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Dec-5-2015 09:28

Everyone was invited.

The Bureau Chief of NYPD decided to open his house for all detectives, both NYPD staff and private eyes, to celebrate the holidays with his family. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla candles filled the air, and his three-story Georgian home was decorated from the tip of the roof to the base of the footing in red and green and gold.

"Wow your wife really did a number with this place!" Joseph Zeo applauded, who usually did not give praises to anyone.

"Oh you are too kind!" The bureau chief beamed, knowing they had topped their neighbors once and again this year, "Wait until it gets dark and we turn on the electric fairy lights on both the tree AND the house! It is quite a novelty, I must say!"

Just then, his wife rushed over and quietly talked to the bureau chief in nervous whispers, and they excused themselves and hurried to the kitchen.

Joseph Zeo took the opportunity to chat with some old acquaintances in the lounge. The room was overly decorated to a point he almost run a fake snowman down to make room for others to join in. The scent of food began to drift through the air, but something was missing. Joseph could not pin point what it was until whispers around the halls began to reach his ears.

People spoke in hushed apprehensive tones, "I heard the turkey is missing, and it's not just happening in this household..."



[This is just a RP short for the month of December. Everyone please feel free to take a stab at it, anything goes, and have fun! muhahahahaha....!]

Dec-7-2015 16:45

The round silver object, upon a closer look, had many small holes evenly spread across the surface, much like a shower head.

"This is strange indeed," Joseph muttered to himself. The round metal "shower head" seemed to be connected to a thick pipe, with the rest of the apparatus hidden above the ceiling. The metal felt warm to the touch, but not too hot. He tried pulling it.

Wrong move.

At first Joseph heard a gurgling sound, then suddenly a light brown liquid gushed out through the hundreds of tiny holes on the metal disk, spraying Joseph's face and everyone in the rooms with the deliciously scented liquid. Joseph licked it. Gravy.

The commotion beneath him was ear-piercing. Elegantly dressed ladies in fur coats and man in cream colored suits yelled and many tried to back away. Elbows and high heels and walking sticks all jabbed into the wrong places, causing the scene to be even more chaotic. The brown sauce was beginning to cover the white marble floor.

Joseph tried to turn the mechanism off but it seemed to have a mind of its own. While his attention was turned to the beast cemented on the ceiling, an overgrown lady slipped on the brown sauce and pitted herself against the ladder, folding it up and toppling it.

Joseph lost his balance and flew across the room, landing on the dinning table. As he skidded across the long table carefully laid with porchlain wares and crystal wine glass, he scattered everything along his path, only to be stopped by the beautiful arrangement of thorny winter roses in the middle of the table.

Dec-7-2015 21:25

Riza reclined against the large leather armchair, a tiny Santa hat perched atop the left side of her head. She smiled to herself as warmth steadily spread throughout her body. Hugged to her chest was a large bottle with barely a mouthful of amber liquid pooled at the bottom. The soft dulcet tones of a bass reverberated in her ears, carrying her mind off to a calmer place.

To the guests around her, it seemed she must have been having a good dream, for the corners of her mouth twitched upwards in a smile, punctuated by an occasional murmur. And indeed, within her mind, Riza was reliving one of the happiest moments of her life. That is, until she was roused to consciousness by the spattering of a warm, thick liquid across her face.

Reflexively, Riza licked her lips. Mmm. Delicious. Meanwhile, all around her high-pitched screams erupted from panicked ladies and a series of loud crashes drilled spikes of pain into her head. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, Riza squinted at the scene before her with a furrowed brow. She did NOT appreciate being woken up in such a manner.

Riza unsteadily got to her feet, her balance knocked off kilter by alcohol and the brown liquid pooling across the floor. The room tilted dangerously around her. She half-meandered, half-fell across the room towards a woman who seemed to be trying to imitate a screeching banshee. Riza clutched the woman’s face with her hand and began to squish her cheeks together until her lips could no longer emit sound.

