Lamentable Nights: Act 04.1 - "You've Got a Friend in Me"

[Sentrovasi]

Date: 08/06 Tuesday
Time: 4:28 PM
Weather: Raining
Location: Materion Square
PC: Threads
Other PCs: Lazarus

"I guess it's about time for me to go back," he remarked to no one in particular. Whiling his time away along 7 Tranquille Drive didn't make it any easier on anyone, and he suspected that the raven that had warned him off going back for a while was probably gone.

Besides, he was starting to see lightning in the distance, and he didn't want to see if that could strike him or not.

He'd been trying to be more considerate of others largely because he realized that even while he was aware that the parallel people were as alive as he was, it was hard to reconcile yourself with people who you couldn't talk to, touch, or be seen by. It was ironic that his first conversation in a while had been with a bird.

Perhaps-

"SOMEBODY SAVE MEEEEEEE!!"

"Wha-"

He turned in time to see a bizarre-looking creature almost bowl him over. His first instinct, to run, was quickly supplanted by a second: the strange creature was tangible.

Perhaps he had been spending too long away from people after all, that the first two things he should talk to in a whole week would have been a bird, and... whatever this was.

Stumbling several steps back before pushing the strange creature off of him, it immediately became apparent that it had been this which had issued the cry for help. Dressed in suspiciously prison-like garb, the bear-headed being seemed as disoriented for the moment as he was, which gave him just enough time to wonder if he should run before deciding against it.

"Who... or what are you?"

The bear, however, seemed too disoriented to have heard his question.

"Owowow...! Aa - AH! I'm sorry!"

Despite his suspicions, he found himself slightly concerned for it. It certainly seemed more out-of-place and panicked than he was, which put him in mind of how it had begun for him so long ago now.

"... It's fine. Are you alright?" He inclined his head a little, indicating that his question was directed toward the whole ensemble and not just the creature's current disposition. Was it running from the rain? The lightning?

The creature seemed to mirror his movement, tilting its head as well as though trying to assess the situation. "Eh? I'm fine..." Then, looking like it had properly gotten its bearings, the creature spoke again, albeit still hesitantly, "Are you a Crosser? If you are..."

Unexpectedly, the being leaps forward at him again, its arms latching around his abdomen. "Please bond with me! Pleeeaase - !"

Crosser? Again with the strange words. It was twice now that others had thrown these weird names around him. Did they have some neo-reality lexicon he was unaware of?

Despite his internal questions, he was finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the desperate advances of the bear suddenly attached to his waist. He attempted to nudge the bear's head, gently at first, then progressing to firmer pushing and then half-serious elbowing.

"Hey, hey, seriously. I... don't... think... this is the... best... time," he said between efforts to shove it off, shouting above the rain pouring around them and the shadows which seemed to be appearing at the edges of his vision...

What?

"Hey, I'm serious," his voice took on a more serious tone as his eyes quickly picked out the outlines of several shadows even through the thick haze of rain. How had he not noticed them before? "It looks like you've got some of those monsters chasing after you."

The bear-thing didn't seem to be in any hurry to let him go, although it did look up at him in response. "B-but... but...! I need to make a bond to get rid of those Blights..!"

Blights? Was that what they were calling these monsters? Another pause; the creatures seemed like they were moving closer now, and now he realized they were moving at a faster speed than he was accustomed to. He was about to say something else when he realized that the bear's grip was weakening.

"Unless..." a hint of confusion crept into its voice, "you're also a Stray?"

"Look, I don't care about Strays, and I don't know how a bond is going to solve anything, covalent or otherwise, but--"

Fully aware of the fact that they were running out of time, he took advantage of the sudden loosening of arms to break free of the creature's hold. Instinctively he grabbed it by the arm to prevent it from falling to the ground, and quickly pulled it to its feet in an awkward stumble before breaking into a run.

"There's a time and place to discuss this, and it's not now!"

He had only one thought in his mind: to get to Fukami Mansion, a place he knew and wasn't their territory. Even as they ran, he saw three or four of the shadows seem to break away from the others in an all-out chase. His hand was locked in a death-grip around the smaller bear-thing's wrist, literally dragging the slower runner along with him. Now they were along Lagann Street, and he couldn't see the other end through the poor visibility of the rain...

Damn.

All of a sudden, he heard a crackling reminiscent of the lightning he'd heard, and a sudden light flashed out from behind him. Once. Twice. Against his better judgement he turned, in time to see sparks arcing from the frame of the bear behind him, its arm outstretched in the direction of the shadows, where only one of the three which were catching up now remained.

Another sharp crackling issued from the bear, a flash of electricity seeming to arc through the rain, illuminating the street behind them for a short period before the last monster evaporated in a cloud of smoke. Despite himself, he was impressed.

"That lightning from just now... was you?"

The creature seemed to be too focused on the shadows to hear him. "Nnnn... they just keep coming - !"

And it was right: the few ones it had taken out were soon replaced by others, undeterred by the demise of their brethren.

"What are you, some kind of extra-tasty monster snack? Why are there so many after you?"

The veneer of calm he'd attempted to maintain now betrayed a little bit of desperation as they continued to run, but he was well aware that the short respite its attacks afforded was ineffective, not to mention unsustainable, if it was anything like him. They wouldn't reach Fukami Mansion in time, unless...

"Here goes..." He concentrated for a moment, feeling the pattern he'd built into himself seethe with his Ether as he pinpointed the blueprint he wanted. As he did, the gloves he wore began to glow with strange symbols and patterns.

The raven's wings unfairly fettered

All of a sudden, the gloves were gone, the patterns and glyphs which had covered it snaking their way across the both of them and leaving a trail of blue along their bodies.

Find small succor in lead-to-air

A sigil of a feather glowed in front of them before bursting into light, and suddenly it seemed to the both of them that their bodies were a lot lighter than they had been.

"Ugh... Don't attack them anymore while we can get away; I think you might agitate the others." His tone was less desperate now that they'd put some distance between them and their pursuers, but he was fully aware that he'd spent more of his Ether and used a blueprint he only had one more of.

"Okay... I think you're right." The bear-thing looked back at the shadows, but now seemed more interested in what he'd done. "... Was that your Enomena?"

"E... eno... what?" Now that the adrenaline was gone, he was beginning to feel a little wearier. "Ugh, just... no more questions until I can be sure we're safe."

And just as that moment, the gates of Fukami Mansion came into view. No bird, no entourage of happy people. Which was about right.

"Whew." His footsteps slowed, the weight returning to his body as his spell ended over the both of them. Letting go of the bear at last, he found his hand suddenly extremely sore, and realized how tight he'd been clenching its wrist the entire time. More importantly, though, it was something surprisingly refreshing: he hadn't actually come into proper contact with another living being since that time.

The bear, for its part, seemed less weary than on edge. "Where... are we? There aren't any Blights here, are there?" Its gaze, or at least where its glassy eyes seemed to be gazing, took in the decrepit and shadowy interior of the building, not least the gaping holes, broken windows, and leaking ceilings of the place he had come to call home.

Feeling somewhat self-conscious in the relief of the moment, he rose to defend the place. "It's... fine. I've been protecting this place a while. It's safe." His words were a timely reminder to himself of the last thing he had to do. "Oh, right. I still have to cover our tracks, though."

He stood as close to the bear as was possible without feeling significantly uncomfortable next to a bear in what appeared to be prisoner-garb, he recognized now. "I'm going to need you to refrain from using any Ether while I do this."

Using the sympathy of Solace was unpredictable, and he didn't want to end up spending any more Ether than he needed in what was almost certainly the longest day he'd had in a while. There was a long pause before the bear realized that he actually required a response.

"Oh... okay." It looked rather nervous for an expressionless bear, but it seemed to be making an actual effort to not move. At all.

"That works." Satisfied, he took the scarf in his hands, trying not to think about her as he did so. A light shimmer seemed to emerge from his frame, cleansing the area about him of the ambient Ether. As it crossed the threshold about the bear, the creature seemed to flinch a little as he attempted to include it into his own pattern recognition.

A slight pause, and then the shimmer washed over it, leaving them in an environment that felt... clean. Sterile.

"Okay. It should be fine now."

The bear seemed not to respond for a moment, then tilted its head again questioningly. "So... we're safe now?"

Safe. It was such a subjective term that he found himself even now beginning to reevaluate his position. He'd wanted to be more considerate of others' feelings, begin to treat people as people, but this? There was a fine line between compassion and gullibility, and he didn't know if he'd crossed that line a long time ago.

"From the monsters? For now." Now he took a step back. "But how safe am I from you?"

The creature makes as confused a gesture as it can manage with its bear head. "I'm dangerous..?"

Despite their ordeal a moment ago, he couldn't allow himself to let his guard down.

"... You tell me. I'll ask you again. Who or what are you?"

[Pictor]

Date: 8 Jun, Tuesday
Time: 4:35 PM
Weather: Raining
Location: Uptown Backstreets: Fukami Forest Property
PC: Jacket
================

"Oi.... this is a joke, right?" Jacket looked nervously at the crowd gathering just a few feet beneath him. A plethora of glowing crimson eyes and swarming dark fumes.

Mere hours ago, the Stray had been all fired for his ascent to glory and manhood. Though, it didn't even take him three steps to realize that he had no idea what such an ascent required. And so, instead of frying his head trying to debate the subject, Jacket instead opted to do what any reasonable person would do; sleep on it. It was a good thing, he supposed, that he picked such a high tree to park his hide on.

"RRRrrrrrRRrrRrr..."

A symphony of squeals, shrieks, and growls was growing beneath him. Instinctively, Jacket backed up against the trunk of the tree. Damn. That's a lot of Blights.

"W-Why the hell are there so many of 'em?!" Even as Jacket spoke, the sea of murky black welcomed new members. Ten? Twenty? A thousand? He couldn't count them if he had tried. There was no way he could take them all on.

"GRAWRrrrrrRRRR!!"

Looks like the guests were getting rowdier. One of the more restless creatures tried to drive itself up the tree with its claws. It barely succeeded before plummeting down again.

"Yikes! It's just a matter of time before they knock this thing down completely..." Jacket swallowed hard and gathered his wits. Since he couldn't go down, he'd just have to stay above ground. Easier said than done... but there wasn't much of a choice. The Stray's single eye scanned the area until he found a suitable foothold on another, slightly small tree. It was a bit of a longshot, but he should be able to reach it.

"Here goes...!" Bracing himself for a brief moment against the trunk of the tree, Jacket used the branch as a foothold and leapt toward his destination.

*Crunch*

... Or he would have, anyway.

"Uh."

*CRASH*

It would seem, with all his attention paid to the growing threat on the ground, Jacket never noticed how much the tree branch was straining against his weight.

"Gah!" Jacket grunted as he made contact with the ground in an uncouth crescendo of splinters and leaves. "Tch. Ouch... Pteh!"

It wasn't until after he spat the loose twig from his mouth that the dazed Stray noticed a dangerously clawed appendage plant itself inches away from his head.

"HrrrRRrrrrr..."

Jacket glanced up to see himself completely surrounded at all angles by a horde of particularly famished looking Blights.

"...... Y-Yo."

"KRIEEEEAAA!!"

With a deafening shriek, the first Blight made its attack. A strange beast that looked like a mix between a bucket of ink, an ostrich, and a dog.

"Ungh!" Jacket rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being skewered by the creature's beak. Shifting his weight onto his arms, he flipped himself to his feet, kicking his attacker square in the sides on the way up.

"SKWAAAA...!!" With a hoarse cry, the avian creature was flung back into the crowd, bowling over several other Blights as it did. Jacket, now on his feet, silently wiped the mud and grass from his face and hands.

The creatures, now aware that their prey was capable of retaliation, backed off a few steps. They weren't, however, ready to relinquish a meal just yet. How many were there? Ten? Twenty? A thousand? Shadows of all shapes and sizes. Too many to count, and way more than Jacket had ever seen in one place. They polluted the grassy property like some sort of grotesque chemical spill. Where on earth did this many come from? It was literally like fighting an army.

"... Heh."

