Lamentable Nights: Act 02 - "Welcome to Pebbleton"

[Pictor]

(I think it'd be a good idea if everyone somehow posted the color codes for characters. It'll keep things consistent and the guesswork to a minimum. Jacket's is #000040, Hailey's is just black.)

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 8:40 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Jacket, M, Sophia, Alex Diamond, Graciel

============

"A yellow jacket, what...?" Jacket stared blankly down at his bright attire as M shook his head and waved him off.

"No, no. Not you. Another Blight. See, Sophia and I encountered it in the park last night... and we threw a dirty old rag at it to get away. Looked kinda like your jacket, actually. And come to think of it... it was somewhere around here too..." M suddenly became rather cautious of their surroundings.

"Hey! I'm still here!" Alex found herself suddenly speechless as the trio of Strays turned there eyes on her. Um... what were you supposed to talk to ghosts about?

"Err... anyway, you're really all ghosts? I mean, you and you look human, but what's he a ghost of?" Alex curiously pointed a finger in Jacket's direction.

"Sir... or, uh, ma'am. Whatever. Whoever said ghosts had to appear human? Don't you ever watch movies?" Well, if we're gonna be making judgments based on movies you look like the type that go around murdering a group of unsuspecting teenagers, thought Alex.

"And... do ghosts usually parade around in broad daylight?"

"We're running away from the police!" Sophia proclaimed with a tone packing a little too much excitement.

"Correction. He's running away from the cops." M jabbed a finger into Jacket's shoulder, only to be brushed off like a pest. Alex cocked her head curiously at the answer.

"But... I thought you ghosts were invisible? 'Cept to Crossers like me, I guess. Police Crossers? Man, as if regular cops weren't enough of a pain." Suddenly, the attention was on Jacket this time, who only looked away anxiously.

"Yea... I'm wondering too. Why can they see you? I'm pretty sure there wasn't one Crosser among those cops!"

"Um... I'm was thinking about that too, Mr. Nice Hat. That's why you had to be all sneaky when I gave you your hat back, right?" Three against one?! Hardly fair!

"Hey, bug off! Everyone's got problems. This is mine. I don't have to explain myself! It's enough that you know!" Somehow, in a way that M couldn't possible comprehend, Jacket pulled down an "eyelid" with his index finger and blew the three interrogators a big fat raspberry. Sophia, for an equally inconceivable reason, somehow found it amusing and giggle lightly.

"I didn't know Mr. Nice Hat had a tongue!" ...Me neither, thought M.

"Now don't you three seem like the colourful bunch. The name's Alex, by the way. Alex Diamond! Can't say I've ever had to introduce myself to ghosts before!" Alex happily reached out an open hand, to which M took and shook firmly.

"Stray spirits like me don't have proper names, given that we can't remember our pasts. But call me 'M'."

"Yikes... that's tough! M only returned a matter-of-fact shrug in response to Alex. Next, she stooped down and met Sophia's eyes. "How 'bout you, kiddo? You have somethin' to call yourself?"

"Uh... um... S-Sophia..." Shiftly nervously, Sophia grabbed onto Jacket tightly and inched behind him a little. Ugh.. c-cute...

Er... and you-"

"The Phantom Jacket, at your service sir slash ma'am!" Even before Alex could finish her sentence, Jacket cut in boisterously, giving her an exaggerated salute. "No, wait. On second thought, just call me Jacket. Yea, that's fine."

"Eh... heh. Nice to meet you. Alex responded awkwardly to the hat-wearing ghost. What a weirdo... "So you're called Jacket... and you wear a jacket..." This oughta get confusing.

"I'll say! That guy's wearing a jacket too!"

Suddenly, a voice from behind! The group whipped around to find, what else, but a darkly-furred feline sitting on a park bench, pointing its paw in the other direction. From the other side of the park, trees rustled and bushes toppled as a bizarre-looking black creature stomped out of the brush. Head of a dog, clutching an occult-looking lantern between its teeth, and the body of... some sort of lamp-post? As the beast lumbered out of the trees, a bright-yellow bundle of cloth slowly became visible, caught awkwardly against its mangy fur.

"THAT BLIGHT!!"

"Mr. Mad Hooder... it's back!"

"Meow."

"MONSTER!"

"T-T-T-T-TALKING C-C-C-C-CAAAAAAAAAAT!!"

[Johker]

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 8:30 - 8:45 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: Materion Towers
PC: Cassius
Other PCs: N/A
NPCs: Noco Berry

~ ~ ~ ~

Cassius stood before the gateway to Pebbleton, restless and excited.

Having just recently graduated from his training school, Cassius was very much inexperienced. And here he was, just a few moments away from beginning his life as a full fledged Panzer. To be doing fieldwork, hunting down blights. Just thinking about it gave him a peculiar sense of excitement.

Gripping his new MPUD tightly in hand, Cassius stepped through the Panzer gateway and was promptly whisked away to Materion Towers. Waiting for him was one Noco Berry.

"Ms. Noco Sue-Berry, Ma'am! It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Cassius!"

Cassius extended his hand and gave Noco a wide grin. Noco smiled warmly and shaked his hand.

"Thank goodness you're here," began Noco. "I have an assignment for you."

This is it, my first assignment!

"I need you to find a certain bespectacled, goateed-salaryman-crosser. All we know about this crosser thus far is that he is a bespectacled salaryman. With a goatee."

Cassius nodded furiously.

"I'd love to stay and chat with you, but it's imperative that you find him soon. Direct orders from the higher-ups."

Cassius gasped. Direct orders from the higher-ups. This was important.

"I-I'll track him down immediately! I'll be on my way!"

Cassius stumbled towards the exit, abruptly spinning around to ask "Ummm, I'm sorry, but may I know why it's so important to find this particular Crosser?"

"I'm sorry. That's classified information."

Ms. Noco Sue-Berry Ma'am is so cool!!

And with that, Cassius was off on his first assignment. Meanwhile, Noco heaved a sigh of relief.

Good thing he came along. Or else I'd be stuck doing grunt work for the rest of the day.

As Cassius stepped out of Materion Towers, it soon became apparent that Pebbleton, a nice seaside town it may be, was still bustling with activity. Cars trudged along road junctions, people hurried about to wherever they needed to be, and the most distinctive of all, the large traces of ether that Cassius could sense emanating strongly throughout the town.

Crossers, Strays, other fellow Panzers, and Blights. They were everywhere.

Cassius' heart pounded with excitement. "Where should I start?"

As if answering him, Cassius' MPUD beeped.

One mail received from Noco Berry.

• Mail sent to Cassius' MPUD at 0845:
  
  Sorry, I forgot to tell you an important piece of information.
  
  Since you are quite new to all this, it was decided that you will be working with a more experienced Panzer while you are stationed here at Pebbleton. Sort of like a "Buddy system," if you may.
  
  You will be required to work with and report to a certain Panzer by the name of Graciel.

[MidNightMagnificent]

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 8:40 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Jacket, M, Sophia, Alex Diamond

============


"So, kids, what's the recommended course of action now? RUN?!" Without waiting for a reply, Alex started sprinting off in the opposite direction, with the three ghosts hot on her heels.

"Is that thing particularly dangerous? Or all bark and no bite?" Alex panted as they sprinted as far as they could.

"That cat is your neighbourhood police force? Along with the dog-lampost-monster thing?!" Alex just couldn't find a single word to adequately refer to that thing they were running from.

Apparently, everyone was too out of breath to answer her questions. She decided to let it pass, and SHOUTED her next question urgently at them. "So where in this town do we lie low? I just got here. You guys guide me."

Alex slowed her pace slightly to let her three new friends(?) overtake her and lead the way.

[SavviG]

(color: #4000FF)
Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 8:40~9:00 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: Building top ~ Dawnview Park
PC: Jacket, M, Sophia, Alex Diamond, Graciel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Graciel hid in the alley and brought up the menu of his MPUD and dialed a preset destination. A few taps and his surrounded faded from a alleyway to a open space high above further from where he was.

Graciel leapt about to the ledge. Peeled his ears back, closed his eyes and listened. Or rather sense Ether but he can't feel much... Jacket is pretty far or, gone.

He called out his rifle and it hovered about his head before it dropped.
"NYYYAAAAAOOOOOH!" as he wrinced in pain, curled into a ball with his front paws over his head. From a another persons view, the cat looked ridiculous in its actions.

He crawled and pushed his rifle near the edge and scoped about looking for his prime target, a man in yellow. How hard can it be?

after a while, he spotted a yellow jacket by a lamp post rustling in the bushes at Dawnview Park. It looked like he was trying to dig out a lamp post from under the bushes.

Graciel called away his rifle and began pawing the MPUD to teleport down to Dawnview Park. The scenery blurred and changed again. This time the scenery changed to Dawnview Park.

Graciel was about to head to the bushes when he heard talking on the opposite end. They mentioned Strays and Ghosts, company is around the corner too.

Graciel leapt onto the bench close by and saw 4 people. 1 little girl with golden hair, a guy whose eyeing on Jacket, Jacket himself and another girl who seems to be a Crosser.

By then the lamp post in the bush came rustling out abit. Graciel watched and it seems to be a odd Blight, It looks dangerous being that its is a Dog...and dogs chase cats. Being a Blight, it would chase Ether beings, need to warn the people about the Blight.

"So you're called Jacket... and you wear a jacket..." said a girl.

"I'll say! That guy's wearing a jacket too!" and Graciel pointed his paw towards the Blight.

The reactions cried out together from the group differed and Graciel noticed a finger pointed at him.

Graciel ducked under the bench for cover.

[marcien]

and to think that, i was swearing not to bring cassius into the mix to make this a six person post. now i have to eat my words. sorry, johker =x now, a record 8 characters involved.

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: Morning
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park (the land of ether chaos!)
PCs: Sophia (Oriole), M, Jacket, Alex Diamond
Other PCs: Graciel, Cassius (?), Hailey (?), Martin Chang
================

"RUN!!" Sophia heard Alex shout. But how was she to run? Her first reaction was to melt into the ground, but a hand held on to her wrist tightly.

