This Feels Like a Cliche Murder Mystery

Heavy rain pattered against the green striped awning. The sound of people chattering, and cars passing by was in all honesty quite relaxing. Bittersweet smells drifted from the coffee shop behind Nadia, she couldn't be expected to just go on without her morning caffeine. She cradled a hot chai in one hand and sat down in a patio chair. She glanced at the passerbys, her brows furrowed in thought. She hadn't gotten any leads, and had a nagging suspicion she was running out of time. She pulled out her phone, pulling up any data she had on the topic.

Five murders so far, they all looked like some satanist's playground.

They'd all been killed in a ritual like fashion, but she could tell that it wasn't just done by some rookie. These were high class. They were for summoning. A dark look crossed her face and she sighed, placing the phone down. Normally, she couldn't care less about murders, but these were magic practitioners, her squad as an old friend so eloquently put it. This hit a bit close to home. She took a sip of the drink in her hand, feeling the warmth cradle her skin. She spared a glance to the inside of the coffee shop, she'd be inside but, she was a bit jumpy right now. And she can probably name a few people off the top of her head who'd knock some sense into her if her magic fluxed inside the cafe.

Breath in, and out.

She flexed her hands, she needed to get out of here. She pushed hurriedly away from the table, hands shaking. She was getting too anxious and she needed to calm down. So she hurriedly walked off down the street. Not particularly sure of where she was going. It was honestly easy to see her through the crowd, a short anxious woman that looked like she was on the run wasn't particularly hard to find.

Hat. Conical Hat. Black Hat. Floppy Hat. A Witch's hat.

For one certain individual Halloween seemed to come a bit early, though a girl in a dress and a witch hat was hardly an unusual sight- amusing at best- in a world of metahumans. A thick coat covered the pastel dress, and boots for the chilly London autumn.

The Dabbler was oblivious to any danger, or indeed even aware. Instead she was watching the food, er, the people around. The sight of a mother and child caught her attention. "Hmmm. Young and tender." She thought at first, then the madness began to give way to a yearning. A sentimental train of thought.

The child complained about being hungry. The mother and child stop at a fish n chips stall. They ordered the eponymous product, when the child begins to protest and demand pie as well. And curry. The mother, already carrying groceries, was simply exasperated by her child throwing a tantrum on the street.

Dabbler hated rotten kids. The child loudly demands tartar sauce be poured on his chips, despite the condiments being two feet away from him.

A thought of mischief made Dabbler grin. When the boy finally grabbed a bottle of sauce, Dabbler used one of her eyes of chaos to cause it to explode all over his face. It was hot, but not scalding.

"MUUUUUUUUUM!" He broke out crying, his tantrum now replaced by pain. People were now looking. What was this, exploding tartar sauce? Some kind of prank? These muggles likely didn't notice it, but Dabbler's Eyes of Chaos were like a magical flare. Magic folk definitely would have noticed. Dabbler stayed where she was, sitting on a bench snickering to herself almost uncontrollably.

Nadia stopped in her tracks (a few disgruntled people muttered some very choice words as they rerouted around her) she felt the flare of magic, and she gripped on to the feeling like a lifeline. She took a deep breath and sighed, steeling herself. It was quite convenient that someone had managed to use the energy just as she needed it.

Wait a second.

She spun around in a circle, looking for the source, her black coat fluttered behind her. A few more people made snide comments to her, though she couldn't exactly blame them, she was in the middle of the street. Nadia tugged the umbrella closer to her small frame and trudged down towards the source. Her boots clacked along the cobblestone sidewalk, each step rocketed water towards the bottom of her pant leg. She curled her face at the feeling, she wasn't too big a fan of wet pants, but she figured it was her fault for wearing such a thin material.

A shrill cry reached her ears, for a split second she wondered if someone had unleashed a banshee into the streets.

Nadia stopped to examine the scene in front of her. A small child, probably no older than ten was sobbing, screaming really, with an atrocious amount of tartar sauce. A smile creeped across her face, Nadia wanted to find whoever did this and give them a pat on the back. She snorted at the scene, and swiftly pretended to mind her own business when the mother turned to investigate the noise.

Nadia looked around, her hazel eyes examining the crowd around the stall. "Now, who dunnit?" she mumbled to herself. She stared into the crowd of people, examining them one by one.

This guy? Nah, he seems like he's just constipated.

That one? No, he looks like his dog just died, Jesus.