Suddenly, Jacket found his grimace twisting into a nervous smile. Was it due to the sheer sense of dread? Had he lost it? No. That wasn't it at all. If there was a word to describe the sensation pumping through his entire body right now, it would be... excitement.

"I thought this town would be paradise, but I couldn't have been more wrong."

Not even a day has passed since he woke up, and he's fighting for his life again. Just his luck, isn't it? In fact, the familiar tension seemed welcoming in a strange way.

"I've been chased here by a crazy bitch with a hammer, and since then... I've been hit by a train, burned by coals, shot through the head, filleted by some asshole with animal ears, and hurled off a cliff into the ocean." Jacket threw an arm out and pointed a finger straight at his demonic audience. "Get it? There's no way you small fry can do any worse. I don't care how many of you there are. If but you want to try... then COME AT ME."

Suddenly, as if answering his challenge, the sea of shadows before him erupted into waves of chaos. In an instance, the entire crowd of Blights swarmed upon their single target.

No way he could take them all on? But that was wrong. Because even the climb to the top has to begin somewhere. And to Jacket, this seemed like a pretty good place to start.

The ground trembled beneath his feet as a wall of black and red reared up against him.

"I've got better places to be. Outta My Way!"

[SavviG]

Date: 8 Jun, Tuesday
Time: 4:00 PM
Weather: Raining
Location: Top of Light Tower
PC: Graciel, Blacky
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'ACKCHOOOO!' followed by a miniature snorting sound under gunk. 'ow'l long are you going to be here? My butt is numbing from sitting here all day...'

'We've been here for about 3 hours.' Graciel was kneeling down, rifle pointing down. He scoped the area below. 'Oh, there's another Blight! This one looks hungry, its even raiding the bins. Why does it do that?'

'Like I kno-' BANG - The bullet left the barrel and zipped through the rain hitting the blight in the distance. 'Done.'

'By way, that email you got 2 hours ago. What did it say?' it watched and waited for a reply, but felt that it ain't going get one. 'I'm curious, plus, its about me.'

Graciel pulled back and leaned his back to the wall. Rifle hoisted up with him pointing to the sky. Safety set on. 'Well, Cassius would like to meet you. Said that he never met a friendly Blight before' a pause 'On the other hand, I've been told to capture you and take you back.'

The cat seemed wider eyed than before. It took a while before it animated again with eyes blinking and head twitches. 'B-but, I I- ' He scanned for a way off the light tower. No exit, it had a to escape, it's not safe no more. It ran about, even considered to jump and risk falling to its doom.

'Calm down, I didn't say I was going to do it.' The cat froze again, more relaxed now. 'Should've told me that you can't sense Ether or Blights too.'

'Revenge?! I thought I COULD!' It was breathing heavily, and exhausted from the shock.

'That's me, but others might be hunting you now.'

'What have you done?' In a low voice.

'Bound to happen, maybe they'll keep you alive. I told them that I will monitor you before taking action. I pleaded, but my superior seems not to trust you. I'm still not 100% with you too.

They sat in silence again. Graciel back in hunting, protecting Pebbleton even when it rained.

'AHCKCHOOO!' followed by a snort. 'Could be atleast be somewhere warmer? shelter?!'

~
Else where
Time: 3:24
Place: High-tier research facility
PC: ???
~

The chair swivelled around, the leg of the occupant kicks a floor cabinet sending the chair to scoot across the room followed by a sudden stop at a larger desk accomanied with 2 large screens.

The occupant of the chair typed on some keys which brought up a email on screen, there was a attachment with it, a blight cat. The occupant read the long chain mail forwarded from a superior of this, Graciel Flay. Eyes glued to the monitor, she lifted up her visor, almost as if admiring the Bligh cat photo like art.

'I gotta' get me one of those.' And the visor drops from the forehead back on the nose. 'ow'

[marcien]

Introduction: Lilia Auen, a fresh graduate, found a job as an administrator at Materion Towers. On Tuesday, she went there for a job briefing. Now, she is on her way to her rented house in a bus.

Date: 8 Jun, Tuesday
Time: 04:40pm - 04:46pm
Weather: Rain
Location: On a bus, and off a bus near Fukami Mansion
PCs: Lilia Auen, Jacket
Other PCs: Lazarus, Threads
================

Lilia had seen ducks crossing the road before. Heck, she has even seen chickens, penguins, cats and dogs cross the road. But never before has she seen blights cross the road. Unable to hold in her curiousity, she got off the bus.

What a queer town this is. Ever since Lilia entered, she found the ether activity in the vicinity to be very high. Almost as if this town was overrun with crossers.*

*They are actually panzers. But Lilia has never met panzers before, so she does not know.

Lilia shivered slightly from the cold. Even with an umbrella above her head, raindrop periodically hit her trenchcoat. Her heeled boots rippled puddles across the pavement.

What would cause these blights to move towards it in such an organised fashion? Lilia looked at the queue of little blights she was walking alongside with. Even with black fumes around them, they do look sort of cute, walking in a line like this.

*Crash*

It would appear that she had arrived at the destination all of these blight were headed for. It was a person who had just fallen off the tree. Judging from how the blights are surrounding him, he must have been a crosser. He must have been fool enough to use his enomena recklessly to attract this many blights.

The man had just jumped to his feet and was now beginning to retaliate against the horde of blights. Strange. Why are the blights not attacking together? ... Ah. They are the same blight. Even with this many of them, all of them acted in unison. They are one blight. This is bad, crosser. You're not going to be able to tackle all of them alone.

He started mumbling something. Calling for his stray? He should have done that from the start. You should not be making your stray worry this much about you!

Lilia waited, but no stray was showing up. Instead, the man continued on in his monologue, and apparently further agitated the blights. They grew in size began closing in on him.

Shit. He's no going to get out of this one... Lilia dropped her umbrella and prepared herself. Colour Overlay: Ye--

"I've got better places to be. Outta My Way!"

*FFWWWOOOOSSHHMMMM*^ The masked crosser released an array of black tendrils, barely missing her.

^ I can Kick Your Ass From Here Just Fine!

Then Lilia realised: that is not a crosser... but a blight? No, there is no such thing as a talking blight. A stray-blight then? And a physical one at that? This is... a fight between blights...?

And he is rushing towards her.

"Oh hey, lady, get out of here, this is really dangerous here!"

- Patch - Lilia instantly camouflaged herself. "I mean, I'm not dangerous, these things are! Uh, you can't see them-- Hey! What did you just... Where are you now?!"

Lilia remained silent on the trees. However, that very tree was quickly destroyed by the masked stray. Lilia's enomena came undone. "Waahh-!"

"Whoops--" The stray-blight attempted to take advantage of her fall. She would not have that. Outer Glow! She swung her right leg around in a kick towards his head.

"Ouch ouch! I said I'm not dangerous! It's those blights...!" The stray-blight backed away from her.

"And you're not a blight?"

"No, I am not! I'm stray!"

He claims to be a stray. That is rather probable. Lilia could not think of a reason for him to lie. "Fine! I'll believe you for now!"

"All right, now that we're cool with that, let's kick these guys' ass."

No way... You can't be serious. There's way too many of them! "You've gotta be kidding me. You know what? We should just run."

"We have to kick their ass in order to run, right?"

Sigh. "Okay, let's do this. You know that invisibility trick I did? We'll do that together." With that, Lilia wrapped her arms around the masked stray's shoulders. The two of them disappeared from sight.

"Wuh... Umm, hey... What a-are... you d-doing?"

"You're invisible now, you dolt. Run for it!"

"Cool~!" Instead of running, he transformed his right arm into a blade and dashed forward, slashing at the blights. "Huh? They're still coming after me?"

"Of course they are! The enomena wears off when they touch you-- Watch it!" Lilia swung another kick at an incoming blight who have been alerted to her presence. While her feet landed squarely into the blight, her knee hit her carrier in the back.

"Ow."

-- -- -- -- --

After a particularly tiring journey (despite being carried) of: activating Patch and Clone, run, surprise-jump-slash attack on blights, shooting steel tendrils to gain distance, repeat... - The pair found themselves nearing a mansion.

Since the number of blights have thinned out considerably, the stray thought he could relax. "Y'know, Lady, I've been wanting to ask a question."

"Now?!"

"Who're you?" He was steadily running at the mansion.

Lilia sighed. "I'm Lilia, I am a crosser!" They have gone pass the gates.

"And my name's the Phan-- I'm called Jacket!" A fresh horde of blights spawn forth from the remnants of one that had just been slain.

- Patch - Clone - She activated her enomena again to disguise their presence. "Sounds like a name you've come up with by yourself-- Nice to meet you, Jacket!"

At this moment, Jacket tripped on one of the members of the incoming new wave. Naturally, their invisibility came undone and the entire pack of blights rushed up at them. Jacket swerved to avoid them-- "Shit-!! Sorry Lilia! This' gettin' dangerous!" and lost his balance.

Lilia was thrown bodily off her ride's back. As for him, he hit into the edge of a crumbling fountain, ricocheted into the air and was rolled for a few feet till he stopped at the feet of a bear-headed something and a boy with a brown-and-orange scarf.

"Uhh... Nice to meet you too."

[Pasonia]

(I think this is incomplete. But I can't think of what else I could write for now.)

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: Mid-afternoon
Weather: Thunderstorm
Location: Telston Mall
PCs: Martin Chang, Sanae Fujiwara
======================

"'Meet up at the mall?' Sure I can. It's not like I have a job to deal with right now..."

Martin tilted his head up to see the sky's pitter-patter against Telston Mall's glass ceiling. "'Looks like the rain still won't let up. Tesuji and hot coffee sounds like a good idea, don't it? I'll see you at the cafe.' Beep."
"'I'm right behind you!'"

Whoa.
"Sanae?! How did you end up behind me this fast?"

Sanae giggled a little. "I was actually behind you all the time, Martin-san."
"'All the time'?"
Sanae giggled again. "I saw you arguing with another lady, though I do not really know what you argued over. I did not hear anything."
"Well, uh..."
"Kore de ii ne. Ja... let's go get a cup of coffee?"
"Sure. Let's head to basement. There's a decent cafe there."

******

"So, uh, Martin-san... may I ask something rather offensive?"

Amidst the bustle of the cafe, Sanae asked like so. She asked with such a tone that Martin was slightly taken aback.

"Uh... no, nothing offends me much."

Well, Martin thought aloud, that was a white lie, but rightly there really shouldn't be much she could offend him with at this time.

"Martin-san, you don't have a job now?"

"Well... uh, technically speaking, I fired myself from the job."
"...eh? Nande?"
"Ah, how do I explain it... you see, it's like I didn't want to work at my company anymore because it doesn't protect its employees well, or raise based on performance. In fact, I was tied to my position. Ah, sorry, I said a little too much."
"Tied to your position...?"
"They wanted me to do the jobs nobody else would, and it so happens I'm efficient at it."
"Ah... mou shanai na..."

Sanae seemed a little sad for Martin, even though Martin was just being candid about his circumstances.

"Uh, well, don't take it to heart or mind it so much and the likes. I'm sure I could find another job soon."
"Maybe... can I help you, Martin-san?"
"Uh... well..." Martin appreciated her offer, but considering he and Sanae didn't know each other for too long, that was a little fast to ask for favors.
"It's okay, you know, my landlady... she is looking for workers. I remember her saying something about IT personnel---"
"---I see... well, I'll get back to you on it, Sanae."

Martin didn't want to say it yet again, but the more Sanae talks about it the more uncomfortable he gets.

"For now, let's just discuss a little about other things."
"Like...?"
"Kong Jie's dragon problem."
"Are... aa, kore ka? The one in the LG Cup?"
"Yes, that one..."

Martin kept to himself, short of shutting himself in, even if on the surface he did not appear so. Martin felt near defenseless talking to Sanae, even as the bubbly lady kept right on chatting with him for about half an hour.

Why did it turn this sour in my head, thought Martin, it wasn't even anything huge or important!

