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 Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 12:04 am
Quote: Webs have begun to appear all over Destiny City at an alarming pace; at first it doesn’t seem like anything to be concerned with—at first. Maybe a web over a window or door frame is the worst you see, but there have been reports of webs that cover a whole tree or even entire cars. The media cites changing weather patterns and, even though you don’t see any spiders, it’s clear you might have a problem.
Briefly he considered testing the tensile strength of the webs. Using them to stick victims during energy draining sounded promising for Schörl's lauded efficiency, but he loathed to touch them. To do so invited tangling himself up ineffectually in their clutches.
Drawing a long, smoky sigh, Faustite paced the perimeter. No one lingered in the area. Distantly, he spotted a man taking feverish photos with a DSLR angled at the park. It received the brunt of the arachnid vandalism tactics, as the surrounding area sat bereft of webs. Even the side windows on cars remained untouched. So had some spider queen taken up residence in one of the city's more mature parks? Did Hallow's Eve provoke all sorts of bizarre phenomenon in the magically-besieged city?
I'm not going in there, he decided at last. Maybe I would if I had Chrysocolla to push into the webs. At least she'd be useful for once.xdaekie short, crappy, and i'm way more tired than i thought when i said i'd write you a start tonight
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Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:16 pm
For once, it was an idle night, no family to pester them about their studies or worry about their health; without that tenuous tether to home, as little as they enjoyed it at times, it was easy for Larimar to browse the city's walks. Or it would have been easy, but for the past few years as soon as it got into 'holiday season' all hell seemed to break loose in Destiny City with astonishingly appropriate themes, and that seemed to be holding steady as a theme for this year.
Larimar had an inkling it was probably Negaverse business, but they found it funny enough to see people laid up with inexplicable toothaches or spontaneous nausea that turned their skin orange - if it had just been that sort of thing, they would have been entirely fine. But as things happened, this year the city was so unhappy to be overtaken by spiderwebs. They didn't like that much at all.
It was worth a chance at investigation, though; there were no little children out this late to complain about the webs having overtaken their playground (although they would have made fine bait, aside from the fact children screamed? Larimar didn't know, they made it a point to interact with human beings under the age of ten as little as physically possible and it had worked out pretty well for the last few years) but there was the lurking aura of a Captain and the matching haze of smoke vaguely drifting their way.
So - so they waited, hands-in-pockets, and lingered. It wouldn't do to speak first. If the Captain felt their presence and deigned to start conversation, they could figure out the nuances better that way.
[wc: 284]
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Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:17 pm
Faustite peered into the depths of the forest while light died on the horizon. Still, nothing stirred. Perhaps he should make better use of his time; the incidents had uncanny relation to Halloween, given the date, and he expected their investigation might prove a waste of time. He was charged with learning about the opposition, and unless these spiderwebs stemmed from a senshi, he had no business in this affair.
The captain sighed, and a thick plume of smoke echoed his sentiments. Hands found each other behind his back in a loose clasp of fingers. He kicked at dirt, choosing his words. At last, he spoke over his shoulder to the presence lurking behind him. "Do you always loiter like this, Lieutenant?" A half-turn, a few paces taken perpendicular to the new arrival. Distantly, crowds grew around the edges of the park. Cameras flashed their morse code into the trees, into the interstitial spaces where webs made their home. He stepped away from the lot of it.
It wouldn't do to be seen.
"Do you think it's senshi magic?" His inquizitive gaze found the lieutenant in question, and appraised them in short. Ratty clothes, old hints of iconic french uniform. They looked harried in a way that suggested perpetuity. Perhaps they knew a life similar to the one he left behind? The one chosen for him to be a husk in a distant past. Faustite couldn't say; certainly the uniform betrayed no such information.
If nothing else, he wished for better shoes on his conversants. It could be worse, he supposed. He hadn't yet seen Negaverse-issue Birkenstocks.
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 7:48 pm
"Not always," Larimar said, voice even; "and I doubt it's senshi magic, since that rarely has lasting effects or effects of this scale. This is hardly limited to one park; it's spread out sporadically throughout the city. My assumption would be it's either some youma project there's been no memo for -" there was a certain soured tightness to the way their lips curled, it's not like they'd send out a memo regardless because we don't matter - "or it's something just." They shrugged, eyebrows furrowing tight, making their dark circles seem more obvious in the closer contrast. "Endemic to Destiny City. Last year it was bats and spiders and a spontaneous feeling of creeping dread. We may just be mired enough in magic that it's distorted the entire location's perception of things."
