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

[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.)

[runs]

There will be scratching at the bathroom door steps outside while he's in the bathroom, and when he returns Kitty has raided his fridge and is sitting on his bed with a can of meat and a fork.

She looks up at him when he comes out of the bathroom and gets straight to the point. "What were you dreaming about?"

[dangerouslyinlove]

Kitty no he's in the bathroom stop it.

"Ah..." Does he have to? "There was this tree, that was... eating one of my friends? Except I didn't know him, but I feel like I did... it was weird."

[runs]

"Why did you think that he was your friend if you didn't know him?"

She tilts her head at him.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"It's... hm." Ryoji thinks, tapping at his chin. "I feel like... I've seen him before? And he was important. But I don't even know his name."

[runs]

"Sometimes you just don't know people's names because they don't like to tell others about it.

How was he important? And where did you see him?" That seem to be the more important questions here.

[dangerouslyinlove]

You mean like you, Ebru???

Ryoji thinks about it a moment longer. "He just... feels important," he says, fumbling through it, "But... I think I saw him in the Underworld. He wasn't actually there, it was in a kind of vision thing."

[runs]

She's probably forgotten about that.

"...A kind of vision? What did he do?"

She leans forward to get a better look at his face, her eyebrows drawing together in an expression of concentrated attention.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Nothing, really," Ryoji says with a sigh, "It was really short. I basically had just enough time to see him and then he was gone."

[runs]

"Where was he when you saw him?"

She pauses and then very firmly poses the question: "Did he look like he was from here?"

[dangerouslyinlove]

Ryoji thinks really hard. It was such a short vision, it's difficult... "I don't know," he says, "Maybe in a living room kind of area? And, I mean... he could have been, I've just never seen him..."

[runs]

"We should go out and look for him!"

Because if he is from here - well, Hex isn't terribly big, all in all.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Oh!" Huh. Why didn't he think of that. "Ok. Um, he looked... my age or a little younger, so that should help, right?"

[runs]

"So we look at your college first and then at the schools for old children."

This is very much her field, and for the moment she sounds as professional as a nine year old can sound.q

[dangerouslyinlove]

Ryoji nods. "Well, most of the college people are on break now, and I don't think I've seen him around here, so maybe we can start with the high schools." Assuming those are still in session.

[runs]

"How many high schools does Hex have?"

Things she has paid absolutely no attention to so far. Also things that are pretty important for this whole plan.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Not a lot, I don't think." It's not a huge city. "I can find a list pretty easily."

[runs]

"Then do that, and we can go!"

She just flops down and gets comfortable on the floor, expecting him to get on this task immediately.