"Martin-san, I'll see you at the community center later this week. I have to leave now."
"Not coming today?" Martin blurted out in reflex.
"I cannot. I have a class to conduct in the late afternoon on Tuesdays and Fridays. I will be busier when the next semester begins."
"I see. Well, then... uh, ja-neh?"
"Ja-ne, Martin-san! Ganbaru yo!"

As Martin watched Sanae jog off, he couldn't help but break into a resigned smile.

"I... guess it'll be a little difficult, until the day I can really protect her. Right now, I don't even have a job. All I have now is this caustic gabber and an apartment."

[AYC]

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 4:40 pm
Weather: Thunderstorm
Location: Fukami Mansion
PC: Lazarus
Other PCs: Threads, Lilia, Jacket
================

"... You tell me. I'll ask you again. Who or what are you?"

"Eh? I'm Lazarus... at least for now, I'm Lazarus..."

She says it like it's the obvious thing in the world. Her head tilts a little more to the side in confusion, just enough to express her puzzled mind and just enough to keep her falling over with the weight of carrying a heavy bear head... on her head.

"How about you?"

Her companion's guarded expression doesn't change as he shrugs slightly, and offers no response.

Lazarus tilts her head to the other side, because any more tilting to the left and she's going to fall over quite dismally on her side. It's not like it can be helped! You can only have so many ways of expressing confusion when you have something as static as bear head on your shoulders. "Your name. I meant your name. Do you have one?"

"A name, huh...? It's been a while since I thought about that..." Although she waits patiently, Lazarus is a little surprised at the uncertainty marring the other person's face as he rubs the back of his neck, like it's almost uncomfortable to think of his own name. After some hesitation, he responds slowly, "... It's Threads."

"Threads..." Her head tilts back to the left as she ponders this new piece of information. It's a curious name, and Lazarus can't really tell why he'd name himself something like that. Unless someone else named him, but...

"You're a Stray, aren't you? But the way you talk... makes it sound like you still don't know about what Blights and Crossers are. Do you?"

Threads gives her a flat, blank look. "If you're going to be enlightening me about these... Strays and Crossers, you might want to start from the beginning."

"That's weird... you must not have been around for a very long time yet..." Lazarus taps a thin finger against the soft chin of her stuffed head, ignoring the fact that the proportions must look rather ridiculous. But at least Threads is nice enough not to laugh at her for it! ... Not that it's the time for laughter at this point.

"Strays. We're Strays. We're... dead. Like wandering spirits." She pauses, and Threads doesn't miss a beat.

"So you're dead. And I can see you."

"But that's because you're also a Stray... U-unless you really are a Crosser?" Her hands twitch slightly, as if preparing to pounce him again, and her companion leans back slightly to avoid getting tackled for the second time.

"That again..."

"Oh. Sorry." She really needs to get rid of that habit... and to control herself she adjusts her sitting position in a way that she can't easily move her hands - by holding them behind her back. Hopefully she looks more disarming now!

Lazarus ignores his raised eyebrow when she gets back to the matter at hand. "Strays can't be seen by normal humans. They can't touch us or hear us either, so it's almost like... we don't exist to them."

"How many of you are there?"

"How many - ?! I don't know about that... but there's enough of us out there... I've only met a few others."

"So it's kind of rare, huh? And are they all like you?"

As if the question about numbers wasn't odd enough, Lazarus has to incline her head again in confusion to assess what he's just asked her. "... Like me? Probably not... after all, you don't look like me yourself, do you? Even if we can't be seen by normal humans, it's not like we don't have a sense of identity either..."

For some reason she feels oddly emotional at this, and gets carried away with her feelings, pulling her arms out from behind her to cup her far-too-large bear head in her hands. "We're still people too! Even if we're more dead than a doorknob, it's not like we don't have feelings! It's just that we can't remember anything and there are these crazy Blights after us all the time - !"

"... You can't remember anything." Either Threads doesn't care or is just too polite to remark on her sudden change in behavior, but he only looks at her with raised eyebrows and a slightly alarmed look.

A nervous laugh is all it takes for Lazarus to regain her composure. "At least, that's how we all start out. I couldn't remember anything when I first woke up either."

"But you do now?"

"... A little, here and there. But I don't think you want to know the story of how I died, hehe..." It's not like Lazarus isn't willing to talk about her grim details of her death and whatnot, but who's seriously curious enough to want to know something like that?

Certainly, he did not seem more interested than rather disturbed. "... No. I suppose I don't."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure why we're here in the first place, but I think getting back our memories will help us find our purpose. Or that's how all the other Strays I've met figured it out."

"... Then what are these Crossers you keep talking about?"

"Although most people can't see us, there a few that actually can! They're called Crossers, and they have a special role to us."

At this, her companion gives her an actual, interested look. "If we make a bond with them, we can get stronger. And we won't have to worry about running out of ether either!"

The thought of an unlimited ether supply has her laughing nervously at the memory of her stupid escape to freedom a few weeks ago. Although she supposes she shouldn't be feeling this way, Lazarus regrets it just a little - how much ether does she have left anyway? She must have at least half... another nervous laugh escapes from her bear head when she realizes that that must not be the case, considering the mob of Blights that had been around a while ago.

"Ehehe... not all of them are good th - "

What was that sound?

" - OUGH?!"

Threads aside, Lazarus is taken aback at the mansion gates crashing open with a bang, and even more so at the blurry... something that charges through it. Amidst the tussle, she can somewhat make out a person being thrown off into a patch of tall grass, and a huge black mass of shadowy Blights following in close pursuit.

... Blights?

...

"EEEE - !! I thought you said there wasn't any Blights here?!"

"... There... isn't..."

The two of them watch in horror as the blurry something - which Lazarus now recognizes to be wearing some kind of thick coat - smashes into the fountain and less than elegantly flies off into the air and -

Oh my god. Is it coming for us?

It is. In fact, the weird something or another drops and rolls a few feet in front of them, groans, and mutters dizzily, "Uh... Nice to meet you too."

Lazarus stares, and if the slight movement next to her is any indication, so is Threads.

Well at least this thing doesn't seem like a bad guy. Even if he looks kind of weird. And talks.

Last she checked, Blights can't talk.

IT'S ALL CLEAR.

Except that the real Blights are swarming the mansion like ants at a picnic, and there's so many of them that it almost looks like mucky sea of black. And so many of them that Lazarus is pretty sure that if she doesn't get out of here soon, they'll be after her and Threads.

Speaking of which... where is he?

A quick look to her side tells him that he's no longer there. Vaguely, she sees the end of a orange and brown scarf disappearing around the corner in the distance.

Threads?

... Threads?

... ... Eh?

"EEEEHHHHH?!"

Did he - did he just ditch her? No way...! And if that wasn't enough, the Blights were coming upon her and this weird, jacket-wearing thing and about to make impact in T-5 seconds - !

5

The weird, jacket-wearing thing gets to his feet -

4

Lazarus's mind starts spinning at the huge wave of Blights rushing towards them -

3

The weird, jacket-wearing thing turns around, and sees the mob of Blights -

2

The weird, jacket-wearing thing turns back around, and opens his mouth to speak -

1

A look of alarm shoots across the jacket-wearing thing's face -

0

Lazarus blasts off.

"IIIIIYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

[marcien]

Date: 8 Jun, Tuesday
Time: 04:47pm - 04:49pm
Weather: Rain
Location: near Fukami Mansion
PCs: Lilia Auen
Other PCs: Jacket, Lazarus, Threads
================

"IIIYYYYYAAAAAAAAHH!!!"

When Lilia had semi-recovered herself to all fours, that scream pierced through the air, followed by numerous bolts of lightning. This power... definitely a stray. A linked one? Lilia turned to the direction of the scream.

There she was, bear-headed stray working itself into a frenzy, zapping everything in sight. One of the more disturbed ones.

"No--"



"Wait--"



"I'm-"



"NOT!"



"A!"



"BLIGHT!"

Unfortunately for Jacket, the stray that was now resembling a tesla coil was far too distressed to hear what he has to say.

Despite the way she was discharging electricity at them, the horde of blights did not thin down. They're not affected? ... No, sometimes they are. Whenever bright little sparks result from a bolt, the blights would avoid it. If the sparks reached them, parts of them would dissipate. It is not the electricity they fear, but light. All right, let's do this.

Lilia waited for another string of lightning from the bear-headed stray.

"HIIYYYYAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Here comes!

LENS FLARE !!

With that, most of the blights disappeared away into the shadows.

[Pasonia]

(just to clarify - any time characters speak in italics, they're speaking Japanese. Whether translated or transliterated. =/)

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 5.00pm
Weather: Rain
Location: Pebbleton Public High
PCs: Sanae Fujiwara
================

"Sore ja, jugyou wa owari deshita. Kyuchou-san...?"
"H-hai, wakarimashita! Kiritsu!"

Sanae giggled inwardly with warm, cheerful glee. To think she'd be calling a class to stand and bow some thousands of miles away from Hibiya High. It was a pretty good feeling, this job of imparting knowledge.

The students bowed, then quickly scattered off. A few students stayed back to ask questions, and Sanae gladly obliged.

By the time she was done though, the rain still hadn't stopped.

"When is the rain going to stop... I seriously don't like this weather."

But Sanae knew there was little she could do to avert Heaven's decree, so instead, she chose to take a slow walk in the rainy roads. Thankfully, she'd thought, the decision to wear jeans rather than a one-piece was right, given Pebbleton's occasional tough winds.

The rain splattered left and right of her, with slightly heavy traffic before her. Skirting across a pedestrian crossing, she made her way in the direction of a cafe recommended by Asuka.

As she thought that, Sanae giggled at how Asuka recommended the cafe to her - "Nyaaaa, listen listen, Sanae, that cafe is so~~~~~~ awesome. You a girl into cute things, Stray Cat's your cafe right in this town! I told myself I wouldn't go anywhere else, knowing full well there's an awesome cafe full of kitties!"

"I'd go if Asuka says so. Maybe I'll like the place, too."

******

Time: 5.20pm
Weather: Rainy
Location: Stray Cats
PC: Sanae Fujiwara
NPC: Asuka Nakamura

======

"Shitsureishimasu!"

Out of sheer habit, that was how Sanae blurted out as she entered the cafe.

"Maido, irasshai!" **
"Eh?!"

Turns out, the one hollering the response was a young lady about her age, who didn't look anything like a Japanese. Given Sanae's shocked response, the lady didn't know how to follow up at all.
"Ah, gomenasai, I just thought that was the right response! Welcome to Stray Cats!"
"Ano sa... you happen to be from Osaka, are you?"
"Oh, no, no, that... I just picked that line up from an anime. I'm sorry---"
"Iiya, it is okay--- eh?"

That second yelp of surprise came when she saw Asuka, seated at the corner of the cafe, smirking at her.

"Yo, Sanae."
"Asuka-san! When did you get here?
"After a date that went sour, yea. To think I took half a day off just to witness a gutless boyfriend get hooked away by another girl. Tch."

Sanae wasn't sure what happened, so she didn't enquire further for fear of offending her.
But Asuka, all too quickly, responded, "It's fine, just ask."

"Well then, here goes. What happened?"
"You mean that jerk? He's typical of Pebbleton people - no guts, no brains to think for themselves, or rather, they mostly think through their lower body. I swear, I really should've listened to Sumire when she said men of this town cannot be relied on."
"..."
"What's with that blank look, Sanae? Oh, right, how'd you find this cafe?"
"Ah, it's a very cozy place..." Cozy wasn't quite the right word to use, but still, there was a tinge of Tokyo in how the cafe's decor felt.

"I bet the owner must have been from Japan."
"The owner is probably related to that young lady you were blurting to."

"Eh, honma---" Sanae nearly burst out in surprise, but she held back. "Gomen."
"It's okay, I was just guessing. Not surprising if the owner turns out to be her dad. She tries very hard to speak Japanese, but somehow she always ends up speaking Kansai-ben. You might like her a lot, wouldn't you, Sanae?"
"Ma... I don't know. Maybe?"

The two women then burst out giggling.

