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 Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:15 am
Quote: Midnight is a magical time of night; parties, dancing, kisses--there are a number of rituals celebrated in the winter nights. Every night as a midnight, but this one is special. There is an old church with an older bell tower on the quiet outskirts of town near a beautiful forest that has been decorated with lights to celebrate the season. Maybe you are alone, maybe you are with friends, or maybe you’re at a party celebrating one of the many events--whatever the case, small, delicate snowflakes have been falling lightly for the past hour. And then--suddenly--they stop. The clock strikes midnight and the bell echoes a low, metallic chime that feels like it can be heard for miles. By the second chime, you realize that nothing else is moving. Snowflakes are suspended in the air and all living creatures--plants, animals, and people alike--are completely frozen. The clock chimes twelve times and the world is still frozen. Suddenly, there’s no way to tell how much time has passed--but nothing moves. Maybe it feels like a moment, maybe it feels like an hour. You can try to leave the area but you can never go far enough that the church is out of sight. In an instant, time seems to snap back into motion. To everyone else, it feels like no time has passed. To you, you know. The church seems eerie and foreboding and if you return you feel uncomfortable, as though you have broken something and are unwelcome. If roleplaying with a partner, multiple characters can remain unfrozen as the world around them freezes!
She tore around the corner with much more finesse than the last time she'd tried, bracing for the drift that would occur as her boots struck against the snow. With her prey in sight she wasn't about to let it get away, particularly whenever it was much slower than the last set she had chased. While the holiday season brought out gremlins that weren't fussed on who they targeted, Youma continued to exist in the city and whether she liked it or not they still hungered.
Though her holiday patrols continued in order to assist others with avoiding paranormal encounters, this didn't mean that she was inclined to ignore a youma if it walked right passed her. This morning was of no exception, it had walked right under her nose haphazardly. Lopping with intent towards the park where the morning joggers braved the cold, it was more than determined to get its share of 'food'. Unfortunately its luck had run out as the senshi had dropped down from her spot on the roof of the pagoda and made a very loud 'bang' with her foot.
In short, Dory was here!
What followed was a chase that had lasted in to the better half of an hour with a youma in flight and a very determined senshi upon its tail.
All had been going well until she heard that sound again, the heavy throng of church bells and before she could stop herself she was soaring through the air. You see, while the world had once again come to a standstill around her she still remained in motion and with no friction to get in the way she went a damned sight further than she normally did. The fact that the bells had chosen now to chime was simply par for the course, their timing was impeccable and wholly inconvenient.
It was always as she went to do something that these things happened.
She pounced.
The bells chimed.
Now she simply watched as she flung herself passed her charge and barreled directly through the store room window. A loud series of clatters and bangs could be heard, followed by a very muffled 'ow'.
She was alive but it would take her a little while longer to pick herself up and clamber back out again.
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Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 2:37 pm
She didn't know what it was about winter in Destiny City, but Mia kept finding herself wandering about the parks late at night and simply enjoying the atmosphere. Maybe it was the thrill of all the paranormal threats that seemed to crawl out of the woodwork here, but obviously something in that existential promise of harm to her well-being worked for the explorer. Elsewise she would've chosen a different profession long ago. This particular venture took her near a picturesque church that she'd spied once or twice during adventures through the park. In the small hours of the night there wouldn't be many if any passerby, and she could enjoy the ambience of the building in peace. It struck the woman that there were a fair few places like this in the parks of the city, but that was part of the charm she supposed. A quick twitch of the wrist brought her watch tumbling down her arm from the wrist of a glove: 11:59 PM. Nearly the witching hour, she thought wryly. A crash stole Mia's attention just as the bells of the church's tower began to chime, long and low. Near the shadowed eaves of the parish, a large figure stood. Just beyond them was a shattered barrier that gaped into a dark room on the side of the church. The bells chimed again. It occurred to the blonde that everything was very still. The wind had stopped, nothing made a sound. Even the... man? Whatever it was, it was stock still. That was, aside from a shuffling sound from the broken pile of wood that used to be what was maybe a doorway. A third chime. Now she was sure she'd found yet another strange magical thing about Destiny City. Even the snowflakes had stopped falling. Not that it'd stopped snowing, no. The snow was literally suspended in midair. A sense of foreboding overshadowed the curiosity. "Who's there?" Mia called, searching her belt for the small leather holster that held the extendable baton she'd begun to carry with her.
