Night of Anguish | Lumine + Nolli

West District - Public Park #7D
7:54 PM

She couldn't think.

There were too many thoughts streaming through her head. They were mostly her screaming. Flashes of fear and anger at how stupid she had been. At imagining the terrors her son was going through at that very moment, simply because she had not been able to protect him. She had tried. She had thought that moving him out of the South District would be enough. The West District, although perhaps not the richest part of town was considered safe. It was safer than where she had been raised. Her mother had been with him, and she trusted her mother to look out for her son.

He was supposed to be safe...

She had wanted him to be safe, but the truth of it was he was never going to be safe.

Standing at the edge of the playground, the last time her child had been seen she was trying to keep her emotions under control. Trying to think rationally as she attempted to make sense of the impressions in the earth, and the swearing from her mother at having searched the whole playground and had not seen anyone take Hunter.

"It's not fair..." She muttered to herself as she began to pace angrily. Andrenaline pumping, her hands transforming into fists. "He's just a child... He's just a kid. He is no threat, he is just..." She sobbed to herself before suddenly pivoting and slamming her first into a nearbye tree. The only thing that had happened was she had disturbed the tree for just a second. The foliage shuddering before still descended upon her, allowing her to deal with the damage she had caused to her fist with the impact. She had not activated her ability just yet, she was waiting until she found the people that stole her son, that stole her world. If they harmed a hair on his head, she was going to kill them.

She knew why they targeted him. Knew that he showed signs of being special like her. His eyes were gold in color, with flecks of green around the edges, but that was the only clue. He had not shown any other abilities or anything that would suggest that he was different than any other normal four year old.

Pulling back her bloody fist she took a deep breath, as she tried to regain her temper. To regain some form of calm before she went mad, and lost control. She needed to find out who took her son, and she was going to make sure they paid for what they had done.

Nolli had decided to take yet another meaningless evening stroll around the Substratum. When he boarded the Metro today, he'd happened to end up in the West District. Typically, not the safest place to walk around in the dark, but Nolli had made sure to bring his trusty plunger along. On his way back to the Metro to catch the 8:20 train, two figures talking at a nearby playground caught his attention. One of them looked familiar. Isn't that... That's Tanya! Nolli had previously met Tanya at the Emberwheat Bakery when she stopped by to pick up a half-birthday cake for her son.

Nolli had risen his hand to call out, but he sensed the atmosphere of the situation before he could utter his greeting. Tanya wore a distraught look on her face. Approaching cautiously, the other figure, a pretty, worried-looking girl perhaps a year younger than himself, asked, "Ma'am? Is something wrong, and if so, is there anything I can do to help?"

Something was definitely up. "Hey, Tanya," he started. Nodding to the other stranger, "Evening." ...Oh? Another Harbinger? Momentarily distracted, Nolli turned his attention away from the girl. He addressed Tanya with a concerned look on his face, he asked, "What's up?"

Tanya had tensed upon hearing Lumine's voice. Eyes narrowing before turning to look at her and then stepping away, ignoring the blood that was dripping from her knuckles. "Why would you want to?" Was the growled response. Angry, mean, and suspicious this was not Tanya that smiled easily at strangers. That would simply shrug off people who looked at her eyes, and immediately looked at her in distrust.

No, this was a mother that had lost her son. A mother that did not know who had taken him, and was unwilling to trust someone that was unfamiliar. At the call over her name, green eyes had widened with more of a panicked look. Turning to look at the familiar face, and then taking a deep breath trying to find the name that went with the young man's face. Of course he was around her age, he was not really young he just he just seemed younger, this girl seemed much younger than her also.

She took a few more deep breaths through her nose before shaking her head, "I'm... looking into something. I came to a dead end." She was not going to tell them outright what was wrong. They were strangers. She did not know them, and it was not their problem that her son was gone. They could assume it was a bounty on the bulletin, they could assume it was simply her job to look into things, they could assume what they wanted but she was not going to outright tell them what was wrong.

