Network, Action; Open and Closed prompts;

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[A - Network; Video; OPEN]

[Lily greets the Network with a smile and a nod. Though there's a few scratches here and there, she seems to have survived the dinosaur mishap in one piece.]

Hello, everyone. I hope that everybody who ran into the trouble in Gateway is doing alright, or at least hasn't suffered too badly. We seem to have been able to help get those things herded into one place, at least - it would seem Mr. Factor has issued some help in building up more permanent ways to keep them captive, for the time being.

Between that and the other strange things, however... that goop from last month, ghostly apparitions in Shephard's Haven, and... [She taps her chin and frowns just a little.] I saw a report, a sighting in Locke City of... well, snakes. Large, pink stone snakes, like the ones we fought a long time ago.

[She shakes her head.] That seems impossible, though. The giant snake was killed just as long ago...

[Not to mention Proud.]

I wonder... has anyone else seen anything of note? All of this stuff is happening in such close proximity, it's got to be connected in some way, but it's escaping me.

[B - Locked to Winter; Action]

Gateway City is fine and everything, but Lily's starting to get more than a little homesick. The dinosaurs were under control, and she enjoys having certain people and family in close proximity, but... They'd made a new home in Shephard's Haven, right?

In some way, it feels like they're running again. She can't blame Winter for the fear she expressed, and she can't lie and say she doesn't worry about something similar. What she'd be faced with there... The likes of Dark Precure, or Sabaaku...

A part of her wants to go back, to force the hand of whatever's messing with them this time. To see what will happen and conquer it.

Lately though, she's been rather adamant about a number of things to Winter. She's had to put her foot down in some ways, and expressed great worry in others. She worries a little bit, that she's pushing things. Certainly, it's within her bounds to worry about this stuff, but... she doesn't exactly want to make herself unbearable to work with, either. Bleeding heart that she is, even if she believes herself right, she feels a bit bad about it.

Which may or may not explain the bouquet of flowers sitting in their room that she's finishing tidying up.

[C - Wild Card?]

[Lily's around Gateway City anytime from the Incursion Event until around now; if you wanna run into her on the streets or anything, feel free!]

Comments

Audio

[numberedshepherd]

Snakes in Locke City? You're right, it does seem impossible, given what we know about the Animals.

Have they attacked anyone?

Audio

[alilyinthemoonslight]

I'm not entirely sure. That we haven't heard more, it makes me wonder... Is someone trying to cover that up?

Audio

[numberedshepherd]

We don't have as many people in Locke these days, for very good reason. It could be that there just aren't enough eyes and ears to accurately report what's going on from multiple perspectives, but...

It could also definitely be a cover-up. Let's not jump to conclusions and see about getting some investigators over to the east coast.

[Video]

[lovesickkiller]

[Misa gives her a blank look, before starting to count out the occurrences on her fingers.]

Magic slime, ghosts, dinosaurs, and living snake statues... Apart from all that, no!

[Video]

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[Eh-heh.]

Well, at the very least I hope we have a total count of them, then.

[Video]

[lovesickkiller]

For now.

[She sighs heavily.]

It's always something weird...

[video]

[jasminebloominginshadow]

[Jasmine was back in Shepherd's Haven because... well, that was her home, and now that the chaos had mostly calmed down, she wanted to be somewhere quietly. Thankfully, the magic of the network and webcams made it easy for her to stay in contact with her sister.

As such, she's sitting in her bedroom, tablet on her lap, when she comes across Lily's message. She decides to answer it quickly]

I haven't seen anything besides what's out there now. The only time I saw one of the snakes was on the news, though.

... Honestly, that makes me the most nervous of all. I freaking hate those things. Though uh, I guess that's no less serious than dinosaurs...

[video]

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[Lily observes her sister with a raised eyebrow, cocking her head to one side.]

The snakes make you the most nervous? I mean, I guess they're more... direct in their threats than whatever's been popping up in Shephard's Haven...

Re: [video]

[jasminebloominginshadow]

... A-ah, well... there's that, and the fact that they shouldn't really exist anymore...

[she seems to be hiding something, Lily like the fact that she's absolutely terrified of snakes]

Text

[dragon_blossom]

The snakes have me a little worried. Worried for Jas too tbh. All this happening together can't be a coincidence but it could just be a general rise in weird stuff - although that might mean a build up to something bigger and we don't want that.

Text

[alilyinthemoonslight]

It generally does mean that, at least, in experience. Just... it doesn't quite match the old patterns, does it?

...is there a particular reason you're worried for Jasmine there, or just the atypical "this is about to get dangerous" thing?

Text

[dragon_blossom]

She REALLY doesn't like those snake things in particular.

Video

[icy_heavens]

[Toushirou has a scrape or two, but he's hardly bad off himself.]