"That's not gonna work, Sophia," and he pulled her up on his shoulders in a fireman lift, "This is how we run."

Already Jacket and Alex had ran ahead of them. Alex was shouting out many questions, but no one felt fit to answer them. She finally slowed down and M carrying Sophia caught up. Jacket however, came to a complete stop.

"Why are you not running, Mister Jacket?"

"Running? That's not my thing! That... cat... it shocked me, that's all... But blight? Phantom Jacket can deal with that!" With that Jacket transformed his black fist into one made of shiny steel, and rushed towards the dog-lamppost.

"EAT KNUCKLE SANDWICH YOU BLIGHT!! OORRRRIIIYYAAAAAAAHHHHHH~"

Bang!

A shot rang out. Jacket dropped to the ground in mid jump.

"Jacket!" Alex ran back to him. Jacket began to regenerate himself.

Bang! Another shot barely missed Alex herself. The bullet landed on the grass beside the masked stray and tomboy. "What the fuck now?!"

More shots rang out. Alex and Jacket did not wait to see where it was aiming at: they just ran away. M on the other hand, was not able to react fast enough. "Hey wait, you're going too fast--"

Indeed, that is what was happening. The fast-running Alex and Jacket charged far too quickly into the M who was still carrying Sophia. The result was a ball of deformed strays and one unfortunate crosser. Which in their scramble to untangle themselves from each other while escaping from the blight, began rolling about the park randomly.

-- -- -- -- --

Two panzers watched what looked somewhat like a katamari ball roll around the park in bemusement.

"Eh?!"

"The masked one in a yellow jacket isn't a blight, you know."

"Then that?"

"Oh, that one is definitely a blight."

"Yessir, Senior Graciel, I will take it down at once!!"

"Yes, that'll be good," replied Graciel. Then the cat jumped. Who is this boy who just showed up? Why does he know my name? "Who are you?"

-- -- -- -- --
Oriole found herself surrounded on all sides. Mister Mad Hooder was at her legs, Madam Alex nearly hugging her, and Mister Jacket's feet was in her face. It was a highly uncomfortable feeling.
-- -- -- -- --
M started to feel a heat in his shoulders. Rolling around with Sophia on his shoulders must have taken a toll on his body. But Sophia can't be that heavy can she?
-- -- -- -- --
Jacket's steel fist began to glow orange-red. What... am I melting?
-- -- -- -- --
Alex yelped in pain as she tried to pull away from Sophia without success. So hot! Trying to cool herself down the only way she knew how to, she expanded her ether to gather as much water as she can.
-- -- -- -- --

A raven flying overhead looked down at the park to see a very surrealistic sight. A ball of strays and a crosser was rolling around. Wait, is it smoking? Mere moments after smoke began coming out, the ball shot up into the sky and an etherplosion took place, sending the contents of the ball flying in four different directions.

-- -- -- -- --

Martin swore again when the cab driver pointed to a sticker reading: "Our drivers have the right to serve without any form of abuse." The driver was about to retort but stopped short to point a finger at the front window.

Then Martin looked out of the window and his jaw dropped. A full metal jacket, no-- a metal person wearing a yellow jacket was flying in the direction of the cab.

"OI GET AWAY YOU--"

Too late.

[Johker]

(It's okay, Martia! We can all have a party nowww. Oh and for everyone's reference, my character's colour code is now #DD6000.

This post bridges the gap between how Cassius went from Materion Towers to Dawnview Park.)

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 8:30 - 9:00 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: Towards Dawnview Park
PC: Cassius
Other PCs: Sophia , M, Jacket, Alex Diamond, Graciel
NPCs: N/A

~ ~ ~ ~

Cassius was feeling perplexed.

As a human-canine Panzer, he had a natural talent for being able to "sniff" out Ether traces and track other Ether sensitive beings down. When he'd received an assignment to find a Crosser, Cassius naturally felt assured that he would be able to excel.

Needless to say, he was wrong.

Firstly, he did not know enough about his target. In fact, he knew pretty much nothing about his target.

Secondly, there were just too many Ether traces present to even try to find where he should begin the search from. It was really unexpected of such a small town to hold so many of Ether beings. In fact, he could just sense a small group of Ether beings at the nearby park.

But as for now, all Cassius could do was stand outside Materion Towers, staring at his MPUD, wondering what he could do.

According to Ms. Noco Berry Ma'am, I'm to report to this nice Senior Graciel Sir. But if I showed up saying that I haven't found anything he'd think that I'm incompetent! Then he'd hate me forever. Oh nooo.

Cassius sighed in dismay.

But I don't have any choice. It's impossible for me to track down that Crosser at this rate. I should report to Senior Graciel Sir and get more information on the assignment from him. I'll make sure to apologize for causing him such an inconvenience...

As Cassius started trudging along, he studied the mail from Noco once more. She had been kind enough to include two pictures of Graciel, one of him in human form and another as a cat, and the fact that Graciel was probably running around Dawnview Park right about now.

Weird. Isn't that the place where all those Ether beings are gathered at? What if Senior Graciel Sir is in trouble, surrounded by evil Blights!?

The mental image of a poor cat being beaten up by a group of Blights was too much to bear for Cassius.

"I MUST HURRYYYY!" said Cassius out loud to nobody in particular as he activated his MPUD to warp himself to Dawnview Park.

As Cassius re-appeared at the park, he saw a terrible scene unfold right in the park, a small distance away from him. In the middle of the park, seated on a bench was an adorable cat with dark fur. But the cat was seated in between two malicious looking Blights, one was masked and humanoid-like and the other seemed to be a dog with a lamp post sticking out of it.

I recognize that cat. It's Senior Graciel Sir! This is bad, he's surrounded! Both of those Blights are wearing yellow jackets. Are they working together or something? I've never heard of Blights cooperating together in an organized group, but I suppose anything is possible...

Graciel lifted up one of his paws and pointed at the dog Blight.

He's confronting the Blight! Senior Graciel Sir is so brave!!

The masked, humanoid Blight with a yellow jacket spun around, pointed and shouted something at Graciel. Then, one of his fists transformed into some sort of metal. Graciel then ducked under the bench in defense. It was extremely clear to Cassius that this yellow jacket-wearing Blight was about to harm Graciel.

I have to do something now!

Activating his MPUD's storage matrix, Cassius quickly retrieved his two pistols. He cocked the guns, briefly took aim and fired.

Bang!

Cassius hit the masked, yellow jacket-wearing Blight right on target. The masked Blight dropped to the ground and lay motionless. Cassius then aimed at the dog Blight and fired.

Bang!

But then, some Crossers and Strays previously unnoticed by Cassius started running toward the masked Blight that had collapsed on the ground. Fortunately, the bullet missed them, but it missed the dog Blight as well.

I can't fight the Blight with those Crossers and Strays there...! I'll fire some shots just to scare them away!

Cassius fired two more shots, and those Crossers and Strays started to run away. It had elicited just the response Cassius was hoping for. What he did not expect however, was the masked yellow jacket-wearing Blight to stand up and start running away as well. Or, at least, try to run. The whole group of them collided into each other and crumpled onto the ground in a pile, their bodies all tangled up. Then they started rolling around in an attempt to get themselves free.

"Eh?!"

"The masked one in a yellow jacket isn't a Blight, you know."

EHHHHHH?! Senior Graciel Sir is talking to me! I made a mistake? But then what did I just shoot at?! Senior Graciel Sir must hate me now OH NOOOO!!

"Then that?" was the only coherent reply Cassius could muster, pointing at the dog lamp post... thing.

"Oh, that one is definitely a Blight."

"Yessir, Senior Graciel, I will take it down at once!!"

"Yes, that'll be good,"

H-he said "good," which means I'm doing the right thing! He doesn't hate me after all!

Deciding to now focus solely on fighting, Cassius revealed some of his animal features, namely his ears and his tail. It was much easier to fight without having to worry about hiding your animal ears and whatnot. Tail wagging excitedly, Cassius pointed his guns at the ugly looking dog Blight and got ready to fire.

[Pictor]

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 9:00 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Walk
PC: Jacket, M, Sophia, Alex Diamond, Martin

============

*KERBLAM!!*

Jacket's world became a panorama of scrunching metal, loud sounds, and multicolored lights. After being blasted away from the ether explosion, Jacket was sent flying straight into an unfortunate cab car, which was just beginning to park at the side of the road.

"GUAAAaaaaaAAAH!" After smashing face-first into the front-side of the cab, the Stray ricocheted over it at an obtuse angle, straight into a populated bike rack on the other side of the road. After a commotion of gears, chains and wheels, Jacket finally came to a rest amidst the destroyed vehicles.

"Grrr... ung... What... The... Fuck...." A furious and breathless Martin grunted and heaved as he kicked a busted car door open, paying no heed to the speechlessly shell shocked cab driver. Running around the car, he peered carefully over the hood to spy the... thing which had pulverized his ride. "....Da hell is that thing...?"

A... Blight? Was that what these were called? It... looked human, he supposed, but its entire body was pitch black. Not to mention he was wearing a disturbing white mask that was somehow grimacing with pain. And it didn't look too good either. Whatever it was, there was a gigantic hole blasted clean through the side of its head. The wound was smoldering with some sort of dark, swirling smoke.

"... Just like the Train...!"

"Ungh... guh..."

Martin briefly uttered an "Oh shit!" before whipping around and ducking behind the cab. He still didn't know what that thing was, but he sure as hell didn't want to be its first sight after that rough trip.

Back across the park, the rest of the roly poly troupe were looking for their lost member.

"Er, did you see where he went?"

"I dunno, maybe towards where all the smoke and screaming people are?"

"M-Mr. Mad Hooder! I think I see Mist- um... Martin!" Tugging at M's sleeve, Sophia pointed towards the recently generated ground zero.

"What? Why would he be he-" To M's surprised, squatting curiously behind a taxi cab on their side of the road, was a goatee'd, glasses wearing, salaryman Crosser.

"M-Martin!!"

"Eh? Sophia??" Martin's head darted this way and that, until he saw a trio of figures approaching from the distance. It was Sophia!! ... And that bratty Stray with the hoodie... and another young man?

