Let it begin anew

[raisednpcs]

A little over a year has passed since the invasion that rocked the planet. A year since conflict tore a country in two. A year since extraordinary people convinced a being far beyond them of their right to exist. In that year, the world has made every effort to rebuild.

Communities have risen anew, while others have made efforts to heal. Others lie in ruins. Life goes on. And in this time, it seems that extraordinary things have left the Earth alone.

Or maybe they've just been lying in wait.

It begins with slime. As the dawn breaks in New Zealand on the 25th, while it's still the afternoon of the 24th in Gateway City, news reports all over the world remark upon the sudden appearance of spheres green, gelatinous slime. This is all over the world. They do not fall from the sky, they do not appear with a sudden burst of light. They suddenly begin to be, congealing in plain sight like algae in a pond, or moss upon the trunk of a tree.

The balls of slime are not poisonous. They are sticky, and gooey, but all they do is seem to sit there. They may grow bigger over time, but they don't do anything to suck people in. But when a Numbered comes in contact with them... well, that just might make things more interesting.

If one takes a closer look at the slime, the scientific method would yield interesting results: They're composed of the same newly discovered single-celled life form that appeared in the wake of the invasion. But all they do is divide, and multiply. Grow, and coalesce.

A year ago, the world changed in fire and understanding. Today, it all begins again. With slime.

[ooc - Let the games begin! For details on this slimy new event, check out the "Happening Now" section at the new plot post. Feel free to tag here, or use it as a spring board for your own posts! This event runs until August 5th!]

Comments

Gateway City

[jasminebloominginshadow]

[ACTION]

Jasmine was on her way to returning home from Gateway City the early afternoon of the 24th. She's tired, and she's been working hard all morning at her new studio (it wasn't very special or big or anything but it was HERS). She has some degree of notoriety on the internet as something other than the Numbered girl with a batwing now, and she's eager to capitalize on it. Build a career out of it.

So tiredness and ambition... those things can be pretty distracting. Leading one to stumble into something unawares. She'd heard the news about the slime appearing, but she was focused... too much on her own goals. And she doesn't so much stumble in it as step in it. And by it, we mean a great big ball of slime.

Jasmine let out a disgusted groan as she pulled her foot back, a trail of goo connecting her ruined shoes to the gelatinous orb. Jasmine wasn't a shoe girl, but she paid a lot of money to look presentable, and now they were-

Wait, what was happening?

Before her very eyes, the ball of slime began to retract and reform. Even the stuff saturating her shoes oozed along the line connecting it to the goo, as it... collected, and reshaped itself into something else entirely.

A mask that was unpleasantly familiar.

Jasmine recoils from it in terror. She remembered enough from her past life to know that mask was bad news. "Okay," she said, "what the shit is going on here?!"

----

[network - text]

Uh. I stepped in a puddle of that slime that's appearing everywhere, and it turned into something I'd rather not see.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Re: Gateway City

[sparklingscarlet]

Blaise was strolling down a street, admiring what he thought was a cute, almost rabbit-like-shaped rock from his latest exploring adventure. It was barely palm-sized

and he was just smiling away. Maybe it could be his new pet rock?

As he was debating what to name it, he almost dropped it in surprise as he heard someone yell from across the street. He looked over to see a girl freaking out at

something on the ground. Blaise, being curious, pockets his rock and looks both ways before jogging across the street, calling out to the girl.

"Hey. Hey, are you okay?"

He tripped on the curb slightly, righted himself, and looked the girl over.

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Jasmine looked up with a start, looking as though she'd seen a ghost. She holds up her hands as she starts backing away from the mask.

"St-stay back!" she said. "Don't come any closer! This thing could be dangerous!"

text;

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Sis? Are you alright? I haven't found any of these, but what did you see?

text;

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Lily? I think you need to sit back and prepare yourself for this one. It didn't make me happy to see it and it probably won't make you happy either.

[Text]

[scarlet_devil]

Oh, gross!

...Um, what did it turn into?

[Text]

[jasminebloominginshadow]

A bad memory.

Text

[dragon_blossom]

no but if its messing with you i swear to god i'll fight it

text

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Calm down, babe. It's not alive. At least, I don't think so.

Also, god damn am I exhausted.

text

[charcoalfeather]

Uh, yeah it did.

It happened a lot to me.

text

[jasminebloominginshadow]

... Eh? What happened, Rakka? Are you okay?

Gateway City

[scarlet_devil]

[ACTION]
Emilia was less than thrilled to find one of those disgusting, probably foul lumps of goo in the middle of the sidewalk... Why, she could have stepped in it! And these shoes would certainly be ruined besides.

But fine, she'd only need to walk around it like everyone else... but she might just poke it with Gungnir...

[Network, Text]
When are these disgusting piles of grossness going to go away?

I saw one of these things today and I almost stepped in it!

Text

[sakuya_izayoi]

I have no idea. I've avoided three on my way to work. One dropped out of a tree and nearly hit me. Disgusting.

Re: Text

[scarlet_devil]

Oh, great... Now I have to worry about them falling out of trees? Ugh.