... Those snakes really shouldn't be there. [Really, what the hell?]

Video

[alilyinthemoonslight]

No. No, they really shouldn't. That's the thing that throws me the most.

Video

[icy_heavens]

We killed Wise Snake . . . [A mistake in hindsight, sure, but it happened.] Proud was dead even before that . . . These things shouldn't exist at all anymore. I don't get it.

[Video]

[charcoalfeather]

[Rakka's back in Shepard's Haven, trying to enjoy the downtime, now that a crisis had been adverted with minimal casualties. And with her laptop, communicating was almost child's play for the Haibane.

It's the talk of snakes that draws Rakka in, her expression looking as though it lost a shade of color. To many memories resurfacing.]

Snakes? Really? But, we got all of those back in that big fight...

[Video]

[alilyinthemoonslight]

We did, at that. [Including the REALLY BIG one.] Which is... well, yeah. That's why this is so damned strange.

voice

[darkhourdear]

[what. what]

Snakes? That doesn't make any sense...

[the new guardian has nothing to do with snakes he should know. Unless they're Shadows and then everyone is screwed.]

voice

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[Oh, she knows. After all, she was among the ones who struck down the original giant snake, even if she's not quite fully aware of just what has replaced it.]

Precisely. And so long after the fact, too. It's... it's odd.

B

[peacefulwinter]

They are running again. She feels kind of like it's her fault; Lily can tell her that it's normal, that it's okay, that she understands, but they're running because she can't handle it. She's been a problem lately, and she doesn't even know what to do with herself. She's too impulsive, not selfish enough, too forward. How is Lily supposed to trust her if she keeps doing all this...?

Frustrated with herself, Winter had gone out for a walk to try and clear her head, but she didn't get much good from it, and as she unlocks the door, she lets out a heavy sigh. Trying to force something like cheer onto her face, she lets the door swing open with a small smile, stepping into air conditioning quickly - the Midwest hasn't gotten any less hot, and she feels it every time she goes outside. "I'm back, Lily... anything interesting..." She trails off as she sees the flowers; it'd be one thing to lighten up their home, but here, it's unusual. They're pretty, but Lily doesn't exactly buy things like this for herself. What are these for...?

[alilyinthemoonslight]

As much as Winter might feel like she's at fault, Lily feels just as well that it weighs on her equally. It should, right? If her significant other is uncomfortable, it's her responsibility to do something about it, so she figures. Though a part of her feels like she's not done enough - putting distance between them and the problem doesn't solve it. They've learned that the hard way over the years, and a piece of her knows that's a cycle they can't repeat.

She gives a tiny jump as the door comes open, having been focusing on the flowers and her thoughts. Two things that usually go hand in hand rather well.

Lily spins on one heel to greet Winter, giving a small nervous laugh.

"Oh, nothing much!" she says, and then idly waves a hand to the flowers. "I... know you haven't been in the best mood, so... I thought I'd get something bright and colorful to cheer you up!"

Not to keep her out of any self-imagined dog house because she's worried she's stuck her foot in her mouth at any point over the last couple weeks, no. She wouldn't even.

[C] Gateway City, Action

[sparklingscarlet]

Blaise walks down the street. He wanted to go exploring today, but there's a bracelet on his wrist that's keeping him more occupied. He had recently had a talk with Winter about what was going on and why, but his confusion was still high on the charts. The bracelet wouldn't come off, either, which might serve to bother him if he thinks hard enough about it.

Transfixed by this bracelet, he's not really paying attention to where he's going. He's likely to get himself or someone else hurt if he doesn't look up to see where he's going soon.

He starts muttering to himself until he crashes into someone; full on, not a graze or a bump. It causes him to fall backwards a bit and probably doesn't do any favours to the lady he crashed into. His attention snaps from the bracelet to a girl with long purple hair in front of him. He feels as though he ran over her cat and starts to apologize furiously.

"Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry! Are you okay? I didn't mean it! I wasn't looking where I was going, it's all my fault! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

He starts checking her to make sure she's okay and didn't break or hurt anything.

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Luckily, Lily's got quite a bit of durability and grace, although little of it is of her own strength or training. She back pedals from the collision, before slamming a heel back into the ground to stop herself. Thus, she's treated to the sight of the boy hitting the ground and then promptly flailing over the indiscretion.

She stares blankly for a moment, and then laughs a bit woodenly.

"Oh, it's... it's alright, really. Things like that happen. Are you alright?"

Video

[switch_over]

[A rather new face has decided to pop up on the network.]

I haven't seen or heard of anything else aside from what you've mentioned.

Even so that's a lot of crap to deal with at once.

Video

[alilyinthemoonslight]

I would say we've dealt with more, but... not everyone has, I suppose. Especially since I don't believe we've met. My name's Lily, it's a pleasure.