"Oh... oh Martin! We were looking for you all morning! I was so worried! We were gonna tell you there was another Blight walking around!"

"Wait, say what? I came here to find you for the same reason! And I think that blasted thing... is behind this car..." Martin quietly gestured over the side of the cab. The trio peered over to find their missing, jacket-wearing friend slowly being swarmed by shocked pedestrians.

"Whuh oh!"

When Jacket regained consciousness after his brief lights-out, he awoke to an unimaginable, searing pain on the left side of his face.

"AaaaAaah... What the FUCK..?!" Sprawling to his knees, Jacket glanced at the front window of a nearby shop. Even with his head still throbbing, he could see the condition he was in. The left side of his face had been completely blown apart, and was now dripping with some sort of black, tar-like substance that slowly evaporated into black smoke. Through the same reflection, he noticed that all sorts of people were beginning to gather around him. Jacket slowly stumbled to his feet. His head - or what was left of it - was throbbing so hard, he couldn't even focus his vision. The gigantic wound itself felt like someone had held a blowtorch to his face, then slapped salt on the fresh burn. Around him, whispers and murmurs filled the air.

"W-What is that thing?"
"How is it still alive?"
"Wow... will it be okay?"
"Oh, I gotta get a shot of this!"
"What do you think that is... a monster?"

Monster... thing...

"No. H-Hold it... I'm not..." So many eyes were on him. Shocked and surprised faces whispering into other shocked and surprised faces. Here and there, a few cocky bastards whipped out cellphones and cameras, snapping away. But none of them would even approach him. None of them had the guts. They all just stood there. At a safe distance. And gossiped about things they couldn't possibly understand.

demon... creature...

"Tch... dammit. I said I'm not--"

*Wheeee-ooooo-eeeeee-ooooo*

Off in the distance, police sirens began to sound... And that was it. The final straw in Jacket's threshold of reason. Four months of condensed rage and frustration suddenly erupted onto Dawnview Walk.

"GRRRRAAAAAUGGH!!! THAT'S IT! THAT'S FUCKING IT!!" The crowd screamed and gasped and stepped back at the Stray's sudden outburst. "YOU WANT A MONSTER?! HERE. HAVE ONE!"

Jacket raised a fist and slammed it straight down into the ground, punching through the concrete pavement.

"HOW'S THAT ONE FOR THE CAMERA HUH?! HAHAHAHA!! HOW'S THAT ONE FOR THE MORNING PEBBLETON NEWS, YOU SICK SHITS?! Hey! You there!" Jacket threw a finger up at a young street punk who was nervously clutching a cellphone in his hands. The crowd immediately leaped aside to expose the youth as he nervously realized that he was now singled out.

"You want a picture? Go ahead. Take one." With one hand still clutching his smoldering wound, Jacket spread the other out beside him. The teenager collapsed on his behind, quaking with fear and shaking his head furiously at Jacket's demanding question. "TAKE ONE!!"

Letting loose a high-pitched yell, the boy threw his cellphone at the floor and dashed away at full speed. Jacket spat a mouthful of the black, tar-like substance onto the ruined pavement floor and watched as it evaporated into the air.

"Feh... Not so great being in the spotlight, now is it?"

The sirens blared louder and louder. Jacket guessed that any moment now, he'd be seeing flashing beacons of red and blue blasting down the road. Glancing over his shoulder, he spied M, Alex and... Sophia. The former two looked as wide-eyed as the rest of the crowd. Sophia clung tightly to M's arm, and looked to be on the verge of tears. Among them was another gentleman. Hmmm... goatee, and glasses? Was that her Crosser?

Heh. Come to think of it, Sophia was just one... one of two people of who wasn't afraid of him on sight. Even that hooded brat ran on him at first. Perhaps that's why he cared for her safety so much. And of course... there was another. And boy... was that one ever going to be pissed. Might as well go for gold.

Spinning around and scanning the whole crowd of people, Jacket jabbed a thumb into his chest.

"Listen up! I... am the Phantom Jacket of the goddamned town. Your own resident monster. But there's something I have to do in this shitty little place. Someone I have to protect. Just try to get rid of me. I'm here to stay."

Turning around, Jacket pulled his cap over his eyes.

"Hey..." M began to say something, but soon realized he had no idea what he could possibly tell his fellow Stray right now. Jacket, without even turning around, gave a light wave.

"Sorry... Just... Just take care of her."

That's right, they couldn't be seen. Hidden from humanity unless they chose otherwise. The way a Stray should be.

*BTAM!!*

A powerful burst of air and dust swept through the mob, nearly knocking everyone off their feet, and rocking the wrecked taxi-cab to and fro. The Phantom Jacket of Pebbleton was gone. Only a trail of dark smoke arced through the air, and disappeared beyond the roofs of the surrounding buildings.

Among the panicked crowd and growing sound of sirens, Sophia hung onto M's arm slightly tighter.

"M-Mister Mad Hooder... is... is Mister Nice Hat going to be alr--"

"I... I don't know, Sophia..."

[AYC]

(M backtracks a bit, and my pacing is very iffy. Ugh. Btw, M's color is #00BFFF, and Mirto's is #40BF80.)

Date: June 2, Wednesday
Time: 9:00 - 9:30 am, Morning
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Walk
PCs: M, Sophia, Jacket, Alex
Other PCs: Martin
================

DAMN IT, it's that Blight again -!

GRRRRRRRR!!

"RUN!"

"EAT KNUCKLE SANDWICH YOU BLIGHT!! OORRRRIIIYYAAAAAAAHHHHHH-!"

BANG!

M realizes that he must look pretty silly at the moment, but his horribly confounded expression is doing an awfully good job at conveying his current state of mind. He has no idea what's going on around him, but his mouth gapes open when Jacket suddenly gets sniped at the height of his attack.

PWNED.

BANG - BANG - BANG!

And as if that wasn't enough, a torrent of bullets start peppering the ground around them, and M is lost in the chaos that follows. The haphazard shots causes the Blight roar loudly and flee, and a wild bullet manages to graze his shoulder when M backs up in fear. The fact that he can actually feel it means that it's not some random Crosser with an ordinary gun shooting - it must be from a Panzer's weapon -

But why the hell is a Panzer shooting at us?

M doesn't get much time to think about it though, as both Jacket and Alex suddenly comes barreling into him, and everyone is sent scattering backwards in a tangle of flying arms and legs. Much to his great dismay, the small skirmish results in a few injuries to his ghostly form - Jacket's shove ends up being a misplaced punch to the face (M almost wants to say that it's done on purpose, that jackass), and he ends up falling back, Sophia and all, with a loud "-urk!" when Alex trips and collides painfully in his abdomen.

OUCH.

As much as he wants to lay there and wallow in his self-induced misery and pain - no less caused somehow by the pile of Strays and Crossers on top of him - the struggle makes it very hard to. Ghost or not, his body isn't meant to be contorted this way, but the simultaneous attempts of everyone trying to free themselves at once only makes the situation worse. In the process, they - somehow - actually start rolling around the park, picking up small stones and grass clumps like a real life Katamari ball.

It's a shame that they can't exactly pick up a tree though, because M's head starts spinning when they ram into and bounce off a few trees in their little tussle. If he wasn't dead, he probably would've spewed his insides by now.

M's not sure if it's because he's disoriented or not, but suddenly his shoulder feels like it's burning. He's pretty confident that he's still holding on to Sophia somewhat, but -

Wait a seco -!

-- (9:10 am) --

"Aughh..."

It must be his unlucky day, but despite the throbbing pains in his body, at least he wasn't the one flung across the street as a result of an etherplosion. And damn it to hell if he isn't glad for once in his ghostly lifespan to see the face of a grouchy salaryman.

"Oh... oh Martin! We were looking for you all morning! I was so worried! We were gonna tell you there was another Blight walking around!"

"Wait, say what? I came here to find you for the same reason! And I think that blasted thing... is behind this car..."

Say what now? Through the gathering crowd, the trio manage to make out a jacket-wearing Stray with... holy shit...

Alex sucks in a harsh breath, and Sophia gasps loudly before burying her face in his sweater - damn, the guy's face... M is rendered speechless.

Never before has he seen something like this. Although Strays can get injured after Blight attacks, it only disappears as ether in the air - it's almost instantaneous, and there's no remnants left behind. But this... It's too crazy. Strays' aren't supposed to be material, aren't supposed to get affected by physical objects -

As much as M just wants to tell him to shut up when he goes into an angry rant, in the end, he can't really blame him. It's not his fault that he's in such a messed up form.

He really is a freak of nature.

When Jacket finally takes his leave, the crowd doesn't even grace his departure with silence. They titter away in hushed whispers and a number of them start texting away on their cell phones. To M, it sounds like a dull roar.

Through the numbing noise, Sophia tugs on his sleeve, and he can make out her quiet, tear-choked voice.

"M-Mister Mad Hooder... is... is Mister Nice Hat going to be alr--"

"I don't know, Sophia... I don't know."

There is no almost this time. Because for once, M honestly feels sorry for the guy.

-- (9:30 am) --

Elsewhere, a Stray manages to collapse in a dusty alleyway as he tries to catch his breath. His hand reaches up to stem the flow of the still leaking wound on his masked face, and he hisses at the persisting, sharp pain.

"What the fuck did I do to deserve this?"

"Do tell, Jacket. What did you do?"

[Pictor]

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: around 9:30 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: An alleyway uptown
PC: Jacket, Mirto

============

Jacket ran. He ran, and jumped and flew as hard and as fast as he could, not stopping until he had bounded over the rushing Shinetail River. Finally, after he realized not a soul was around, he let himself drop into an alleyway, creating a mild ruckus as he fell into an old pile of cardboard boxes behind a dumpster. Jacket tightened a trembling hand around the gaping wound at the side of his face. It seared with molten pain and epileptic colors as he touched it. The wound was healing, for sure. From somewhere far away, he could feel a gentle stream of Ether slowly patching up his body. But that didn't mean it was any easier to take. There was something about the injury itself that seemed to continuously suck the energy out of him. It was a war of attrition between the open wound and his Ether supply, one that he was thankfully winning.

