WEEK 06

[modmachine]

Moon phase: The first quarter moon is on Wednesday the 7th, and the moon will be nearly full on the weekend.

Weather forecast: After so many days of clouds and threatening, the freeze has arrived for the year beneath an open sky.

Ghost Bust(ers): On Tuesday, Ryoji will get a message from Autumn on the Twilight Network, letting him know that the situation involving the old man’s ghost has been resolved.

E(dda) T(ravis), Phone Home: On Wednesday evening, Corwin gets a phone call from Edda, asking if she can come over sometime on Saturday.

To Invitations: Speaking of Corwin's house, both he and Malin will be able to notice signs of something in the trees nearest the place occasionally. Whatever it is is the size of a large racoon and seems most comfortable staying in the trees, especially during daylight hours. Large claw scratches can be found in the trunks frequently.

Sparkle and Flicker: The park light displays put up throughout the end of November are now open to the public, from now until New Year's. They're drive-through-only on weekends, but on weeknights, when the goal isn't getting as many people through as possible for the park to have budget until summer boating season, it's just as likely that people will park at the nearby ice rink and walk through the well-lit sidewalks. (It helps that there's a discount for families on Tuesday and college students on Thursday, too.) Of course, off the paths, you can never be quite sure what you'll encounter…

Red like... Cherries?: While Tobias seems to have scared the 'younger' Beast off from his own Lair, it seems to have decided to hang around picking out easy targets. Those who are closer to Tobias will find themselves plagued with dreams of a blooming cherry tree throughout the week. Approaching the tree within the dream will reveal that the bark is coated with dripping blood - looking up for the source will show someone close to the viewer impaled on sharp branches, the blossoms on the other side of the body in perfect condition.

Tell me True: Various hunter channels, including Network Zero, start to get posts from someone talking about 'the truth of the city' and 'the real power here.' This isn't completely abnormal for them, given how many conspiracy theorists (right and wrong) are in such places... But what's odd is the amateur photography and exacting records of trains going around the city, and how food seems to appear from nowhere on them. Anyone wanting further information is encouraged to contact the poster by leaving a note at a certain abandoned house in the Residential District.

Cutting Loose: The local high schools are also empty for winter break, which means there's a lot more teenagers on the streets of the Residential and Sixth districts than usual. In particular, a senior in a red aquarium hoodie can be spotted skateboarding around by himself, in places you're specifically not supposed to skateboard, almost out of spite. Some of those places skirt dangerously close to Infrastructure, and even straight through it if it's outside buildings. The only place he seems unwilling to disrespect is a graveyard on the border between the two Districts, where he goes and sits in front of a headstone most afternoons to eat his small packed lunch.

Comments

[runs]

"Some of them have wings. They usually aren't pretty." Not necessarily ugly, but they tend to lack all kinds of features that would make someone pretty.

[movingon]

"If it can stand being around you, it might not be a regular animal at all."

It's half a wish to caution against too much trust and thus protect Corwin, and half the worry of losing him speaking - she wouldn't mind sharing him in theory, but she knows all too well from experience that things don't work that way. An animal would be no issue, but if it's something else and Corwin befriends the something else, she is almost certain that he'll decide to replace her. Because that is how such things work. If someone who can fill her position - a friend, someone who will readily be around Corwin - comes along, and she doesn't fight nail and teeth to not let them be better at that than her, she will be replaced. And as bad as that would be emotionally, it would be worse practically. He's more than a friend, he's providing shelter for her and knows way too much about her. So in part, her words are an attempt at a precaution, to sow distrust between that whoever or whatever and Corwin.

"You should be careful until we know what it is."

[dangerouslyinlove]

That is ridiculously adorable. Ryoji will continue to lie there and pet her until his breathing calms and his heartrate goes back to normal. ...It takes much longer than he feels like it should. "Thanks."

[crazycatvampire]

Corwin pauses to think for a beat, then asks, "Do you know what a vampire is, Ryoji?" Because he should probably start there, and make sure he has something to relate the vision to.

[crazycatvampire]

"I'll be careful," Corwin promises, but in a distracted manner, letting the curtain fall again. "Though I doubt it will be able to hurt me, whatever it is. It might be able to hurt you...." He hasn't quite been convinced that vampires aren't as durable and quick to repair themselves as Prometheans are.

