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Maybe it’s your imagination, or just a trick of the light, but it seems like all the flowers in town are--even just slightly--leaning in the same directly. It’s subtle in some cases, and unavoidable in others, but ultimately it doesn’t seem that important. Until one night, just a bit after nightfall, a strange pollen fills the air. It’s barely visible--some fluttering white powder that dances like dandelion quills in the wind and glistens, iridescent, when the lights catch it just right.

It permeates everything; whether you are inside or outside, you may find yourself tempted by the sweet, fragrant aroma. The pollen itself doesn’t seem to act as an allergen, but the moment anyone inhales it things seem to get fuzzy. Lulled from the comfort of wherever they were, people are summoned from all across town into the night. It’s a beautiful night and it might have even been a pleasant walk if only you were coherent enough to actually have enjoyed it. It feels almost like sleepwalking; you have a basic understanding of what’s going on. Your feet are leading the way, and it doesn’t take long before you find that you are joined by a number of people. The pollen doesn’t discriminate; young, old, powered, unpowered--everyone unfortunate enough to be caught in a batch of pollen finds themselves wandering.

Oddly enough, the plants are leaning in the same direction.

On the outskirts of town, in an underdeveloped area, plants have overgrown everything there. At first, it isn’t easily noticeable, it seems just like an empty field.

Slowly, as more people arrived, they seem to drift out of the strange haze. Everyone feels a bit dazed and somewhat confused as to just how they got there, but it doesn’t feel wrong. There’s something safe about the area, something that calls to everyone there.

The plants across the would-be field seem to twist a little in the night--a trick of the light?

Or...is there something under that twisting nest of flowers?

Something was wrong; something wasn't quite right and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She was now fully converted to the idea of might and magic, having been exposed to more than her fair share of oddities in the festival she had come to accept that whether it be her own mind playing tricks on her now she was 'awake' or something else entirely, there was something unique about this week.

Nevertheless as the heady scent swept into her room, overpowering the aroma of her window garden, she couldn't help but purse her lips. The scent had come suddenly, but based on the events that had led up to it and the unusual activity in terms of the plants in the area, she did have to wonder if she shouldn't have regarded it as more ominous.

...Why would she when people had seemed so happy? Their allotments had thrived, the gardens they'd worked so hard on reaping rewards.

She shook her head as she closed her laptop and moved to lean out of the window; only to be greeted by a peculiar white dust. What was it? She'd have surmised it was pollen had it not been for the fact that any allergy that may have been exposed to it seemed entirely unaffected.

The red head knew better than to investigate unprepared at this stage. Having experienced too many close calls she was quick to check for passerbys before slipping into her senshi state with a less than extravagant flourish. She slipped out through the bathroom window into the darker side street as opposed to her own window and with that, she was free to investigate whatever might be causing the white dust herself.

It was only as she passed the flowers that she noticed they all seemed to be leaning in on location.

...Was this another banner scenario?

She quickened her pace, breaking into a run as she followed the flowers. Would this be another piece of the puzzle, another opportunity to reach out for whatever had been in the light before?

Whatever it might have been, she eventually ended up at the outskirts of the town. The period between the beginning of her mission to follow the flowers, and the point that she had arrived though, was a bit of a blur. She couldn't determine how long she had been moving for and the only indications that it might have been for a considerable amount of time was the fact that her heels hurt.

Ow.

Yet in the midst of her own minor distraction the young senshi blinked rapidly and lowered herself into the grass, sliding out of view as she took note that she was not the only one here - not exactly the best of entrances but she didn't seem to have been spotted yet.

By some strange coincidence others had been drawn here too, though based on initial observations, no one seemed to be hurt so what in the world was going on?

"Huh..." She murmured moreso to herself than anyone in particular, though anyone nearby would have had the capacity to hear her voice, they'd just have to locate her in the grass.

Vitriol/Wolframite


It had been wandering on patrol and made it a point not to be seen. In some ways, any senshi or officer could get by on a lie if they were spotted by other people. It had far less ability to wrote off it's appearance on a easy lie. However, after the incident with the jogger, Vitriol supposed people could make up a believable lie for anything.

It happened without it noticing and before he even noticed where it was going, it had arrived at a large field crowded with civilians and power signature of all kinds.

The startling realization of where it was surrounded by people shot up its heartrate and it moved quickly to the edges of the group , trying to get out and away from this place. It needed distance - but then again....

The energy signatures. This didn't seem like a Negaverse planned collection and there were senshi here. Strong ones. And even among them, a glowing beacon of power.

Royalty.

It gritted its teeth at this, knowing it was far too low ranked to take them on but wondering, with enough assistance, if it would be possible.

She knew that one - from her place in the long grass she had been surveying the crowd and the ever growing number of 'pulses' that kept making her fingers twitch. All around her were entities both normal and quite extraordinary, enough to make her pause far more than was probably safe... But off to her side, quite a bit of a distance away, was a familiar figure that she recognised.