Damn. What was it that hit him? Some kind of a bullet?

Relinquishing his deathgrip just a little, Jacket felt the strange fluid trickle down his masked face and wrist. For an instant it stained this clothes, but then evaporated into the air in a misty, undulating trail.

"This is... just like the Train, huh?"

Images of the mechanical monstrosity flashed through his mind's eye. Whenever Jacket dealt any sort of damage to the Blight, pieces of it flung off and vaporized into thin air just like the substance that was now streaming down his face. Leaning back onto the rough brick wall, Jacket chuckled lightly to himself.

"Ha... ha ha ha... what the hell am I?" For once, in a long time, Jacket genuinely wondered. He'd ask that question only once before. Four months ago... in an alleyway similar to this one. And in answer, another being appeared in a soft glow of light. Lisken'Pell, the mighty Reaper, who proceeded to educate him on the world of Ether, and Strays, and Crossers...

But now... Jacket was alone, and he could only sit there, hunched over and gritting his teeth. Taking it. Dealing with it all. Just like he always has.

Above him, a plane of some sort roared overhead. So high up, away from the ground... away from the world. If he still had his ghostly body, Jacket might have floated up there too. As he absentmindedly gazed up at the endless blue, Jacket let is hand slip off his face, no longer paying any heed to the grotesque fountain of dark pitch smoldering into the air. Tiny chips of his mask fell onto his lap as he exhaled deeply.

"What the fuck did I do to deserve this?"

As he wallowed in self-pity, Jacket thought... that the worst possible thing that could happen now would be if--

"Do tell, Jacket. What did you do?"

"UWAH!!!" Jacket leapt off his seat so fast he tripped over his own legs and tumbled backwards into more cardboard boxes, whipping black fluid in every direction. Popping back out of the junk heap, Jacket quickly threw a hand over his wound to hide it.

"Oh... Oh shit... you're here... B-But I thought you were in--"

"I finished extra-early. Just for you."

"B-But how did you find m--"

"This Ether thing's been pretty useful." Mirto's voice bore no sarcasm. Jacket didn't have to rely on his "lady skills" this time, he could tell she was pissed as hell.

"Oh... um... uh..." The Stray scrambled for words to say, like a child being caught in the act of misdeeds. Mirto, with her arms crossed and standing firmly in the alleyway, was clearly not amused. The jig was up, there was nowhere else to run.

"Oh God, I'm sorry!"

"...H-Huh?" Jacket threw himself in genuflection at Mirto's feet, catching her completely off guard. She had expected some kind of immature retort or deflection of her question... but not this.

"Please please please don't kill me. Well uh, I guess I'm already dead but... I know I messed up! I'll hide away for the rest of eternity. I'll cave myself into a hole forever! Just don't be mad! Oh geez, don't be mad!"

"Uh... I..." Mirto stood, a tad bit confused. Following Jacket's "ether trail", she had planned on stomping him down, and even had a whole lecture composed in her head! Now what was she supposed to do..? Looking down at her Stray's desperate form, Mirto suddenly noticed something odd. Forming around Jacket's face-down head, a strange black substance was beginning to form a pool.

"Hey, hold on... what's wrong with your face?"

(Oh... crap.) In his anxiety, Jacket had forgotten all about the wound. Still hunched over, Jacket quickly covered up the injury and looked away. "Uh... it's um... nuthin..."

"Look at me."

"Nuh...N-No."

"Look. At. Me." Judging by Mirto's tone, her patience was beginning to wear thin. Dammit, here we go... groaning pitifully, Jacket swallowed his pride and got to his feet. As he uncovered the left side of his face, Mirto covered her mouth and grimaced at the sight.

"Holy---!!"

"Y..Yea... I uh... met a little problem..."

"You're telling me! Jacket, what on Earth happened to you?! D-Does it hurt?"

"... Like a bitch."

[marcien]

and i am determined to make the group smaller!! rawr! (and poor cassius, he's caused more damage than he thought he would.) *pats the dog* and this episode... ummm, is something new for me. from writing ham and action to writing drama.

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: Morning
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Walk
PCs: Sophia (Oriole), M, Martin Chang, Alex Diamond
Other PCs: Jacket
================

"And I think that blasted thing... is behind this car..."

Sophia took a look at the creature that her crosser was referring to. She gave a gasp and turned to bury her face in M's hoodie.

Mister Jacket...... It's all my fault...! I made things all hot... then it exploded. Uwaaahh... Stupid Oriole! Why can't she learn to control her powers? Now she's sent Mister Jacket into the middle of a... lot... of humans... It must be scary for him... The more she thought about it, the more miserable she felt. Oriole is so useless...!

Then Jacket spoke something. Why is this happening to me? he thought. Sophia wanted to say something to him, but her voice would not come out.

"..." Jacket left.

Sophia mustered what strength she had to say something to M. Right now, Mister Jacket must be very sad. "Is... is Mister Jacket going to be alright?"

M's reply brought little comfort.

-- -- -- -- --

Maybe getting bumped around everywhere was okay for ghosts, but Alex is a human, and right now, she feels like shit. She was barely able to sit straight, one of her legs appears to be pointed in a direction she did not think was possible, and the other knee had began to bruise into a lovely purple hue, and her arms - oh god - she can barely feel them.

Okay, she takes back what she said about the ghosts being okay. Separated from their group, Jacket appears to be in a much worse condition than herself. Of course, Alex was not discounting the amount of pain having half of your brains blown out must be, but more so, being surrounded by a crowd of people when you look like that... Ouch. It was no surprised then, that Jacket went into an long outburst, and jumped off.

And what of the other two ghosts?

"M, what's happening to Sophia?"

-- -- -- -- --

Sophia appeared to have somewhat calmed down, for she had finally let go of his clothes and was now trying to stand on her own. With many things running through his mind now, M did not pay what Sophia was doing much heed.

-- -- -- -- --

Martin was, for the umpteenth time this morning, shocked. Sophia was beginning to melt into the ground. Her base turned into a pool of swirly orange-brown-white substance that seem to resemble lava and seeped into the ground.

"Hey Sophia, wait-" Gone.

"I'll go after her." Then M too, went into the ground, leaving the two crossers behind.

[Sentrovasi]

Date: 2nd June, Wednesday
Time: 2.45 AM
Weather: Cloudy
Location: 34 Noir Lane
PCs: Kayte Aios
Other PCs: -

Any other night, she might have changed into her dressing gown and called it a day. Unnecessary hours spent awake only made the possibility of undersleeping more dangerous. However, at present it seemed like those nights in particular were in very short supply. She eyed the sheet of paper the Crosser had relinquished as she leaned back in her armchair and contemplated the bright moon which still shone from the now-open full-length window.

Kayte wondered to herself if she had done the right thing in letting the Crosser go free. Panzer High Command would have had her head if they had known, but she liked to maintain a certain amount of professional privacy, and Command had accepted that condition when she agreed to work with them. As the head of the Artifact Retrieval Taskforce, she justified her actions as being outside of her scope: the retrieval and protection of Panzer Artifacts. After all, the Crosser had left with nothing, while she had, in truth, gained from learning the identity of the mystery Panzer who had commissioned her. Perhaps she was growing into mercy. It was strange; after five millenia, she had learnt that there was very little good in it.

Then again, she couldn't afford to let Command be distracted by an intrusion, anyway. She had just managed to get them focused on the strange Ether patterns around Pebbleton; a petty event like this recent break-in she could handle first and report later. Of course, she knew who she was looking for now. As both the curator of a museum and the library she had had installed, she had access to plenty of mundane resources which were still more than effective enough for her needs. It was just a matter of paying the perp a visit. She'd get Noa and Tethys to take care of the loose ends for her: the PISCES twins were reliable in a pinch, but she didn't want them in any trouble she could save them from.

Crossers like Randall, Heisel, and now Alex were becoming an increasingly frequent sight: the one thing they all shared was a lack of direction. They weren't threats to the world in the way Blights were, but they had as much potential for harm as help. Kayte's understanding of the world had never had constants like Good or Evil; Blights were merely misdirected thoughts, as much a natural occurrence as any other. Perhaps she was wrong to distrust Command's judgement, but she preferred to hold the puzzle pieces herself than be directed by a less experienced player.

She brought up a small display in her MPUD, a link between her MPUD and the custom one she had given Heisel after she had freed him. Removing the tracking device had gotten rid of most of its functions, but it was enough to provide Heisel a good disguise and perfect anonymity. At least, anonymity to anyone but herself. She needed players, for who knew what lay ahead? One thing she was sure of: nothing in Pebbleton was coincidence.

She picked up the crumpled map from her dresser where she'd left it and stepped towards the open window. She had work to do.

[SavviG]

(Since my label is already purple, #4000FF I shall use this. Hope I don't cause any confusion )
Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 9:00~9:30
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Walk
PCs: Graciel
Other PCs: Cassius, Jacket, Alex, Sophia (Oriole), M.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few more shots were fired from Cassius. Some hits landed and some missed. The Blight was dancing about dodging the shots and at the same time trying to eye on the snowball of Strays. Graciel couldn't help make a small smile, but quickly shook it off and assess the situation.

"Hold off the shots!" shouted the cat and the firing ceased. Cassius was confused, "Yes Graciel sir?"

"Let's not cause more chaos than it's alre-" KERBANG!
Graciel flinched at the site of the snowball of stray's flying everywhere. He didn't know this would happen, "maybe the Blight and shooting really got to them" he thought

One particular stray flew off higher than the rest caught his eyes, yellow Jacket flew off with a small slight trail of black smoke.

Graciel scanned the area in the park and the Blight was gone, the explosion could have scared it off. On the ground, the strays started to pick themselves up, a male went over to a little stray to pick her up. She had teary eyes and she began to rub her bum. "ouch..." she murmur'd.

The group reformed and ran straight for Jacket who flew out of Dawnview Park.

Graciel followed suit and ushered Cassius to join him.

There was a crowd forming and Graciel had a gut wrenching feeling trouble is going to happen. He watched the situation unfold from afar. Cassius went into the crowed to get a better look at the victim of his attack.