"So, anything new?"
"Uh... I went to teach?"
"Aho, you told me that this morning. Before that?"
"I had tea with a friend. Strictly speaking, we had coffee at the Mall."
"Oh, that shop. Well... it's a little too noisy there, not like here---"

"Shitsurei shimasu, kore wa ocha desu."
"Hai, arigatou!"
"Iiya, douitashimashite!" The girl backpedaled in a bow, bumping into the chair behind her.
"Eh heh heh, she's rather cute responding like that."
"Yea. Also, the fact that this place's full of kitty decor. Even the cup's a cute kitty! Oh, yea, who did you coffee with just now?"
"A male friend."
"You progress real fast, Sanae! I didn't know---"
"Nandeyanen! It's not that, Asuka-san!" Sanae's face flushed in exasperation.
"I was kidding! Now, what's that all about?"
"More like... I feel he's rather depressed or something, though before that he was arguing with a girl whom I don't know. I said so much about Go at the table - that's something which we often talk about, and then he gave me rather half-hearted responses. It's not like him."
"Ugh, you ask me, lass... I don't know about your friend, all I know is this town's men are all rather inept, like, they can't think for themselves."
"Asuka..."
"Let's not talk about that... maybe we should buy some cups back for the rest. Like Chihara-chan and that hikki."
"That's not nice..."
"What? Mitsuki IS a hikki! I mean, you ask her about birds and she goes chattering non-stop, anything else she blank-faces you. Don't you agree?"
"..."
"Ah, whatever --- hey, is that a kitty plushie over there?"

Asuka quickly skirted over to the plushie hanging by the window, and Sanae couldn't help but giggle. Still, it became quite apparent that, whatever happened to Asuka today meant she isn't the best person to ask about Martin. As they finished up their drinks and chatted over another hour about random stuff, Sanae concluded that she has to ask elsewhere.

"Maybe Makoto would give me better answers? Guess I'll return home and ask him then. Then again, I do wonder where he's gone to all day."

Her thoughts were broken into when Asuka suddenly popped up at the table again, causing the teacher to yelp a little in surprise.

"Ah, yea! I almost forgot! There's this waiter who's too cute to not be a kitty. I know he works here over the weekends. Please, Sanae, won't you come with me back here again?"

Too cute to not be a kitty?
Somehow, that piqued Sanae's usually plaid curiosity a little.
Could it be that, just maybe, I already knew this kitty?

**For those who didn't already know the significance of this, the normal Japanese response to a customer entering a shop is "irasshaimase", sorta like "welcome to our shop!". "Maido" is a term exclusively used by Osaka shop employees and owners, as well in real life as on the phone, sorta like "thanks a bunch!", thus Sanae was very surprised that someone would blurt out 'maido' for no apparent reason in Pebbleton.

[AYC]

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 6:00 pm
Weather: Rain
Location: Sanae's Room
PC: M
Other PCs: Sanae
================

"WHAT THE HELL?! PFFT - HAHAHA - !!"

Sanae gives him the dirtiest look she can muster, but M's too busy clutching his stomach and spinning around madly in his chair to care. He bets that she probably regrets even thinking about coming to him for advice about everyone's favorite goatee man.

Because M's having a field day.

"OH MY GOD - YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS - ?!"

Even though he's never been the one to have the best imagination, Sanae's kind play-by-play is more than enough to make up for it. Now with the images clear in his mind, he can barely contain himself.

"HAHAHA - OH MAN OH MAN - I CAN'T BREATHE - !"

Not that he needs to. But damn it to hell if his stomach isn't seizing up on him and damn it to hell if it doesn't hurt. Slowly M hunches over and tries to control himself, but judging by the way the wheels of the chair keep bouncing against the floor, he's not doing a very good job. If anything, he's probably still violently convulsing with suppressed laughter.

"Makoto-kun... it's not that funny, you know..."

It's a good thing he's already left Sophia at Martin's house, because M's pretty sure that he probably would've lost it trying to keep his cool in front of her. And it's a good thing that he's also a Stray, because Sanae's housemates would've come in here with pitchforks and torches if they had heard him laughing more than he's probably laughed in his entire life. Living and dead.

Despite not being very enthralled with his reaction, Sanae weakly rubs his back in order to calm him down, while probably holding back the urge to bind and gag him into silence with the thick roll of duct tape under her bed.

"Makoto-kun... if you were going to laugh this much, I would have just asked Chihara-senpai instead..."

At the sight of him still struggling to hold in his laughter, Sanae adds lightly, "Or maybe Sophia-chan would be a better option..."

M immediately sobers up. With a sudden jerk to get himself back into a healthy sitting position and a cough to clear his sore throat, he gives Sanae the most serious, business-like face he can possibly offer her while still trying to regain his breath. His Crosser raises her eyebrows in surprise, and leans back to avoid the full brunt of M's suddenly intent look.

"I'm glad to see you have calmed down... Makoto-kun..."

"Yeah, I have." His eyebrow twitches at how he has to hold a straight face like this, and immediately drops the uncomfortable expression and posture to lean back lazily in his chair. It doesn't help that Sanae had been somewhat disturbed with his sudden change either.

"Ugh. So what's this about Martin anyway, Sanae? He got into a childishly humiliating argument with a woman in broad daylight, so what? Sounds like Martin to me."

"I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand... He does not seem like the Martin I know."

He doesn't want to sound sarcastic, but M can barely keep the cynicism out of his voice. "Really now. Is that so?" This wouldn't be the first time that Martin has stepped out of line, though maybe it's the first time that he's stepped out of line in front of Sanae... or the first time Sanae has cared to notice.

"It is so, Makoto-kun. We had a talk at a coffee shop, but he did not seem very focused. Even when we talked about Go, he barely engaged in the conversation. It is as if something was troubling him."

Although M supposes that he should be paying more mind to his Crosser and her woes, he's not particularly interested in this piece of news. Call him a cold-hearted jerk or otherwise, but M only leans back further in his chair and counts the number of dust motes falling from the ceiling as he responds.

"Maybe he's just not interested in Go anymore. Seems pretty boring. Or maybe he just realizes how shitty its worth is. It's because of his freaking Go-induced strategies that he slipped up and nearly got three people killed. And one that was already dead to start with."

Apparently M's pushed Sanae a bit too close to the edge, because he raises his eyebrows in surprise as Sanae sits up rigidly on the bed with perfect posture and gives him a stern, serious look in the eye.

"I do not know if what you say about Martin-san and Go is true," she starts, and the level, even tone she's using makes it clear that she means business, "but you should not be speaking like that about something you do not know. I am sure, however, that you, Makoto-kun, have never played Go yourself before. How can you say you know what its worth is if you've never tried it?"

Although M opens his mouth to make a retort, the indignant, slightly hurt expression on his Crosser's face makes him think against it. Not to mention Sanae herself doesn't quite seem done yet.

"But, Makoto-kun, even though I know you are right to blame Martin-san for nearly failing to rescue Sophia-chan and her friends, that does not mean you can speak so badly of Martin that way! He tried, you know, he really did try... he was just trying to help everyone, and he tried to do it the best way he could! It's not like he wanted for them to die - !"

"Alright, I get it," M interrupts, the slight twitch of an eyebrow revealing his less-than-pleased disposition at the moment. "Go is awesome. Martin's awesome."

Damn, feisty. Who knew Sanae had it in her to stand up against him? And here he thought he would be able to get away with nearly anything with her timid mannerisms... guess not. Although he's not very fond of being shot down like this, M can't say he's not impressed.

To be honest, he's actually very impressed. His view of the Japanese lady just got a bit better, and maybe it's due to this that he decides to give her a little show of compassion. It's the least he can do, for getting her all flustered and angry at him and stuff.

With a sign, M breaks the tense, awkward silence with a proper response to her previous worries. "If you ask me, seems like old grouchy's in a slump."

Sanae, although taken aback by the casual tone her Stray has returned to using, doesn't show it as prominently as her mild confusion. "A... slump?"

"Yeah, you know, he's just having an off day or something. Or a series of off days, dunno. Nothing to be worrying about."

"But - "

"Relax, Sanae. Sometimes a guy just wants to sort out his own issues by himself." M pauses, and then adds skeptically, "... Though I would bet he's probably just been thinking too much about nothing. Whatever, just leave him alone. Let the guy do his thing."

The Japanese lady still appears to have some misgivings, and asks slowly, "Are you sure..?"

"Of course I am. Who do you think you're talking to? This is like, all written in the big book of bros and stuff. All guys know this. All bros know this."

Sanae looks as if she has no idea what he's talking about, but she still offers him a shy, but very much thankful smile in response. "... Hai? Okay... Arigatou ne, Makoto-kun."

M waves her off dismissively, and gets up to stretch his lazy limbs as he heads to the door. "Yeah, yeah, no problem. Now if you don't mind, I think I'll head downstairs to watch some TV. There's a new series starting tonight. Something about a group of weirdos banding together to beat a giant dragon or something. Sounds awesome. Later."

Thankfully, he has already memorized the schedules of his Crosser's various housemates, and knows for a fact that he probably won't have any company in the living room until a few more hours. Sanae does make an movement as if to stop him, but it's only half-hearted and she ends up falling backwards on her bed with a soft, resigned sigh.

Vaguely, he hears her muse curiously in Japanese, and has to stifle a laugh at what he's hearing.

"I wonder where I can find this 'Big Book of Bros' he was referring to..."

[Pictor]

Date: 8 Jun, Tuesday
Time: 4:50pm
Weather: Rain
Location: Fukami Mansion: Front Gates
PCs: Jacket
Other PCs: Lilia Auen, Lazarus, Threads
================

The flash was so bright and so sudden that Jacket barely had enough time to shield his own eyes. The Stray winced as the light intensified for a brief moment before quickly subsiding. When he finally regained his vision, Jacket was surprised to see that the area had been completely cleared of all shadowy Blights.

"... Wow." The Stray tweeted an impressed whistle."They're all gone. You got rid of em all! What the heck did you do?"

The bear-headed individual shook their head profusely when they noticed Jacket looking in their direction.

"I-It wasn't me!"

A frantic finger was raised, pointing to the grassy side of the mansion's front property. It was directed at a relieved-looking Lilia, now patting grass and dirt bits off herself.

"It was the Crosser lady? Damn... she packs quite a wallop then. Sure didn't look it back there, though..." For a moment Jacket stood, staring at the woman on the grass. It was also something like this back when he first met Mirto. She conjured some kind of shield and protected them both from the Train. Lesson learned; never judge a Crosser by their cover.

"Oh yea! By the way, I almost forgot..." Jacket perked up and slapped a fist against his palm as if he suddenly remembered something important. Silently, he straightened his back, strutted over to Lazarus, and placed two hands gently on the their shoulders. The bear-headed Stray flinched at the suddenly advance.

"WHY DID YOU SHOCK ME SO MANY TIMES?! I TOLD YOU, I WASN'T A BLIGHT! ARE YOU DEAF?! I HAVE EMOTIONS TOO, YOU KNOW! JUST BECAUSE I'M A TOUGH GUY DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T FEEL PAIN! HOW'D YOU FEEL IF I SOCKED YOU AROUND A BUNCH OF TIMES FOR NO REASON?! YOU COULD'VE KILLED ME!" With his suddenly outburst, Jacket began shaking Lazarus viciously back and forth. The poor Stray clutched onto its headwear for fear of it flying off during the assault. Finally, it let out a shrill wail.

"WaaaaAAAAAH!!" Jacket, realizing what he'd been doing, immediately released his victim, drawing his hands back and waving them around wildly in an attempt to calm the ursine Stray down.

"Gah! Shoot, I-I got carried away. I'm--"

"--Sorry!!"

"... Hah?" Jacket froze with his hands in mid-air and tilted his head in confusion.

"I'M REALLY, REALLY SORRY FOR BLASTING YOUR OVER AND OVER AGAIN! I WAS SCARED AND I WAS-PANICKING-AND-THOUGHT-YOU-WERE-A-BLIGHT-ANDIDIDN'TKNOWWHATIWASDOINGANDIWASJUSTACTING WITHOUTHINKINGITWASREALLYSTUPIDIKNOWSOPLEASEDON'TBEMA--" Lazarus, still clutching their bear-head with a death grip, was not hysterically spouting hyperspeed nonsense. Jacket couldn't help but feel a little bad... technically this was his fault, right? Ungh...