“Shaddup, will ya?” Riza slurred. She released her grip as her eyes caught on a familiar face. “You,” she said accusingly, swaying over to a slender man with a sharp nose. As he turned around, she could see him shift from staring at his behind with great alarm to staring at Riza with great alarm. Riza looked down and saw that a rather large shard of glass was embedded in his derriere.

“Don’t you dare,” the man said, sensing Riza’s intention.

Dec-8-2015 08:20

Nobody expected that when Joseph dismantled the metal piece, a thick liquid would come spraying out of it. As Vulkie rubbed a finger over her face and put it in her mouth, she was taken aback by the taste.

"This is some really good gravy!" she exclaimed, before realising that everyone was stampeding out of the house. Running towards the wall, she hugged against it, allowing everyone to pass her safely.

What she saw next was shocking though. A corpulent woman bumped against the ladder and it caused Joseph to fall. Rushing over to his side, she couldn't help him in time. As a result, he slid over the beautifully decorated table, crashing into all the crystal glasses and ceramic plates.

Vulkie closed her eyes and prayed for the best. Just then, she heard a woman demanding another woman to shut up. Opening up her eyes, she was shocked to see her good friend Riza Hawkeye at the party.

"You" she said accusingly towards Joseph, while walking over towards him. Joseph's face was struck with fear and anguish, as a large piece of glass was stuck in his buttocks.

"Don't you dare" Joseph said, before Riza started to smirk. Vulkie immediately came walking over with the Professor.

"Well, he always was a pain in the ass, wasn't he Riza?" Vulkie joked. As Riza looked towards her and said something, Vulkie could smell the alcohol in her breath. She was at it again once more.

"Hit the sauce pretty hard, huh?" Vulkie jested, while Riza glared at her. The Professor chimed in, saying: "I hope you don't mean the gravy, my dear Miss Nouson? No, of course not, you're joking right?"

Vulkie started to laugh and Riza rolled her eyes. Vulkie quickly introduced the Professor to Riza, while they went on and handled the delicate situation of getting the shard of glass out of their dear friends behind...

Dec-8-2015 15:42

"Now, Mr Zeo, if you'll allow me, I don't think this will be too painful. It's not in too deep. That was quite a fall"

Quickly glancing over the remains of the table, the Professor took a clean napkin and a bottle of schnapps that had miraculously survived both the impact and the attentions of guests. The Professor poured some of the schnapps onto the napkin. Without saying a word, the remaining schnapps he carefully placed out of the immediate reach of Riza.

The Professor took a close look at the glass shard and delicately placed his fingers ready to extract it.

"Get on with it" hissed Joseph, although the Professor sensed some relief in that hiss that it wasn't anyone else taking the honour.

Vulkie in particular had a kind of delighted fascination on her face. Riza looked... hmm... inscrutable.

In a flash the shard was out and makeshift swab applied. There wasn't too much blood.

"You might find it a little difficult to sit down for a while" said the Professor.

"Nnngh!" said Joseph as the alcohol stung the wound.

What with the mess of a thousand Christmas decorations dripping with gravy, a shattered dining table, and the majority of guests left before a non-existent turkey was served, the party was going to be the talk of the town for a while. Probably the Chief didn't see that in a good way.

There were still a few gravy soaked, drunken stragglers in the room. Someone was yelling in the kitchen. Incongruously, the band had picked up again. Well no-one had asked them to stop...

Dec-8-2015 18:20

Many who scurried out the door took quick peeks at Joseph Zeo, as if he was the trickster who bought the gravy upon everyone. Well, in a way he was, but Joseph only set it off, as the original culprit probably expected.

The band continued playing an upbeat Jazz version of Jingle Bells but the hall was nearly empty now. As the chief approached Joseph, he was hoping a great man of his status and experience would comprehend that Joseph was not at fault.

"Are you implying everyone here is a roasted Turkey?" the chief fumed.

"A-te-now Chief, you must understand," Joseph stuttered. "I just- I was only trying to figure out what that thing- that apparatus was. I didn't put it there in the first place--"

"Oh is that your excuse? Then who put it there?"