She was not that trusting.

"I'm... looking into something. I came to a dead end," Nolli looked at her. That definitely wasn't the whole story. There was clearly more to this, he could tell just by the look on Tanya's face. Thoughtfully, he said, "It must be something really important, it looks like it's really upsetting."

"My name is Lumine, I work at the local university studying harbinger science and music. It's kind of a hobby to work with the affairs of local harbingers."

Nolli looked at the green-eyed stranger that stood next to him questioningly, as if maybe she knew something about Tanya's situation that Nolli did not.

The sun was setting quickly above the park. The sky was dyed with vibrant oranges and purples. At this point, Nolli was bound to miss his train, but he didn't mind. I'll just catch the next one. Nolli suddenly remembered that he was being rude. "Ah, sorry I forget to introduce myself, my name's Nolli." Nolli held out is hand to Lumine.

Thinking back the day at the Bakery, the Tanya that stood before them seemed like a totally different person. The day at the bakery... Nolli came to a sudden realization. With his hand still outstretched to Lumine, he looked at Tanya, "Tanya... this is just a shot in the dark, but by any chance could this have something to do with your son?"

Tanya took a threatening step towards Nolli, her eyes flashing for a second as her body tensed. "What do you know?"

There was a feral look of panic and desperation on her face. A look that said she'd do anything to get the answers that she wanted out of Nolli in that moment, before reason seemed to kick in. Taking a shaky breath she stepped back from Nolli, shaking her head before sniffling and walking a few steps away from the two. She did not care a damn thing about what Lumine did. She did not care or even notice she was a Harbinger, all she was trying to do was keep her sanity. She had to keep it together, she had to find her son.

"I'm sorry..." She murmurred shaking her head, "Just... don't call me Tanya all right." She could not be Tanya right now. She had to be someone else, she had to be the woman she was in the South District. "Tank..." She took several deep breaths her hands covering her head as she looked down at the grass at her feet, "I'm just Tank right now... I need to... I need to think." She walked away from them again before pacing forward and back before looking back at the playground.

"He was playing... Grandmother was watching him. He just... disappeared. Someone took him right off the playground. No note... I need clues. A sign, something that they left behind... they had to have left behind something." She took another deep breath her hands dropping from her head as she looked back at the playground. "I need more eyes... more witnesses. Something. Someone, must have seen something."

That was all she had. That was all she could give them at the moment.

Nolli was taken aback by Tanya's sudden viciousness, but he didn't budge when Tanya approached him. "I'm sorry..." She murmurred shaking her head, "Just... don't call me Tanya all right." "I'm just Tank right now... I need to... I need to think." Nolli watched as Tanya, or Tank, began to pace back and forth, anxiously glancing up at the playground.

"He was playing... Grandmother was watching him. He just... disappeared. Someone took him right off the playground. No note... I need clues. A sign, something that they left behind... they had to have left behind something." So her son was kidnapped... Nolli had heard of these kidnappings, and from what he could tell, they happened quite often. However, up until now, he'd never actually met someone with a personal connection to the victim. Tanya looked up desperately at the playground, "I need more eyes... more witnesses. Something. Someone, must have seen something."

Very cautiously, Nolli reached forward to lay a comforting hand on Tank's soldier in a meager attempt to calm her down. He knew the general population of the Substratum was a cautious, slightly paranoid type; and that physical contact was usually a bit risky, but Nolli figured Tank needed it at the moment. He spoke softly, "I'm sure we can help," he said referring to himself and Lumine. Perhaps he was being a bit presumptuous, saying that Lumi would help, but he already said it so it was too late to backpedal. "If not, I'm sure we can find someone who is able to help."

Still speaking in a soft tone, he continued, "First thing's first, Tank. If you can, I believe it would be a good idea to contact the authorities. But if not, we need to know when your son disappeared, and whether or not you've spoken to the last person who saw him."