That girl over there? No, oh shoot she looks angry-

Maybe that girl? Nah, it's close to Halloween, she's probably just wearing the hat to show she likes the holiday.

Right?

Nadia turned back to look at the lady, scrutinizing her. She raised her eyebrows as soon as she made the connection. It was her. That's some irony if she ever saw it.

Nadia made her way over to the lady, tucking away her umbrella. The rain had finally begun to dissipate. With a skip in her step, she approached her and slid smoothly onto the empty bench space next to her. "Nice trick, sweetheart," she started. "You've got an explosive set of pranks there."

This was not her best pun, she will admit.

yay pie Jeannie thinks as she digs into the desert of her meal. she was supposed to be meeting a new member of her team needing help. seen she was local in the area she was investigating she'd be most usefully to assist her.as soon as she finds her, she had not meet Nadia yet she did get a picture of her to help. she'd probably be easier to find for Nadia as she tends to stick out in a crowd. especially in October as she loved Halloween and decides that one day is not enough and wears costumes the whole month, today she was dressed as a cat. wearing a black leotard that had a tail stuck on the back, fishnet leggings and fuzzy white boots. some white gloves the matched the boots, little black cat ears and had her face painted like a cat with whiskers and stuff.

but she got hungry on the way and stopped to grab a bite to eat which with her that could take awhile, finishing her pie she peaks around the pile of empty plates she sees a crying child.

oww, that's one of the things Jeannie hates the most is when children are sad she'll have to fix this. Jeannie goes over to them.hey little guy, you ok, let me help she takes a napkin and whips the sauce off his face. better ok now I'll use my kitty magic to make it all better. she wipes up the sauce and glasses from the bottle and folds them into the napkin.

she says some magic words than before the boy's eyes she makes a new bottle appear from under the napkin. the boy laughs amused by her tricksee all perfect now, oh you got pie too good choices I liked that one two and that one and that.she had ended up trying all the pies as she has a hard time making up her mind with sweets she just has to try them all.

got be careful with the curry it's spice eat I to for me and you'll end up like this. she makes a funny face like she's overreacting to something hot. the boy smiles, Jeannie is happy his better.ok now be a good boy for your mommy, ok, temper tantrums than the Halloween ghosties won't play mean tricks on you if you're good they bring treats instead.plus your mommy would like that better two he promises he'll be good

after he's done eating Jeannie helps his mommy take her groceries to their car, naidashe thanks Jeannie for her help and the boy waves goodbye to the nice cat lady.

yay job well done Jeannie likes to think it's nice to help in small was sometimes don't have to save the world all the time to be a hero. right now back to work soundly she hears a voice that sticks out as not from around her. right malik said he went to new Orleans to Nadia so a voice with a southern accent could be her with her sensitive hearing she finds the source of the voice in the crowd with little trouble. a woman matching the description of Nadia talking to a little girl dressed as a witch. how cutie nice to see she's not the only one who likes to celebrate Halloween early.

she goes over to them hello there would you happen to be Nadia? if so I'm here to help I'm Jeannie.yup got a message from the bossshe produces a letter from her bag with a big n stamped on it, she opens the letter.dear Jeannie our newest teammate Nadia is investigating some magic murders in your neck of the woods so if you could help her it be nice. you should love this one since you like odd stuff and find things, so be a good little doggy and help her sniff out the bad guys, can't have real murders running around ruining Halloween.she puts the letter back in her bag after reading it.

well I may be dressed as a cat at the moment but I do have doggy powers that make me good at finding stuff, so let's catch a bad guy. think it's jack the ripper that be so cool. as a bounty hunter from London, it's always been an odd dream of mine to be the one to finally catch him.why she waits for Nadia to respond she turns her attention to the witch girlI like your costume, i do you love Halloween too?I think it's too short to try and fit all the fun of Halloween into one day so I were costumes all month.

"And you've got a wonderful sense of humor. So punny." Dabbler grins at Nadia, taking a good look at her while offering her the same. Dabbler was human enough from a casual glance, but closer inspection would reveal those tiny details that triggered alarms. Unblinking, unusual scars, sharp teeth that looks like fangs... And that was Dabbler trying to blend in.

Whoo boy. This is it. Jeannie meets Dabbler.

"Wow are you a real cat girl? no wait, that looks like a costume. I could probably look up a ritual to make it permanent. I'd like a cat familiar too to be honest. A witch gotta have cat... hat... cauldron... maybe a flying broom." Dabbler makes plane sounds as she hops around on an imaginary broom.

