Unnatural Causes

[Garland Von Clossen]

Another one... Garland was frowning something serious as he watched the slaves go about the work of cleaning the hallways. None of his puppets accompanied him, leaving the sole boogie to look over the scene that was being cleaned. A boy, perhaps a girl as it was hard to tell anymore, was laid all along a hallway. Entrails connecting and weaving as they ran the length of the large walkway. The frown deepened as he saw a small creature at the end of the hall pick up what appeared to be the head and dash away. A hungry familiar, perhaps? But the death wasn't the problem. Who cared that much about humans to not want them to die at some point? No! Garland was upset because this was no ordinary death. This was the work of a boogie, no doubt.

A deck of cards sat in one hand, a card playing between the fingers of his other hand. An ace of spades, to be exact. It went in and out, over and under. This was a complex movement of fingers, but an way to idly think on this topic. Who would do this? Sure, boogies tortured humans, as was expected. That wasn't the problem. This was savagery, insanity, and a high dosage of evil. Scowling at this point, he roughly replaced the card into the deck, the backs an image of a twisted joker, tongue lolling out of his mouth and eyes looking away from each other. Garland wasn't very happy.

"Who ever did this must be stopped," The boogie concluded, closing his eyes and shaking his head, the little tinkling of his ears bumping into one another as he did this. This was not the first time he'd seen this recently. Not even counting the ones that he'd heard of in other parts of the castle. There was a true mad man within the walls of the Boogie Palace. "Something must be done..." Death is nothing special if it is delivered so freely be a lunatic.

[Lucien Von Clossen]

Lucien pulled the door to a close, spindly fingers slowly retracting from the brass knob. It was sometime in the morning, though he couldn't be sure when. All he knew was that his feet were getting restless from sitting in his room for so long.

It was no surprise that sleep had evaded him for another night. Often times, he would sit within his chambers and simply reflect on things. That evening the boogie had contemplated the effect early stages of death had on a child.

Having come across many young humans in Wonderland, the silvernette wondered just how many had been subjected to cruel boogies. And not the kind like him that, though fascinated with death, would never actually harm a child. But the more sadistic kind, the ones that actually thrived on hurting them.

Of the few encounters Lucien witnessed, many of them involved timid and meek attitudes. Sometimes, he even watched as children adopted a near catatonic personalty, and that actually unsettled him, something few other things had ever been capable of.

As his legs took him down the seemingly endless hallway, the boogie subconsciously noted the glutinous texture of the floor beneath his booted feet. Slowly tracing his gaze downwards, Lucien realized with a growing sense of curiousity that it was indeed human entrails.

With a cock of his head, the boogie lowered his body to the floor and crawled onto all fours, slowly making his way along the trail of fluid and bodily remains.

Minutes ticked by, all the while Lucien continued his sluggish truck forward, long sleeves pulled loosely over his fingers and robe sliding behind his boots.

"I wonder who did this," he would mutter every now and then, "such a sloppy butcher," as well. Only when the top of his scalp collided with a solid figure did Lucien come to a stop. Blinking his eyes slowly, he raised his gaze and stared at the object responsible for the interruption.

"Hello Uncle," he said simply, a wide grin forming on his lips, "Isn't this interesting?" A tongue peeked out to lick at his lips as a hand raised from the ground, showing the evidence of blood, among other moisture, on his palm.

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[Garland Von Clossen]

"Very," Garland said, still looking down the hall in thought, before pulling his gaze down to his favorite great-nephew. Normally, he would flash a familiar smile, showing his affection for the much younger boogie. But no such greeting was given as his frown remained on his face. Stuffing the twisted deck into one of his pockets, he nudged the nearest organ with his toe, bare toe feeling the slick piece of meat. Sighing, the boogie closed his eyes. "I don't understand what evil mind would come up with something so vile!" Sighing again, the boogie opened his eyes and looked down the hall of gore.