"Okay! Okay... calm down! Don't spazz on me! I forgive you, alright? We're cool. Just... chill out. Sheeeesh." Lazarus seemed to settled down a little at Jacket's words. This guy sure is easy to set off. Jacket couldn't help but compare her to Sophia... except without all the sugar or crying. Well, it's not as if he could tell if this "bear" was crying underneath that costume anyway.

"H-Hey..."

"Yea..?

"You said we were... 'cool'?"

"Well, uh, I did say that. Yea."

"Then... Puh-PLEASE BOND WITH ME!"

"Eh. Come again?" Perhaps he didn't hear that right. Did this Stray just ask if--

"PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO SAVE ME! IF YOU DON'T BOND WITH ME I'LL SERIOUSLY DIE! DON'T WANNA FIGHT BLIGHTS ANYMORE! IDON'TWANNAGOBACKTOTHOSEKIDSOHGEEZPLEASEDON'T MAKEMEGOBACKTOTHOSELITTLEMONSTERS~~!!"

Before Jacket could finish, Lazarus had latched their arms tightly around Jacket's waist and began another hysteria-driven rant. Jacket nearly lost his balance as the overly-large bear head threatened to invade his face.

"Uwah! What the heck are you talking about?! First of all, I can't possibly bo-- Hey! Watch it! Grrrr... THAT'S IT!!" He was feeling sorry for this bear person before, but now Jacket has gotten fed up. He placed his hands against the giant head piece and tried to tear himself away from Lazarus' grip, but the desperate Stray clung on with shocking tenacity.

"GET. OFFA. ME---!!" Without thinking, the masked Stray produced a metal hand and gave a final, forceful shove.

"Kya!" With a small whimper, Lazarus was off. But right away, Jacket realized something was wrong. But it took him a second to realize exactly what it was.

"Uh."

Soft and round. In his haste to get the crazy Stray off of him, he had accidentally grasped something soft and round with his metal hand. Jacket lowered his head down slightly to identify the source of the oddly delightful texture against his palm.

"Oh. You're a girl."

"Ah... yes. I am."

The air around the two Strays turned awkwardly silent.

"N-Now, remember when you shocked me a bunch of times, and I forgave you because I knew it was an accident?"

"Mmm... mmm hmm..." The Stray nodded meekly, but there was a very evident rising of tension in Lazarus' voice.

"This is like that, okay? This was an accident. There's no way I would-"

"C-C-C-Can you please just... let go?"

"YES MA'AM! SORRY MA'AM!" Jacket's hands flew behind his back as he jumped several feet away from the scene of the crime. "I-I'LL BE TAKING MY LEAVE NOW, THEN-!!"

But as the masked Stray about-faced to make his exit, he made another close encounter with the female kind.

"Hmmm, that's rather irresponsible, don't you think?"

"Guh...!" Jacket gulped as he realized his path of escape was being blocked off my a stern-looking Lilia with a look of disapproval on her face.

"If you touch a girl like that and then just run away, people might mistake you for a per--"

"Hey, yea! Here we go!!"

"Ah-!" As swift as could be, Jacket whisked Lilia between himself and a motionless Lazarus, who had turned partially away and crossed her arms in front of her chest protectively.

"You're looking for a Bond, right? I can't do it... but she can!"

[marcien]

Date: 8 Jun, Tuesday
Time: 04:51pm - 04:57pm
Weather: Rain
Location: near Fukami Mansion
PCs: Lilia Auen
Other PCs: Jacket, Lazarus, Threads
================

"You're looking for a Bond, right? I can't do it... but she can!"

And Lilia found herself being pushed forward by probably one of the most irresponsible strays ever in his attempt at distracting her from making him apologise properly for his misconduct.

"... eh?"

"... ... Ehh?"

"... HUH?!"

"Y-you're the real Crosser?!!"

Well, his distraction worked. It appears that the other stray had completely forgotten about what happened twenty seconds ago.

"And... this weird looking guy is...?"

"Yes, I am a crosser. And... He's a stray, albeit a physical one." When the bear-head stray continued tilting her head in an expression of confusion, Lilia continued, "That was a good attack you did, I wouldn't have been able to drive off th--"

"PLEEEAAAASE BOND WITH ME!" The bear-thing launched herself at her suddenly, wrapping her arms around Lilia's waist.

"Umm. Okay. Calm down now..."

"Nnnn... pleeeaase!! Her fingers was clinging on to her so tight, Lilia could feel her nails through her trenchcoat. "I-if I don't bond with anyone soon I'll- !"

The stray's voice had became a sob and her bear head got teary-eyed.

"That's- a rather... sudden request... though, I guess... it's fi-- ... Aagh!"

Lilia choked as she was being squeezed tightly. Perhaps this was how Jacket felt like just now. "Hey-!" Lilia stopped herself from chiding her when she saw the starry puppy look on the bear head that was pressed against her chest.

"Uhh, all right all right! We can bond, just le-let go of me fi-first..."

(In the background, the escaping Jacket gets distracted himself... by the... close physical contact between two shapely women. He may have been nosebleeding iron filings.)

Lilia gasp for air as the bear-headed stray loosen her grip on her body. (She gives Jacket a dirty look.)

"Really?" she said in a delighted tone.

Oh no, what did I get myself into again? It looks I have to go through with this now. But this is just so... haphazard. It'll be fine though... I got to get this under control...

"Give me a name!"

Ah right, I have to name her. A teddy bear is a symbol of a child's friend... So, Ruth? No... something less common. Ruel?

"How about... Reuel?

"L-Luu-el...? Yes! A new name...!"

Lilia took a deep breath. "Now, here, hold my hands."

"Okay..."

"I, Lilia Auen, take you, Leuel, to my linked stray:
To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse,
for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health,
to provide for and to protect, till the end do us part.
This is my vow."

At her last sentence, a circle on the ground below them lights up.

[Sentrovasi]

OOC: Not written in Threads' usual style. Really tired but wanted to get something up, stuff's going on at camp and I'm really meh at the moment. Going to sleep and then going back in D:

Date: 08/06 Tuesday
Time: 4:57 PM
Weather: Raining
Location: Threads' Hideout, Fukami Mansion
PC: Threads
Other PCs: Lazarus (Leuel), Jacket, Lilia

What the hell?

A huge number of monsters had come pouring out of nowhere following a plainly suspicious figure carrying one of those normal humans. How much more crowded was this day going to be?

He'd hardly gotten any actual information out of the bear-thing, and before he knew it, the danger he'd gotten rid of had gotten right back on their tail. Was the bear cursed or something?

He had given it something important, though; something that had seemed like eternity for him to give, but even then felt so natural to produce.

A name: Threads. It had so many meanings, but all of them represented what he was, what he'd found himself to be and what he found lacking. And perhaps... also a goal he'd set for himself, but he hadn't the time to think of it now.

The instant the shock of watching a giant shadowy figure literally slam through the decrepit fountain which was the centerpiece of Fukami Mansion's grounds subsided, his survival instincts had kicked in. Almost inexplicably his hand found the bear's wrist and tried to pull it away, but the creature seemed almost entirely absorbed by the creature in front of it... or in a state of shock. Giving the thing up as lost, he'd decided to keep as much distance between himself and the threats as possible and monitor the situation from there. He'd spent enough Ether as it was just helping them escape: any more and he wouldn't have been able to remain self-sufficient.

Which was just as well when the bear started to flip out in a way he knew he should have seen coming a long time ago. Despite himself, he turned to watch as lightning arced from its frail form, illuminating the grounds despite the rain as crackling jets of white slammed into the ground and blasted everything in front of it. He winced inwardly, estimating the cost of that all-out attack.

And then he saw it: a different pattern emerge from the other woman who he'd thought to be entirely innocuous just a moment before, patterns which reminded him of his own sympathies of Allure. His movements slowed as he found himself transfixed by the shimmering pattern which moved beyond her, an extension of her self reaching out, touching and shaping the lightning which shimmered in the dark sky in a way he could almost understand.

And then the darkness erupted in a flash of blinding light, and he saw the remainder of the monsters scatter away into the darkness. They didn't seem hurt by the light, no... but they seemed to recognize it as their defeat, which suited him just fine.

Resting safely against the jagged edges of the window which was the only entrance to the fallen-in room, Threads considered the situation.

He had an unbelievable story only made credible by the even more incredible things which had happened to him in the space of a week.

His life, which had before been ruled in a cycle of regret and searching, now had been turned completely on itself.

And out there, the group of three were engaging in the most ridiculous farce he had ever seen, courtesy of the clingy bear-thing. Despite himself, he felt compelled to watch.

"Damn," he sighed to himself as he watched it throw itself around the shadowy figure, "doesn't that woman seem a lot more like a Crosser than that thing? You're way off." His whispered words were lost in the rain, but it didn't keep him from noticing that the terms she'd explained to him were beginning to find a lot more utility than he'd thought they would.

As he watched the shadowy figure berate the bear in turn, he found himself a little sympathetic: it wasn't as though he hadn't been manhandled himself just a moment ago. "Still, the shaking's a bit much. Thing's obviously just insecure."

"... Ah, seriously?"

"... This is painful."

"... Okay."

"..."

His responses, spoken to himself, were more and more incredulous as the two continued what seemed to him to be obvious misunderstandings and exaggerations. Then, there was a moment of silence and small voices, which he didn't quite understand.

"YES MA'AM! I-I'LL BE TAKING MY LEAVE NOW, THEN-!!"

"What?" As though stung, the shadowy figure turned as though to run off. The human woman (at least, far more human than the other two appeared to be), however, had gotten up at this point and blocked his way. "What now?"

Things were getting really confusing for him. But then the masked shadow seemed to have finally found some leverage, pushing what was more obviously the bear's description of a Crosser forward in his stead. As expected, the customary tackling ensured. At this point he would have been surprised had it been otherwise.

What he hadn't expected, though, was the bonding. He could clearly see it: see, imprinted upon the folds of reality for a moment, the sympathies which made up each of them: the thoughts and intent and meaning of themselves, not clear to him, but abstract. And then the two patterns seemed to mesh: almost as though one were the foundation for the other, filling in the gaps and supports so two could stand where one once did. It was a remarkably breathtaking sight to see: a moment in time suspended for a brief eternity; and then it was gone.

In place of the two patterns stood two beings, still wholly separate but undeniably linked in a manner that defied expectation. It was a part of their being which he couldn't quite identify: parts of them which were similar or completely different harmonizing with one another, complementing each other in a way it would have been impossible to just a moment ago. Was this, then, the acknowledgement of identity Lucifer had told him about?

... Had the bear been telling him the truth?

The strange thing, to him, was how everyone seemed to know what they were talking about. Were they all born with knowledge of the rules of the game in their minds? Was he the sole outcast unaware of this information? Or was this all part of some complex chain of events, and himself the sole consciousness in a massive scripted reality? The Stray needing a Crosser, the two of them forming a Bond...

By naming them? Giving them a recognized identity? What if they had one of their own? What if they didn't like the name?

"Leuel... huh."

The pieces fit, but for some reason, the name left a strange taste in his mouth. Perhaps the questions which came with what he'd seen had answers he didn't want to know. Perhaps... he wasn't sure, really.

"How do you even spell that name, anyway?"

[AYC]

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 5:00 pm
Weather: Rain
Location: Fukami Mansion
PC: Lazarus (Leuel)
Other PCs: Threads, Lilia, Jacket
================

Maybe it's because she had been bonded with a bunch of children before, but Lazarus doesn't really remember anything as formal as a vow involved the last time she made a contract. That's not to say she doesn't like it - as long as she's bonded, anything's fine! - but it sure was classy.

If not slightly awkward.

"Leuel, I'm Leuel now..." It's the first step to getting rid of the remnants of her traumatizing previous contract. Hopefully, this Crosser will be nicer than her last ones? At least... she looks nicer and seems nicer...

