

When Danny comes to her with a shadow on his face, Moses immediately knows that it’s about Henshawe. About what happened and the case to follow. A part of her, a small part, wants to back out. Just pass it over to Beth and Danny, let them handle the whole thing. She would happily help out with regards to what happened that night but actually investigating… The larger part of her (what Moses hopes is the truer part) won’t allow that, though, and before she knows it, she’s taking hold of the carved eagle Portkey.

She holds herself small once at Hattori’s house. Suddenly, in a way like never before, Moses is aware of her rank and how low it is. She keeps herself behind Danny and Beth, happy to let them do the talking – if any were needed. They’re ushered through the house and then out the back, to a garden. Moses recognizes that her two partners are taking the house, the decor in, but it’s nothing Moses hasn’t seen. She doesn’t sit at the offer, choosing instead to keep herself behind Danny still, hands gripping at the back of his chair.

She tries, desperately, not to think of the young wix. Simon. His name was Simon and he had killed himself. Swallowed in a burst of green while Henshawe drained his last minutes just a few feet away… “Sir,” she says quietly, not even really meaning to, “Mr. Henshawe’s last words were about you.” Her eyes dart up and she tries to pretend that she had any control over her mouth.

He will be the first to admit he had no real game plan walking into this conversation. Given how many unknowns there still were swirling around Henshawe’s death, as well as the exact reason why Hattori saw to call them in so urgently, his plan had been to let Hattori dictate where the questions did and did not go at first. That is until he hears Moses speak out from behind him, vocalizing the very question that no doubt was on all three of their minds. 

Hattori’s reaction is almost immediate, his gaze dropping down to the coffee cup he’d been holding in his hand. “Yes, I thought he might,” he nods, before looking back up at Moses, “I can’t say for certain what he was going to say about me, but I’m fairly certain it’s about what I’ve called all three of you here for today.” 

Leaning back in the patio chair, the former chief lets out a quiet sigh before he continues. In the five years Daniel had spent in his squad he’d never quite seen him like this before. What happened to Henshawe had visibly shaken him, but there was something more lying under the surface, something he couldn’t quite pin down, even now as the man’s gaze moves down to meet his. 

“There is a group of people within MACUSA... they don’t go by any name in particular, if they did that’d only confirm their very existence. I had heard rumors about them when I first became chief, of wixes working in the shadows, manipulating certain events and elections to their favor, usually by way of imperio- like I dare say what happened to that poor young wix at the Gala- Simon. Henshawe was a victim of their manipulations- just as you nearly were Sergeant Lobo.” 

Hattori pauses then, and nods his head in the direction of Daniel’s chest, the area where the tendrils of his jinx scar fanned out towards his heart that was now beating rapidly against his ribcage. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t considered the violence that’d been inflicted upon him and his fellow aurors could have stemmed from the very institution they were trying to protect. The idea found its way into his head whenever his thoughts would grow dark enough, before he could chase them away with the bottom of a bottle. He tries to ask him why, why had this group, whoever the hell they were decided he and his partners on that case needed to be taken out, but he can’t find the words. Hattori answers him anyway, at least somewhat.

 “I don’t know much of your case, but I am certain it’s them, which is why I offered to take you into my squad when I did. I’m afraid that’s as much as I can help you on that endeavor though, this particular snake has many heads, all of them leading into different directions and departments. I can help you cut down the one that took out Henshawe, but beyond that I am just as in the dark as you are.” 

“And what of this head?” Daniel asks, his voice much shakier than its usual gruff tone. 

“This particular person has a heavy grasp on the election, I still don’t know who it is yet, but whoever they are they have been manipulating things in a way to favor McDonough. You two,” Hattori pauses to look between Beth and Moses,”have unknowingly already come across some of their handy work, in the case of our poor Miss Potter.” 

“I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t understand,” Daniel cuts in, “but if this group is wanting a Rappaport candidate to win, why throw your own name into the race? Why Henshawe’s too? I don’t remember either of you having any anti-halfblood political leanings.” 