Actually, it was the one who'd introduced her to this weird world in the first place.

She unceremoniously picked up what appeared to be some sort of nut from beside her, though where it had come from she had no idea, and promptly lobbed it towards the Mauvian in an attempt to get his attention. If anyone was going to know what was going on it'd be him right?

"Yeah I've uh, got the running thing down to a fine art..." Adorea murmured in reference to the fact she was safe. She was sheepish to say the least, but she was making an effort. Between inadvertent and less than pleasant encounters with the more villainous people in the city, and some kindly intervention from others, she was going to better herself in some way or another. That being said, based on the words that had come from Arthur's mouth it appeared that he hadn't the slightest notion about what was happening either.

"Wait, you don't know?" she asked, readjusting her position so that her calf muscles weren't killing her. Now hunkered down on her knees she felt a little more comfortable, though remained determined not to be sighted just yet; even though it appeared that Arthur was attempting to work out some way of getting the wandering bystanders to safety.

"Well I know a bazooka is out of the question but how about a megaphone and a big plinth?" she offered, only half joking. If one of the solutions was to be a distraction then she could find a way to do that.

It was at that moment that her phone vibrated and given this was a rather uncommon occurrence for her at the moment she started and quickly went to check it, only to have her lips part in a small 'oh' of surprise.

"I didn't know you could do that."

She pegged that little piece of information for later; apparently they could get upgraded phones, who knew? Admittedly she hadn't used her's much but if the option was ever there she'd probably pursue it, it might get her some more intel.

She did however, squint at his smile.

"What, you don't keep one in your uh..." she waved her hand and then seemed to make a motion with both to him. "Wherever you keep all your special pens?" She added. She seemed entirely disappointed at the prospect that he didn't have a space pocket somewhere completely filled with items that were odd, but might be useful... Kind of like one of those houses on hoarders.

Nevertheless at his question she almost went to shake her head before pausing to consider.

"I haven't seen anyone but I have felt them," she admitted and glanced over her shoulder briefly. In fact, one was particularly powerful and she couldn't quite put her finger on where it was coming from. The other though remained present, but hadn't made as much of a blip on her internal radar.

"Maybe they're keeping a low profile like me?" she offered and shook her head. "I don't exactly fit in," she pointed out, comfortable enough to state the obvious on the occasion.

However, this wasn't to say that someone hadn't spotted her when she arrived.

Idavollr

Idavollr couldn't say what it was that had brought her out that night, or even why she had decided to power up, but the sweet fragrant aroma scenting the air seemed to act like a pull of some sort, booted feet tugging her onwards into the evening as she walked past the flowers that had suddenly appeared in town–

Flowers that she had thought strange at the time, but thought nothing of now, except to vaguely note that they were there - in the same way that she vaguely noted that it was evening and that she didn't appear to be the only one that was afoot.

Her feet continued onwards past more flowers, and on another evening she may have thought it creepy the way that the plants seemed to all be leaning in the same direction–

Another evening, but not this evening, the plants as with everything else just well - there.

In fact it was only after her feet had finally stopped walking that she found herself start to drift out of the haze that had coloured her movements, puzzlement starting to flicker through brown eyes as they took in the field that she appeared to be in.

She took a step forward and then frowned puzzled as sometime tinkled underfoot, brown eyes glancing down almost automatically. She almost overlooked the item at first, small as it was, but eventually she noticed in the emerald green star charm on the ground and absently reached down to pick it up.

Things had been.....strange lately. Abeosamu didn't know how to describe it. But after suggesting to her mauvian friend Pyper that they investigate, they both agreed it was time to go on patrol.

It wasn't long before Abeosamu received a message requesting back up. "So what should I do?" she asked her friend.

The cat replied. "Go take a look around of course!"

So the duo set out to the given coordinates. As they walked along they noticed the flowers in town. There was something weird about them; all leaning in the same direction. It was as if they were being drawn towards something. Pollen filled the air. It was almost relaxing; a feeling of comfort washed over the chibi senshi. But she shook her head. “I must not get distracted,” she muttered.

Pyper padded along behind Abeosamu for a while before growing bored. The relaxed atmosphere was getting to her. Lazily she hopped onto her friend’s head and rested there as the girl kept an eye out for anything suspicious. It wasn’t long before they arrived at their destination. A field overgrown with flowers.

Abeosamu gasped, “Look at all these people,” she whispered. There were powered people here, and civilians too. She could sense the presence of others like herself, but only slightly.

“Hmm,” Pyper began. “This is...very odd….” she trailed off, in deep thought. “Well perhaps we should have a look around, and try talking to some of these individuals. Maybe they can give us an update of the current situation. It wouldn’t hurt. And maybe we can figure out who sent that help request. In the meantime there's something I want to check out." And just like that, the cat hopped down and disappeared into the crowd.

“Ummm Ok,” Abeosamu replied, a bit nervous at being left alone. “Where to begin?” she glanced around at all the people. Who should she start with?