Jacket was in the middle of attention and soon he went all out crazy. Shouting at the crowd.

Jacket left and the Strays left one by one, the little Stray sank into the floor, she looked really sad. The male Stray went after her. All that was left were two Crossers.

Cassius eyed on a certain Goatee guy from within the crowed. "Could that be the guy?!" Cassius lit up with excitement and the joy of accomplishment. He may have found his target.

Mean while, Graciel hid into the bushes and brought up his message app from the MPUD.

"Dear Noco, we have a situation ..."

[AYC]

(Jacket's cheesiness is contagious - Mirto's cheesy line towards the end/middle gives me TTGL vibes. "Believe in me, who believes in you!" Or something like that.)

Date: June 2, Wednesday
Time: 9:45 am, Morning
Weather: Clear
Location: An alleyway uptown
PCs: Mirto, Jacket
================

Even though she had managed to convince her teachers to let her take all her finals for the day early, even though she had scribbled and calculated like a madman, and even though she had run across town as fast as she could on an irritation-fueled Jacket hunt, she hadn't been expecting this at all. Mirto had come here with the full intention of dealing with his usual, sarcastic ham self, but what does she find instead but a horribly injured and kneeling Stray?

What kind of crazy situation did he get himself into?

She winces at the sight of the hole on the side of his face. It's oozing some sort of icky-looking black substance, but at the same time, it seems to be evaporating into the air. As gruesome as it looks, Mirto deduces that it must be his ether, or at the very least, ether if it could be material.

That doesn't look very good at all. Anger aside, they are more important things to focus on at the moment... like patching up her Stray partner's horrendously mutilated face. Gross.

"Jacket, give me your hand."

"Uh... what?"

Mirto meets his incredulous look with a raised eyebrow, and holds out her hand to him. "You heard me. Give me your hand."

As confused as he looks, Jacket reluctantly puts his ether-stained hand in hers. Much to his surprise, as soon as her fingers wrap around his, he can feel the wound on his face healing much faster. In fact, it feels like his entire ether supply is being replenished at an accelerated rate.

Whoa. Nifty.

"How did you know that?"

"Hm? Know what?"

"Know that this would make me heal faster."

"Wild guess."

Mirto's perplexed look makes it hard to tell if she's being serious or not. In the end, she just settles with a shrug.

"I don't know. It makes sense though, doesn't it? If ether's like life force, then touching a living thing would transfer over more life force, wouldn't it?"

Jacket's expression in unreadable. With a sigh, she musses up some of her hair with her free hand.

"Or... I just got the idea from how we had to shake hands when we bonded. Something like that, I guess."

To be honest, Mirto's not too sure herself. It just... came to her as an idea, and she had just acted on it without thinking much at all. Her explanation must've sounded pretty stupid, but at the very least, her hunch hadn't been wrong. She sighs again, and looks up to survey the remaining damage on her partner's face. Most of it seems to have been repaired, with only a few cracks of his mask left to be regenerated, and none of the tar-like black ether.

Mirto lets out a small breath of relief.

When the last crack is sealed, she lets go of his hand, and pulls out a small mirror from her bag. "Take a good look at yourself, Mr. Phantom Jacket, you're as good as new."

She watches with a faint look of amusement when he glances in the mirror, gingerly touching the left side of his face, and angles his head left and right. Mirto snatches the mirror out of his hand with a short, muffled laugh when Jacket suddenly grins and pulls a thumbs up pose at his own reflection.

Looks like someone's back to his usual self, at least.

"Wow... looks like you did a good job, Doctor Mirto!"

Her eyebrow twitches slightly at the new nickname, but she chooses wisely not to call him out for it. "Just don't let this happen again."

His smile seems to turn a bit sardonic as he replies. "Yeah..."

Perhaps she had spoken too soon - something's up. Although Mirto has a faint gist of the events that had transpired, she'd rather hear the story from her partner's own mouth - instead of the butchered retellings of high school students and hastily posted videos on the web.

"You still haven't answered my first question, you know. Tell me what happened."

Her forgotten irritation reappears when Jacket turns away and answers her vaguely. "You know... this and that..."

"I don't think this is 'this and that', Jacket." She rushes to the other side of him, and with the most strength she can muster, grabs him by the collar of his jacket and pulls him as close to eye level as she can, flashing an illuminated cell phone screen in front of his eyes. He grimaces at the familiar scene playing out before him, but Mirto's death grip makes it hard for him to pull away.

"Do you think this is really just 'this and that', Jacket?"

"... You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

She makes an angry noise of frustration before using both of her hands to shake him by the shoulders. "If by that, you're asking if I'm pissed, then YES. I. AM. Do you know why? BECAUSE I'M YOUR CROSSER. I have every right to be worried about my Stray partner, and because you're a special case, I have to worry about you even more. Just like how you feel that you're responsible for me, I feel just as responsible for you."

"...You don't have to, though."

Despite her frustrations, Mirto manages forces herself to sound as deathly level as she can. "It might've felt like a long time ago, but yesterday. You saved my life, Jacket, and not only that, but we're partners now. There's supposed to be some sort of mutual trust or something between us, isn't there? That's why. I will trust you to protect my life, and you will trust me to protect yours."

"Uh, I'm already dead, you know."

"I mean your existence, whatever. You get the point!"

Even though Mirto's irritation is probably very high at the moment, a grin manages to break out on Jacket's face, and he holds up his hands defensively. "Yeah, I get you. The kindness of your eloquent speech has reached the very depths of my blackened soul - "

For a split second, Mirto is torn between laughing at his seamless transition from his serious self to his normal self, or kicking him in the face. She really must be too kind though, because ultimately she decides to pass on giving him more physical pain for the day, and instead chooses to calmly release him from her iron grip. It's the least she could do for the angry rant/lecture she had just given him.

Mission accomplished, I guess.

"As long as you get it, that's all that matters."

"Yeah." Jacket stretches his stiff shoulders, and angles his head slightly to watch Mirto adjust the positioning of her school bag.

"... Hey, princess."

"... Don't call me that. What is it?"

"Thanks."

[Johker]

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 9:30 - 9:50 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Walk
PC: Cassius
Other PCs: Graciel, Martin (?), Sophia (?)
NPCs: Noco Berry

~ ~ ~ ~

Things were really hectic now.

"Dear Noco, we have a situation ..."

Glancing back at Graciel as he typed a mail into his MPUD, Cassius, extremely confused, tried his best to straighten out his thoughts.

S-so Senior Graciel Sir was surrounded by these Blights, but they weren't really Blights. Wait, one of them was, one of them wasn't. The one I shot at WASN'T really a Blight, which means I just injured an innocent person!! Then some Crossers and Strays ran out to help him... and then they all rolled into a ball which exploded... and there was a car accident! And the Blight who really wasn't a Blight got injured and really really mad! Now everything's messed up...

Cassius had failed to find the goateed Crosser, failed to get rid of the Dog-Lamp Post Blight, and now, he'd caused this. He felt terrible. Suddenly, Cassius saw a certain Goatee guy from within the crowd.

"Could that be the guy?!"

Cassius lit up with excitement and the joy of accomplishment. He may have found his target. But that had to wait. Now, he had to clear up this whole mess surrounding Not-Really-A-Blight Sir. A large amount of pedestrians were still standing around the scene of the accident, wondering what on Earth had happened. Suddenly, Cassius had an idea. From his MPUD's storage matrix, he retrieved a camcorder he had previously stored there and held it prominently in his hands. He took a deep breath and sprinted right into the center of the crowd.

"Nooooo! Mister Zaketa Sir! COME BACK!! Don't be mad... Oh nooo..."

Cassius then dramatically collapsed into a heap on the ground, whimpering and sobbing away.

"Ms. Director Ma'am is going to kill me... Just when I thought having THE GREATEST ACTOR OF ALL TIME MISTER ZAKETA SIR working with us would cause our film to be a success..."

Graciel just stared at this whole scene in disbelief. Nobody would even believe any of that. We were just filming a movie was an incredibly flimsy excuse that would be shot down immediately by anybod-

"Ehhh, you mean you were just filming a movie?!" shouted someone in the crowd.

"What else could it have been?! And now the whole lot of you've just made Mister Zaketa Sir angry! I'm sorry Mister Zaketa Sir... please don't run away... Ms. Director Ma'am is going to kill me..." Cassius then dropped back to the ground and continued to wail dramatically.

"That's so lame!" uttered one of the teens in the crowd.

"What about that whole 'Phantom Jacket' business?" quizzed another, more skeptical member of the crowd.

"He was obviously just acting in-character! We were filming a documentary about the Phantom Jacket and the various legends in this town, but thanks to the lot of you, it'll probably NEVER come to fruition! Ohhh noooo..."

It was at this point in time that Noco warped herself to the area to check out the status of things. She spotted Graciel and approached him.

"What's going on, Graciel?"

Before Graciel could even utter a syllable, Cassius exclaimed.

"Ms. Director Ma'am!!"

He ran right front of Noco and flung himself down at her feet, started sobbing and wailing once more and slammed his forehead into the ground repeatedly.

"Ms. Director Ma'am, I'm so sorry! That crowd of people made Mister Zaketa Sir mad, and he's ran off! Please don't kill me...! Noooo..."

At this point, most of the crowd decided that watching a man whimper and wail and sob and cry and fling himself to the ground made them really uncomfortable and started to dissipate. Against all odds, Cassius had successfully convinced the whole lot of pedestrians that the entire thing was just a fluke. Cassius sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Ms. Noco Sue-Berry Ma'am, if it weren't for you, they wouldn't have believed my story!"

"Uhh... You're welcome?"

"That was... quite a performance."

Suddenly, Cassius remembered the goateed man once more. He was still standing around at the scene. Lowering his voice, Cassius whispered to Noco.

"Ms. Noco Sue-Berry Ma'am, that man there suits the description you gave me. And there's an Ether trace coming from him too. I can sense it!"

"Hmm, that's strange, I don't see him giving off any Ether signal. Leave him to me, Cassius. Good job spotting him."

She said 'good job'! Ms. Noco Sue-Berry Ma'am complimented me. This is too good to be true!

