Fantasy ⬧︎ 𝑅𝑒𝒸𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒𝒹 ⬧︎ ; RP

Glancing at the visage reflected within the bathrooms mirror, Nyx could only stare into the mirrored depths of his own gaze; eyes seemingly devoid of life and an expression as blank as a painters new canvas staring back at him as his thoughts ran amok. The faint sound of rushing water the only sound that escaped the room outside of his ryhtmic breathing. It was nearing the end of his eight day in Celeste and he had yet make any real progress on his current job. From what information had been afforded to him at the start and from what little clues he had managed to attain, it seemed that the only plausible location for the artifact he was searching for was the museum.

A flicker of the light above would momentarily cast Nyx in darkness, his body tensing ever so slightly as a cold shiver tickled each and every crevice of his spine. He wasn't too fond of the dark, its cold and lifeless embrace leaving him feeling as if he were sinking deep into an endless abyss; a black hole that threatened to swallow him whole, to eradicate who and what he was. It had only been a few milliseconds since the light had flickered, yet that brief moment where darkness had gained superiority had seemingly lasted several minutes; as if even time itself was scared to exist in this moment.

Eyes still staring ahead of himself, a beast clad in darkness would stare back at him; its gaze bringing a sense of fear yet also familiarity before disappearing once more as the bathroom was once more basked in light. It was the same face that he had seen before, the same entity that frequented his dreams and existed within the confines of his mind. A voice that was his own yet also not.

"hahaha..." laughed Nyx, glancing down at the running tap water and placing both hands within its icy cold current before splashing his face. "I must not be getting enough sleep these past few days" he sighed to himself, reaching for a nearby towel to dry his face off.

While the job description had simply stated that this artifact was in the possession of someone in Celeste, it had not gone into any deeper specifics as to who that someone was. Rather the job description itself seemed to be rather vague, lacking key information that one would normally come to expect when given such a job. Alas, the reward did make up for these flaws and had proven to be enough motivation for Nyx to undertake the task. It was also added incentive for him to keep a low profile within the city of Pandemonius, given his recent run with trouble. Whilst he had managed to avoid any real problems, the city itself was becoming a little 'too hot' to handle for him; his recent acquisition of a rare portrait drawing the ire of its former owner.

Alas, the eight days spent in Celeste have finally lead him up to this point. Having spent the previous days chasing up various leads, running down various dead ends and false information, Nyx would inevitably find himself thrust upon the crucial final clue. An Informant had claimed that several rare artifacts were contained within the nations museum, many of which were kept hidden from the public one of which seemed to match the description of what Nyx was tasked with finding. That being said, there was nothing to confirm this fact outside of the mans 'word'.

Thus, the only way for Nyx to truly validate this information was to make his way to the clock tower; Celeste's world famous museum that housed artifacts from all over the world and even then there was no gaurantee that the artifact would be on display. Even Nyx had to consider whether the job itself would be worth the reward. That being said, before he even considered such things, he needed to first confirm that his target was indeed held inside the museum, otherwise everything else would have been for naught.

Cracking his neck to one side before placing the damp towel on the bathroom counter, Nyx would begin to make his way out of the bathroom and into main part of his shabby hotel akin to a roadside motel; his trademark attire sprawled out across the bed. Next to the bed placed upon the top of the bedside drawer was a pamphlet for the Celeste Museum; as well as the rough sketch of the artifact in question that he was looking for. If lady luck did exist, then perhaps this particular product would be on show tonight, at the very least this would give him something to work on; rather then chasing whispers and hearsay.

A few minutes would slowly tick by as Nyx readied himself for his little excursion to the museum, the changeling glancing himself over in the mirror before finally ensuring he had everything he required. It would purely be a scouting trip tonight, casing the museum for any vulnerabilities whilst also attempting to confirm that his goal was indeed located within.

Little did he know, that chaos would soon ensue.

Mentions: Phayne
One week. Seven straight days, she was here. The landlord she was in contact with denied her rental application. For some reason, there was a complication with the agency and the landlord so Astrid couldn't move into her apartment yet. Instead, the agency got her a motel to stay at until they worked out her tenancy. She did her best to make herself comfortable with what she could, although it wasn’t enough. It was her first time out of Sikuvik, which brought a lot of anxiety.

Since she arrived in Celeste she already had problems talking to people. Her accent was a bit thick and she didn't have a lot of confidence in the language. Being lonely didn't help either, besides a few facetime calls with her family and friends still back home. She wished she could talk to some of them right now but she was a couple hours ahead of them, no doubt they're all still asleep. Her diet wasn’t the best either, which as a model was not a good thing if she wanted to keep her job. She had a meal plan and was looking forward to grocery shopping but because she didn’t have a place with a fridge and stove, she had to rely on convince stores. Definitely no fast food, her agency would kill her. She tried her best not to spiral, it was obvious everything was out of her control but she was expected to meet expectations which right now was proving difficult. It was just hard trying not to be anxious.

Astrid was at the convenience store she was about to dig into a sandwich she just bought along with a bottle of water to wash it all down. As she chewed, she stared into space and started to reflect. Obviously moving to another country was not an easy feat, so she shouldn’t be too hard on herself, but she couldn’t help but wonder why things couldn’t just be easier.

She pulled her phone out to check where her next shoot would be, a photo studio at the Celeste Museum. She was going to model some summer outfits and that was it. They sent her a pamphlet through the motel so she could get an idea of the layout so she wouldn’t get lost. She pulled out said pamphlet and looked at the layout aimlessly until she saw where exactly she needed to go. There was an entrance at the west wing for anyone who has business there. All the photography exhibits as well as the photo lab was there. She didn’t have to worry about entry as she was told someone would be waiting for her outside.

