August investigations (open)

[detectiveofthewest]

Battleshots fired

Evening in the Black Bear Tavern, and someone had set up what looked like an oversized game of Battleship on one of the tables, with one major exception: all the ships had gleaming shot glasses carefully set into them at even intervals.

The bar was dark. The board was illuminated. There were cheesy underwater sonar noises involved. And Heiji stood on the other side of the board. "So. You ready?"

Handy Battleshots board here. Gameplay video here.


Battleshots works like Battleship. You and your opponent each have your own ocean grid, which is hidden from your opponent. You secretly place your ships on your ocean grid horizontally or vertically.

You and your opponent then alternate calling shots on the grid (for example, A1 or D5). If you pick a spot that your opponent has a ship in, it's a hit. Your opponent must then announce the hit and drink the appropriate shot off their ship. The middle shot on each ship is tequila served in a black cup.

Gameplay continues until you annihilate your opponent's ships, force a surrender, or someone passes out.

Groundwork (throughout August)

Heiji could be found throughout August in regular libraries throughout the city -- and libraries-underneath-libraries as well, looking through records and old archived newspapers. Or, occasionally, falling asleep with his face in a book or pressed against a handy keyboard. His topic of investigation? The East End Pack, and in particular one Derek Hale. It was all a matter of public record, which meant this was A-OK and totally aboveboard, right?

Right.

Reconnoitering (mid-August)

Lewisham was not a particularly safe place for the faint of heart -- in fact, it was a no man's land, a veritable hive of scum and villainy. But during a few evenings in mid-August, there was one extra supernatural beastie about: a black fox the size of a full-grown tiger, lurking about the rooftops and getting the size of the activity there. Heiji was doing a little reconnaissance work, though he could also be found scoping out the neighborhood in Havering.

[Or lemme know if you want anything in particular o7]

Comments

[rules_winter]

It probably said something about Mab's character that she wasn't terribly concerned about the dangers Lewisham posed. She seemed to take great delight in walking those streets, observing what she would be tasked with cleaning up or not cleaning up as the decision was still up in the air. She had laws she would most definitely be enforcing but those would come after she'd laid claim to the land. It shouldn't be much longer now. She glanced up as she felt a familiar presence, walking through the streets that evening, hand pressed against a solid brick wall where she was closing a stray door a lesser fae had opened.

"Lord Heiji." She murmured, not stopping her work though she did smile just a little. "How nice to see you this evening."

Groundwork

[blind_badass]

After the beach party, surrounded by apparently a number of supernaturals, Snake went back to his job, teaching and researching physics. All the while in the back of his head, questions lingered. Decisions needed to be made. The biggest one he'd need to make for himself.

Another involved talking with Heiji. He dithered over the exact message to send for a few days. So instead, he send a voice-to-text message to meet him at the quiet work rooms in the London library if he wasn't too busy. If trying to write the question, gave him a problem, perhaps just asking the question would be simpler.

For Sylvia

[detectiveofthewest]

There was one question which Heiji had been mulling over for a little while now -- one question that was glaringly obvious to him, but which he knew that not many of his own kind would think to ask. (Or care to?) Either way, when Heiji decided he should do something, his follow-through was invariably swift.

Thus whether at one of the many parties that seemed to spring up in the supernatural community in London, or simply between appointments for her duties at the Redbright Institute, eventually Heiji would find an opportune moment to approach Sylvia Redbright, ask:

"'Scuse me, Ms. Redbright. Do you have a minute?"

And be reasonably sure the answer would be yes.

slides in on a groundwork option

[eternull]

Libraries were often a refuge for Kate, especially nowadays with her awkward sun allergy, and it wasn't exactly rare for her to be found scouring the aisles for various bits of random trivia. There's always time to kill when you're immortal, after all.

Except on this awkward night, she stops halfway through a page, phone dangling idly in her off-hand, because someone's already sprawled out on the table she'd planned to claim. Hm. "I didn't realize this one was taken. My apologies."

It's a new one on her, admittedly, but something feels off about the air in here. Worth sticking her nose into? Hell yes.