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Prompt 5: Though Destiny City is a busy metropolis, dense forests encircle the city. It's uncommon for wildlife to wander into the city--especially larger creatures--but something is making its mark on Destiny City. Large footprints, humanlike but far too large to belong to any ordinary human, are appearing around Destiny City. They always lead to the woods, and back again--and the strange part is that no one seems to be able to see what has caused them. Cameras distort, and anyone who thinks they've come into contact with the creature can only make out a thick, white fur and something easily nine feet tall. Oddly enough, any surface near the tracks are covered in a sheet of ice, as though whatever passed close to them was so cold it left a frosty trail.
"Moderately more interesting than pot holes," Regula murmured as he peered down at the massive footprints beside him. His partner had taken the bullet on this one and was interviewing an otherwise flustered woman who had simply being going about her day when she had seen a 'monster'. So far everything that the officer had overheard did have to make him wonder if she might have imbibed before leaving for her destination...or rather he would have pondered this possibility had he not been exposed to the truth of what this city could, and often did do.
On the face of it he would agree that she had been subject to a prank and someone was being jovial, merry and stirring up 'trouble' in their own way. Perhaps they might even reveal that a radio or tv channel had been running this prank to promote some sort of Krampus tale or event, but Regula had already made a mental note to review any similar reports at a later date. He knew better than to assume that it was a prank now and while he could keep his poker face on around the general populace it seemed pertinent to investigate what this might be.
After all, if it was genuinely real and happened to be nine feet tall with gleaming white fur...
It could either be Krampus, Big Foot, or a Yeti, none of which happened to be particularly good in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless if he had to face off against any magical, deadly enemies, he was likely to choose a Yeti over Krampus given the nature of what the two happened to be. One was supernatural and the other was a large, furry beast...Somehow the furry beast sounded like a much fairer situation to be in.
The interview continued and Regula folded his arms across his chest as he slowly followed the large footsteps back to where they had started. He wasn't going to go the whole way, just far enough to work out where it might be coming from, but he served no purpose here and if he did happen to work out that this was a prank then it could be resolved then and there.
He turned a corner and a flicker of activity caught his eye just enough for him to look up - what caught his eye was nothing nefarious. In fact his gaze was met by the CCTV footage of a set of shop's camera's through the window. As was common they looked at each of the entrances of the building and at first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was only as he began to look away that something did move across one of the cameras and in response the image itself seemed to blur, a further few moments later as it passed another one and the image on that monitor did the exact same.
A very elaborate hoax if it could cause that level of interference.
...Or something was headed towards one of the other entrances nearby. Obviously he should have let his partner know where he was going as a precaution but intrigue got the better of him on this occasion and he moved quickly towards that entrance, only to find that there was nothing there. Puzzling to say the least, but as he moved closer towards it he found the very same footsteps that had been nearby the woman. Instead of moving towards him, it seemed as though whatever had been there had heard him as the footsteps had turned around and returned where they had come.
He was no closer to an answer as to where they had started but he was relatively certain that this wasn't a hoax.
Wonderful.
He adopted his usual pokerface and with one final look at the entrance of the store he began to move back the way he'd come. He wouldn't be spouting any non-sensical remarks regarding odd Big Foot monsters in the city this evening, but he would at least acknowledge there was a distinct possibility that something was around. Whether he should and even could deal with it were something he would need to consider before he wandered off to do anything particularly dumb.
Soon enough his partner came in to view and it seemed their interview was drawing to a close, a relief as he'd welcome the warmth of the squad car, but he'd not hurry anything along. Instead he waited patiently and merely raised an eyebrow at his partner's expression as the woman departed and he entered the car wordlessly. He knew that look, that was the look of someone who didn't believe a word someone had said and was trying very hard not to pull another face while she was still nearby.
Regula began to suspect that his partner might prefer the potholes and flat tyres at this rate and he wasn't entirely sure he blamed him. Dealing with frantic calls about fantastical beasts was much more tiring than a car issue and Regula was beginning to suspect this might not be the first call they received about it tonight.
He'd take the bullet on the next one, it was only fair...
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