Not wanting to be late, Astrid chose to finish the sandwich on the way while putting her water bottle in her purse. She was hoping for an easy day, just the shoot and then back to the motel.

It had been just twenty minutes since Nyx had left the motel, the man garbed in a navy blue trench coat and matching coloured guard hat had ended up procuring one of Celeste's taxi's. It was the simplest and easiest of solutions, given he wasn't yet savvy enough to traverse the dangers of public transport. One wrong bus, one wrong train and it was odds on that he would find himself lost in the city, or at the very least extending his journey beyond what he would have considered acceptable. While it was costly to hail down a taxi, it was a far cry more suitable problem to be lesser in pocket than to find himself somewhere completely random.

At least, that was the plan before things decided to turn to shit.

Back pressed against the cabby seat; Nyx had the museum pamphlet opened with both hands; eyes gleaming whatever information and detail that he could procure from the information brochure before arriving at the museum; though by this point it had been his 2nd attempt to do so; having already spent more than enough time to read it once over. By now he had a firm grasp of the initial layout intended for the public. Anything more informative would only be provided by the buildings schematics; a problem he would ponder only after he had confirmed that the museum did indeed have the artifact he was tasked with acquiring.

"So buddy, I don't mean to pry, but I can see you're interested in the Celeste Museum..." spoke the cab driver, much to Nyx's surprise. Though given that they had barely moved since becoming entangled in the traffic jam, it shouldn't really have been all to surprising that one of them would inevitably break the silence that threatened to suffocate the inside of the vehicle. Playing along, Nyx would lower the pamphlet ever so slightly, his eyes just visible above the top edge; staring at the drivers reflection in the mirror, before raising a hand to point at himself as if to say. 'Are you talking to me? though, knowing that there was no one else he could be talking to; Nyx would completely lower the pamphlet, beginning to fiddle with it as he adjusted himself in the seat.

"Haha...you got me! Was it that obvious?" replied Nyx, his tone somewhat jovial as he folded the pamphlet; placing it down to his side. " I heard the museum was quite famous in Celeste for housing a lot of rare artifacts. There was no way I wasn't going to pay a visit." continued Nyx, crossing his legs and gleaming ahead of himself; noticing the driver return his gaze through the mirror.

"Well, you have been glued to that pamphlet for most of the journey" laughed the driver, moving ever so slightly as the traffic shifted forward. "It is one of the key sights of our nation and from what I've heard it does indeed have quite the selection of rare items" he paused, flicking on the turn signal as he attempted to change lanes. "I wanted to take my son and daughter there for a while, have them spend a few hours away from their games and social media and just spend time together like a family. Though, as you can imagine the two of them weren't too fond of that idea. Kids these days seem attached at the hip to whatever new technology comes out. Back in my day, a simple ball and a group of friends was all you needed to have a good time" he laughed again. "Funnily enough though, my daughter did ask me to take her to the museum over the next couple of days. I almost thought the world was coming to an end when she brought up the subject... until I found out the real reason she wanted to go. You'll never guess..." he paused again, honking the horn as a bike sped past him; weaving through the slow moving traffic. "Idiot" he cursed under his breath.

"Hmm.. a sudden interest in ancient history?" answered Nyx, holding a hand forward with a finger pointed upwards as if his answer was a stroke of genius. "or perhaps the blossoming bond of father and daughter has finally bloomed and she simply wants to spend time with her father" he joked,

"I wish" replied the driver. "The only time that child ever shows me any shrivel of love is the moment before she starts asking me for something expensive" the pair of them began to laugh. "Truth is, she only wants to go because there is some modelling gig taking place there in a few days. A big clothing brand has chosen the museum as the set of their photoshoot and apparently some model from Sikuvik is gonna be there to model the clothes. No doubt, my daughter wants an autograph and a photo, she couldn't care less for the museum itself and even less for our ancient history.." the drivers tone had shifted ever so slightly, though by this point Nyx was far more interested in the modelling gig.

"A modelling agency... at the museum?" replied Nyx, attempting to dig a bit more information from the driver. This was a potential opportunity for him to find a way into the museum beyond simply being a member of the public on tour. The pair of them would undoubtedly be engrossed in conversation for several minutes, though it was quickly made clear that the driver didn't really know much else besides the date of the event.

Glancing out the cabby, the changeling would reach into his inner trench coat pocket; pulling out a silver pocket watch. Time would drag on and by now their conversation had begun to dry up. By now they had both simply begun to get increasingly annoyed. Not at each other but at the pace in which this traffic was moving. For several long minutes they had remained in the same spot; not even moving an inch. What was meant to have been a 20 to 30 minute ride was quickly approaching the hour mark and it wasn't until this moment that they would get some inkling as to why traffic had completely come to a halt.

The sound of chaos could soon be heard amidst a cacophony of car horns blaring; panic setting in as the cause for their troubles was made apparent; Off in the distance, there was chaos, yet as to what that chaos was Nyx couldn't tell quite yet. He only knew that it was bad enough to cause people to begin running. At first, only a few people had run past the car; weaving through the traffic as they attempted to flee, yet soon enough the few had grown into a crowd. From what Nyx could gather from the frantic cries of the fleeing civilians. There was some kind of fight taking place ahead of them.

"What's going on?..." mumbled Nyx, sticking his head out of the cab window and raising a hand to his brow as he tried to look off into the distance. Meanwhile the cab driver had been focused on his phone; his newsfeed going wild with ping after ping of updates; some from his fellow cab drivers who were also in the area and some popping up on the various social media sites.

"What the fuck... is that a snake?!" mumbled the driver, bringing the phone closer to his face whilst also attempting to zoom in on the blurry image.