"Now, you’re thinking like an auror again.” Hattori smiles faintly as he looks over at him. “But you’re right, I didn’t, and still don’t. My purpose for running isn’t to reestablish Rappaport’s Law- but to abolish it. Crane, and some of us other high ranking aurors had come up with a plan, to have one of us run against McDonough in the hopes it’d split up the party. I was closest to retirement so I was given the job to do it. But unfortunately, the very monster we’re fighting found out our plan, and Henshawe paid the ultimate price.” 

[daniellobo]

margotbrendanawicz‌:

If every case she worked for this damned department involved Lobo and Ortega, there wouldn’t be any crime left on the entire East Coast – they were efficient, the both of them, no messing around and making things any more complicated than they needed to be. They were both the kind of colleagues she didn’t mind having, and if everything else tonight cooperates the way they were, she’ll be back in bed before midnight with the radio on and a drink in her hand, easy as that.

     “Can’t be certain, but my bet would be on a prop of some kind,” Ortega answers. “She was in the same costume for few scenes, so I doubt it was something she was wearing – maybe something handed to her backstage, before she went on?”

She pulls her gloves out as well, slipping them on before tucking her telekit away in the inside pocket of her jacket and crouching down to get a better look at the body, to see if there was anything on her that looked like the usual suspects for cursed objects: necklaces, brooches, rings…

     “Was anyone else affected by it? Any of the other actors feeling ill or looking pale? Any stagehands missing?”

She says it half to Ortega and half to Lobo, less a genuine question and more of a note for when they started questioning around – if it was a prop or something like it, someone else might’ve handled it, which would give them a clear trail of who did and didn’t come in contact with the thing without knowing it was dangerous. If a stagehand handed her the prop, they were either sick or half dead right now, or they’d been wearing protective gloves, too, and knew it was cursed before they handed it off.

“No, not that anyone has reported to me anyway. Alana was the only one I tried to give any medical assistance to. If someone else was effected, no one made any attempts to alert me.” 

It would have been hard to hide a sick or dying stagehand backstage, he thinks, he didn’t have much experience with the theater, but he can only imagine the amount of people running around back stage. No, there would have been too many eyes for something like that to go by unnoticed. Which meant whoever handed her the item must have took some kind of protective measures as they did it. 

“Who all was on stage when she collapsed?” 

“Just her costar, Max Whitewood, he played James Steward”, she replies, and then, seemingly picking up on where Daniel was going she adds, “He appeared pretty shaken up from what I could see- there have been rumors of the two of them taking their onstage romance offstage, so I think they were pretty close.” 

Whitewood was definitely someone they should look into, if just to get an idea of what all was going on in Alana’s life leading up to tonight. Kneeling down towards Alana, Daniel does a quick check around her body, checking to see if anything on her could have held the curse. From his experience cursed items tended to be small, not anything as large as a dress, where multiple people could have been affected. And given the fact neither Max or Ortega seemed to have been affected it must have been something that neither of them came in contact with. 

“Have you seen anyone else around the body?”, he asks as he begins checking her hands, hoping to find something clutched within them, only to come up empty. If someone else was on stage, then whoever gave Alana the item would have wanted to make sure it was gone by the time he and Margot arrived. 

“Um, yes. Let’s see... Truman Sheffield rushed on stage with me, he’s one half of the director team, he’s out in the lobby if you want to see him. And then Sophia Fowler, Alana’s understudy, ran on stage shortly after, she screamed when she saw her, and started sobbing so hard one of the stagehands had to take her backstage, I don’t know where she’s gone off to now, but the whole building is under lockdown, so she’s in here somewhere.” 

With no clear evidence on Alana’s body, it was looking more and more like they were going to have to start hunting down witnesses, and shake each one just to see what falls out. Now the only question was, who should they start with first. 

“Well, what do you think?” he asks, looking back toward Margot. “Anyone of ‘em grab your fancy?” 

