Fisherman's Hook

[jollyjohanna]

When Carl stood peering cautiously into the darker part of the alley he thought he could hear a low... growl. And something big was definitely moving in there.
Okay, so maybe he should stop shouting into the alley, stop getting whatever-it-was's attention. If anyone after all was in trouble in there it wasn't really worth getting...
Wait. Whatever it was inside of the alley was now moving towards... him. Oh, great.
Carl tried to fling himself to the side, but he was too slow and the creature was moving really fast for being so big. Carl had a confused picture of wings, gleaming eyes and a broad snout before something rammed him in the stomach, sending him flying.
It felt like being hit by a truck.

Carl landed in a heap of garbage bags, gasping for air and trying to keep conscious. Those bags probably saved his life - if he'd smashed head on into the brick wall there would have been one cursed middle-aged man less in the world.
As it were now, he lay there and tried to collect his breath, but it wasn't easy. It felt like his lungs just couldn't accept the air, and his features were scrabbling all over his upper body in a panicky sort of way. He managed to see what was going on on the street, though - the big beast had turned it's attention away from him and was facing Red, Loretta and the drunk (who was still crouching down.) And it seemed like they had company - the girl with the sock puppet from the bar had joined them.
Carl was trying to gather his thoughts, but black dots were playing in front of his eyes and it felt like he was going to faint.

[floppybelly]

Loretta watched in horror as Carl went flying out of the alley into the garbage bags, and ran over to him. Shaking his arm, she tried to get him to answer her as she got more and more worried about the safety of everyone in the vicinity.

It looked like the huge beast had scared off the remaining drunks, so all that was left in the alley were the five who each seemed to have something a little... odd about them. Loretta watched in astonishment as the beast seemed to shrink down into a human... The blonde new-englander?
Shaking her head as she kneeled beside Carl, whose eyes seemed to be... floating across his face... she tried to choose her next words carefully while addressing the remaining bar-goers. "So... um... It would seem that Bridgeport has many more secrets than I was aware of."

[scribblerrigby]

"Oh jesus! Is she okay?"

“Oh, she’s fine! The girl down there – SHE’S just dandy!” he managed to choke out to the newly-arrived Sock Girl, though he kept his eyes on the alley. “Just get out of here before-"

With a roar, the monster leapt out of the alley shadows, delivering a swift head butt to Scarf Guy that sent him tumbling into nearby garbage bags. Another flying leap took the thing – dragon, Fin had to admit to himself. DRAGON – onto the statue and inches away from Fin and the girls.

He’d flicked his spring-loaded pocketknife out and wielded it defensively before he even realized it; he had to laugh in spite of himself. Yeah. There’s an enormous dragon staring you in the face and this is your Ex-freaking-calibur. That'll definitely work.

If only he didn’t feel like wetting his pants.

He didn't -couldn’t- move. Fighting was out of the question – sure, he wasn't exactly human, but he wouldn’t last more than a minute with this guy. Running was too – Dragon had taken out Scarf Guy and landed gracefully on the statue faster than he would’ve figured for something so big. And does this thing have fire breath? Fin had no idea. Not that he was an expert in these things…but he knew better to mess with a dragon. And a gorgon. How on earth did tonight come to this?

Well, this was it, then.

But then the dragon did something strange. Its gaze suddenly un-focused and it shook its head. Crawling gently off the statue, it slid to the ground, and seemed to twist itself into -

“Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me. CORNEY?!”

Sure enough, his teacher was laying there, looking somewhat out of it, and holding his head. Fin was totally dumbfounded, and could only stare awkwardly.

"So... um... It would seem that Bridgeport has many more secrets than I was aware of." That would be the gorgon lady.

Fin nodded slowly. “Guess so. Is…is Scarf Guy okay? Is everyone okay? Did...did Corney, um...eat...uh...Where's the other drunk guy?"

[paleos]

Jack sat in the middle of the alley trying to get his bearings. He spit out a sharp incisor much too big for his current mouth and was able to mumble something as he fought a fresh migraine.

“Ugh…I think I threw em’ in the dumpstah. I’m pretty shoah I didn’t eat em’; that sought of thing usually leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

He looked around and saw sock-girl, ok kinda strange, and then to the shocked redhead in front of him sporting a pocketknife. Jack jumped up and swayed back-and-forth a bit as his blood pumped painfully through his head, then held up a hand to the tall kid.

“Hey, look I remembah you two from the bah! Right? I didn’t mean foah any of this to happen…whatevah did happen…and I got it undah control now. Just foah the love of GAWD don’t stab me! I don’t wannah staht this ovah again!”

Jack took a quick glance down the alley behind him and saw the other girl crouched over a crumpled mess sticking out of a pile of garbage.

