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apocalypsehowcomm2021-08-31 11:55 pm
bloodalwaystells) wrote in apocalypsehowcomm2021-08-31 11:55 pm
[Network] Collecting Information
Who: Andrew Jaeger
Username: a.jaeger
Warnings: CW: Body horror, burns, mass burning deaths, human sacrifice. More will be added as needed
Good evening, all. For those I haven't met yet, my name is Andrew Jaeger and I'm looking to compile the information gathered in light of tonight's rather disturbing events. After several discussions, it seems like some of us have different information and I'm looking to put it all in one place, discuss it, and if possible, decide on a course of action.
I'll start by reviewing what I've been able to discover about the carnival over the course of this week:
* The Funhouse seems to have some sort of disorienting effect for those that go through it. I suffered this myself as well as witnessing others affected. I...found myself chasing someone that wasn't there, and when I came to, I was very confused and upset. I had been chasing an innocent bystander instead.
[That's hard to admit, but he does anyway. It's important that all the details are there for people, even the ones that hurt.]
* Photographs of the building reveal nothing concrete, though I did find some distortion around the ticket booth when I took shots of that. More on that later.
[He'll enclose those photographs here: there is some blurriness and warping around the ticket booth. Maybe he just took some bad pictures? Maybe, but the ones he took of the Funhouse look perfectly fine.]
* A psychic investigation of the ticket booth confirms that the train jumped the rails and crashed into a wall at the trainyard, then burned with people trapped inside.
I did catch something interesting before the fire, however, from the people in the car before the crash: "The end that will be a new beginning". This is a theme that seems to recur with the circus, so I thought it was worth noting.
* I don't believe that Pyre is human. If he is, he's possessed of some kind of unnatural power. He apparently has some sort of criminal history, possibly arson, that Fenix helped him out of, and he started out at the circus doing technical work before he began his show. He seems very loyal to Fenix, and very enamored with the idea of fire in general. "Wax poetic" in his own words...
I also witnessed him melt his hand down to the bone, and then regenerate it. He did this right in front of me, inside his private tent while we talked. I didn't see any signs of accelerant or pyrotechnics, he just snapped his fingers and his hand burned.
[Yes, that last bit gets added casually, because isn't that the sort of thing that happens all the time? Of course it does.]
* If the circus is drawing power from the fear they inflict during their shows, I'm worried about the possibility of a mass-casualty event. If the train wreck was some kind of offering or sacrificial rite, then another certainly isn't out of the question. I hope I'm reaching, here, but I'm not sure that I am.
I'm available to talk publicly or privately about any of these details, if it helps anything, but I would very much like to hear from anyone who talked to the other employees of the circus or found anything else of note. I haven't shared the information given to me by other ADI investigators, I'll leave it to those individuals to jump in with what they have.
Thank you for your time, and I hope this helps us form a clearer picture of exactly what's going on and what we're meant to do about it.
Username: a.jaeger
Warnings: CW: Body horror, burns, mass burning deaths, human sacrifice. More will be added as needed
Good evening, all. For those I haven't met yet, my name is Andrew Jaeger and I'm looking to compile the information gathered in light of tonight's rather disturbing events. After several discussions, it seems like some of us have different information and I'm looking to put it all in one place, discuss it, and if possible, decide on a course of action.
I'll start by reviewing what I've been able to discover about the carnival over the course of this week:
* The Funhouse seems to have some sort of disorienting effect for those that go through it. I suffered this myself as well as witnessing others affected. I...found myself chasing someone that wasn't there, and when I came to, I was very confused and upset. I had been chasing an innocent bystander instead.
[That's hard to admit, but he does anyway. It's important that all the details are there for people, even the ones that hurt.]
* Photographs of the building reveal nothing concrete, though I did find some distortion around the ticket booth when I took shots of that. More on that later.
[He'll enclose those photographs here: there is some blurriness and warping around the ticket booth. Maybe he just took some bad pictures? Maybe, but the ones he took of the Funhouse look perfectly fine.]