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 2:15 am
A reply was not immediately forthcoming and Adorea couldn't really be blamed for it in the given circumstances. Fortunately, senshi had a means of recovering much more quickly than their less 'powerful' civilian companions and she did eventually push herself to her feet. What seemed like several minutes after the caution query the red head could be seen hauling herself out of the window and back onto the grass.
Minor scrapes aside she was fine, her hair was tussled and a little worse for wear, but in the grand scheme of things she wasn't the most threatening thing in the vicinity.
"Just your friendly neighborhood spiderman," she winced, lifting her left hand to press it against her shoulder and roll it. 'Stiff' didn't quite do the feeling justice but her own physical state was less of a concern when it became abundantly clear that she wasn't alone. What had once been a casual reply to a relatively harmless question soon changed into something worthy of a start and a sudden jolt to look in the direction of the one who'd spoken.
...Bizarrely, she thought she recognised this one.
A squint lined her features as she regarded Mia for a moment before her gaze dropped down to whatever the blond happened to have at her belt. All right, real talk, Adorea was sort of done with the whole 'gun' thing and she'd only ever been shot by a nerf bat but if this woman was who the senshi though she was then she wasn't in any immediate danger.
Well, Adorea wasn't, Mia was.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't lay into me with whatever you're getting out," she added and shook her head. "Although if it's durable I do have something you should probably batter," she finished.
It wasn't every day that the senshi would encourage anyone other than one of her own to be an active participant in any encounter with a youma but if Mia was armed then it might benefit both of them on this occasion and if her assumptions were correct then the thing wouldn't be moving anyway.
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Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 2:28 pm
Mia managed to fish out and extend the metal baton from her grip just as a figure emerged from the wreckage of the window, whoever it was looked somewhat pained and disoriented. It did turn her way at the hailing, however, and seemed to study her closely. After a moment, a familiar voice answered. "Dory?" the explorer questioned, lowering her super-advanced stick slightly. "What are you- why? Are you being attacked?" The other woman's suggestion about a good target for the baton reinforced MIa's new suspicions, and she turned to focus on the larger unidentified shadow. She wasn't wasn't much afraid of the usual mugger, though anything that could batter Dory was cause for caution. "What is it, actually?" the adventurer questioned, looking more closely at the stock-still figure. It seemed frozen just like the rest of the landscape. Why were only thing unaffected herself and her friend? Drawing slowly closer, Mia held her baton in an aggressive high stance just in case. Now that she could see more clearly, there was obviously something wrong with the hulking shape. It didn't look much like an normal human. "Or do I really want to know?" she asked more quietly.
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Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:59 pm
"I'm always getting attacked," the woman replied, continuing to rub at some of her more stiff and bruised joint as she wandered towards Mia. Fortunately, the civilian had chosen not to go ahead with her baton assault and had instead turned her attention to the more pressing threat that she had inadvertently walked into.
A youma, mutated and hardly pretty.
Suspended for now in some strange form of stasis that the senshi hadn't quite worked out, it certainly made for a strike decoration but the fact still remained that at some point it was going to break free. If this was the same as what had happened before, then it was safe to say that at some point whatever bubble they had walked in to would pop and with it...their unpleasant friend here would quickly become an issue.
"It's kind of my job," she added as she walked calmly after the blonde, tilting her head as she inspected what she had almost caught prior to the tolling of the bells. "And this eldritch horror is a Youma."
Her lips pursed into a thin line and she nodded towards Mia's baton with her chin and then back towards the creature's head. Once upon a time the senshi would have had more compassion, she might have believed that these things could be saved, but several encounters had assured her that some things couldn't be saved.
"Probably better if you do know so that you don't fall into the same trap that every other innocent person does," she explained quietly. "If you give it a really big bash to the head it should go down," she continued. If the thing had still been moving then the senshi would have been inclined to take the baton and do the honours for her, but given the circumstances it seemed like the opportune time to show at least one innocent person what to look for and what to do if they found one.
"Normally I'd suggest you run but right now it's safe. If you see one of these things moving though, I'd probably suggest running rather than trying to be the hero. Doesn't end well when people without pretty bows try to handle them," she admitted.
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