The Case of Blackthorn Mansion [closed to Apollo, Stiles, and Heiji]

[detectiveofthewest]

"Dear Mr. Justice,

My family has recently suffered a great misfortune, of whose exact manner I am loathe to discuss by letter. An acquaintance of mine suggested that your law offices may be able to provide some remedy. I pray that this is the case.

Enclosed are instructions to the family estate. I hope you will forgive me for this impersonal manner of address, but if you can at all find it within your heart to lend an ear to my troubles, you would have my eternal gratitude. I shall be waiting for your visit on the date provided.

Best Regards,
Violet Blackthorn."

Heiji looked up from the letter and the swirl of the writer's signature. After a moment, he folded it up, and handed it back to Apollo. "Hey, I've actually heard of these guys. Real old family, used to make a lotta donations. High-society, but now it's down to two or three people."

The neighborhood of Viola Blackthorn's house certainly seemed to be a storied one. One particular house, grey, stately, and slightly dilapidated, rose at the end of the street. It was to this house that they'd been summoned, and it was indeed quite large -- practically a mansion. A heavy oak door served as its entrance, with a lion's head door knocker mounted on its face. The lawn was immaculately kept.

Oddly, they'd been directed to the service entrance, not the main one. Or maybe this was by design and Miss Violet Blackthorn simply didn't want Mr. Apollo Justice and co. using the door meant for high society. In any case, they'd arrived just in time; the sky was darkening with the rain clouds that promised quite a drenching...

Comments

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji followed Apollo and made his way up the steps, peeking up to see Violet just sort of zoning out, staring at the lit chandelier. She made no motion to turn.

So far, so good...

[mensrea]

Squeezing past both men (wow these stairs were cramped sorry if he accidentally elbows one of you), Stiles cautiously creeps toward Violet...AND THEN LAUNCHES HIMSELF AT THE POOR LITTLE OLD LADY WITH A WAR CRY.

"Argh!"

The gun goes clattering down the steps.

[apolly]

"— STILES!" Never in Apollo's entire career did anyone dare tackle a little old lady, but his eyes are trained on the gun before he makes a dive for it.

And hits the stairs hard.

This could've gone way better.

[detectiveofthewest]

The gun went off, pelting the wall and sending little pellets of stone into the air as little bits of the stairwell were blown off. JESUS, STILES.

The spell broken, Violet turned toward Stiles with a sneer, only to be tackled to the ground. "Why, you ---!"

Hope you were fast with that ghost jar, Apollo.

1/3

[apolly]

Okay, the gun was now officially away from the cute little lady. With no spell, he just relies on Stiles's stupid anger management problems (I'm not the only one apparently), before APOLLO JUST—

[apolly]

gently

[apolly]

bonks the bottle's opening on Violet's forehead.

[detectiveofthewest]

Violet pinwheeled her arms, flailing them around angrily and only partially at Stiles. There was a brief pop, and then... she went slack. Heiji ran up and stoppered the bottle, which now contained a pale green light.

Silence for a moment.

"You... YOU...!"

It was awfully loud for a jar.

"Worm! Vermin! I should have ended you before you ever set foot in this house! You think you've solved anything? The Blackthorn family is done for, and that boy is going down for attempted murder! We'll see who has the last laugh, you Apoll-ing miscarriage of justice!"

[apolly]

"Can we drop this jar in the ocean."

[mensrea]

Success. Sweet, beautiful success. Slumping, Stiles removed himself from the real Violet, then apologetically helped to prop her up. The old woman appears to be in a faint, passed out cold. Thankfully... Maybe she won't remember Stiles launching himself at her like a rocket.

"Yeah, are we gonna Jumanji that thing?" he agrees, eyes narrowed purposefully at the bottle. "Let's find a place where no one will hear her puns ever again."

[detectiveofthewest]

Sloooowly, Heiji grabbed a tablecloth off a nearby end table and put it over the jar. After a few more ranting protests, it fell quiet.

Ghosts. Kind of like pet canaries.

"Well," said Heiji. "None of us knows how to exorcise it, right? So I guess storin' it somewhere is the best we can do for now. Probably not in this house, 'cause look how that turned out."