“Aww Jesus, I’m so sorry! I didn’t hurt anybody did I!?”

[jollyjohanna]

Carl started to cough loudly and then wheezed after air. He noticed that someone was shaking his arm, probably trying to get some kind of reaction from him, but his eyes couldn't focus.

>>"So... um... It would seem that Bridgeport has many more secrets than I was aware of."
Carl could only nod, he hadn't really caught is breath yet.
>>“Guess so. Is…is Scarf Guy okay? Is everyone okay? Did...did Corney, um...eat...uh...Where's the other drunk guy?"
"...'m fine..." Carl managed to wheeze. And, during the circumstances, he was. The head-butt hadn't really been as bad as being hit by a truck, it had only felt like it. Nothing was broken and his extra pounds around the waist had probably saved him from any serious internal bleeding. He was glad that his stomach had been free from features during the impact - if his mouth had been there his teeth would probably have been scattered all over the street.
"...if... everything... would just... stop... spinning..." he croaked. And when he concentrated his eyes, mouth and other features stopped spinning around over his face and upper body like carousel addicts on a festival. One eye centered itself shakily in the middle of his face, and when he slowly sat up he had a decent view over the street.

It was the toque girl, Loretta, who was kneeling beside him. The dragon thing was gone, and in it's place stood the blonde man who'd been towing out the drunk guy. He had his back against Loretta and Carl.
>>“Hey, look I remembah you two from the bah! Right? I didn’t mean foah any of this to happen…whatevah did happen…and I got it undah control now. Just foah the love of GAWD don’t stab me! I don’t wannah staht this ovah again!”
Things started to click into place for Carl, but they clicked slowly. He was still a bit dazed, after all. In front of the bearded guy (Carl thought he'd heard the name 'Courney' being mentioned) was Red, sock girl and one of the drunks. Red was holding a pocket knife, and the drunk was still squatting down. All of the other hoods was out of sight.

>>“Aww Jesus, I’m so sorry! I didn’t hurt anybody did I!?”
Okay, now Carl was sure: Courney and Dragon Thing was one and the same. Carl knew that there was more to Bridgeport than what met the eye (he didn't know about the halfway home, though) and had a high suspicion that one of the guys at work might be a werewolf, but this was just plain...weird. Anyway, dragon guy didn't seem to have intended to hurt anyone and Carl was never holding grudges for too long.
"Will probably have a... bruise the size of... Wisconsin... tomorrow, but its... nothing I can't... walk off" he said, still a bit breathlessly. His mouth slided up under the eye as he spoke.
Then he looked over the street again.
"Now, could anybody... be so kind to... tell me what's going on here?"

[scribblerrigby]

Fin hastily folded the pocketknife and muttered an apology to his teacher. “Oh-shoot!-right. Sorry. Nobody’s gonna’ stab you, um…sir.”

>“Aww Jesus, I’m so sorry! I didn’t hurt anybody did I!?”

>"Will probably have a... bruise the size of... Wisconsin... tomorrow, but its... nothing I can't... walk off"

“Yeah,“ Fin added. “Probably sent a few thugs to the crazy house for life, but no, I think everyone here’s okay. More or less,” he trailed off during the last part, glancing at the statue.

He took a deep breath. “Okay. So. We have my professor here. Corney. Who’s a were-dragon, or something. And you…who did this” he waved at the statue without looking at it; the thing had made him uncomfortable after a while. “And you…with a sock puppet; you, with your face flying everywhere. And a guy in the dumpster. I’m Malcolm, by the way.” he added . “For the record, I’m pretty confused right now, too.”

[floppybelly]

Loretta reached to help pull Carl to his feet, then folded her arms defensively and leaned against the wall of the bar, glancing in bewilderment from the "were-dragon" professor to poor Carl, before wincing away behind her shades at the mention of her crime.

"I'm sorry," she started with, looking down at her feet, "I never meant to hurt anyone. Please, I've only just settled in here, and I was hoping to meet people... Though maybe not like this." She glanced at the statue, the evidence, the victim, and shivered as she pulled off her hat. "My name is Loretta, and as you can see, I'm not normal."
Loretta's little striped front snake, the one she'd been calling Henry, peered around curiously at the company. He never got to see people, what a treat! The others remained bundled close to her head with a soft hiss, the cold seeping into their scales.
Lori quickly tugged her hat back on, already ashamed of her deformation. She crossed her arms and looked forlornly over at Malcom, hoping he could see her regret through the tinted plastic.