Cassius grinned. Things seemed to be slightly better now, even if it was all thanks to luck. Suddenly, Cassius noticed something strange. He could sense an ether trace beneath him. On closer inspection, Cassius realized he was standing on a manhole cover. Which means whatever it was, it was lurking about in the sewers.

"Senior Graciel Sir, there seems to be something down there!" said Cassius, pointing frantically down at the ground.

(Yaayyy, it's time for Cassius to meet Oriole! They meet in the sewers, no less!
Fun fact: Zaketa is ζακετα, which is Greek for Jacket. Heee)

[Pasonia]

(Okay, finally I feel good enough to post something...
...but it'll take some time to comprehend this chaotic situation.)
(my code is #0000FF because someone ended up taking the one I used to have =_=;)
Date: June 2, Wednesday
Time: 9:40am - 10:15am
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Martin Chang
Other PCs: Alex Diamond
NPCs: Hailey
============================

Martin was shocked and annoyed both at the same time. Here he was, having no inkling of an idea what transpired way before he arrived on scene, and then again there was nobody to speak to about this.

Not even M or Sophia this time, who just mysteriously slinked away before he could do anything. Despite himself, Martin had a hunch that M would protect her better than he does; after all, it takes a Stray to know another.

Martin then suddenly remembered --

"Oh, right... I'm supposed to hold a lighter and say 'I call for the accursed bird above' or something. Supposing I can't do much now but buy a new bike and go home..."

Martin spied a chance to slither into the park without too many people thinking much of it, and he quickly made his way deep. Specifically, he went for the deep forest trail, where if any such bird lands it probably won't be the most surprising thing to happen, ever.

============================

"Lighter, check. Okay, it's lighting up properly."

Martin looked left and right cautiously, making sure nobody was looking at him perform what would definitely seem to be a juvenile "summoning" sequence that they used to show from those dubbed Japanese anime that has recently begun to replace SatAM.

Okay, here goes nothing.
"Martin Chang calls out for the accursed bird above!"

Martin Chang nearly stopped when he realised his voice went so loud that it reverberated through the forest, but he was past the point of no return the moment he shouted out the summon.

"Eh... nothing?"

Then Martin Chang was suddenly slammed in his behind by a very large force, which sent him sprawling onto the dead leaves beside the concrete trail.

"Ouch... what the fucking..."

"Be thankful I hit you out of the concrete trail. The way you greeted me, mister, it sucks worse than a bitch moaning in heat."

Martin swung around behind himself, trying to figure out who was talking to him, but didn't see anybody. He did see...

"A... crow?"

"'A... crow' is the response you're giving me, motherfucking jackass? I'm a fucking raven; ravens and crows are two different things!"

Martin then had yet another shock as he witnesses the avian morph into a human, surrounding by what looked like black molasses of something. Suddenly, he didn't feel like asking Hailey any more questions, but something inside him is egging him to ask.

"Hey, you called for your big sister, Hailey, right? Where's my god-damn fucking offering?"
Martin spied at his lighter. "This?"
He snapped it lit and the recently morphed Hailey wasted no time swigging the flame for her cigarette.
"Spit the shit you have. Whatcha gonna ask me?"

Martin Chang still kept his cool at this moment. He decided there was no point getting angry when all he wants to do is get an answer.

"... firstly, what the hell just happened before I arrived at the scene?"

Hailey puffed a long one into Martin's face, musing over two simultaneous situations. One, there is a guy whom she is pretty sure, knows scant little about Panzers to comprehend the problems he is about to face. Secondly...

"Before I begin my grand exposition, could the lady hiding in that tree please come down before I peck you out of this park?"

Martin swung his head around again. "Huh? Where? What?"

It was around that time that (what Martin initially saw as) a boy leapt from a tree in the exact direction that Hailey had pointed.

"I'm sure that kid's a boy," grunted Martin.

"No, she ain't. Laxie wants you to see her as a him, but she does have boobies," Hailey laughed as she slapped hard on Alex's chest area without even giving the girl any chance to react.

"What the...?" Alex was surprised by the sudden chest-ward slapping, and had Hailey not display features of a girl Alex would definitely have Hailey's neck in half.

That ain't no way to treat a girl, grunted Martin. In the back his head, he appended "even if that girl is too fucking apparently flat-chested!"

"So, what were you asking, !Kung bushman? About earlier?"

Now I'm the one getting the rimshot, groaned Martin.
"Well, yea, would the kind Miss Hailey tell us just what grand schemes are happening this early in an otherwise normal Pebbleton morning, eh? I would very much like you to share your grand exposition with us, milady!"
Martin swore, he did his best trying to give Hailey a retort, but all he could muster were weak, though obviously sarcastic messages.

"Huh..."

So Hailey, disgusted as she was by the weaknesses of the Crossers before her eyes, went into a long talk that pretty much covered the Stray group's encounter with the Blight, as well as the new presence of what she thought were two equally low-ranking and inexperienced Panzer nutcases.

"Uhh... waitaminute... what on earth happened to you, orangutan?"

A new nickname...? How many nicknames am I going to get today, bitch crow?

"I don't understand you, Princess Hailey?"

Hailey got a bit uncomfortable now, not sure if Martin was a Crosser, or someone who acts like a Crosser. By rights, no information of this sort should go to civilian press reporters, or shit will fly around and then suddenly become urban legends or, worse yet, Internet memes.

"Show me your Ether," Hailey blurted, hoping that her hopeful guess of Martin being a rarer type of Crosser would be correct... a rarer type even she has a bit of trouble remembering by the back of her head.

"'Show me your Ether', like one would 'show me the fucking money', eh? Is it this?" Martin then thought of the Ether, like he had on the train the night before. Instantly, Hailey spotted traces of ether flowing from the ground beneath Martin...

...before that trace's intensity just suddenly disappeared, like how one would see a light bulb turned off in a dark room.

So we have a Concealer... that would make things doubly complicated.

"Okay, monkey, here's your deal. You know those two Panzers I was talking about earlier?

"Someone like you?"

Hailey didn't respond to that. Despite being classified a Panzer, she felt thoroughly anti-Panzer at that moment.

"...well, I think this would do well," Hailey muttered, grabbing a smartphone-like thingy that Martin has never seen before in his entire life. "Look at these pictures?"

Martin blinked; the images were of a dog and a cat.

"Ah!" Alex exclaimed aloud, noticing the similarities between those images and her recent encounter.

"These are probably newly-minted grunts, but, monkey bushman, they both would definitely not be risking their operating so openly if not for the fact that they are looking for you."

Martin stared at her for a bit, quite scared at this new information of animals stalking him.
"Why on god's green earth would animals be looking for me?"

Hailey shrugged. "You're a Crosser. The Panzers are information-crazy, but they probably went apeshit over you because they don't even know in the slightest bit who you are. I should've asked you this earlier, but your facial hair..."

Martin grinned in response. "I keep my goatee trimmed properly."

"I don't need to know that sort of rubbish. As is, you are rubbish and of no help to this cause, unless you learn a few more things about manipulating your Ether."

Martin... control...
Martin was struggling to keep his anger down.

"Be thankful you're blessed with the ability to hide your ether; that will buy you some time from the Panzers in the event that you see them and wish to dash off like a bitch scalded by the wife's pot. Though, from you salaryman getup, you do look every bit incapable of shit."

Martin could put up with any form of insults, ANY form, that stems from the look of his facial hair to his whole outlook. He could even withstand a rimshot from Randall calling him a pedo.

But he never, ever, stood for people calling him incapable.

"THAT'S ABOUT ENOUGH FROM YOU, BITCH CROW!"

That outburst took Alex back a few paces despite herself. Hailey's eyebrow raised at the sudden outburst.

"NOBODY IN PEBBLETON CALLS ME - MARTIN CHANG - INCAPABLE! YOU CAN FUCKING LAUGH ALL YOU WANT ABOUT MY LOOKS, YOU CAN CALL ME NAMES, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU PLEASE! BUT YOU CANNOT - EVER - CALL ME INCAPABLE!"

Hailey laughed out loud, instead of pacing back a few steps like Martin had expected. Instead of the apology he was anticipating, Hailey merely smirked and tutted at Martin.

"Tch, tch, incapable fools are incapable of anything but shouting at swearing, eh? Don't you admit that you are incapable of comprehending what I am? Didn't Ratmist tell you anything about what I am?"

Alex was a bit worried about the direction of the talk.
"Could you two, uh, please stop it right about now?"

Martin decided he wouldn't respond to the taunting, instead forcing the talk into dangerous new frontiers even Martin wouldn't have guessed he was headed in the heat of the moment.

"WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW HOW AWESOME YOU ARE, BITCH? YOU'RE JUST SOME RANDOM OLD WOMAN WHO CAN TURN INTO A CROW FREAK SHOW AND IS SINGLE AND UNMARRIED, BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS YOUR SORRY MIDDLE-AGED ASS!!!"

Alex gulped hard.
Martin had just broached the topic of age. No woman would stand for that kind of insult.
And once again this morning, she was at the sidelines of what was supposed to be a group conversation.

Just when the thought of bodily harm to Martin flashed across Alex's mind, the young woman witnessed Hailey land the swiftest "low blow" - ever - on Martin's family jewels. Alex took another few paces back as the raven took off into the sky in a furious huff, while Martin dropped onto the forest trail moments after that egg-splitter.

Martin was left kneeling on the forest trail with his hands firmly clutching in the area of his jewels.

"Oh, my precious jewels, ow, fuck that hurts... What the hell is wrong with women these days?! Ow......."

Alex sighed, staring at the quivering-in-a-ball figure that was Martin Chang.

"I thought most men would know by now... never to mock the age status of a woman. Jeez... and I didn't even get to ask a single question of my own thanks to you."

[Pictor]

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: around 10 AM
Weather: Clear
Location: An alleyway uptown
PC: Jacket, Mirto

============

"Hmmm... ah! What if we add this thing here."

"...You really think this will work?"

