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Stacey grunted a bit as one of her tall rain boots once again got stuck in the nice mud that had been created with the water drainage into the park. She had wanted to explore the park a bit as the water came, since there didn't seem like there was a chance of drowning at least, but it had become somewhat difficult to move around in almost immediately. Her boots kept getting stuck in the mud seriously wasn't this place supposed to be really grassy? and she was already pretty soaked in general. But she was determined to at least explore a little bit. Especially because there had been reports of some hulking figure or something seen around the park.

At the beginning she figured that powering up might have been the better idea but thought better of it as there might be people out and about still with all of the strange reports. But she wanted to check to see if this was actually a youma or if the swamp gas/smell was causing hallucinations in some people. She had seen some "pictures" of the figure, but like pictures of ghosts, one couldn't tell if it was real or if it had been photoshopped.

She poked the ground a bit with her own hiking stick, glad that she had brought such a thick one, but not glad because it was her favorite and would probably need to be replaced after this, and slowly made her way through it. As she was moving along she saw a figure ahead of her, though it actually looked like someone, at least someone not as tall as said swamp monster, and definitely knew it had been the better idea not to power up.

As much as she would have wanted to get closer to start a conversation, it was slow going. And so she yelled, "Hey you! You see anything strange around here yet?" Though she herself didn't want to admit that she felt something strange. Like something was watching her...

Well at least I'm not the only one out here investigating. Though neither of us has really seen anything. Stacey thought as she made her way a bit closer to the guy, thought it was hard with all of the mud. "Unfortunately not yet. I suppose that's a good and bad thing right? Good thing if there's nothing, but then there's still that creepy feeling hanging around in the air..."

She poked around with her stick a bit more, taking out the goggles that she had packed with her, hoping she could get some sort of view. It was hard though since the whole area was kind of foggy. She sighed and looked back at him. "Glad I'm not the only one out here though, or should I say I'm glad that we weren't just seeing each other's silhouettes and thinking that the other was a monster."She laughed a bit. Though that would be perfect for a horror movie, but that was when the real monster would have jumped out.

Stacey laughed again. "Yes sorry, though I'm sure you would have heard me stomping through all of this mud anyway. At least the voice was a better surprise than hearing mud-sucking coming closer and closer to you!" She replied, though felt her face fall a bit when he mentioned being watched. "Unfortunately. I feel like there's something out here. I really wish there was a way to stop all of this strange stuff from happening, and it really only seems to come out during October. Really annoying."

She shuffled her clothing a bit to make sure her jacked and gloves were on her better. It felt like it was getting colder almost. Was that hypothermia? She thought about his suggestion for a minute. "Well... sure. I mean once it gets too dangerous we should probably turn back. Don't want to get lost here and sucked into the mud never to be seen again. But if we can find something, well, we might get a bit internet famous at least."

"Well not exactly this flooding. But crazy stuff? Yep. Been here a couple of years myself and while I wasn't around for the events last year." She had kept herself holed up in her apartment mostly watching what had just come out on Netflix, "I have seen a few videos. For example, there was this huge bat attack last year at some festival or something. And they weren't just ordinary bats either." She shook her head and sighed. "It's just crazy."

She nodded however. "Yeah, that sounds like a better idea. Don't want to stay out here too long. Maybe we should go get some hot chocolate or something afterwards so we don't succumb to hypothermia or something." She said, grinning a bit though she grimaced when she looked at her clothing a bit. "Though... a hot wash would probably be better first."

She looked surprised as he turned around and then back and suddenly introduced herself, but she didn't mind. Smiling she took his hand and shook it with her own after taking a bit of time trying to get her glove off. "I'm Stacey. It's nice to meet you too Toby."

"All right then! You lead the way!" Stacey replied as he was already turning. Well, at least one of them was willing to be at the front. "Hopefully there's something. Not something dangerous, but something, that way mucking through this swamp won't have been a waste at least." The last part she muttered a bit. She was willing to follow Toby around for a bit, but by now she was really just craving a warm sugary drink and maybe wasting the rest of the day watching crime shows.

She couldn't help but shake her head at his question. "I've seen... some weird stuff, though I haven't ever really been in the thick of it. I managed to avoid the hospital thing earlier this year too. But then again, I wouldn't really be interested in a new hospital." She said, laughing a bit. "There have been a few other things, but... I'd really rather not be too close to any of it you know?" Honestly as much as she liked her double life, she felt as if the 2nd half was more of a distraction and a way to waste time than anything. She usually did it when she was bored.

Her talking was cut short as she accidentally bumped into Toby, which was surprising considering how slow they were moving. "Oh shoot, sorry." She had made quite a big splash as they bumped and now even more mud was on them.

"Yeah, I heard it was terrorists too, but that seems to be the only thing about Destiny City. Terrorists, or at least the only explanation about things. I mean, it could be something else you know?" She wouldn't imply anything magical, but with everyone calling every incident in the city as the result of terrorists, they should really just re-name the city. Or perhaps pay people to move away.

She laughed as he suggested that it could be people in the park being the monsters. "Of course! We have finally solved the mystery!" She said, her laughter dying down a bit. "Or maybe it's just some trees and all of this fog is messing with us." Right? She could only hope so. She really wished though that she could power up and look for whatever was causing the feeling, though she probably wouldn't even be able to catch up with it if it ran.

"You know, even if there IS something out here, maybe it's not dangerous? I mean most animals just want to be left alone right? What if it just wants us to leave it's territory?" It was something to consider at least. Sure, youma had to feed on starseeds, but perhaps some of them were like bears. Hunting for food when needed, but often times just wanted to be left alone.

"Maybe the news doesn't have all of the information? Or maybe someone's buying them off. It wouldn't be unheard of at least." Just because it was the 21st century didn't mean that the news was all real. "I've been in Destiny City for a while, and trust me, it's crazy around here. I honestly don't know why anyone stays here at this point, though maybe it's because the housing is so cheap." Or at least that could be part of it. She had more reasons that before to stay here, but what had brought her in the first place was the need to get away from her family.

She giggled. "I'm actually a personal trainer so I'm pretty fit to do some fighting. And I take self defense classes too! But if it IS a giant swamp monster well... not too sure regular fighting techniques would do well against it. Maybe a flamethrower or something like an actual weapon." She replied, though when he made his exclamation, she jumped a bit and looked to where he was pointing.

Toby was right that there seemed to be leaves rustling. Though since they didn't seem very tall, she didn't believe there was some monster hiding behind them. Or maybe... the monster was in the mud?! Well it should have attacked them already at least. But instead of waiting for it, she took her walking stick and poked it through the bush, trying to see if she could find anything.