Kind of like a nice big sister.

... That's shivering at the moment, completely doused with rainwater.

"Well, though you strays are unaffected by it, I on the other hand, am almost completely soaked. And I still have to work tomorrow. Shall we be heading home then?"

"Oh, oka - "

. . .

Lilia, despite the cold, only raises an eyebrow when her Stray lets out a sudden outburst.

"WAIT! WHERE DID - ?!" Leuel nearly falls over from the fast, swiveling movement she makes when she rapidly scans over the surroundings with her overlarge stuffed head.

"THRREEAADSSSSSS!! WHERE ARE YOUUUU?!"

Even if he did ditch her earlier, the other Stray is still her friend. Who knows what kind of trouble he might get himself into on his own? Although he said that there weren't any Blights here, Blights did show up - and even though Threads has cool-looking Enomena, he still seems really lost and confused most of the time - !

Yeah, she needs to find him, ASAP.

"THHHRRRREEEAAAADDDDDDDSSSS!!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the shadowy, jacket-wearing guy jump from surprise in the distance. Was he trying to leave them?

Or worse, ditch them?

The guy doesn't know what hit him when Leuel grabs him around the abdomen again with a painful-looking tackle, knocking the two of them to the ground in a mess of limbs and a whole ton of agony for her elbows and his face.

"W-WUH-WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"D-Don't leeeaaave! Help me look for Threads - !"

The Stray gives her a slightly disturbed, slightly amused, mostly incredulous look, and she can see Lilia, in the distance, give her the same look. Luckily, Leuel decides to ignore them and instead focuses all her efforts on giving the jacket-wearing Stray the most intensely persuasive face she can muster with her bear head... which comes off more like a very long stare.

She can't tell if he's impressed or not, but at the very least, he holds up his hands in resignation and wrestles out of her vice-like grip. "Alright, alright, I'll help you find your friend! Just... calm down."

"Okay..."

The two of them get to their feet as Leuel scans the grounds of the mansion again, to no avail. She knows he had run around the mansion earlier when he had fled the Blights, but she can't even catch a glimpse of her friend anywhere. Not even a brief flash of his orange and brown scarf.

"Nnnn..! Where did he go..?" The fact that the tears are welling up in her eyes again isn't helping either. "L-lilia..? Can you help me find him? I don't want to leave him alone here by himself..."

Her new Crosser looks perplexed and points to the building behind her. "Do you mean... that man in the scarf? He's up on the second floor there," she says, her eyebrows raised in something like a vague sense of awe. The two Strays immediately wheel around and lock on to a colorfully dressed person flitting around behind the cracked glass, a brown and orange scarf around his neck.

"AAAHH! THREADS!"

"Heheh... so that's the guy, huh? Give me a sec, and I'll get him for ya."

"W-w-wait - !"

Leuel barely has the time to register what her companion is saying before he makes an amazing jump up, right to the second story, and crashes in through the already broken window. She's not sure what's going on up there, but she knows she definitely can't do what her new jacket-wearing friend just did.

... Or maybe she can? The brief intermission she takes to try, however, ends up literally falling short as she instead crashes through the nearest first story window, and tumbles around blindly in the darkened room in search of the door that leads back to the foyer.

Definitely not a good idea, she notes as she can't find the door and ends up half-blasting, half-crashing her way through the rotting wood walls as well.

It takes Leuel a few more minutes of tripping, getting lost and breaking nearby furnishings of the mansion before she manages to clamber her way up to the second floor. Luckily, her jacket-wearing friend has a big mouth, because she manages to find out where her Stray friends are hiding from the sound of his voice.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA, HEY MAN, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"

"OUCH, THAT HURTS - Wait, WHAT THE - ?!"

Leuel might be horribly dense, but that doesn't mean she's completely incapable of taking a hint. While she had completely expected something like a scuffle in the capture of Threads from the sounds of battle coming from the inside of the room, she hadn't exactly expected something more akin to whirlwind to have torn through instead...

Because she was fairly certain that furniture usually wasn't kept... impaled through the walls.

But at least she found Threads! ... Even if he looks unusually distraught and just plain unhappy in general. It probably has something to do with how the two of them have totally blocked off his only escape routes.

"Thr - "

"You could have just flown up here, you know," he sputters out darkly.

Leuel just offers him the most awestruck, "Oh yeah..." face in response, but otherwise just blatantly ignores him.

"Oh, hey, you're here. Help me catch this guy."

"Okay!"

She wouldn't have thought it possible, but Threads looks even more sullen at how quickly and brightly she offered her cooperation to such a heinous cause. Not that he can get away anyway, with the two of them surrounding him like this. He might have some cool-looking Enomena, but Leuel is almost certain that he wouldn't use it on two Strays like them for no reason.

Though that doesn't mean he still isn't going to try to run away.

"You grab his legs, I'll take his arms!"

Leuel promptly does so with her usual dive-and-tackle combo, and her jacket-wearing friend decidedly holds the squirming Stray in a headlock instead of by the arms. Despite Threads's expression of extreme discomfort and unwillingness, the two of them manage to drag him out of the mansion with little effort. He cringes at the extent of damage down to his home when he sees it though, and Leuel feels a little bad for being the cause of it.

Lilia greets them with a surprisingly straight face, but her eyes show that she's rather worried with Threads's condition considering how the other Strays have half-carried, half-dragged him out.

"Are y-you all right, Threads? I-it seems that being linked has made Leuel a little too... energetic."

She's not very sure what Threads says in response, but the sarcastic mumble sounds a fair bit like, "I'm pretty sure that thing was like that before..."

...

; _ ;

As a sort of apology for roughly handling her friend, she releases her grip on his legs and lets his feet lightly drop to the ground. Her jacket friend doesn't relinquish his hold, however. "Threads, are you okay? I'm sorry I messed up your home."

He mutters again bitterly, and this time it sounds along the lines of, "It seems more than just 'messed up'..."

...

; A ;

"... Hey, Lilia, can we take him home?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

At this, Threads manages to break out of the headlock and tries to make a break for it, though Leuel is not really certain why anyone would want to spend his time in a decrepit old mansion instead of a (most likely) nicer looking, warmer apartment. Not that it matters to a Stray, but...

"That is..."

She and the jacket-wearing Stray immediately pin him down before he can even get a step away.

Physicalness aside, Leuel realizes this must be very painful for Threads. Although it makes her feel even worse, it's not like it can't be helped! She can't have him running off again and getting himself in danger.

"... You don't have a Crosser, Threads?"

Under the weight of two Strays, his response comes out muffled and rather dismal. "I didn't even know what a Crosser was until today."

"I see, if that is the case, won't you stay with me, until you find one? Safety in numbers, in the case of Blights."

It might be because Lilia has brought a completely reasonable point with her explanation, or it might be because he just wants two heavy, kind of bulky Strays off him at once, but Threads only pauses for a while to quietly debate with himself before forcing out a somewhat resigned, "... Fine."

If he was expecting to be immediately freed from the giant weight forcing itself on his back, he expected wrong. Although the jacket Stray gets off, Leuel latches onto him in an affectionate hug, which, if Strays could breathe, would probably have suffocated him even more than before.

It's not until he starts twitching slightly that the bear-headed Stray lets go of him and pulls him to his feet with one smooth motion.

"You don't have to worry Threads! Lilia and I will make sure you're safe."

"I think the real question is whether or not I'll be safe from you..."

Eh? Didn't they cover this already?

"What are you saying, silly? I'm a Stray too..." She tilts her head to the side, perplexed by his rather bizarre statement. It's very subtle, but a faintly distraught expression flits across his face.

...???

Maybe she'll ask him to explain later? At the moment, the movement of her head to the left has revealed the familiar back of her jacket-wearing friend moving away in the distance.

"U-um! Where are you going - !"

Now that she thinks about, she never really did get his name yet, has she? It's even more reason for him to stick around a bit longer, and Leuel promptly runs up to him and grabs onto the furry hood of his coat.

"- Ugh! W-watch the neck - !"

"A-are you leaving..?"

"Well, yeah," the Stray replies, massaging his neck as he works out the kinks that her sudden tugging created. "The Phantom Jacket never stays in one place for too long! ... Or at least that's the way it's kind of been so far."

"B-but - !"

Even if she knows it'll get the inside of her bear head wet, the floodgates are threatening to open. Leuel has no idea if it is one-sided or not, but this weird-looking, jacket Stray is her new friend! W-what if he gets himself into trouble too? He doesn't looked linked either - !

Thankfully, Lilia, with a less sulky-looking Threads in tow, comes to the rescue. "It's... been rather difficult for you, hasn't it? Having a body that can be seen by people. It would be alright too, if you would like to live with us."

[SavviG]