"Halloween's the best! With everyone starting to remember the dead and telling scary stories and playing tricks on people the veil between the worlds becomes especially thin, so evil spirits can come through like my buddy headless horseman or Jack, or maybe start a zombie outbreak." After talking so much, Dabbler took a breath. She didn't know what they were talking about in the first place.

Nadia snorted and sent a small 'thank you' at her reply then turned to face the new arrival. She was wearing a cat costume, it was nearly Halloween so she wasn't too surprised. She also wasn't giving any objections, she rocked the suit.

"They sent ya?" Nadia drawled. "Pleasure to meet ya then, partner." She was about to continue speaking just as Dabbler started to ramble off to Jeannie. She sighed internally, and shut her eyes.

These two were going to be hell together, her rational side spoke. Her irrational side however, said this was going to be the most fun she's had in years. She decided to wait for Dabbler's voice to trail off before continuing.

"First off, while making Jeannie 'ere into a permanent cat would surely be fun, it would probably be best if ya got someone else for the job. 'Cause I kinda need her right now."

Nadia gestured to Dabbler, "Secondly, since you seem like such a barrel of laughs, you should tag along with us, Little Miss. Also, how the hell do you talk for so long, ah'm outta breath-" Nadia took a deep breath.

Last but not least, Nadia gestured to her clothes, "Third, ah feel pretty underdressed right now, with you two all donned in your best costumes."

Jeannie smiles her eyes light up with excitement
reallly that be so cool I love cats. I'm kinda a cat girl already she pulls her sunglasses down to show them her eyes that were more catlike than human

can see in the dark and everything,I'm also a puppy girl,a bat,a Canadian wolverine,lizard,pig,teddy bear a whole bunch of stuff mixed together. so you're like a for real witch like charmed that's so cool!!!!!!!!!!

I never meet a witch before,I'd love to be your cat familiar and fly around on a broom sounds fun. I just love Halloween and Christmas that's why nightmare before Christmas is my favorite movie perfect for both my favorite holidays.

your friends with the headless horseman .neat can we meet him and ride his horsey. do a magic trick please I love magic Jeannie then listens to Nadia's thoughtsyeah I bet miss witch can help you with the costume do some magic and make her a really good costume. not sure how we can talk so much,miss witch is magic so normal doesn't apply to her,for me,

it's probably part frog or fish something thing that lives in the water so being able to hold my breath for a long time like them means I can talk a lot without getting out of breath I guess,my blood type is a zoo so most things I do is animal related like that

While Dabbler was unlikely to listen to most people, she found herself engrossed in Jeannie explaining her powers. She had not yet even figured out why she was hanging out with these two, save for Jeannie being fascinating to talk to.

"Oh cool. I'm sorta the same cept instead of animals I'm pieces of... heh, nevermind. Naw, Headless doesn't like giving rides. Is that so? Well I hope you don't stink like a skunk too." Dabbler laughed along with Jeannie.

"Yeah I can show you a hat trick. How about I hit two birds with one stone and get our other friend dressed up." Dabbler takes off her hat. She shows them the inside of it.

"It's a perfectly normal hat, nothing special about it." She push it inside out and back, to prove there were no special compartments. She then starts waving her hand over the empty hat. "HOCUS POCUS, PRESTO CHANGO!" She chanted, and a faint glow of magic opened her dimensional storage. From it she retrieved a Witch Costume... that smelled oddly very genuine... good for Nadia's size.

"So where are we going?" Dabbler blinked, and realized she hadn't asked exactly what the three of them were doing here.

Nadia raised her brows, she needed to learn a spell for pocket dimensions, they were pretty nifty. She graciously accepted the suspiciously close-to-her-size costume, holding it up to herself. It looked pretty snazzy. "This is oddly fitting," she told Dabbler.

Nadia folded it and carefully placed the costume into her bag, she'd have to change later. "Where are we going in the long run? No clue. But," Nadia paused. "Ah have liberated a nice little city home for the time bein' so we can figure out the answer to that question."

Nadia pulled her phone out of her pocket and pulled up the files, "There's been some rather... strange murders, in this area. All magic practitioners. And, ah'll be the first to admit, ah'm kinda stumped." Nadia sighed and shook her head. "You don't 'ave to help out but- it'd be appreciated."