"Quite possibly the person or persons who responsible for the disappearance of turkeys in this town," the Professor induced. Victoria nodded in apprehension.

Riza suddenly slapped her arm around the chief's neck and shoulder as if they were life long buddies, "oh darhling dear, you must exhale and smell the roses, or gravy- or was it inhale- hic-!"

The chief shoved the Riza aside and continued, "I don't care how you'll do it, but your lot better find the culprit behind this- this- monstrosity," the chief eyed everyone in the group, "otherwise none of you, I mean NONE of you here will ever be able to take on any case in this town! I'll make sure of it!" He then stormed off to the kitchen.

Joseph wonder if the wife of the chief realized her anxieties over turkeys was no longer an issue tonight.

Dec-10-2015 03:44

As the Chief gave the group a scolding for ruining the party, Vulkie closed her eyes; this was one party she'd rather forget and the sooner the better.

Opening her eyes again, she saw a cloaked figure standing outside of the kitchen window. As soon as the figure saw Vulkie looking, he started to run away from the house, through the back garden.

Barging past the Chief and his wife, Vulkie immediately gave chase to the figure. "STOP" she yelled, but the figure kept on running through the garden. Several detectives stared at the scene, bewildered about what was happening.

Joseph immediately followed Vulkie and had caught up with her, even passing her for a moment.

The figure leapt over an old tree that lay next to the road, where a car was waiting. Before they could reach it, the car was driving away at breakneck speed.

Vulkie grabbed her gun out and started to aim, but Joseph carefully placed his hand on top of the Colt 1911 and shook his head. "They're out of range," he stated, while Vulkie stared into his eyes.

"That person KNOWS what happened to those turkeys and we let him get away!" Vulkie bellowed.

"What's the matter, Miss Nouson? Did you manage to catch the perpetrator?" Professor Troof said, while Riza came wobbling towards them.

Putting her gun back where it belonged, she shook her head and admitted their defeat. "We need to get to the bottom of this, soon, or the Chief will have our heads!" she concluded, before walking back towards the Chief's house...

Dec-10-2015 13:06

The Professor had not so much as glimpsed the figure at the window, but as soon as Vulkie and Joseph had dashed off, he guessed what had been seen. He followed with Riza to find the outcome of the chase.

Arriving to hear Vulkie vexed and frustrated, she confirmed the missed chance through a dejected shake of her head in response to his question, and muttered disappointedly on the way back to the house.

"Never mind," said the Professor, "we have plenty of clues to follow up."

"Such as?" asked Riza, the cold fresh air slightly sobering her up.

"We should examine the gravy mechanism again for clues, but this time from above" he said, glancing a little guiltily at Joseph.

"Physical evidence really is my forté, so I will head to the next floor to see what's what. You're of course welcome to join me, but we also have a suspect to question", he added, vaguely triumphantly, before continuing.

"The vast number of lights on this house, although not lit, are testament to the Bureau Chief's neighbourly rivalry. Perhaps through sheer jealousy those neighbours have done all this. They have a motive to ruin this party and maybe all the other disappeared turkeys are a mere prelude to avoid suspicion. They probably also had a chance to install the gravy mechanism, or bribe someone to install it."

The Professor paused, hoping this vague theory made some kind of sense to the others. Being relatively new in town, this was the first chance to show his mettle to his peers. Well apart from the Halloween party, of course. That costume HAD been a knockout...

"Who's with me in checking upstairs first?" he asked the others.

Dec-10-2015 16:55

"I will," Vulkie happily said, wanting to make up for her earlier mistake of letting the perpetrator get away. As the Professor and Vulkie walked up the stairs, she thought about what the Professor had mentioned earlier.

He had said that the neighbours might've been involved and that wasn't a bad idea after all; but did it really depend on jealousy about having more lights?

"Joseph!" Vulkie yelled, "Go check out the neighbours. They might be involved. Be on the lookout for that car!"

Joseph shouted a small "Okay" and went off with Riza to check on the neighbours, while Vulkie and the Professor took their shot at investigating the mechanism.

