![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Val called me up the other day and gave me the skinny regarding the sniper shooting a fomori a few days ago. Between her and Riley, I figured I might go and check on things in person. So yesterday morning, I swung by the alleyway where the shooting took place. Cruised past once to make sure it looked clear, then swung back around about a half hour later to grab a coffee at a shop across the street that had a decent view of the alleyway. It didn't look like anyone was keeping tabs on the scene, so I ventured out into the alleyway where the shooting occurred. I could still see both bullet holes in the walls as well as some charring from the fire. I knew from the paper roughly when the event happened, so I used my forensics investigation skills combined with some Time magic to look back in time to the morning of the kill.
It wasn't pretty.
The fomori had a large mouth--with lots of teeth and three tongues--where its stomach should have been. The first shot nailed it right there: One shot = dead. Flames from the round: incendiary. Interesting. The second round--also incendiary--impacted a stack of wooden pallets, which started the fire and burned the evidence. I rewound Time just a bit and tossed in a dash of low-grade Correspondence to calculate trajectory and reveal the shooter's position. Rooftop of the adjacent corner building between some temperature control units. I moved my senses there and discovered what looked like a female form garbed in black from head to to. Sunglasses on. 5'5". I lumped in some low-grade matter magic to see through the clothes and.... resistance? I'm not certain, but my magic failed me and I try not to push things in that kind of a situation--lest paradox descend and beat me about the head. I backed off the Matter and just had a look around with Time and Correspondence. This was clearly a hit. The sniper showed up--pre-garbed--on the rooftop shortly before the fomori arrived. After the shooting, she left immediately. (I have this sneaking suspicion this could be Naomi, but there's definitely numerous other possibilities--nothing solid enough to act on decisively at least.) I was tempted to relocate Time and Senses to the building's exits to see who came in and out and to see if I recognized anyone, but I'd already been pushing the effect for a while and I could feel the magic starting to get a little wobbly. I canceled the effect before I pushed it too far. Besides, I /really/ didn't like loitering in an alleyway in that part of town.
Sent an e-mail to the Glass Walkers (and belatedly sent a separate copy to Val). I phrased it like I had a police contact inside the SCPD who'd shared that they'd later found an eyewitness and had the information (shooter had a 90% chance of being a female and, if not, a really slender/lean male; the shooter apparently knew who she was after and when he'd be there (or had been tailing him); black garb, etc.). Made it look like I had a nebulous contact in the SCPD instead of "Hey guys, I just fired up some magic to look back in time to see what happened." Go me! Val can probably read between the lines. Salem and Mouse might suspect, though I've really not share a ton of what I can do with either of them. Everyone else ought to be in the dark.
Spent the rest of the day holed up in the Sanctum experimenting with Forces magick. Instead of trying to take an existing force and spread it over a broader area, I've gone back to the "roots" and started looked at sensing the interplay of energies over a broader area. Things are making a lot more sense now. I think I was attempting to run before I could crawl. I can't help but realize that I've wasted a lot of time and energy finding that out--and, if I'd had someone guiding me, knowledge would have come much easier. But I chaff--a lot--working under someone. Too damn independent for my own good. But you know what? The feeling of accomplishment something on my own merit and hard work is far better than the feeling of accomplishing something because someone held my hand and guided me along a path the whole time.
It wasn't pretty.
The fomori had a large mouth--with lots of teeth and three tongues--where its stomach should have been. The first shot nailed it right there: One shot = dead. Flames from the round: incendiary. Interesting. The second round--also incendiary--impacted a stack of wooden pallets, which started the fire and burned the evidence. I rewound Time just a bit and tossed in a dash of low-grade Correspondence to calculate trajectory and reveal the shooter's position. Rooftop of the adjacent corner building between some temperature control units. I moved my senses there and discovered what looked like a female form garbed in black from head to to. Sunglasses on. 5'5". I lumped in some low-grade matter magic to see through the clothes and.... resistance? I'm not certain, but my magic failed me and I try not to push things in that kind of a situation--lest paradox descend and beat me about the head. I backed off the Matter and just had a look around with Time and Correspondence. This was clearly a hit. The sniper showed up--pre-garbed--on the rooftop shortly before the fomori arrived. After the shooting, she left immediately. (I have this sneaking suspicion this could be Naomi, but there's definitely numerous other possibilities--nothing solid enough to act on decisively at least.) I was tempted to relocate Time and Senses to the building's exits to see who came in and out and to see if I recognized anyone, but I'd already been pushing the effect for a while and I could feel the magic starting to get a little wobbly. I canceled the effect before I pushed it too far. Besides, I /really/ didn't like loitering in an alleyway in that part of town.
Sent an e-mail to the Glass Walkers (and belatedly sent a separate copy to Val). I phrased it like I had a police contact inside the SCPD who'd shared that they'd later found an eyewitness and had the information (shooter had a 90% chance of being a female and, if not, a really slender/lean male; the shooter apparently knew who she was after and when he'd be there (or had been tailing him); black garb, etc.). Made it look like I had a nebulous contact in the SCPD instead of "Hey guys, I just fired up some magic to look back in time to see what happened." Go me! Val can probably read between the lines. Salem and Mouse might suspect, though I've really not share a ton of what I can do with either of them. Everyone else ought to be in the dark.
Spent the rest of the day holed up in the Sanctum experimenting with Forces magick. Instead of trying to take an existing force and spread it over a broader area, I've gone back to the "roots" and started looked at sensing the interplay of energies over a broader area. Things are making a lot more sense now. I think I was attempting to run before I could crawl. I can't help but realize that I've wasted a lot of time and energy finding that out--and, if I'd had someone guiding me, knowledge would have come much easier. But I chaff--a lot--working under someone. Too damn independent for my own good. But you know what? The feeling of accomplishment something on my own merit and hard work is far better than the feeling of accomplishing something because someone held my hand and guided me along a path the whole time.