They moved forward a few steps, a respectful distance from Faustite as they might take to any unknown superior, arms folded behind their back and feet together. The posture was all very proper, if not particularly suited for formal events; it was performer's posture, ready to make or break. "I haven't introduced myself, though. My apologies. Lieutenant Larimar." They dipped their head in respect; it was no bow, but at least it was tempered, balanced. "And you, Captain?"
It was all respectful, but it was the sort of respectful that made you question the reasons for it later.
[wc: 513]
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:54 am
"You sound convinced." And seemingly right — both answers held great plausibility. Webs tangled throughout the streets lasted for days, now, provided that no one cleared them. But could youma truly have managed? If he was so close to their kind himself, and his magic was ephemeral, then could webs have stayed behind for so long? Yet, smoke poured from him perpetually; perhaps a youma wasn't such a distant idea.
Faustite drew a breath after a protracted silence. "I doubt it's youma. Nothing's come of it. No deaths, no injuries. Just inconveniences." Just juvenile showmanship. He looked askance at Larimar, evaluated what expression he could.
They carried themselves in a fashion better suited to the Negaverse than most. Professionalism, attention to movement, to gesture. Faustite garnered a fleck of appreciation for it. His gaze snapped back to the conundrum before them before he could dwell any further. "Faustite." The name still tasted foreign on his tongue. A misnomer, perhaps. A lie spun against him.
"Step into one. I want to see what they do. If we can use them.
"If they're anything at all." Arms uncrossed, and he looked to Larimar expectantly.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:29 pm
"I have somewhat of a background in theorycrafting," Larimar hedged; it was an answer that actually didn't provide much information at all. Anyone could have a background in theorycrafting. It wasn't like it was hard to throw some facts together and postulate a hypothesis vis-a-vis their cause, after all. "But you're right. If it's not youma, though, the most likely answer becomes 'Destiny City is transforming into a genius loci', and that sounds thoroughly unpleasant as well as a bit of a stretch."
They raised violet eyebrows at Faustite, just shy of high enough to imply insubordination. "...Of course." Walking into a spiderweb held no fear for Larimar, and even less when they knew the web strands would disappear upon powering down. So they did as asked. (Or - ordered, really. He was a superior officer, and they knew better than to ask about apparent age.)
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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 2:31 pm
It also sounds like a lot of nothing. Faustite felt certain that Larimar knew nothing of the words they spoke. Their earlier explanation seemed the most relevant — that Destiny City retained some magical interference that occasionally impacted the landscape. That theory grew in import as he watched the lieutenant walk willingly int oone of the webs, whereupon it snagged into tattered clothes and hair without much pomp. No melting of the face, no sudden appearance of a hundred thousand spiders, no unimaginable reactions. They simply strode into a too-large, too-sticky web.
So it has use for trapping. Faustite approached Larimar at a decent clip, urgent yet not concerned, and stepped down the short embankment into the park area. The web constraining the lieutenant in question was strung between two great oak trees. "How anticlimactic."
Faustite extended a hand in offer to them, neither expectant of refusal or acceptance. The act alone would inform him greatly on the lieutenant. "But it's worthwhile for a game run. Thank you, Larimar." At least we know how it affects humans. Youma might have a different result. That's the next test.
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 3:39 pm
"Think nothing of it, Captain." Larimar took his hand out of politeness, but let go as soon as it was acceptable to do so; then they ran a hand over their face, pulling what webs remained away from their skin and hair; they'd kept their head down walking into it, so removing their cap got rid of the majority, but there was nothing to be done from the neck down. It was a persistently irritating thing, to know there was web all over them and that there was little they would - could - do about it.
It was such a miniscule thing to be bothered by. They pushed it to the corner of their mind, for now, and thought nothing more of it.
"I'll be going, actually, if you don't mind?" Testing the waters, still.
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Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 12:33 pm
Faustite gave a curt nod and dismissed the lieutenant with a wave of his hand. Refreshing one's uniform only did so much, they likely wanted a shower to stave off the rest of the web. And Faustite had his own duties to follow — energy to drain, starseeds to… avoid.
He turned from the scene with nothing more to say. Talk was cheap.
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