Arriving at the door, the Professor grabbed the knob and started to twist it, but found it locked. "Darn it. I don't suppose you would mind going downstairs to fetch..." the Professor began, but Vulkie already rumbled through her purse and found what she needed; her lockpicking set.

Kneeling down, she fumbled a bit around and within 20 seconds, the door had been unlocked.

"They don't call me the master of unlocking things for nothing," Vulkie braggged, before she opened the door. The Professor gave a small smile, before entering the room.

"Now, if my calculations are correct, the mechanism should be right... there" he said, pointing out at the floor. Vulkie was amazed; it seemed the Professor had a great visual memory and remembered the exact spot.

Kneeling down, he felt a bit on the floor and managed to wedge a floorboard loose. As the Professor and Vulkie kneeled down, they observed the mechanism. It was fit with a timer, but Joseph's fumbling had triggered the mechanism earlier - probably a failsafe, Vulkie thought, in case someone noticed and investigated it.

And just there, under a pipe, she saw something. "Professor, would you be so kind to move your hand for a bit?" she politely asked. The Professor obliged. It took Vulkie a few seconds, but she had found something that was very intriguing... a turkey feather!

Dec-10-2015 17:02

When the group filed back into the Chief's home, ready to investigate they were confronted with the sight of a very familiar woman standing underneath the gravy spigot.

Molly Maltese stood directly underneath the offending object, gazing up in consternation from under the brim of a truly enormous hat. It may have once been a haute shade of pink, but was now a dejected sort of rust color stained with gravy. Her hands were on her hips, and her entire party dress was mottled in earthen tones by the sauce.

"This is truly ridiculous." She said by way of greeting as the troupe came into the room, each murmuring noises of surprise and greeting. Riza volunteered a hearty hiccup as she crossed her eyes warmly at her dear friend. "What kind of monster dips an entire party in brown gravy?"

"The same kind swiping all the turkeys from the neighborhood, we expect." Vulkie said, a ferocious gleam in her eye. Molly sniffed delicately and pulled a sodden strand of hair from where it adhered firmly to her forehead.

"Turkey for the holidays, how gauche. I'll stick to pheasant thank you. This sounds like a problem of the masses." She said petulantly. "However, I do love chasing down a good criminal, even if they're only a paltry bird-napper."

"Or dare I say, POULTRY birdnapper!" The Professor dissolved in the kind of chuffing usually reserved for academic sorts. Each eye turned to regard him in bemusement, and Molly's eyebrow climbed her eyebrow in degrees.

"And who on Earth are you?" she asked, producing a silk handkerchief from the depths of her handbag and mopping at her ruined eye makeup.

Dec-10-2015 17:47

Riza’s beautifully fuzzy warmness was slowly dissipating, and each passing second brought a greater awareness of her surroundings. She glanced around the gravy-covered room. By the look of things, it would be a while yet before she would get the chance to take a shower.

While the Professor introduced himself to Molly, Riza stepped outside the front door and grabbed a handful of snow. She rubbed it all over herself in an attempt to wash off most of the gravy before the smell permanently sunk into her leather clothing.

As Riza mashed icy snow into her jacket, her thoughts turned to the Professor. He was a quick one. Calm under pressure and highly rational, just the sort of person needed to temper the overeager nonsense of others. Riza decided that she liked this fellow.

Upon returning, she found Vulkie moping slightly off to the side, while the others were engrossed in conversation. She was probably still upset over the window lurker escaping. Riza walked up to Vulkie and heavily patted her on the back. “There, there.” Riza paused. What did people usually say in moments like these? She wasn’t sure. “Don’t worry. I’m sure if you lost some weight then next time you’d be able to--”

Molly cleared her throat loudly. “Riza, darling, why don’t you come over here? We were just discussing how everyone should split up for the investigation.”

Oblivious to the glare boring its way into her back, Riza walked over and joined the rest of the group standing in a semicircle underneath the pipe, from which errant drops of gravy occasionally dripped.