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 5:00 pm
Weather: Rain
Location: Telston Mall
PC: Graciel Flay
Other PCs: Blight Cat Blacky
~~~~~~~

Graciel walked from the Lighhouse to Telston Mall, not exactly walked, he ported from top of the lighthouse to White Waters and then into Feel16 Radio where he has to apologise for breaking a broom stick after materialising out of the broom cupboard.

Blacky sat inside Graciels hoody, occasionally standing on its hind legs and with its front paws over on Graciels head to get a good look around.

Graciel enters a clothes store Doskoi Panda. Blacky points out the ones that look bad or how unconfortable they looked. Graciel found a shirt with plus hoody in black. 'hhm, I think this looks good.'
'Isn't that what you are wearing now? They look the same.'
'No way, it's totally different! Look, it's got breast pockets and the fabric is slightly thinner! AND IT HAS A CUTE PANDA HEAD PICTURE ON THE BACK!'
A couple turns around to see who Graciel was talking to. To them, nobody. Graciel slowly backed into a high clothing stand hiding away from onlookers. In a low voice 'Anyways, its on sale, I can afford this. I could send this back and have my mum sow on some pocket space for cat ears.'
The MPUD beeped and vibrated. Graciel hid into a near by changing room to see who has messaged him. A fox head icon was blinking. 'Who is that?' asks blacky who poked its face around to see.
'My sis, and it says my New MPUD has arrived.' Graciel smiled in excitement.
'What about it?' Blacky was curious now.
Graciel brought up the image of his new MPUD, its a collar variant. Perfect for his cat form.
'In that case, can I have your old one?'
'Be my guest, if you can take it from me. And ... and you may have trouble typing (pawing) messages.'
Graciel remembers the messages he sent being in cat form. Dyslexic kitty strikes again.

'Right, lets pay for this and head home to get me new toy!'

[Pictor]

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 5:10 pm
Weather: Rain
Location: Fukami Mansion
PC: Jacket
Other PCs: Threads, Lilia, Leuel
================

"... Pardon?" Jacket was slightly taken aback by the sudden offer. He certainly hadn't expected something like this from someone he met mere moments ago.

"Like I said, it's safety in numbers, right? I'm no stranger to Strays, so don't worry." Though she wore a gentle smile, Lilia's tone was very matter-of-fact.

"You want me to come... live with you and stuff?"

"It'd be something like that, yes. What do you say?"

"..." Jacket crossed his arms and put a hand to his chin. There was no denying the truth in her words... he'd certainly be safer from Blights if he hung around them. Plus, they looked like a fun bunch, didn't they? Well, aside from that sulky-looking stuck-up in the rags anyway. Jacket lowered his head and pondered in silence for a moment. Then, he slowly looked back up. "Hey, Miss Crosser--"

"--It's Lilia, remember?. 'Miss Crosser' makes me sound like an old teacher."

"Oh. Then, Lilia... I don't mean to answer your question with another question, but can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"... When you said you were no stranger to Strays... Um, does that mean you've bonded before?"

"Hmm? Well, yes. I've had tw--" Lilia stopped abruptly and corrected herself mid-sentence. "-- a Stray partner before."

"I see... How were you two? You... and that Stray?"

"Fufu... It feels like I'm being interrogated. Do you not feel safe with me?" Lilia chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh! I-It's not that, I just--" If Jacket's mask-face could blush, it'd probably be beet red right now. He was used to dealing with hyperactive girls and old crones, but Lilia's calm, yet playfully sarcastic demeanor caught him completely off guard.

"It was fun." Lilia brushed her long, wavy hair back and looked down nostalgically. "It was a long time ago, I was just a kid then. At first the Stray was rather distant but... we eventually warmed up to each other. When she was finally able to pass on, I remember feeling sad, but I'm happy for her at the same time. I guess it was what you'd call a bittersweet farewell."

"Do you... regret the time you spent with her?"

Lilia looked back up and stared the masked Stray confidently in the eyes before stating her answer.

"Not one bit."

"... I see. Hehe." Jacket crossed his arms tightly and gave a smirk. "Sounds like you two were a good pair, Lilia. You must have been a fantastic partner to that Stray. I'll bet she was grateful."

"Eh? I guess so--"

"--BUT!!" Jacket cleared his throat, then puffed out his chest and pointed a thumb at himself in an exaggerated motion. "--I'm afraid I can't take you up on that offer!"

"Eh? But why?!" Leuel stepped forward with a worried shout, clutching the collars of her orange jumpsuit tightly.

"Heh! The Phantom Jacket of Pebbleton rides solo! Having others around will just slow me down! And uh... plus..." Jacket lowered his voice as he looked away, embarrassed. "... I uh... kinda made a huge ass out of myself back there, so I think I should just hit the road as soon as possible.

"Um... I forgave you already... if you're talking about when you grabbed by boo-"

"-- ANYWAY!! I think I stayed for a bit too long already. Thanks for taking care of those Blights. I thought I was a badass, but the truth is, I'd probably have been mincemeat if you guys hadn't shown up."

"Hmmm, you're very welcome, I suppose. But are you sure you'll be alright?" Lilia crossed her arms and examined the Stray once more. He really did seem a bit rough around the edges.

"Hey, no sweat! I can take care of himself." The Stray was sporting such a confident looking grin that Lilia nearly felt herself giving in.

"Alright. If you say so."

"So... are you gonna go now? We've only just met, though..." The bear-headed Stray seemed sincerely disappointed at Jacket's departure. Was she going to miss him already? Hmmm, maybe he was even more lovable than he previously thought...

"Don't worry about it. If there's anything I learned in Pebbleton, it's that it really is a small world. We'll bump into each other again. But more importantly..." Jacket moved up to Leuel and gave her a firm pat on the shoulder. "... Make sure you take good care of Lilia. She's your partner now. More than anything, you should never let her down, got it?"

Leuel didn't know where that sudden speech came from, but for some reason it felt comforting to hear. Jacket smiled as she gave a resolute nod.

"Alright then, I'm getting out of here!" Slipping his hands into the pockets of his coat, Jacket turned swiftly around and waltzed off toward the gate.

"Hey! Stay out of trouble!"

Without looking back, Jacket raised a hand and gave a firm wave.

As she watched him walk away, all by himself into the rain, she couldn't help but feel that he looked just bit lonely.

-----------

"Haaaah!!

Once he made sure he was out of sight, Jacket breathed a sigh of relief and slumped down against a wall in a corner of some desolate street. He looked up at the sky, against the wet, falling droplets and chuckled weakly.

"I'm still keeping that act up, huh?"

To be perfectly honest, he did want to stay around a bit longer. Even earlier, with Sophia and Makoto, he would have preferred if they hung around. It was fun, being around other people. Before coming to Pebbleton, he hadn't thought it was ever going to be possible for him to be close to so many people. Strays, Panzers... and even living humans; the Crossers. They always feared him before. They called him a monster and either ran or attacked. No matter what, in the end he was always left alone.

But the denizens of Pebbleton... were just strange enough to get along with. It felt good to be with others. It felt exhilarating to see Sophia gaze in amazement at his bullshit antics. It felt exciting to get into arguments and scuffles with that hooded bastard. It felt... strangely warm to be berated by Mirto whenever he did something stupid. But, it was a privilege that, in the end...

"... I didn't really deserve, did I?"

Jacket hopped to his feet, clenching his fingers tight. The fact of the matter was... he wasn't safe to be around anymore. Having others with him would only put them in danger. And... even after that big, brave speech he made earlier in the day, there was a part of him that no longer trusted himself around people.

It hurt to be alone. It really did. Yet, it was for the best. He has to solve his own problems before he goes dragging other people into them. It was a burden that the Phantom Jacket of Pebbleton had to carry.

"Phantom Jacket, eh?"

That's right. A name the townsfolk of Pebbleton had given an urban legend. A mysterious figure which prowled the nights. Was he a rogue, or a protector? No one really knows. But when he's around, you will hear it; the light fluttering of cloth as he disappears into the darkness.

To think, such an elaborate rumor existed about him! And it's a facade he carries proudly. Perhaps that is why he's still keeping up the act. The boisterous shouting... the exaggerated posing... all of it. So, at the very least, it's time to stop feeling sorry for himself. The Phantom Jacket of Pebbleton -the real one, if he existed- sure as heck wouldn't.

The rain was still falling, and the skies were darker than ever. But Jacket felt considerably lighter on his feet. That commotion earlier with Lilia and that female bear-head really livened up the day. Jacket wasn't sure where he was headed, but wherever it was, he thought he could probably get there a little bit faster.

And then, for the second time, the Phantom Jacket of Pebbleton disappeared into the distance.

[Sentrovasi]

Date: Tuesday, 8th of June
Time: 5.00 PM
Weather: Rain
Location: 18 Reinfield Road
PC: Randall Kayne
NPCs: Tethys, Noa

One... two...

As the clock struck five, a powerful reverberation sounded through the apartment, startling the man who had been hunched over it for the past half an hour.

It wasn't often that Randall would find himself indoors for long, but the rain which had lasted most of today had meant that today's schedule was stay-home only. The groceries, fortunately, had not chosen that day to run out, and he had enough orders due to make sure he was paying his due.

At the moment, that due took the form of the Madame's alarm clock, in actuality a large grandfather clock which he was sure found its roots somewhere in antediluvian times, although his knowledge of such craftsmanship hovered somewhere between zero and this one book he'd read a long time ago. However, fixing things that were broken seemed to him as simple as jiggling this one part until it clicked into place or gluing it together when it fell out.

One... two...

As he wound the clock up again for good measure, he figured it was just as well he wasn't going to be paid for this.

"Hey, Tethys? Would you mind taking this to her room?" Gesturing over his shoulder in the direction of the Madame's quarters, he turned to look at the girl lying on the couch beside him, who stretched, sitting up in response.

"Ah... right, sure thing!"

One... two...

He had timed it perfectly: the ending credits of the anime she'd been watching had just finished scrolling off the television which blared in front of the both of them. The coffee table had never been the most ideal of workshop surfaces, but neither Tethys nor Randall seemed to mind the large pile of non-functional items that the latter was trying to fix.

As long as they weren't in the way of the television, anyway. As luck would have it, though, the door to the shared bathroom swung open, giving Tethys the excuse she needed.

"Ah, Noaaa! Could you-!" The red-headed girl rolled about on the couch, her hands gesturing in the general direction of the clock and its destination. The pleading look on her face seemed to Randall to be in excess of the simple task he'd meant for her to perform. Her sister seemed torn between helping them and returning to her room to blow-dry her hair.

"Nah, it's fine, Noa, I'll do it." He stood to the clatter of half a dozen small parts sliding off him onto the parquet floor.

... One... ah, it's gone.

Tethys seemed momentarily chastened, but then her expression changed into a grateful smile as she turned back to the screen. "Aww, you're the best." Randall wasn't quite sure if she meant the television or him.

"Ah... well. If you need help later, feel free to ask." Noa smiled and shrugged helplessly in response before returning to her room.

To be fair, the clock wasn't heavy: he'd never have gotten the girls to help him otherwise. What he hadn't wanted, most of all, was to lose the rhythm he'd gotten going. Aligning his Ether flow wasn't the simplest of things to maintain, and he found it helped when he had a rhythm to concentrate on; a pattern to keep things flowing so he didn't have to consciously maintain it.

On the other hand, he was starting to enjoy these days of normalcy. It'd been a full three days - three days - since he'd last been properly involved in all of that business, and while he'd had fun being heroic, it only made him realize how much he enjoyed his ordinary life at the same time. Then again, to call his irregular habits ordinary would have been a stretch until a few months ago.

Sometimes, he decided, it was nice to just enjoy the smaller things, like the dysfunctional family that was 18 Reinfield Road. It was surprising how much a week could change a person.

[Sentrovasi]

Date: 08/06 Tuesday
Time: 5:12 PM
Weather: Raining
Location: Fukami Mansion
PC: Threads
Other PCs: Leuel, Lilia

Threads was surly. People did not just rush into someone else's house and pull them out forcefully for no reason at all. He'd meant to protest, but he was fully aware at that point that he was dealing with a bunch of extremely obstinate idiots. He didn't think of them badly, but logic didn't seem to work the same way he felt it should. Perhaps it was himself that was misplaced: cast for a role he shouldn't play in a genre he knew nothing about.

Unfortunately, he couldn't discount that. He knew nothing about the world as it was beyond what he'd tried to find out himself, and that had gotten him nowhere. As it was, perhaps getting a little closer to these people would further his goals more than he himself knew.

"... Fine."

Her face flashed through his mind in the second he felt himself slip: her tearful, grateful face as it pulled away from him. Just what were these things they called Strays? Were they dead, or was it possible to save them? Inexplicably, he thought of the bear thing: Leuel. He didn't understand how anything could bear with the fact that it was irrevocably dead, with no chance of revival, and still have such a will to survive.

It says it accepts it, but...

And now there was a Crosser: one who had seen a Stray through whatever it was they were trying to get to. Perhaps she'd know where they'd gone. Perhaps she'd know what he was.

But a part of him felt like it really didn't want to know that. And the rest of him knew why. Because he really envied that idiocy; that blind faith that all of them shared.

When he had wondered if he'd be safe from Leuel, he'd meant every word. It wasn't its lightning that scared him; it was its blind faith; a faith he knew being near him would crush sooner or later. He had no right nor wish to take that from it, but he wasn't sure it wouldn't kill him in the bearing.

"Well then! Shall we be going?"

When had he realized the severity of his situation? Not the day he had awoken, but the day he'd been betrayed. It was surprising how much a week could change a person.

[SavviG]

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 5:00 pm
Weather: Rain
Location: Telston Mall
PC: Graciel Flay
Other PCs: Blacky
~~~~~~~

‘Thankyou for shopping with us today, hope to see you again.’ : )
’Thanks~.’ and took the change from the young cashier. She waved Graciel off without taking her eyes off. Graciel noticed from the reflections, he turned around and waved back before disappearing out the doors.
‘Do you know her?’ asks Blacky from the hood. ‘She’s seems to like you huh?’
’I believe she’s a regular customer at Stray Cats.’
‘Oh~ the host type, cosplaying, weird-looking-people-café-cake-food-shop?’
’We’re not weird, and we’re not hosts either.’

Graciel took the exit and speed walked into a place where there wasn’t anyone about and out of CCTV view. He took out his MPUD, a well lit screen appears above the device. Gave it a view taps into the port section and the surrounding immediately broke down and rebuilt into a living room.

’Right, I’ll leave you here. I’ll be back by tomorrow.’
‘I ain’t coming with you? What if I starve?!’
’Go hunt and eat some rat Ether. Who knows, you may find a rat Crosser. Besides, what if old gramps turtle sees you? In a town full of Panzers you’d be asking for a graveless home.’
‘… a rat crosser? Turtle old gramps turtle?’ Blacky jumps out of the hood and laid on the couch. ‘I get to watch TV and play with your games though, right?’
’Fine, keep out of sight okay?’ The cat gave a salute with its paw.

Graciel heads off to the basement to pack up some stuff. Blacky could hear the panels and whirling noises. The secret ‘cat cave’ like storage in a normal home.

Blacky fumbles with the remote and manages to get the TV to turn on. Another whirl of noises came from the basement again. Then, he hears Graciel going up stairs, from the sounds of it, two steps at a time.