* A psychic investigation of the ticket booth confirms that the train jumped the rails and crashed into a wall at the trainyard, then burned with people trapped inside.
I did catch something interesting before the fire, however, from the people in the car before the crash: "The end that will be a new beginning". This is a theme that seems to recur with the circus, so I thought it was worth noting.
* I don't believe that Pyre is human. If he is, he's possessed of some kind of unnatural power. He apparently has some sort of criminal history, possibly arson, that Fenix helped him out of, and he started out at the circus doing technical work before he began his show. He seems very loyal to Fenix, and very enamored with the idea of fire in general. "Wax poetic" in his own words...
I also witnessed him melt his hand down to the bone, and then regenerate it. He did this right in front of me, inside his private tent while we talked. I didn't see any signs of accelerant or pyrotechnics, he just snapped his fingers and his hand burned.
[Yes, that last bit gets added casually, because isn't that the sort of thing that happens all the time? Of course it does.]
* If the circus is drawing power from the fear they inflict during their shows, I'm worried about the possibility of a mass-casualty event. If the train wreck was some kind of offering or sacrificial rite, then another certainly isn't out of the question. I hope I'm reaching, here, but I'm not sure that I am.
I'm available to talk publicly or privately about any of these details, if it helps anything, but I would very much like to hear from anyone who talked to the other employees of the circus or found anything else of note. I haven't shared the information given to me by other ADI investigators, I'll leave it to those individuals to jump in with what they have.
Thank you for your time, and I hope this helps us form a clearer picture of exactly what's going on and what we're meant to do about it.
no subject
no subject
[He blows out a quiet breath, trying to get his thoughts in order.]
Given the themes of the circus, I think it should be considered at the very least.
no subject
Why is it always cults, though?
no subject
People like the sense of belonging to something bigger, of finding others they have that commonality with and leaders who will tell them how to fix everything that's wrong in their lives.
And people in control like to have victims to exploit, to grow their power whatever form it takes. Financial, political, magical.
no subject
no subject
But it wouldn't surprise me in the least. It's the kind of commonality that draws people together, especially when you have those enterprising enough to exploit others through power, magic, and secrets.
[His lips press together in a tight line. Cynical about the idea? Just a bit.]
no subject
[Alex Reagan definitely hates cults.]
Back in my world, it seems like the heads of cults are almost always tied with some sort of monetary scheme, even when such things are like...paranormal in nature. Might be a starting to point to look at.
no subject
[He nods and takes another slow sip of his shake, thinking on that.]
Money is a good starting place, considering how money translates to power of its own sort. And every organization needs funding to maintain its cover, no matter what the core of its existence is.
[He frowns as he rolls the thought over. He's definitely had too much experience in this field, to the point where it all has its own sort of awful logic.]
Financial records and cover stories, then. Which possibly brings us back to Smoke and Mirrors as a previous cover for this. An excuse to travel, to gather large numbers of people, to take their money...traveling by train and carnival culture in general makes it easier to conceal identities...
[He makes a small note on his notepad. Another box to check off later.]
no subject
[Alex herself is also making a note of it, and she considers for as moment before she adds:]
If something is claiming to be a charitable front or whatever, there should be at least some of their records in the public domain, even if we don't want to be on their network when we look at them.
no subject
We already know that they don't do a lot of 'standard' private investigation work. ADI doesn't bother much with cheating spouse cases. If they do any corporate work at all, that would be something worth knowing as well.
[He presses his chin with his tented fingertips.]
It's a lot. I admit it...it's a lot.
no subject
It is a lot.
[She agrees but there's an unspoken 'but' there.]
But at least there's a lot of us who are good at looking into stuff, so it's work that's spread out, as long as we're working together.
no subject
[He does give a small smile in return, though. A crack in his demeanor, the hint of something softer under the stern outer shell. He tries so very hard, really.]
But I appreciate it. And we're starting to learn how to function together, even if there's a bit of a learning curve.