"Shush. Hold on! I'm thinking! Ummm... oh! This will do just fine!" Jacket posed helplessly as Mirto danced about the alleyway, picking up bits and pieces of junk and piling them in seemingly senseless order on Jacket's body. After what seemed like too long, Mirto finally stepped back and admired her masterpiece.

"...W-Well?"

"Pfffft... hehe...hahahahaha!!" Mirto couldn't help but burst out into laughter. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she laughed this hard. It was too funny. The original plan she had concocted was to somehow dress the Stray up in a way that wouldn't make him stand out while they got somewhere safer. But the only things that were around were heaps of junk!

"Oh come on, I thought we were being serious!"

"Hahaha... you look ridiculous! Hahahahaha...!" As Mirto tried to catch her breath, Jacket shook the mound of miscellaneous objects off of himself. Watching the girl wipe the tears from her eyes, the Stray couldn't help but crack a smile himself. Mirto began to quiet down when she noticed Jacket's bemused stare.

"W-What?"

"Oh nothing~! I was just thinking... like you said we only met yesterday, but this is the first time I've ever seen you laugh. You should do it more often. It might make you a happier person." Suddenly turning away, Mirto cleared her throat and quickly smoothed out her uniform.

"W-Whatever. If you have the time to be sucking up, then figure a way out of this mess you made!" Teasing aside, Mirto was right. He's already caused her enough trouble.

"I guess... I could always just stay here until this all blows over..." Immediately, Mirto raised two crossed arms and shook her head firmly. Wrong answer!

"Nuh uh, not gonna happen! First of all, I can't even trust yo to take care of yourself anymore..." Jacket winced as Mirto enunciated her words. "... And second, this isn't going to just 'blow over!' You caused a big incident in a small town, Jacket! I'd be surprised if they don't make you the next Loch Ness Monster! I mean, even I've heard of the Phantom Jacket of Pebbleton before I met you in person."

"Hnnng..." Shot down twice in the same day... ouch. Jacket sunk lethargically into the cardboard pile as he groaned depressively. "Well... I'm out of ideas..."

(Figures out of all the ghosts in the world, I not only get the one who can't turn invisible, but also the one who is laziest as well.) Mirto leaned herself steadily against the brick wall of the alleyway and crossed her arms in thought. "The problem is... not only are you stuck in a physical form, but your appearance is super conspicuous as well!"

"Tell me something I don't know." Paying no heed to the smartass buried inside the cardboard garbage pile, Mirto continued to rack her brains out. As well read as she was, the Crosser girl never would have guessed she'd be dealing with a problem this bizarre! "Dammit! And it's not like you're a small ghost either! You're all tall and bulky..."

Again from the cardboard pile, a hopeless Stray gave a silent shrug. Mirto placed her hands against her forehead and rubbed furiously.

"Rrrrr... If only.... if only I could shrink you or something--!!" Suddenly, a mental lightbulb exploded inside Jacket's mind as his eyes flashed with inspiration.

"W-Wait a second! That's it! Oh man, I can't believe I didn't think of this before!" Flipping up from his disposable throne of despair, Jacket rushed over and grabbed Mirto by the shoulders. "Check it out... I'm going to solve all our problems right now!"

"O...kay...?" Mirto eyed her Stray suspiciously as she freed herself from his hold. "What are you on about?"

"Huhuhuhu... just watch. Taking a few steps back, Jacket smiled shrewdly as he cracked his knuckles. Raising both hands, the Stray closed his eyes and pressed his fingers firmly onto his chest. Mirto watched quietly and curiously as Jacket furrowed his brows in concentration. "And.... here.... we.... go!"

*BOMF!!*

Suddenly, a powerful gust of black fog burst forth from where Jacket was standing; the very same black fog that was previously smoldering from his open wound. An unsuspecting Mirto had to brace herself against a wall-bound pipeline to prevent from getting knocked over. Various bits of scraps and cardboard blew in all directions, slapping against the walls and flying out onto the streets. When the scene finally settled, Mirto was left coughing and hacking through all the dust. Waving her way through the lingering black smoke, Mirto approached the so called eye of the storm.

"Uh... Jacket? Where'd you go?" On the ground at her feet, in an untidy bunch, lay a crumpled yellow jacket and a shabby grey cap. But nowhere was their owner in sight. "...Jacket, come on! I swear... if he's trying to play some kind of joke..."

"Oi! Down here!" Just when Mirto was beginning to express her doubts, a muffled squeak beckoned to her from beneath the pile of clothes.

"Wah!" Mirto nearly stumbled backwards as a small bulge suddenly popped up from underneath the yellow jacket. Whatever it was... it scurried about the cloth prison, yelling and muttering incoherently.

"Geh... c'mon... get this thing... offa me!" When the creature finally stumbled out into view, Mirto could not help but give a light gasp. It was a minuscule thing, no bigger than the palm of the Crosser girl's hand. It slowly got onto its stubby black legs and pat the dust off itself with spindly, ankle-length arms. To Mirto, it appeared as a cross between a gremlin or an imp of some sort.... one with tufts of spikey hair, that is. Setting its hands on its hips, the creature stared triumphantly up at Mirto with large, gaping black eyes, only one of which bore a pupil.

"Geheeheeheehee... So what do you think?"

"Y-You.... You're tiny." The small, imp-like thing gave an equally small sigh, and smugly waggled a finger.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Nope! I'm mini. Get it right, girl! Say hello to Mini-Jacket! Pretty clever, right?

"..............."

[marcien]

first we have the two sweartoads face-off, then we have the two tsunderes arguing. next, the two airheads meet. am i seeing a pattern here?

Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: Morning
Weather: Clear
Location: Pebbleton Uptown Underground
PCs: Sophia (Oriole), Cassius
Other PCs: M, Graciel
NPCs: Noco Berry
================

"Down...?" questioned Graciel. This new panzer who showed up beside him only several minutes ago was riddling his mind with question marks. Now, this, ummm, dog had already kept his camcorder and was squatting down beside a manhole cover trying to pry it open.

Your tail is showing! Graciel skipped over quickly to cover up Cassius' behind. Any human seeing that would have thought that he was an exceptionally affectionate cat.

"Leave this to me, Senior Graciel, sir! I will recee the sewers for these ether traces, and report this back to you! With a final pull, the cover came off and Cassius fell backwards, very nearly squashing Graciel. The dog jumped into the manhole, tail still wagging vigorously.

"Hold on! Those are not blights or any-- NYYEEOOW!!" Wet! Cold! Graciel regretted following Cassius into the sewer. He looked up to see Mrs Berry bending over manhole.

"Help me up please, Noco?"

(ow, missed panty-shot scene. darn.)

-- -- -- -- --

Oriole had no idea where she was headed to. Only that she wanted to go away from everything. Should I go and find Mister Jacket? But he will be mad at me, right?

Not too far from her, she heard M's thoughts: Sophia??! Hey, it's dangerous, you could meet with blights!

Blights? But this horrible Sophia... she is worse than a blight...! She made Mister Jacket fall into a lot of humans! Sorry, Mister Mad Hooder, Sophia will leave and not bother you anymore...

-- -- -- -- --

"Who is the new dog?" Graciel asked Mrs Berry as he shook himself over and over trying to get rid of the water in his fur.

"A new recruit assigned as your... partner," she replied, "Didn't you check the mail I sent?"

Graciel pawed at his MPUD. Oops.

-- -- -- -- --

Hmmm? There are two ether traces... But one is going here and the other one there... How shortsighted am I! I should have asked Senior Graciel to accompany me!! Oh no, they've split up now, what should I do? I... I will just follow the one that is further away...! Miss Noco Madam is so cool, she can take care of the other one!

As he moved about the maze-like sewers of Pebbleton, the dog panzer decided to wisely fish out a clothes-peg and clip it on his nose. This sewer is smelly! That might have been what dulled his senses, for the next moment, he walked into what felt like a microwave oven.

-- -- -- -- --

When Oriole moved out of the wall she was surprised to see a panzer boy (?). He jumped a few feet back and brought out a pair of guns. Hot hot hot hot hot!! A blight in the sewers? Oh no! It must be stopped--

Sophia could not hold back her tears any more and began crying aloud,"Waaaaaaaahhhh...!"

Bang! Her sudden outburst shocked Cassius, and his finger slipped on the trigger. Thankfully, the bullet found no mark.

"Waaaaaaaahhhh...! Why does Sophia have to be called a blight?! Uuuu...uuweeaaahh..."

She's a stray! Not a blight! Oh no, how many mistakes am I going to make in a day...?! I screwed up so bad on my first time outside!

"Uuu... Why does Mister Jacket has to be treated like a blight too..... Uuuu... Uwaahhh...."

"Umm about that, I am sorry!" Cassius kept his Eagles in a hurry. "You are not a blight, neither is Mr. Zaketa-- I mean, your friend in a yellow jacket! I'm sorry I shot him!!

"You... You shoot Mister... Jacket... Why...? Panzers are nice people...! But you are not... You are a bad panzer!!"

"I know! I nearly killed two innocent strays... I am a bad panzer!! I'm so sorry that I did that...!!"

"WAAAAAAHHH......!"

"Buuuhheeaahhh...!!"

-- -- -- -- --

M followed the noise to see a panzer and a stray, both sitting down right in front of each other bawling and crying their eyes out.

What. The. Hell...? Maybe he should leave them alone for now...?

[SavviG]

(#4000FF)[wwooooops, miss typed something! Sorry Sophia!]
Date: 2 Jun, Wednesday
Time: 10:00~10:15
Weather: Clear
Location: Tunnel, sewage system?? It's pretty dark down here.
PCs: Graciel
Other PCs: Cassius, Sophia (Oriole), M, Noco Berry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Graciel stood on the edges of the dark tunnel, the only light was from the opened manhole, sightly obstructed by Nono. He shifted his form into a human, with a cats tail and ears. The muddy water didn't feel like a river to him no more. Still, he was wet from it. Ugh, need a bath when I get back.

Graciel Looked up the manhole, "Ma'am, do we have to pursue the Strays?"

Noco looked down the dark hole, "Go retrieve you partner. Meet me at the park, I will instruct you both then." She stood up looking around for the man with the goatee, shoot, gone. She left the manhole to the park, hopefully unoticed by people.

