whitechapelmod | TEST DRIVE

TEST DRIVE MEME

OPTION A

With the cooling weather came the changing of the leaves, the lighting of candles and the advertisements in all the shops and bulletin boards for the Annual Whitechapel Road Fall Festival. Overnight your quaint little neighborhood has been transformed from a typical Victorian-esque scene to well, a typical fall festival scene. Strings of lights have been wound between the lamps, scarecrows have been put up in shop windows that hold signs with arrows on them, directing you down the main street toward the park.

In the park, you'll find a small carnival. No big gaudy rides, of course, but booths set up by local businesses where they sell items from their shops. Games like bobbing for apples and pin the nose on the scarecrow have been scattered in the places between the face painting booths and cotton candy vendors. There's also booth offering food and drink-- and doesn't that cider just smell wonderful? Of course, they have hot chocolate too, if cider's not your thing.

Mingle and enjoy your night! But be careful-- you might just end up in the dunking tank..

OPTION B

You wake late in the morning to a strange chill in the air. The weather, sure, but also something else, something wrong in the energy. Maybe you've never been much of a person who believes in that sort of stuff-- energy, vibes, whatever-- so you brush it off and go about your day. It's not until you're out and about that you really start to notice something. The streets are mostly empty, the shops closed down. A cold wind blows through and makes you shiver as you turn down the street toward the Town Board. The papers flutter in the wind, but it doesn't matter, you're not reading them, you're reading the message written in red over all of them.

YOU WILL ALL BE PUNISHED.

Is that blood it's written in, or paint? It's hard to tell, but the color seeps into the fliers and advertisements-- "puppies, free to a good home" or "half off on all clothing TODAY ONLY"-- staining them, ruining them. You know without even turning and walking the extra block that something very bad has happened. Yellow tape surrounds the board, you just notice, and blocks the entrance to a nearby alleyway. An officer stands guard, but he looks pale and shaken. This isn't the first. Just last week, someone was killed too. The boy who delivered the milk. Eddie. Throat slashed and a message written in blood on the wall above him, similar to this one.

An ambulance arrives but you stay where you are, watching as more officers emerge from the alley, carrying something on a stretcher. Someone, you realize, because what else do they carry on stretchers? A shock of red, curly hair pokes out from the top and you think of the girl who runs the register in the bakery, a waitress from the cafe you tried last week, your sister back home who will (hopefully) never end up here. Could this really happen here? Some maniac killing people because they think you need to be punished? It's wrong, it's confusing, and it's terrifying, isn't it?

Make a top-level comment below, with whichever option you'd like in the subject, and maybe a little starter. Please also feel free to disregard the options and choose your own adventure! Below are links to the setting and premise, so feel free to use those as reference in guiding your post. Tag around and have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Castle leaned closer to her so that he could speak quietly to her.

"It may not be our case, but are you really going to leave this up to guys who don't even know what DNA is?"

The whole thing was definitely creepy. He was glad that Kate had her gun on her when they woke up on the train. At least they had some form of protection. Kate with a gun was particularly not to be messed with.

Kate canted her head and leveled a glare at him, but she knew he was right. There was no way she'd be able to turn her back on this knowing what she did about crime solving at the time.

"Castle, I'm much more concerned with getting us back to New York," she admitted. "Besides, how exactly am I supposed to help? I won't have access to any of evidence, any suspects, and I think you and I both know that these guys aren't going to take me seriously."

Less because she wasn't local and more because she was a woman, but she figured that went without saying. Her first instinct was to barge in head first but she'd already had her fair share of pissing contests in the 21st century, and she didn't even have a leg to stand on here.

"Haven't had much luck with the whole 'getting back to New York' thing have we?" Much to his chagrin too, Kate. But he was trying to be realistic about this situation. There was no way to get on a train and leave and they had no contact with anyone back home. That mystery seemed to be harder to solve than the murders.

"Just wait until they leave and then collect evidence. You know they're not going to pick up anything that isn't obvious. They're probably contaminating the crime scene right now anyway."

They'd be an idiot to not take her seriously but it wouldn't be surprising if they didn't. They had to have something concrete first.

"And then what, Castle? I send the prints and fibers down to the lab for analysis?"

She wasn't meaning to get irritated, but sometimes she wondered what planet Castle lived on. Beckett loved the man with all her heart and soul but she wondered sometimes what exactly he thought she was capable. Apparently miracles, if what he was saying right now was any indication.

"It's not our case," she repeated, her tone now sterner.

Yeah that part about him keeping the lion from the slab of meat? He wasn't doing a very good job of it right now. The problem was that he was just as hungry as the lion. People were dying and there was obviously a serial killer out there. It pained him to stand by and do nothing, as much as he assumed it pained Kate as well.

"We need a microscope," he said quietly.

She huffed loudly and shot him a look.

"Right. Let's just pop down to Wal Mart and pick one up."

Kate lowered her voice too, glaring at him. "And even if we did get one, Castle, what are we going to do with it? I'm not forensic expert and I'm pretty sure owning every season of CSI on DVD doesn't make you one, either."

"Fine. Let's leave then."

He turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction, wondering if this would actually work. As much as he was trying to psych her out, he didn't actually want to leave either. The murder was like a trainwreck - and a challenge. Could they solve this without forensics?

Kate clenched her hands into fists, watching him walk away. She knew he was baiting her; and he knew it was going to work.

She was a homicide detective. This was a murder. Beckett wouldn't be able to turn her back on that if she tried.

"Fine," she hissed, coming up to him and grabbing his arm. "Here's the deal. We come back later, sweep the scene for anything they missed. If we find anything - and I'm not saying we will - we can do our best to pursue it." She held her finger up so Castle wouldn't interrupt her and continued. "And do not tell anyone we are doing this. Especially any cops."

Castle was a little surprised that worked. Then again, it was a testament to how well he knew Kate.

"Secret's safe with me, Kate."

He tried not to smile too much. It would just make her even angrier.

"Shut up, Castle."

He might not be smiling but she recognized that smirk in his eyes anywhere. Regardless, though, even she had to admit he had won this round. But there would be others.

Well, now he was smiling. She told him to shut up and he smiled. Their relationship was odd.

"Let's get coffee while we wait."

And discuss the facts so far. They needed to acquire a murder board.

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