HoE: S01 E03 Nia Mini

<Darkling> Bounty hunting sure didn't seem to pay as well as a good night at the Fox, though it could get as dirty and violent it seems. Both Imogene and Deane have taken off ahead of you out of the Sheriff's office. Doesn't look like they're sticking around for celebratory drinks.
<Nia_S> "Fuck it." Nia stuffs her hands in her pockets and heads for home, squeezing the extra fifty bucks in a tight fist. The shop's more or less how she left it, Otto hot on her heels as she makes for the front door.
<Darkling> The door swings open and closed with a clatter. Looks like nothing really has been touched. The generator is still occupying most of the shops space.
<Nia_S> "Fffuck." Just looking at it gave her a headache again. "'ll work on it later." The African trudges past, towards the attached living space, little more than a kitchen and a bedroom.
<Darkling> In here is a mess, looks like someone tore the place apart whiel you were gone.
<Nia_S> "Ngh..." The Junker rubs her forehead, bending over to start picking up the pieces. Did the god damn scorpions get in?
<Darkling> You hear a shout from outside a moment before the door to the shops smashes open. "NIA?!" A rather angry sounding Rufus appears.
<Nia_S> "Fuck'n hell... Ya don't have t'shout, Rufus, th'shop ain't bigger n' a gnat's apartment." She stands quickly though, Otto scampering out of sight.
<Darkling> "Where in the fuck hell have you been?" Not that he really had a right to ask, but men like him always felt entitled.
<Nia_S> "None a' yer business." She walks out to meet him rather than have him trodding through her personal space, hands on her hips. "I was only gone th'day."
<Darkling> He looks all worked up, sweat over his face, eyes bulging, he must've tried to run over here and winded himself. "Gone fer a day and left a pile of dead freaky shit in the scrapyard."
<Nia_S> The scorpions? No, he wouldn't get this worked up over those... "Th'damn thing came back?" Rubbing her forehead, Nia reaches for her rifle. "Show me." She doesn't have much for height or weight on Rufus, but those two words, she put everything in 'em. No patience for him today.
<Darkling> He hesitates. "Fine." He heads out of the shop, making his way round back.
Nia_S follows suit, letting the night air do what it can for her migraine.
<Darkling> Most of the scorpions are where you left them, though it looks like some scavengers have picked at them. The mangled body you saw is still laying where it was as well, nothing seems to have touched it.
<Nia_S> Nothing? "Jesus..." The African turns her gaze this way and that. He probably wasn't killed out here, he didn't look familiar, so that means that...thing brought him here, so there might be more. --then again, he didn't come back for it either, did he?
<Darkling> "You mind telling me what the damn hell that is all about?"
<Nia_S> "B'lieve me, if I knew, I'd pro'ly be outta' here by now. That noise I heard, that thing we both saw, it was some fuck'n...dead thing. Uglier 'n sin and eatin' this bastard. Why didn' he come back for 'im, though..."
<Darkling> Rufus seems to have grown a pair and is shuffling over to the body. He gives it a tap with his boot.
<Darkling> "I don't like it one bit." He spits on the corpse. "I seen shit b'fore, but dead shit eating dead shit, that's messed." He had such a way with words.
<Nia_S> He was right, though, this shit was fucked straight up. "Ever even heard of somethin' like this? Th'dead gettin' back up?"
<Darkling> "Naw. Ain't something people talk 'bout." He's got a long pipe now, poking around in the body.
<Nia_S> "Hmf." People not talkin' about shit is how we got into this shitsack world. "Will you knock that off?" Nia gives the pipe a swat, causing the pipe to catch and flip the body over.
<Darkling> At least this side of the body seems mostly intact and covered with clothes. Doesn't help the smell though. Looks like it's been dead longer than from when you found it. Judging by the clothes it wasn't someone from the better part of town, probably the slums.
<Nia_S> "Ain't a good sign." Nia bends over to look him over. No chances of recognizing him, but... If he's poor, I guess that's where I'd go feedin' if I were a zombie from beyond the grave. "But it's a lead..."
<Darkling> Rufus pokes the body again, the pipe sinking right through it. "Heh heh, found a soft spot."
<Nia_S> "..." Nia rubs her forehead, and tries to calculate how much rent she owes again.
<Darkling> Pole stuck through the body he starts dragging it across the empty space of the scrapyard. "Guess I'll feed the dogs."
<Darkling> Once the body is out of the way he comes back over. "Best not see that thing 'round here, or I'm holdin you responsible." He pokes a beefy finger at her.
<Nia_S> "It ain't my pet, Rufus. But I got s'much reason t'get rid of it as you do." Probably as close to agreeing as they ever got.
<Darkling> He almost seems pleasant at the moment. "Welp, I gotta get back to work. We expect rent soon, ain't nothing changed that."
<Nia_S> "Yeah, sure." Nia waves him off, rubbing her chin.
<Darkling> HE shuffles off and out of the yard.
<Nia_S> The African rubs her forehead again, letting her mind work, so fast she almost isn't consciously aware of the leaps and bounds it makes. At last, she resolves, and turns towards the slums.
<Darkling> It's not really that far of a walk from the scrapyard, which might explain why the body was taken there. Within a few minutes there's not many people in sight other than those huddled under ramshackled tents and lean-tos.
<Darkling> The smell of the marsh, rotting vegetation and sewage, is prevailant in the air. A few hands pop up as she gets near begging for handouts.
Nia_S turns her head this way and that... Hrrrm. She picks the one that looks the least likely to start ranting about being the King of Jellybeans and leans over to speak. "'Ve got some questions, n' a buck for each one y'answer. Deal?"
<Darkling> Wanting eyes are fixed on you and the face nods.
<Nia_S> "Alright: A couple nights ago, one 'f ya went missin'. Know anything about that?" 'dragged off screaming' seemed the more likely scenario.
<Darkling> A nod. "Peeple dispear inta tha bog all tha time."
<Nia_S> "Ah, but this one didn' go 'f his own, did he?" True to her word, though, she peels a dollar out of her pocket without revealing how many she has, and adds it to the beggar's hat.
<Darkling> The beggars face shakes side to side. "Sumptins been takin peeple. They say its tha boogeyman."
<Nia_S> Another dollar. "And which way this boogey man come from? How d'ya hide from it?"
<Darkling> In a second the child disappears under a mass of blankets and clothing, vanishing from sight. It takes only a minute more for them to reappear. "Don get seen, don git taken. Only comes at night. Ne'er seen it durin tha day."
<Nia_S> "I see." And the third dollar, with a free touch on the head. "Thanks, little one."
<Darkling> It's starting to get late, sun's already dipping in the sky.
<Nia_S> Unfortunately, I'm not sure I like my odds taking this prick down alone. Nia kicks at the dirt, and makes to escape to her own side of town for tonight.
<Darkling> ========END========