"But on a much more pleasing topic, I did have a nice walk in the garden the other day. Remind me to ask you to go someday," Garland muttered, scratching his chin. The familiar from before... Was he related to this? Or perhaps a scavenger, plucking up the rip, bloody prizes that were left in the destructive aftermath. "Yes, remind me to invite you on another day. Not much of a walking day today," Garland said softly, shaking his head, mind heavy with thoughts of the ghoulish soul that did this. This wasn't how the circle of death was supposed to go.

[Lucien Von Clossen]

Lucien lifted the hand supporting his weight from the ground and leaned backwards slightly, sitting upwards on his knees.

"It's strange," he commented softly, lips forming into a pout, "Hasn't this..happened before?" A hand rose to tap at a porcelain cheek thoughtfully, leaving behind a streak of red residue.

From what he could remember, similar events had happened around Wonderland. Rumours of a rogue boogie were common, though few held much truth.

Personally, Lucien preferred not to be involved. He didn't like unnecessary bloodshed, and if he could get by unnoticed, it would be fine with him. But still..from the furrowed brow of his uncle and the almost melancholy attitude wafting from his posture, the silvernette had little choice but to somewhat be concerned.

After wiping his grimy hands on the carpeted floor a few times, Lucien rose to his feet, head tilting to the side. "Ne, Uncle," he began, "Methinks this goes against Boogie morality." A soft giggle escaped his lips.

"I wonder who's responsible," he muttered quietly, a grin stretching his mouth.

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[Garland Von Clossen]

"I agree, me boy," Garland said, before looking away from the hallway, the smile returning in full. "I'm sorry. You know how I get when someone interrupts the natural way of things. This is uh..." He moved to the side as a small slave picked up what seemed to be a liver from where he was standing. "...I don't think I need to explain, but anyways!" Beaming, as was customary, the boogie crouched next to his grand-nephew, switching gears as he did... often. "I haven't seen ya for oh... two days now? Anything exciting happen since then?" Garland asked, the warm features contrasting the rather creepy relative. The cards were back in his hands in a flash, cards flipping in the air and landing back in the deck, flying around in what seemed impossible maneuvers, but still landing back at their origin. Garland could keep a serious topic if needed, but otherwise one would need to be quick on his/her feet to stay on track with this Von Clossen.

Never a dull moment with this boogie, human or not. Garland, before hearing Lucien's reply, cocked his head in thought. A sudden urge to call a puppet welled up inside him... But which one? Turge, perhaps? Yes, he was always fun... Maybe later! Or now? No... Yes! But what was the point? ...screw it. Garland still looked at Lucien, but held his hands up like a puppeteer, grasping control of his doll, giving it life, and ordering it to join the family. Turge was a good buddy.

[Lucien Von Clossen]

"Ooohh," began the boogie, head lolling to an inaudible tune, "Nothing..particularly new." That is, if the mention of bodily amputation of several woodland critters (all dead before he got to them), meeting a slave he had forgotten about, dissecting a rat carcass he found in his room, and a crazed doctor hellbent on throwing children into a pit with other dead children was anything new, it wasn't worth noting.

Tapping a boot slowly, Lucien's painted fingers danced on his arm, drumming softly. "But you know, there was something," he continued, voice dropping slightly to an almost serious tone.

The silvernette's upper row of teeth emerged to nibble thoughtfully on the thin bottom lip, a hand raising to twirl in a strand of hair. An eye was revealed slightly, this time the brown one, narrowed moderately in thought.

"I hadn't expected it, you see," he continued, teeth releasing the lip, mouth instead forming into a soft frown, "Surprising, really."

Eye flickering upwards to stare at his uncle, a joyous smile appeared, bright and cheery, on his face. "Jester finally came back!" he said happily, clasping his hands together and entwining his fingers, "I didn't know where he went, and I completely forgot all about him!" An index finger released itself to point straight at Garland, "But he came back, just like he said." Another low giggle fell from his lips, before he leaned closer. "Wanna come see 'im?"

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