Gateway City

[darkhourdear]

Many of Phillip's classmates can't decide if they should find the slime gross or kind of hilariously harmless and interesting. Phillip might have been on the same train with them, if it wasn't immediately obvious to him that it had something to do with the Numbered again.

Mostly, things had quieted down for them, and Phillip was ok with that. There are some things that were nice about the Network, but, um. Things not destroying his planet would be great, and in the wake of the alien attack he has some... concerns. So something like this? It doesn't make him happy.

So Phillip will be trying to avoid all the slime puddles on his way home from school, and out walking his dog, and... everywhere. But he does have a new plastic ring from it all.

[speedpariah]

As Philip is walking along, he might come across a certain man out and about, collecting the slime into canisters (using a tool, and avoiding direct contact, of course). He's driving about in a van, and may very well cross Philip's path multiple times as he's out and about. This is pure coincidence; or rather, the man is going where the slime would be, and as Philip keeps running into it, that just puts them in the same places by chance.

This last time, however, he ends up inadvertently walking into Philip's path. "Ah, my apologies young man," he said. "I don't mean to get in your way."

[darkhourdear]

...A guy in a van that he keeps running into screams 'stranger danger' really, really hard, but since Phillip is capable of destruction on a mass scale he's not too worried about it. (Also, 13 is totally too old for that to be a thing, right? Right.)

"It's ok," he says, "What are you doing?"

[icy_heavens]

They're in different schools now, but that doesn't mean they never see each other. And it isn't like they couldn't sense each other from across the whole city anyway. That Phillip is nearby is not lost on him.

Toushirou himself is out and about doing a few things for his Granny, as is still the norm for him. That, and he kind of wants to stretch his legs a bit. Living in an apartment is different than living in a house and it feels a little cramped sometimes. Toushirou prefers open spaces.

They happen to cross paths in opposite directions while Phillip is out walking Gloria, and he nods a greeting at Phillip. "Hey."

[darkhourdear]

If Toushirou thought that going to a different school would mean Phillip wouldn't still bug the hell out of him, he would have been highly disappointed. Phillip is not the type to give up that easily, especially when he's decided Toushirou is his best friend.

He can also sense Toushirou's in the area, and maaaaaybe uses that to make sure they'll take that path. "Hey! How are you?"

Shepard's Haven

[charcoalfeather]

It started as a reasonably normal day... at least Rakka thought so. There was generally no reason to think that anything so bad could happen anymore; the alien invasion was long gone, there had been no major disasters in months. Threat levels were at an all-time low!

The breaking news that was on TV the moment she flipped it on seemed to say otherwise. Rakka was still wiping the sleep away from her eyes as she stepped out of her new home in Shepard's Haven to check if the world really was under attack by some slimy force.

Little did she suspect that the new foe would appear literally underfoot - as a small glob of green slime congealing on the front step.

Rakka noticed the blob too late, and easily slipped, falling down the rest of the steps to a fortunately safe landing.... on top of an even larger slimy blob. The force of her landing was enough to split it apart... though it resulted in leaving her covered in slime.

"Ewww...!" The Haibane said, trying to pick herself up... which only lead to more slipping. "Wh-wha! This is so gross... What are these things?"

---

[Network text]

Uh, I kind of woke up late

Why is there slime everywhere? And uh, does anyone know how to get it out of clothes?

[guitar_case_vagabond]

Threat levels at an all-time low, no currently imminent threat of global invasion or various other catastrophes. Perfect day to sleep in!

She had been right in the middle of getting moving for the day, starting with some coffee when she heard some kind of commotion outside. What the hell...? Setting down her coffee she made her way outside, yawning when she noticed Rakka apparently struggling with some kind of... sludge? Slime? What even?

"Rakka? What the fuck is that stu--" She started forward to help her up, but as focused as she was she didn't notice the other ball of slime on the steps. Until she stepped right in it, causing it to burst. She managed a squawk of surprise before slipping on the stuff and tumbling over.

Right on top of Rakka and her puddle of slime.

text

[dictator_ko]

You mean you don't know either? It's so gross! You got that stuff on you? Ew!

I'll be helpful, though. Try club soda, or washing it with lemon juice and cream of tartar. Tada handy quick stain removers~ A fashionable girl's got to know tips like this. If that doesn't work, I'll tell you what else to try.

Action/Text; - Gateway City

[knights_king]

[Gateway City]

Arthur, working on a car in the street, was surrounded by other people trading parts and looking to rebuild pieces that were brought to them from all over the state. They were getting more and more cars to work on, which was a plus--but for the last day, every single car was packing those slime balls in some part of them, forcing everyone to clean them out with serious effort.

A few times, he stepped in them, yielding gags and dry-heaves from Arthur.

"Why are they so gross!? What the hell are they!?"

-
[Text]
Anyone figured out how to clean that goop out of clothes? It's worse than oil!

[speedpariah]

[and a seemingly fully functional van drives up, with a man stepping out of it]

Excuse me. I heard that you were taking that slime that's been appearing everywhere out of vehicles...?

[scarlet_devil]

Emi is alone for now, watching, staying mostly quiet and looking out for trouble. Arthur seems to insist on helping out like he owes these people.

"Something that needs to be dealt with, certainly..." Also, ew. No way she's gonna touch it.