[videogamekitty]

x

[daniellobo]

callistasole‌:

He was amazed – yet another stroke of luck – that the man with the wand at his back didn’t kill him on the spot, didn’t just cast a killing curse then and there and have it over and done with. Instead, he grabs one of Cal’s arms, keeping the wand pressed sharp in between two of his ribs, and pulls close, the hot air of his breath rattling against Cal’s ear. 

     “Who are you then, before I kill you? You ain’t Nicky, that’s for sure. Say what you will about the fucker, they knew their damn place in the food chain.”

His actual identity is about the only thing still a secret that he’s got going for him right now, if the rest of this goes south – and from the man’s mention of aurors earlier, a word to that effect will surely be a death sentence if it slips out, and so he considers keeping quiet before the reality of the situation makes it clear that’s not an option. He has to say something, and the longer he can keep this guy talking, the more of a chance Lobo will shake his own tails and swoop in to even out the odds.

     “I could ask you the same thing. Are you Ludo?” he asks, remembering Cora’s words earlier, less expecting an answer and more stalling for time.

     “Ludo?” the man answered, barking out a laugh of disbelief. “Ludo wouldn’t dirty his hands with a pick-up like this. And if I were Ludo, you’d be bleeding already.”

He starts to say something, but it seems like the mention of what Ludo would have done is enough to spur the man into action – Cal can feel him withdrawing the wand in preparation to cast a spell in his direction, and the space is all he needs to get leverage, to kick his foot out and back into the man’s knee, knocking him off-kilter, down to his opposite knee on the ground. But he’s still got a vice-grip on Cal’s arm, one that he can’t quite manage to extract himself from.

He gives himself a moment to recollect himself when the wix finally falls to the ground. With his wand still gripped tightly in his hand, he doubles over briefly, spitting out the metallic taste of his own blood that he could feel pooling in his own mouth. One duel in a day, he could handle fine, go home and take a hot shower to soothe his aching muscles, but three? And he still wasn’t done yet, he reminds himself as he twists to look back at the doorway to the warehouse, where Cal still was somewhere with his own tails still on him. 

Cracking his back, he heads back in, this time though he avoids the more stealthier approach and begins firing off noise-maker after noise-maker spell. if Cal was stuck in here somewhere he was going to find out where, and fast. 

The first face he sees isn’t Cal’s though, instead the third wix he’d seen earlier that night, not the one with the beartooth wand, but he figured he’d meet him soon enough. The duel that ensues is sloppy but gets the job done, the two of them firing spells wildly at each other until he finally manages to get them backed up against a pillar, and stunning the wix just like he’d done their other two friends. 

It’s not until he turns the next corner when he finally lays eyes on Cal, his arm clutched in the hands of the fourth and final assailant. All the noise he’d made out front seems to have distracted him enough from whatever he was about to do to Cal, but now the question was how the hell he was going to get them out of this damn mess. 

“One more move and I’ll blow their fuckin’ head off, I swear,” the wix spits out, tucking his wand under Cal’s chin. “Now tell me who in the hell you are, and just maybe I’ll let your little friend here live. You hear me?” 

That, Daniel highly doubted. The wix didn’t seem like the sharpest one of the bunch, but it was unlikely he’d just let two aurors stroll out of here with his boss’s profit for the evening. No, the only way either he or Cal were gonna make it out of there would be to bring all four in along with the wands. 

Looking back and forth between Cal and the other wix an idea becomes to come to mind, one Cal was going to absolutely hate, but would let him live another day. Dropping his gaze down to the other auror, he shoots him a quick apologetic look, before glancing back up to the wix. 

“Well, see the thing is,” he replies flatly as he steps closer to the two of them, “I could really give a rat’s ass about the kid,” 

Before the wix can react, Daniel flicks his wand in Cal’s direction, the wordless alarte ascendare barreling straight for him, intended to send him flying back into the wall behind him, and close to the shipment of wands. He knew he wasn’t going to last three seconds in a duel against another beartooth in his shape, but maybe Cal can if given the opportunity.