Graciel, looked towards the dark passage, "oh boy, new partner and mission huh ...". Graciel called up his night vision visor. He can now see the tunnel clearly. He proceeded deeper at a fast walking pace, waste water splashed around.

This brought back his memories. The last partner he had parted from him way back, the Panzer back then was a owl. She was pretty good, especially night scouting. She would direct Graciels' every move and his targets. The missions were clean and swift as they can be. She was assigned elsewhere when Graciel graduated from the academy. - "uuuuuu...."

A sudden weeping cry followed by a weak howl stopped Graciels past thoughts. More splashing. He stopped and listened, he was by a intersection now. Graciel followed the weeps and then found two figures huddled together. Time to extract them.

== * + * ', ... =======================

M watched the two, Cassius was constantly apologising hoping it would calm the girl down. From what M is seeing, the Panzer was having a bit of difficulty.

"uuuwaaaahhh.... go away bad P-panzer! You hurt Mr Jacket! uuuweeaaah..."

M couldn't just stand and watch them go at it. As he approached the two, a third appearance came, another Panzer. He was too approaching the two.

Graciel greeted Cassius and then crouched by the little girl who was still crying. He lifts up his visor, Hey there lil one...- "Hey!" cried M. Both Panzers looked up.

He approached the little one and in a lower voice,"Sophia, are you okay?"
"uuuwwwwaaaaaahhh~ This is a bad Panzer uuu..." she clenched onto the man.

Graciel pulled Cassius up, "We're, we're very sorry for what happened." The guy looks up, to Graciel then back to Sophia, stroking her hair ushering her to calm down. "shhhh... it's alright now... M is here."

She stopped crying, and then looked up at the two Panzers, and then pouted at Cassius. Cassius didn't know whether to utter the words that he was sorry for shooting and calling her a Blight or just look away, instead He sheepishly hid behind Graciel then uttered "S-sorry, I er...".

Graciel flicked his cat ears now and then, it was hot, very hot and it made his ear itchy like. "I'm Graciel, this here is Cassius, he's new here." He then motioned for the Strays.

"M, and this here is Sophia" replied M.

Sophia was looking at Graciels ears now, fascinated. She never seen one with cat ears like that before, not this close either. She motioned Graciel closer and he moved closer, and closer till he was in reach. She reached out her hand and flicked Graciel's cat ear.

Graciel fell back sitting in waste water, rubbing his ear. Sophia still looking mezmorized be the cat features.

Cassius let out a small giggle and M showed a small smile.

"Are you a good Panzer Mr Cat?"

[AYC]

Date: June 2, Wednesday
Time: 10:10 am, Morning
Weather: Clear
Location: An alleyway uptown
PCs: Mirto, Jacket
================

". . ."

Mirto stares down at the smaller, beaming Jacket.

"... 'Mini-Jacket'? Is that supposed to be cute or something?" Her hollow expression makes it easy to tell that she's not very impressed. To be honest, he looks a bit more... scary in this form. Must be the gremlin-like features. Or the fact that his clothes didn't shrink with him.

"So you have no issues parading around 'naked' like that?"

Jacket shrugs casually, and doesn't seem particularly deterred by the piece of information. "Eh. It's not like I'm in my normal form, so who cares? 'Sides, it's a small price to pay for the ability to avoid humans!"

"... For the most part. You can still be seen by them, you know."

Despite her skepticism, at least she can admit that it reduces one problem even if it's definitely going to take her some time to get used to this new form of his. With a sigh, she bends down and flicks him lightly on the forehead with her finger. "So, Mini-Jacket, what now?"

"Easy, isn't it? I'll just stick to wandering around in this fo - OUCH!"

Mirto flicks his forehead again, this time with thinly veiled irritation. "No way. You're going to get yourself stomped by some humans thinking that you're some sort of rat or giant spider. I don't want to be peeling a pancake of a Stray off the sidewalk because of you."

Said Stray massages his head where she had hit him. It's almost funny how put out he looks now that she has the upper hand over him in this midget form - he's probably itching to revert back to his normal size just so he can one-up her. Jacket plops his tiny self down onto the floor, and gives her what looks to be a sulky scowl.

"What do you suggest then?"

"Easy, isn't it?" she replies nonchalantly, throwing his words back at him. "You're coming with me."

He opens his mouth for a retort, but Mirto cuts him off with a third flick to the forehead. "I know what you're thinking. I'm not going to hide you in my closet or something, ugh, no. It'll just be for now, until we think of another solution, or until this 'whole thing blows over', like you said. My aunt and uncle are gone by now, so you can change back to your usual form too when we get there."

Despite the still surly expression on his face, Jacket seems to be seriously contemplating her suggestion. Or alternatively, trying to find flaws with her reasoning. Geez, it's not like she's trying to tie him down or anything - personally, she feels that his current predicament restrains his freedom even more than making a temporary hideout out of her apartment. At least he won't have to worry about excitement-deprived citizens flashing their cameras at him or calling him a monster.

Dammit, Jacket. I'm doing this for your sake.

At long last, he finally caves and stands up with a somewhat grumpy expression, like he's a kid who got his video games taken away. "Alright, alright, I get it. Lead the way, princess!"

Mirto gives him a coolly triumphant look, and in a flash, picks up and neatly folds his discarded jacket and hat into a small bundle. "Glad you could see things my way. Let's go."

She quickly stows his clothing into her bag as Jacket leaps in and settles himself comfortably amongst her belongings. His head pokes out from the gap between the zippers, and it almost looks like he could come off as your standard, small stuffed plush - though it would mean that she has a disturbing sense of cute, to like stuffed... imps... gremlins... whatever. Mirto's not particularly thrilled by that aspect, but as she steps out of the alleyway, she's a little more worried about people realizing that said "plush" blinks. Hopefully nobody will notice.

"Alright, we should get there in a few minutes. Hold on tight."

Jacket gives her a disinterested yawn in response, and readjusts his position inside her bag.

"Oh, hey, I didn't know you put your uniform in here. No wonder why it smells like coffee."

"Hm? Well, of course, I have to take it home to wa - "

At the sudden pause, Jacket looks up just as Mirto narrows her eyes in suspicion.

"Wait. How did you know that?"

OH CRAP -!

[AYC]

(M shows Sophia how to fist bump.)

Date: June 2, Wednesday
Time: 10:15 am, Morning
Weather: It's a sewer. Dark. Damp. Icky.
Location: Pebbleton Uptown Sewers
PCs: M, Sophia, Graciel, Cassius
================

It's not good for little kids to beat themselves up over things, dead or not. M's glad that Sophia seems to have cheered up at least.

The cat Panzer - Graciel - seems to be torn between amusement and discomfort under Sophia's curious gaze. It's kind of cute how she seems rather fascinated by the animal ears and tail - it's too bad that Martin the Grouchy Goatee Man doesn't seem like that type to keep a pet though. Not to mention, there's no way for ghosts like them to interact with ordinary, living animals.

He smiles when Sophia reaches out to touch the Panzer's ear, sending the guy jerking back into the muddy water in surprise. He's relieved when she asks him brightly and innocently, "Are you a good Panzer, Mr. Cat?"

Graciel seems to be thrown off guard, and he shares a confused look with the snickering Cassius, as if asking him for assistance. His companion doesn't seem to be doing a good job or providing him support, so he answers hesitantly, "... Yes?"

Sophia giggles this time, and asks again, "Really?"

"Yes, really! I would never hurt an innocent Stray!"

Sophia beams, and pulls away from M to hold out her hands to the sitting Panzer. "Okay, I believe you."

Graciel's ears droop a little in what seems to be relief. "Good. And for the record, Cassius here isn't a bad Panzer either. He's just new at this. It was an accident, right, Cassius?"

The younger Panzer does a brief, enthusiastic salute in response. "Yes, sir! It was a complete accident. I would never hurt an innocent Stray or Crosser on purpose! Please forgive me!" To add to the honesty behind his words, he even kneels in front of her and grips her hands, staring up at her with twinkling, puppy-dog eyes.

Although she seems to hesitate for a moment, Sophia ends up patting him on the head in agreement. "Okay... you're forgiven. As long as it was an accident."

"YES!" M watches with a stunned sort of amusement when the dog Panzer does a victory fist pump. "I swear on it, miss, that this will never happen again!"

Sophia giggles, and returns to M's side, holding onto his sleeve. "See, Mr. Mad Hooder, Panzers aren't that bad."

"Hm. I suppose so." At least, not these Panzers. "Glad you're feeling cheerful again, Sophia."

"Yeah! Oh..." Perhaps he had spoken too soon, because she seems to have suddenly remembered what had happened to Jacket. Her grip on his sweater tightens as she struggles between feeling depressed and staying cheerful.

Damn it. Way to watch your timing, M.

With a sigh, he bends down to her eye level and puts his hands on her shoulder reassuringly. "Listen, Sophia. It's not your fault."

"B-but it is! If I hadn't... If I hadn't -!"

"It's not your fault," he repeats, more firmly this time. "No one could've predicted what had happened. And you were scared, weren't you? Being stuck inside that... ball of Strays and Crosser, right?"

When she nods, he places one of his hands on her head, and ruffles some of her hair playfully. "Exactly, it was just a panic reflex. Everyone does something different when they panic - just look at that Crosser Alex, she did the same thing as you!"

"... Yeah! I guess you're right..."

M grins at the sight of a timid smile growing on her face, and straightens up. "Besides, I don't think that Mr. Jacket of yours would like it if he knew that you were beating yourself up for what happened to him. If there's anyone to blame, it's that Blight!" His grin widens, and he holds out a fist to her. "Tell you what, let's go find that Blight and get some payback for what he did to Jacket!"

Although he's sure that if it was any other situation, Sophia would show some more reservation; but caught up in the moment, she matches his toothy grin with a vibrant smile, and lightly bumps her fist with his. "Yeah! Let's do it!"

Damn, I'm good.

The Panzers watch the scene with an awe struck sort of amusement, and Cassius whispers excitedly over to his partner, "Hey, that looks kind of fun. Can we do that too?"