[soup]

(Right, I'm checking in every day from now on D: Bookmarking to make sure!)
"Holy shaz!"
If Evelyn had been slightly more inebriated, she may have just wet herself when the dragon came barrelling out of the alley.
As it was, she just stumbled back and fell on her butt. She just about shouted for help, or even better, shouted for Suppet to get off his figurative ass and help her like he should, the free loader.
But then the dragon seemed to shrink, and before she could really process what in the world had just happened, the dragon was a man. A man-dragon?
Still trying to understand how the hell that even worked-'Guess that's where all those cats go'She mused-Evelyn managed to completely miss the following conversation.
Suppet on the other hand, was less than dazed.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we're all a tad confused right now. But as we all seem to be a little...abnormal"He chuckled, stretching into a more comfortable form-a large dog, albeit one with rather human-y hands."Well, except for Evelyn, but she's boring so that's okay."
The shadowy demon patted the shell shocked girl condescendingly on the head, before looking back at the rag tag group.
"As we're all a little odd, then I don't think you really have to worry about being shunned, dear. After all-"
Suppet was abruptly shoved out of the way by a furious Evelyn, who clambered to her feet, brushed herself off, and looked around. Swallowing nervously, she looked at every person there-from the confused Fin to the rather battered Carl to the (thankfully) profusely apologising Jack.
Nervously picking at her shirt, Evelyn cleared her throat.
"Well, uh...this is one hell of a 'Get to know your town' night, huh?" She laughed nervously, ignoring Suppets disgruntled growls as he shifted into his natural form, stretching for the first time in weeks.
Not exactly how he'd planned on showing her the 'underworld' of Bridgeport, but hey.Use what you're given, right?

[paleos]

Jack stood to the side as the conversation went on, trying to keep his balance with the fresh headache he was trying to fight off.

“Oh, well thank gawd everyone is okay! Well…almost everyone. You,” Jack gestured towards the snake haired girl, “don’t worry about the new piece of rock aht heah. Just one less idiot in the world. If he’d a’ gotten away somebody else mighta gotten theah head caved in the next time he got drunk.”

He took a few steps over to the dumpster and peeked inside.

“As much as this jerk deserved to be eaten I don’t think he’ll be having a drink foah awhile. Uhh…I might take a break from the sauce myself foah awhile.”

Jack looked back up at the odd group of folks before him in the alley. The demon dog attached to the other girl was definitely unsettling, and he cracked a nervous smile at it. The enormous toothy grin it gave back did not reassure him at all.

“Well, I’m Jack. My, ah…scaley side yah met theah is soahta why I’m in Bridgetown.”

Jack nervously shuffled his feet a bit.

“I found out theah was some othah strange folks around and figured it might be a good place to figure out how to get rid of im’ when I’m not busy at the college. Right now I need some ibuprofen and a big glass of watuh, but that’s wheah you can find me. This is probably not the best place, and someone might come lookin foah these guys eventually.”

[floppybelly]

Loretta glanced around nervously as she could swear she heard the sound of sirens in the distance. With a pleading glance at all present, she worried about what to do with the "new piece of rock."
"I er... don't suppose any of you has a pick-up truck, do you? I could definitely use some help getting this fellow down to the beach by the lighthouse. And sometime soon, before the boats start beaching themselves on the shore."

[scribblerrigby]

It was Fin’s turn to fall on his butt once Sock Girl’s - Evelyn’s - puppet stretched into a large, doglike creature. All he could do was stare, agape, at the demon - who grinned mischievously back at him before Evelyn shoved it out of her way. He turned to Loretta, having heard her apology.

“Hey, don’t worry about it! He was a dangerous guy. It was totally coming to him…” And, you know - if it wasn’t you, it probably would’ve been one of us, anyway, he thought grimly. “Cute snakes, by the way.”

Fin slowly climbed to his feet for the third time that night. It seemed he was falling on his backside a little too often for his liking. “I’ll help load him in the pickup, or whatever you guys have. I’m good with the heavy lifting stuff. Or, worst-case-scenario, I have my car, here…if he can fit…”

His voice lowered a bit as he heard Steve groaning and shifting slowly around in the dumpster. Also, from farther away, he heard the unmistakable whine of police sirens. With a long, quietly drawn-out “sh------t,” he opened his car, snatched his thermos from the cup holder, took a generous swig, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, and set the thermos on the top of his car. He turned, slightly calmer, back towards the awkward handful of misfits shivering in the grungy little alley.

“Right, guys - we need to get Loretta back to her job, and get the hell out of here. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to be explaining any of this.” He fidgeted. “I’m…not sure I can anyway.”

He walked briskly and nervously up to the stone man, looked around uncomfortably, gingerly reached out, hesitated for a minute, then started to lift it. Jeez, man, you act like you’ve never seen a dead guy before.

“Corney? Loretta? Scarf Guy? Um…Sock? Anyone - grab the end of this guy - I’m having balance issues. ‘Kay, now - Wheredoyouwantit? Wheredoyouwantit?” Yeah, lights were definitely flashing a couple blocks down their street. He peeked around the statue at the oncoming cars. Crap, crap, crap.

