[D2, LA} Is Isaac Croner Out There Somewhere?

[Tiffani Noelle]

Tiffani gave Imogen the most skeptical look she had made thus far. "Wha, really? There are Lost who actually came here on vacation?" She giggled then and shook her head wryly. "I mean ... why?"

When the humorous moment passed for her, Tiffani kicked up a big gout of snow with her foot. "You know, Imogen ... I have no real tangible idea of what's going on around here. Honestly, I hope you're right and that it's all in our heads - that maybe it's like that old dark house that everyone thinks is haunted just because it looks haunted. The idea that we've all been assembled here to battle some malevolent horror scares the living hell out of me. I'm not some heroic fighter. I'm just ... me. As ordinary as they come."

[Imogen Baker]

"Well, that's what he told me anyway," she gave a shrug, not claiming to have figured people out. Especially, Lost. It could have been the truth or it could have been just a story that was told to her. "He's a private detective by occupation, but something tells me he might be one by hobby and lifestyle. I honestly won't be surprised, he doesn't look like the sort that would go on vacation."

"Have no tangible idea might be a good sign of an active imagination," she said as she saw the snow being kicked around and this prompted her to put her hands in her pockets. Los Angeles right now was probably enjoying weather that couldn't produce snow. "Depending what sort of horror it might be, I don't think it gets beaten so easily by just mere physical strength. We're all survivors in our own way. Mostly."

After a beat, she added in, "Suspecting something is one thing but I don't think there's about to be a battle for Armageddon, that's for sure. We're all here for different reasons, not because we're expected to be superheroes."

[Tiffani Noelle]

"Perhaps not," Tiffani said with an uneasy tone. "But if there is anything troublesome behind all of these fears, we're all expected to be something, I'd wager."

Then she walks right up to the edge of the cornfield and falls silent, using her acute senses to hear, see, or smell anything that might be out of the ordinary. "I could easily dismiss everything else we've seen, heard, felt and call it jumpy nerves. After all, we can be a paranoid, mistrustful lot. But having so many of us here in this tiny hamlet, converging here on the very same day. Sure, everyone can say they arrived for their own mundane reasons and, in their own mind, that is precisely why they are here. After all, aside from all of us finding a big letter in the post that says, 'Go to Maize, Nebraska right now!', this might be exactly how ... a greater power would assemble his pawns, no? Give us each a mundane reason to be in Maize on a particular day so, if each story were taken independently without comparing notes, nothing would seem out of the ordinary."

Tiffani turns around with her back to the corn, looking back towards town. "For instance, what about you? I don't know for sure but I'm guessing you're a photographer. Freelance, maybe ... or maybe you work for a media outlet of one kind or another. If the former is true, why did you pick this place out of all the places on earth, to come and photograph. And in the winter, of all times - November. I mean, ick ... it's one of the ugliest times of the year. If the latter is true, why would your boss want you out here in the middle of nowhere in a place no one cares about to take pictures of dead corn stalks? What ... did you make him angry or something?" She grins at Imogen in a rather mischievious way.

[GhostWolfe]

Then she walks right up to the edge of the cornfield and falls silent, using her acute senses to hear, see, or smell anything that might be out of the ordinary.

You may roll Perception (Wits + Composure), if you wish. Merits such as Acute Senses apply. You are also both aware of the rumours about dead animals in the fields.

[Imogen Baker]

Imogen frowned at the mention of greater powers and the like. "I still prefer to think of this as some sort of coincidence that we were all brought here by chance rather than some greater machinations working behind the scenes. I think we all had our fill of greater powers at work and I would rather not go through something like that again," she said, hinting at Keepers.

"I'm freelance," she admitted with a bit of biting reluctance. "This trip wasn't planned very well, I admit. I probably should have headed south where it was at least still more like Fall than Winter..."

She gave a quick shake of her head, maybe there was some strange sway in the air that brought them together. Looking at the fields, she attempted to find her answer. It didn't seem she was as observant today.