He looked up at Stiles. ".....one in the jar, ready to go!"

[mensrea]

This is why you're the best, Heiji. Expression brightening despite the shadow of a bruise forming and the trail of dried blood, Stiles dutifully intones another line from the film.

"We be fast, they be slow." Hands on his hips, he looks around and then lets out a huge sigh of relief. "That was awesome. Oh! Maybe we could put the jar in the jukebox, get the jukebox to play Lady Gaga on repeat, and then push the jukebox into the hall with all the sand."

Genius.

[apolly]

"You need to stop talking," Apollo raises a hand, dismissing everything that was being said. A headache was finally coming on.

"Actually, shouldn't we hand her over to the Night Council? Don't they have a jail for... ghosty criminals?" He's not sure what could be done with a ghost though.

"And she actually has a point, Grey's still in a coma and he'll have to face court when he wakes up."

[detectiveofthewest]

"And you were gonna help him out, weren't ya?" asked Heiji, smiling beatifically at Apollo. It was all you, bro. Clearly Stiles and himself were only here as backup!

"I can't say for certain, but I think there's a good chance Grey can be cleared. Of course, the question is if you can do it without implicating Violet."

And of course... there was the whole mess in the basement. "You might actually be able to get the Night Council's help hushing things up. They do that, don't they? Make sure the public don't get wind of this kinda thing."

[apolly]

"Yeah, I'll talk to the Council and see what the procedure is for things like this. Maybe Grey's in a spell?" It was possible, at least.

"I'm never coming to a creepy haunted house with a selfish ghost again."

[mensrea]

"Me neither," comes the immediate agreement from Stiles, which proves to be false a few weeks later when he does exactly that. "The sooner we can get outta here, the better. Can one of you help me bring her upstairs? I don't...wanna just leave her like this."

[detectiveofthewest]

"I will," said Heiji, taking Violet under the shoulders. "You get her legs, okay? Maybe we can set her up on a couch, see if there're any smelling salts around. She don't look too bruised up, but I bet this was way more excitement than she ever got up to normally."

[mensrea]

Stiles really doesn't wanna hold some stinky old lady's legs while they drag her back upstairs, but there's no way he can protest after nearly concussing her. With a nod, he does as he's told and helps Heiji bring her to the couch.

[apolly]

Apollo crosses his arms while watching, wondering if he should find a Tylenol bottle or something for the poor old lady. She went through way too much tonight.

"... She probably won't remember anything, so we can just. Leave and pretend we never came here, right?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"I can check in on her after we leave," offered Heiji. "There are tons of foxes in London. I doubt she'd notice one around the house. I ain't sure how much she'll remember -- but I think the Night Council probably has ways of taking care of that, too, right?"

Not actually so keen on that bit; messing with people's memories was slightly sketchy territory. But since they were going to be given Violet's family's most preciousest family heirloom anyway...

[mensrea]

Stiles also has mixed feelings on the matter; on the one hand, he’s relieved that the woman won’t remember him tackling her like a linebacker. On the other, he’s uneasy to hear that this so-called Night Council is allegedly prepared to use judicious memory-altering abilities on the human population. He doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like the insinuation that someone like him could be dealt with so effortlessly by Men In Black wannabes. Bitter, he thinks Derek Hale might have approved.

[apolly]

Apollo spots Stiles's reaction. Easily, no less. That's part of his power thing after all.

"... Look, it's out of our hands. We'll have to let the Night Council deal with it however they need to."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji made a face. "Fine. You take the jar, Apollo. We should probably get outta here before someone wonders why we haven't come out from our visit."

Like he was going to ferry the ghost jar to the Night Council. Gross, no way.

[mensrea]

“Heiji, can you give me a ride back? Even if it’s just to your café, that’d be cool.”

Honestly, he wants to leave this hellhole ASAP.

[apolly]

Apollo doesn't wait anymore, just heads straight for the exit and it feels so free when the outside air hits him. Oh thank god. This is what miracles and dreams are made of.

"Okay. Case solved, right. The first thing I'm doing is stopping by a McDonald's and then I'm going home. The paperwork can wait." I need my sanity.