Jeannie giggles amused by Dabbler's worry over if she had skunk powers. I like you your funny.no fortunately,
i didn't get that one,even though being able to defeat my enemies with farts would be hilarious.

she then watches dabbler work her magic and make a costume for Nadia she clamps her hands when she's done happy with the magic show.

Jeannie looks at the file Nadia shows them
someones wacking wizards not cool as a harry potter fan i won't stand for violence against one of my favorite kinds of magical beings,

well searching the crime scenes for clues is a good start,kinda a gross but a good place to start.we should check the Morgue see if there a similarity with how they died maybe it's some kinda cult thing we can identify by how they do the sacrifices. should look into the background see if magics the only connection for the victims.

sounds like a serial killer and finding the connections to the victims is a key in figuring them out. after here smarty side is done Jeannie's more childish side takes back over and she wonders what kinda magic creatures they might seeI hope there unicorns and dragons. hippogryphs,huh wonder of its dementors did they look like there soul was sucked out?

"Murderer? Magic users? wait a minute. I use magic! And I'm murder-able. I'M IN DANGER! PROTECT MEEEE~" At that point Dabbler decided the safest place was piggy-backing on Jeannie's back.

"If I see any magic murderers GLANCE at me! I'll give them some CHAOS-Y BEAMS OF FIERY DEATH! Seriously I am the number one fan of not dying violently." Dabbler glanced around the street, the sky and the ground. No one would catch her off guard with her multiple eyes in her hands.

Jeannie realizes that too as dabbler says to protect her. huh, dabbler likes piggybacks to she notices as the tiny witch jumps on her back. well Jeannie doesn't like when things try to hurt her friends so no matter what the magic killer is she won't little it have her witch buddy

don't worry little buddy you'll be safe with me,I'm quite unkillable,to be safe we should hide you somewhere,tell I can find the wizard killer thingy and kill it,chaos beams of death that's pretty cool,is that like dragon ball z where they shoot them fun colored light blast at each other?
always thought that be fun sadly no spirit animal for shooting laser beams so I just shoot stuff with guns bang bang!!!! might need some magic bullets if it's some kinda monster, though,silver would be good most monsters hate silver

"Oh don't worry, we won't let them get to ya sweetheart," Nadia assured. At least, they'd try. "Though, ah don't think you'd need much help if you can shoot beams."

Nadia stood up from the bench, brushing imaginary dust off her pants, "Isn't silver only for werewolves? Or is it iron? I've got bonding bullets if that's what you mean." Wow, this is going to be a roller coaster.

"So, hows about we get this show on the road, ladies?"

well don't know what it is we're hunting but,silver,iron, and gold are all known to deter a variety of monsters.salts a good one too if we can find a big bag of salt that be handy.binding bullets,so you're a spellcaster as well?

yeah, binding magic good if it's a demon or ghost we'd need to restrain it for an exorcism. I'd have to know what it to come up with the best to kill it. fortunately, I'm an expert monster hunter so it's very unlike well come across something I can't deal with. hope it's not another Mongolian death worm,was pain in the butt last time I had to slay one of them there rather large and you have to destroy their body comply to stop them from regenerating.

luckily technology's come a long way and rocket launchers are quite handy when you having something large you need to get rid of,and when you want to make sure you got it. pretty sure were not dealing with something that size,as you said it was mysterious causes so it be something smaller that can hide.

might be vampires last time I dealt with strange deaths it was vampires. might think magic user blood's taster or something aways bout the blood with them guys.or maybe a creature that feeds on magic. jeannie gets excited when Nadia expresses her interest in getting their adventure on the way then she thinks of something

hey shouldn't we ask our little witch friend's, parents if there ok with us taking her on a monster hunt? I don't have any experiences in parenting but I'm sure that's something they might want know about her doing,I'm sure if we promise to keep her safe it be ok with but just seems like we should tell them.

"Whatever it is... I shall KILL IT WITH FIRE. And then when it is dead, I shall kill it again! With Fire!" Dabbler pumped her fist as she promised fiery death to whoever was on the wrong end of her Chaos Eyes.


"This may not come as a surprise to you!" Dabbler started, then paused, for her voice to drastically change.

"But I haven't seen my parents in a long time. I'm on my own. Just me, and my magic." She dropped the little demon gremlin voice to speak like a normal adult female.

"Very well. Tally ho! For steak and kidney pie! And pudding!" She pointed to a completely random direction.