2015.02.25 - Moon Knight Finds a Mask

Edgar P. Bloomthwait took the mask off and looked around. He was a giant green Gorilla swinging from nearby trees. He looked at it with horror. What...WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT THING? The sun had only just set, but Edgar had put it on at the most convenient time, dropping it at the Dairy Queen at the corner of Snip and Spin Streets, where it lay there, harmless looking.

It's hours later, nearing dawn when an old cab with a dent in the front pulls up to the Dairy Queen, to pick up a fare. They're a little early and no one's coming over, and the cabbie things to snag a quick blizzard since there's a minute. He does glance in the alleys though, to verify the fare isn't hiding.. and spots the strange mask in the street. The cabbie immediately frowns fiercely, something striking a chord.. what is that?

The mask sits there, shimmering greenly. Though as the Cabbie spots it, the guy in the dairy queen does to, as does a small passing boy with a propeller beany and an alligator that is coming out of the sewer.

Wait a sec...what?

Yes, that's right. An alligator is coming out of the sewer. It's about two feet long and looks annoyed.

The cabbie..does indeed do a double take, looking from the other suddenly transfixed bystanders to..an alligator?? with a sudden chill. He scoots one food back towards the cab, but then commands himself, "Stop. This isn't your field anymore.." and without further ado he tucks his wool cap in the pocket of his jacket and dives for the mask, a crescent shaped blade in his hand when it reappears from his jacket, since that alligator especially looks like trouble. He no longer seems the least bit disturbed by the oddities, and snaps at the little boy, "Back off!@"

The little boy backs off but remains very nearby, ready to grab that mask if he can. He looks well put off by the fact that Moon Night is here to stop him. This is his destiny!

The man in the dairy queen is also slowly creeping up. The mask fascinates him and he wants it. He WANTS it, his precious.

The alligator doesn't really seem to say much of anything but just keeps waddling slowly toward the mask. Maybe the streetlight is catching its eye?

Moon Knight, for that is who he is, even if he's dressed as a slightly tatty cabby, dives at the mask, grabbing for it with the hand not brandishing that crescent blade against anyone who might interfere. He blurts, "But -why- is there an alligator?" but meets this with a perfunctory, "Later!"

Green Mask has now been added to your inventory.

The Alligator keeps going forward and passes the mask it would have surely put its face in had not someone swiped it.

Beany Billy moves to one side and has his eye on the sword.....

Dairy Queen Dude is more aware of his mortality and stays farther away.

Moon Knight gets his back to the alley wall so he can more or less face both the alligator and the boy-- it's almost comical how he seems to regard them as equal threats. Since it's the boy who's between him and the cab he edges in that direction...

He is able to get back to the cab, albeit with great difficulty. The kid seems like he's always a step away from taking it, a hungry and unnatural look in his eyes.

Moon Knight actually raises his hand to attack the kid at one point, sharp blade and all-- but grunts, muscles briefly locking up. The kid might actually get his fingers on the mask before Moon Knight twists away and swings himself into the cab and slams the door.

Billy the Beany Kid yelps with pain. At this point, Dairy Queen guy takes out an ice cream cake and hurls it at the cab. "Asshole!"

The Alligator, meanwhile, enters a nearby laundromat and screams come from inside.

Moon Knight prepares to drive off-- he expects the cake to just be a gooey splat on the windshield-- but this is an ice-cream cake. He curses as it ends up shattering his passenger side window instead. He gets the car started but mutters, "You can't just leave that alligator on the loose, Those people need protection!" he hesitates, but as soon as any of them start running out of the laundromat he makes a disgruntled sound, driving only far enough to be right next to the nearby laundromat. He jumps out, the mask now in an inner pocket of his jacket, and wades in to see what the alligator is up to.

The guy grabs another cake and is trailing Moon Knight. Hungry Billy is not far away, both eying that pocket.

It's ridiculous. They are definitely acting unnaturally.

The Alligator is doing...nothing. It's just climbing into a dryer....People inside have fled in panic though.

Though Moon Knight doesn't visibly react to the strangeness of the Dairy Queen Man and Beanie Billy being so rabidly interested in that mask, he does take pause at the alligator and the dryer. "..." his words are a bit more normal as he mutters to himself, "That's what surprises you? --I thought they were all being controlled. It's not acting hostile. --Don't complain about that! Just..come on--" he starts ushering everyone out until the place is empty, and tries to lock the beastie inside. Animal control can be called later as long as it's contained.. though this left his cab off on it's lonesome for a few minutes.

The Alligator hisses as it is locked inside but nothing really stops MK from doing it.

Dairy Queen Guy throws the ice cream cake though it is easily dodged....but...is it a ruse?!

Moon Knight is suspicious, apparently treating this man like some divinely controlled interloper..but top priority now is securing this mask. He can feel the divine energy coming off it in waves, especially from so close.. this is something that should rightly be in Khonshu's control, clearly. If the thrown cake doesn't stop him, he gets back in his car, hoping for a nice tidy getaway.... Moon Knight wonders in a different tone, "Where'd the little boy go?"

The cake is just an ice cream cake. He is aware of the kid at the last moment, dodging his attempt to pick his pocket, but the cake does whiz the back of head. He runs toward the car and makes it. The kid pushes his face against the window.

The alligator enjoys the heat inside the dryer.

Moon Knight leans back at the kid's face pressed on the glass, and hits the gas. Time to get out of here!

The car leaves!

Billy runs after the car but his stumpy little legs carry him far not at all. The dairy queen guy wipes his eyes and lets the alligator out of the dryer, "Hey, I wanna take you home..."

The alligator lets him.

Well, a happy family unit is formed under the watchful eye of Moon Knight, and all is well in the city..! ....or at least that's what he's going to tell Frenchie if he asks.