Location: High-tier research facility
PC: Alkane
Other NPC: Security Watcher
~~~~~~~

The monitors showed the same static images of corridors and rooms. Nothing was happening much at this hour. One room had movement but that was only the janitor mopping the floor of a spilled liquid.

He pours out a hot drink from his thermos flask, and took a sip. He sees a girl walking down the main corridor towards him. Alkane, was she leaving early? It was a rare sight.
He watched her from his monitors, each step to the main hall took her closer to the screen. A moment later she appears from the doors. ‘Going home?’
’Going for a visit out of town.’
‘Tah!’ and he waved her off. He eyed her as she walked away, scanning her from the bare legs up to her curvy waist. ‘Should take your visor off and lets those eyes shine too. ... Huuu~ ... , don’t see a smart hottie everyday.’

The monitors were static once again.

Alkane skips down the small steps and enters a sleek looking private cab she called earlier. ’To the HQ gate station please.’ and she taps on a device to see her destination again making sure she’s heading to the right place. Pebbleton, Peddington Lane.

‘Cat Blight, and it talks too.’ Just the thought of it made her excited. She must seize the cat without its existents spreading further, could of course get Cynate to get the cat, but she prefers it little known. This could even help build Feradine’s successor or become her #1 pet. ‘Name, it needs a name? Is it a girl or a boy? Doesn't matter I suppose, I hope its got a special Ether colour.’

The cab takes a left and disappears from view.

[SavviG]

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 6:00 pm
Weather: Drizzle/Rain
Location: Pebbleton Subway Station
PC: Graciel Flay, Alkane
Other PCs: Blacky
~~~~~~~

It was a bad idea to walk from home to the station. It wasn't his plan to get wet in the rain. The station still had people coming and going and surprisingly lively, then again it was only 6.

The plan is to get to the main station out of town and hop onto the secret line to a Panzer city town, sneak home, snatch his parcel, sleep and return. 'No wait, have a bite then return.'

The train finally pulls ups to a halt and the doors swing open. He hops onto and slumped down at the door end seats. Pulls up his headphones from around his neck and adjusts it to his ears, cranks up the volume and waited.

~*~

Alkane steps out onto the open air of Pebbleton. Took a deep breathe... and her visor fell onto her nose 'Ack... *cough* ... kii kouh!'. she quickly adjusts her visor back up to her head. She pulls out a umbrella and sets off down the lane heading up north.

~*~

Graciel sat alone on the empty train carriage. Rocking left to right now and then. A cold breeze touched him, a frosty chill crawled under his clothes. 'Somone didn't close the windows?' and he can see one window opened. 'Was it opened when I got on?' He paused for a brief moment and then closed his eyes to sleep.

THHRROOOMP!

Graciel flew off his seat onto the floor in pain. 'YYEEEOOOOOOW..!' wide awake he scanned the surrounding for what hit him around the head. Up on the roof, clingling on the light guard was a Blight. It spread its wings wide. It had a weird head, almost, box like. 'What the hell are you suppose to be?!'

How convinient that that train is left to himself and a Blight.

Without hesitation Graciel whipped out a pistol and fired off two shots. The Blight sqealed and fell to the floor, it quick regained its stance. The box for a head ripped opened across revealing its boxey jagged teeths. The empy mouth glowed a soft red light and a long black needle shot out at Graciel.

'Kugh-'

~*~

Outside Graciels home stood Alkane with a frilly brella. She approached the door and looked at the cat shaped number plate. This must be it she thought. She rang the bell twice. No answer. Tries again and still no answer.

She decided to look through the window to see if she would spot anything. Not going as planned. She hoped to ask kindly or pull rank to obtain it. 'What to do now?'

~*~

The Blight fell to the floor, full of holes. Graciel stepped onto it to rid it's body before anyone at the next stop sees it. The last bits faded away as the train pulled to a halt.

People came on aboard, picking seats, talking on the phone, listening to music and the buzz filled the cart again.

Time: 7:00pm
Location: Central Train Station outside of Pebbleton ...

The ride took a long time before reaching to the big central station. Graciel hopped off and headed towards a hidden spot for Panzers to switch to a ride that heads to a Panzer city. In this area he can let loose and show his animal features amongst other Panzers. There were dogs, cats, lizards, mouses, fish and even a rare chuwawa.


Time: 6:45pm
Location: Graciel's home

Alkane sneaks round the back in her animal form and enters the cat door. It was a squeeze but she managed to get into the house.

It was getting a bit dark so she turned on lights. Not one or two, all the lights. She inspected the closed curtain home. It was plain, modern and ... dusty. The living room was full of food wrappers and there was even a left over sausage stick. Alkane whips out a device, a small screen glowed and a 3D space appears. In the space was a glowing dot. 'Ah, there it is...' She slowly headed towards the stairs and up to the 1st floor, and into a room which is a spare room with only one small bed. 'right, time to get out the Ether capture device...' She held the second device out and slowly crept to the bed. She lifted the bed sheet up in a quick rainbow arc motion, throwing it to the floor. Under the bed sheet was Blacky staring straight back up his abductee.

'Uh oh...-' Black pelted to the door between Alkane's legs. Alkane turned the device over to Blacky and hoping it was absorb Blacky in some way. But it was only kept Blacky still for a some short seconds before breaking free from the hold. However, Blacky vanished on the dot.

'Huh? I hope I didn't just kill it.' She checked her Ether capture device and noticed he has caught something. 'Better get going.'

With that, Alkane leaves the house throught the cat hole again.


Time: 7:50pm
Weather: Sun about to set.
Location: Outside of the Flay's

A cat stood outside the home, to his left is the grand view of the city. In front of him a home of his family. He sneaks to the back on all fours. As he dash towards any open windows he noticed in the corner of his eye that the back door has a cat door, 'Strange, I never remember this being here, I guess I'll use this instead of windows.'. He peeked through the flap, kitchen was clear, no-one in sight. He crawls under the table and then to the door, back against the wall, standing on two legs and peered into the next room. No one, good. Graciel makes a dash to the stairs and as he is going up he hears a womans voice call out.

'Graciel! C'mon, dinner time!' - Dinner time? Was something cooking in the kitchen when I passed through? He quickly ran down the stairs and hid by a two plants watching the kitchen from afar. A tall man and woman stood in the kitchen talking, that would be his mum and dad. Mum calls out to him again. Then, a cat enters the kitchen from the cat door.

'Ho? who on earth is that? is that a imposter?!' Graciel sat wide eye. Watching the scene unfold and his mum started stroking it and it in return it was loving it. Then dad placed a bowl of what seems to be cat food on the floor. The Graciel the imposter started eating.

Graciel watched the other cat, suddenly two hands wraps around Graciels tummy and he was lifted out of the plants. 'aw, what're doin' hiding in there~' came a girls voice, this was Graciels younger foxy sister. She carries him into the kitchen and then realises that there were now two identical cats. The three looked at the one eating and then the one being carried and at each other, confused.

'Hi mum, dad, sis'

[Pasonia]

(since martia said she'll begin the next day soon, and since at the moment the action's more than stagnated, I decided on a sleepless night I'll try to fill up something. So, here, featuring one of my NPCs and then another NPC.)

Date: 8 June, Tuesday
Time: 6:45 pm
Weather: Drizzle/Rain
Location: 35 Reinfield Road
PC: Fujiwara Sanae (not the main)
Other PCs: None
NPCs: Nakayama Mitsuki, Hailey Geminesca (as raven), Mizuno Chihara, Nakamura Asuka

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

"..."

Mitsuki blankly stared out into the skies, hoping to spot something in the soothing comforts of a yellowish, sepia-toned dusk, that looks like a migratory bird. One thing Mitsuki liked about Pebbleton - the reason she moved to Pebbleton in the very first place, despite her lack of conversing ability in English - was because Pebbleton is a town uniquely linked to several flyways, the paths that migratory birds use during their migration, and she adores the flutter of exquisite fowls dotting the skies, as though an upper being had placed them there for a dance of nature.

Picking up her binoculars casually for the umpteenth time, a grin flashes across her face ever so swiftly whenever a flight of geese or flamingos skip across the sky in graceful choreography of wings.

That smile, however, quickly disappeared the moment a pitch-black raven appeared in close range, shutting out her view of heaven. In an instant, her lips pouted, her eyebrows creased, only to be magnified by her 2000-degree myopic spectacles, making a rather menacing death-glare at the intruder.

The bird-lover waved her bone-thin right arm menacingly at the black bird, but it was ultimately a fruitless exercise.

Somewhat unperturbed, the raven continued perching at a nearby electrical post, almost arrogantly, Mitsuki concluded.

...I'll just pretend it wasn't there, sulked the shut-in meganekko*, picking up her binoculars again, trying to ignore the annoying black patch.

***

"Looks like I came by at the wrong time," noted Hailey as she came by to see if the blonde girl was nearby. Knowing the oriole-haired blonde likes hanging around the hoodie-wearing kid, Hailey was instead greeted by a girl she'd never seen before even though she was sure she'd have known the angry girl after an extended stay in Pebbleton.

Apparently not.

"Looks like someone's being an angry bird out here," muttered Hailey.

The impasse continued on for a little while. The skies continue to darken, but it was still bright enough for Mitsuki to even whip out her professional-quality camera, complete with lenses that looked more like mortars. Or long-range guns with absurdly long barrels.

Whatever it is, the camera was strangely disturbing to Hailey, despite her disdain for human technology, which is overpriced and underpowered compared to Panzer equivalents. But on closer look, the almost-too-eerie grin from Mitsuki with every picture snapped was even nastier.

Hailey decided she'd have to take action, if for any reason, it's really just for the shits and giggles.

And so, Hailey cackled and cawed at her loudest, meanest, and worst, sending the night sky roaring into a rather hilariously unified cacophony of crowing as other unsavory birds in the region (that is, relatively to Mitsuki) paid the reverse-Panzer their respects and dues.

That, of course, didn't sit well with the avian-lover, who stormed back into her room in a huff, amusing Hailey for a while as she continued perching at the pole, triumphant.

And then, all of a sudden, there was a loud BANG into the night sky that came out of nowhere in particular. No sooner had Hailey recovered from the initial shock - totally caught off guard - that she noticed Mitsuki holding on to an Airsoft rifle; in an instant, she felt a sharp jolt to her right wing. Ouch!

"Shinne!**"

Ouch times two.

"Get out of my fucking sight before I shoot you again, bird-brain!!"

***

Sanae was playing Go and was in the midst of a tesuji*** as the skies roared into an unfamiliar commotion, followed by the house suddenly jolting with someone's hurried footsteps.

"Concentrate. I need to find the break point and get out of this trap..."

As she hovered her mouse cursor over the correct spot, deduced after nearly five minutes of concentrated thinking, she finally had her mouse cursor on 15H.

BANG!

Sanae, eyes wide open with shock, couldn't believe what the shock did to her mouse - It threw her hand off, she jolting in reflex, and she ended up clicking on 15G.

"Shimatta****! I got that all wrong!"

Just when Sanae was about to throw in the towel, though, the opponent resigned, causing the usually calm Sanae to frown at this unintended series of confusion.

"Why did my opponent resign? 15G is totally useless... isn't it?"

Question marks hung around her head, as she uselessly fluffed her hair about in utter frustration. She's never felt so frustrated about a regular win that came with a bang. Quite literally.

***

Meanwhile outside the house...
... Mitsuki is seething with so much anger that even Sumire kept her distance.

"I swear I'll shoot down every crow and raven, starting from today! Cursed, stupid, unwanted, unloved, idiotic, arsehole birds!"

Chihara and Asuka, who strolled home together, found themselves wondering what happened to the resident hikki, but the monotonic nature of her mutterings and the airsoft rifle that is still smoking fresh from the firing obviously meant serious business. They both exchanged knowing glances, and then simultaneously decided to leave Mitsuki be, for their great justice.

Author notes:
* - Glasses-wearing girl. Often used as a term of endearing affection... to the otaku.
** - "Die!"
*** - Excellent sequence of play in Go/Weiqi.
**** - "Oh no!"