“Come on, man - you were just face-to-face with a dragon and a sock monster. Inches away from Loretta flash-freezing this guy. What are a few cops? Really? You'd eat these guys for breakfast.” he mumbled.

But - hell, it'd been a long night. Frankly, he would’ve taken the dragon at this point.

[floppybelly]

Loretta quickly rushed to help Fin lift her victim, struggling with the weight of it as they inched towards Fin's car. Trying to be careful not to break the poor thing, she lowered the heavy statue into the trunk with some effort. Turning with an awkward wave to those still in the alley, she cleared her throat and offered some parting words, "Well um, I guess it's been nice meeting you all, and it's good to know that... I'm not alone here. I'll probably be in the light house, if any of you ever want to find me."
And with a grateful glance at Fin, she climbed into the passenger seat.

[jollyjohanna]

Carl had time to catch his breath when the others introduced themselves - Malcolm, Loretta, Evelyn and Corney. But he still felt a bit unprepared when Loretta removed her toque and showed her snake-hair, and when Evelyn's sock puppet stretched out into some kind of demon form. But how could anyone prepare for that? Sure, it was that possible werewolf at work and he was pretty sure he'd once seen a ghost at the public library. But this... He had definitely not been expecting this.

>>"Well, uh...this is one hell of a 'Get to know your town' night, huh?"
"You can say THAT again," he agreed a bit weakly.

Especially Loretta's affliction astonished him. He was an ex-archaeologist, after all, and had a Master's degree in archeology - he'd been working with Mesopotamian mythology so Greek mythology wasn't exactly his field, but of course he knew the legends of Medusa and her sisters. Well, maybe there was more than just a little bit truth in those legends. And if real gorgons existed, how about other creatures from the Mediterranean cultures? Manticores? Minotaurs? Sphinxes? He felt a bit like the carpet had been pulled away from under his feet, like a man who devoted his life into finding the mystical city of Atlantis, searched for it a couple of years, gave up and went home just to discover that the sunken city had been hidden in the pond in his back yard the whole time.

Then he listened to the approaching sirens, his eyebrows frowning (one back on his neck, the other on his shoulder). He certainly didn't want to cross paths with the local police; he'd been avoiding the authorities ever since he got cursed and he wasn't planning on breaking that tradition. Anyway, he made an effort and pulled his face together; the features were still moving around a little, but now they at least were in the right general idea (eyes above the nose, nose above the mouth etc) and picked up his baseball cap. Then he looked as the redheaded one, Malcolm, lifted up the stone statue and, together with Loretta, carried it to the car. So Malcolm wasn't really normal either... but he'd been suspecting that, what with the black blood and all.

He suddenly realized that he hadn't presented himself.
"Oh, 'scarf guy'? That's me, I guess. Name's Reed, Carl Reed. Pleasure to meet you all."
One of his eyes turned a bit to the right, looking warily for the approaching flash lights. He spoke quickly.
"It's been a... interesting night, to say the least, and I would love to stay and chat, under other circumstances. But I need to be on my way."
He waved to the rest of them and started to walk away from Fisherman's Hook.

[soup]

Evelyn watched the loading of the statue-'Don't think of it as a person or you won't stop screaming, you know it!'-standing mutely in the background,frowning at the sound of sirens.
For goodness sakes, all she'd wanted was a drink!

Taking care in the fact that, at least the others looked just as freaked out as her about all this, she gave the line connecting Suppet to her a little yank with her only arm. Without complaint, the demon slunk back, 'accidently' bumping Evelyn as he walked past her and nearly sending her flying.

"Well, uh.....I hope you guys...can...get it back to normal? Or something, I dunno. But yeah, I've got to agree with Mr, um, Reed here. I've got to get up early and...crud, I've no idea what to do."
Turning back down one of the alleyways, she pasued, before turning and looking at the group as it began dispersing.

"By the way, my name's Evelyn Summers. Hell, meeting you guys sure beats having a hangover as my only souvenir of a night out."
Walking off, Suppet grinned at the group one last time before fading into the darkness.

Now, if they managed to get out before the cops got here, it would be the perfect end to a less than stellar night.

[paleos]

Since it was partly his fault everyone got dragged into this back alley mess Jack rushed over and helped load the new statue into the car.

The cops were certainly close now and the drunk in the dumpster was stirring. Jack took the opportunity to those remaining in the alley a nod and salute, then trotted off towards another street and his apartment.

It was times like this that reminded him how much work he still had to do to control his "dragon problem". All-in-all the Fisherman's Hook and it's "special" customers looked like the right kind of place for Jack. Although he would have to remember to bring an extra set of less destructible cloths next time...