[movingon]

"Maybe." There are very few ways to easily kill a vampire, and she's trusting Corwin with a main one, in a way - yes, she locks the door to her room during the day, but she doesn't have illusions regarding that he could get into that room and draw open the curtains any time if he wanted. But she trusts him, is the point, and that is just another reason to monitor this closely, lest he come under the influence of someone who wants to harm her. "And maybe they can harm you, too."

[crazycatvampire]

"Even if they could, I'm easy to repair," Corwin says, largely unconcerned. "We have to be, when we upset people so often that they get violent at us. What do you think it could be, if it's something not normal and simply animal-ish?" Because she knows more about this sort of thing than he does.

[movingon]

"If you can be harmed, you can be harmed badly enough to not be able to get up and repair yourself in the end. Even lupines can be harmed that badly, they say." It's not a feat that she could perform, but dogcatchers exist for a reason, right? And if lupines can be killed, every living creature can.

She has to shrug at that, though. "Something undead or something created, maybe?"

[runs]

She stops for a moment to bump her head against his chin - duh, of course she'd help him when he needs it! - and then looks at him questioningly. What happened?

[dangerouslyinlove]

That is not a good way to start. "Um... yes, I do." But he's pretty sure you're not a vampire. ...Pretty sure.

[dangerouslyinlove]

Ryoji shrugs, kind of understanding the implied question. "Just a nightmare," he says, still petting her, "I'll be ok." It's not really, after all. None of it.

[runs]

She meows at him. That's not a sufficient enough explanation. That seems to have been a bad nightmare.

[crazycatvampire]

Good, then he has a starting point. "That's what I saw, or felt, or remembered-- only it can't be a memory, because I'm not a vampire. This body doesn't have fangs at all. I don't even eat, much less eat blood. But that's what I saw, biting someone and eating their blood." He shudders. "It was horrible."

[crazycatvampire]

"Would you be able to tell if there was someone else undead around?" Corwin asks, blinking over at her curiously. "I don't know if anyone can create something like me in an animal shape, though... it might be possible, but I don't know if it's a good idea."

[dangerouslyinlove]

Unfortunately, Ryoji doesn’t actually understand meows, so he doesn’t realize she’s asking for more information about the nature of the nightmare. And he’s not sure how much he wants to talk about it right this second having just escaped from it. So instead of answering, Kitty just gets more pets.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Oh." Wow. That... sounds really upsetting, to be totally honest. "It sounds like it... do you think it was just a nightmare?" Why would he have a nightmare about vampires? Maybe he's been hanging around one or something.

[runs]

Well, more pets are good, too. She settles in, sleepily kneading his chest, and purrs softly.

She'll stay here until he falls asleep again, or until he gets up in the morning. Depending on who falls asleep first.

[movingon]

"...Perhaps to a degree." Dead things smell differently from living ones and have no body heat and such, but that won't help without her actually seeing the thing and be in a close enough proximity for both to work.

"But I couldn't sense it without seeing it, I don't think."

[crazycatvampire]

"I don't sleep, and I don't dream, and anyway I was out at the park, and I found my vampire friend doing just that, and it kind of-- brought it on?" he guesses is the right word, there. "Like seeing her do it triggered the vision."

[crazycatvampire]

"And I can't even reliably recognize someone like me, unless they tell me," Corwin admits. "I suppose we'll have to wait until we catch sight of it, or at least maybe get some tracks to compare to. I have a book in here somewhere with animal tracks."

And now he's leaving his mixture behind to try and hunt it down through the stacks of books and papers all over the room.

[dangerouslyinlove]

He will eventually fall asleep again, though it takes much longer than he would like. At least there's no class the following morning... is she still there when he wakes up again?

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Oh." Well that... changes some things. "That's really weird. But..." Hm. Actually, he wonders if this has anything to do with what Lirisoir was talking about.

[runs]

She is, though she has changed in the t-shirt that he gave her earlier (and dug through his shirts drawer for that, which is still open with some of the shirts strewn around the floor in front of it) and is curled up in her human form at the foot of his bed, having pulled some of his blanket over herself.

[movingon]

She watches him go off on his book hunt.

"Is there no telling sign that betrays people like you?"

[dangerouslyinlove]

This is so much weirder than having a cat on his bed. Ryoji will let her sleep, pulling himself out of bed and trying not to disturb her as he goes to brush his teeth and change and everything. (He will close the bathroom door.)