Day 3, Late Afternoon, Wits + Composure + Acute Sense: 8d10o10h8 2

[Tiffani Noelle]

Tiffani turned back around to face the corn, the toes of her feet literally touching the line that would separate the cornfield from the rest of the world. She fell silent as again she let the currents of both the wind and fate wash over her. She even closed her eyes for a moment, reaching out to touch a corn stalk in a more likely vain attempt to feel .... something unusual. When she opened her eyes again, she peered between the rows of corn to see if she could see any ... yuck! ... bones.

"Yeah, I don't know, Imogen. I don't know what your resources are, but of all the things in the whole world that could be photographed .... it's this? Honestly, as a freelance photographer, I can't even process what magazine or book or news agency would want November pictures of creepy cornfields. It just seems odd to me ... but ... yeah, maybe ... it's nothing." A small tremor caused her to wrap her arms around her shoulders as if wracked by a sudden chill. "I really don't want to deal with any more higher powers, either. Just thinking about that makes me ... nauseous."

D2 LA: Sensing the Cornfields - Wits 3 + Composure 1 + Acute Senses 2: 6d10o10h8 1

[Imogen Baker]

Without stating the clichéd obvious, Winter was coming. It might have been slim pickings for animals and some quickly quite make it to hibernation. Imogen didn't find it too surprising to hear about dead animals on the fields. Maybe some coyotes or foxes were picking them off?

She grinned at Tiffani and gave her a small shrug. "Believe me, I'd rather be somewhere else and shooting anything else. However, you'll be surprised at the amount of things that qualify for stock photos in the morning. It doesn't exactly earn much but it does barely allow me to get a cup of coffee in the morning. This sort of stuff is generally good around October where they eat up photography based of off creepy scenery. I might inadvertently end up in the cover of a book...most likely just an e-book."

"I would wish for more vibrant fields," she frowned. "Could have used those for an organics or Americana piece.)

[GhostWolfe]

Between the darkness and the impenetrable wall of corn, you don't see anything out of the ordinary.

[Tiffani Noelle]

"Actually, yeah ... I never really thought about photos for Halloween and stuff." Tiffany reached down and grabbed another handful of snow. "And this place would be perfect for the creep factor. Just the dreams alone are enough."

She turned around and lobbed the snowball into the field, listening as it struck the stalks of corn making a dry rustling noise in the distance.

"Strange, though, that they would send you here in November when Halloween was a couple of weeks ago. I guess they could be getting an early start on next year's pile of stock photos. I guess." She shrugged and didn't sound overly convinced, but there were a lot of books being published. Maybe some of them are calling for a creepy cornfield for their front covers.

"Ever notice how perfect this bloody corn is, though? I mean, it's exactly the kind of corn one would use if they wanted an ear of corn sitting on a plate with meat and potatoes. Damn I'm making myself hungry." She then walks away from the field back to where Imogen is standing and tosses her hands up in that 'I don't know' gesture. "Truth is, someone works these fields and no one is talking about dead bodies or demon hidey-holes or strange cult leaders. Just a few bones now and again. What do you think? Think we ought to just leave it all alone and carry on with our lives - such as they are?"

[Imogen Baker]

"Pretty much what you said. Sometimes the media works on in advance, they tend to keep that sort of thing in the archives and pull it out for use later. By the time the season rolls around, it's pretty much too late for them to actually need anything," she said with a small shrug, not one to question what people were willing to spend money on. "But yeah, I agree this wasn't exactly the best time for such a thing. Or place."

Somewhere warmer would have done the trick, why couldn't they think of Texas instead of Nebraska?

She gave a blink at the mention of corn, she could barely see the stalks from the field. Her expression was doubtful when she answered Tiffani. "Mmm, it looks like just like regular corn to me. Unless it was sitting on a plate and already buttered, it's not exactly perfect corn. I'm not exactly a fan of corn either, not the sort of thing you want to be eating all the time. We are in the rural countryside of America, it's not like coyotes and foxes don't exist. Maybe even wolves too. It's bound to be a local gripe than something tourists should poke their heads into. Murders, however, that's probably something that happens less often around these parts."