In the Water (8 ) : The Destiny City Reservoir is open year round but without fail always gets the most attention in the summer. It's a nice escape from the big city; it’s a five minute drive outside of the Eastern side of town and features clear water and sandy beaches--although, the sand here is notorious for squeaking when you step on it. It’s a hot spot for all fun summer activities, but recently something strange has been happening under the water. Sometimes, people feel like something is grabbing their ankle, even if they are just wading in the shallow end. In the deeper parts of the water, it gets a little more intense: something has been said to grab onto ankles and pull. People have been warned about dangerous pranks, but so far no one has been caught. In the shallow end, anyone unfortunate enough to be targeted may feel themselves being knocked off their feet and tugged into the water; anyone in deep water may feel a firm grip on their ankle, tugging them lower and lower. Somehow, anyone it targets is freed--either by wriggling and fighting, or because someone intervenes and pulls the would-be victim up. No one has drowned in the lake. Yet. It's impossible to see who, or what, is doing this, but it usually gives up after one failed attempt. Usually.
Albite had gotten smarter at the whole energy draining thing, kind of...
He'd come out earlier with a group of friends to enjoy the good weather, and then stayed behind long after all the moms with screaming kids in tow, sun bathing families and jet ski-ers had gone home. Once the the water had hit a temp that was uncomfortable people tended to scatter.
It was nice to just mill around the shores edge on his own even, and watch the sunset reflect across the reservoirs pure surface. Until all that remained were lingering couples and people making cozy in truck beds. Small, scattered, distant groups with little fires n' coolers. Most of them were too drunk to notice that the guy coming up on them, offering something from a proffered six pack in exchange for sharing their time, didn't quite look like he should have.
Albite hummed something tuneless, a swagger in his step as he dragged one of the three tailgaters that had slumped over into the gravel, back upright, and propped him gingerly against their open passenger side door. Hoping to avoid any accidental discoveries. From a distance they all just looked like they were sleeping it off. Letting the fat glowing orb choc full of energy dissipate back into whatever magical subspace those things resided in.
"Three down...and what..maybe sixish' to go? Heh, to-go, just like takeout." Albite chuckled as he traipsed down to the shoreline, occasionally skipping a rock into the lake with a solid 'plunk', as he moved to pick out his next victims.
Even though he'd come to fill his quota, he woulda been lying if he hadn't hoped to also see the mysterious lake creature everyone had been going on about. Supposedly snatching kids offa shorelines and dragging anyone who got too deep straight under like a hungry squid. So far the rumors had proved unfounded, Albite hadn't seen a single person sucked in or under. No great nessie looming just beneath the surface. Nothing that screamed 'supernatural'. Just kids ******** around, and soft people who'd had one too many white claws playing stupid with water safety.
The water remained placid, barely any ripples or waves without speed boats and the like ripping across it. Only the sound of water lapping against the shore whenever a slight breeze or errant rock kicked it up.
xdeathxbyxlovex
Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 4:58 pm
Shiningamisgirl
Anniliese had driving over to the Reservoir. She wanted to check it out. She had never been out of the city before and going to the reservoir seemed like the perfect opportunity to get out and see what the whole fuss about it was.
She had heard things from word of mouth and whispers about the lake. Something in the water was grabbing people legs and pulling people down in the water. Thankfully there were no accounts of anyone getting hurt. Whatever was the water seemed to lose interest whenever the victim would struggle and pull there selves free.
If Anniliese had never actually had a real conversation with a real talking cat she would have just rolled her eyes at all the talks about the lake. But now a part of her believes maybe there is something in the water. Maybe a creature or something supernatural is pulling at people. She walked around the water edge a little afraid to go in the water.
A new set o flights and a lingering car, a new evening gawker skirting the edges. Albite weighed the rocks in his hand as he weighed his options. The drunk lounging locals were 'safe' targets. They didn't tend to spook as easily, but they were also in groups, an absolute pain considering Albite had to touch them to get any actual energy out of them. A lone girl he could charm up might be a touch easier than wrangling a group.
Grin plastered firmly on his face, Albite tossed the remainder of the rocks into the water shouting at the girl from down the beach as he strode up over squeaky sand "Careful there chickadee, rumor has it there's lake monsters in there." Albite couldn't quite make out her features, but he knew a good target when he saw one. Alone, walking the lakes edge.
Easy pickings.
"Yanno, locals have been saying that its a serpent that pulls you under, something dangerous. Personally? I think it's just water weeds and vines." He'd be nice and sweet about it even, after all he only needed a little bit of energy.
xdeathxbyxlovex
Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2021 6:48 pm
Shiningamisgirl
Anniliese jumped. She should have been paying attention to her surroundings. She was too deep in her thoughts. She turned toward the other person watching him come towards her.
He was quite handsome. Anniliese always made a fool of herself around a handsome man. She also noticed the energy around them shifting. And it was not in a good way.
Anniliese crossed her fingers that he was not a bad guy. Why the gorgeous guys always turned out to be evil she had no idea at all. She didn't want to fight. She was still new and inexperienced in fighting.
"I cam here to see for myself. I don't really believe in all of these talks about creatures and supernatiual unless I experience it myself and see with my own two eyes.
Upon closer inspection the girl was cute. The hair, the eyes, a sweet summer child vibe. “Oh hey, I agree with you on that, ten-thousand percent. Ya can’t just get your gossip from anyone nowadays, ya gotta see it to believe it. Gotta feel it out for yourself” Albite laughed, a rich inviting sound, keeping an ever careful eye on her and the waters edge as he closed the distance between them.
“I’m all about that sorta thing. Experiences. Like, get busy living or get busy dying, right?” Taking her energy would have been easiest, but she’d peaked his interest, and now more than ever, he wanted to see if the lake beast were real. The solution to the problem of ‘how to make a lake monster appear’ was made abundantly clear by her serendipitous appearance on the shore.
“Whatdya ya say chickadee? Wanna come experience a lake monster with me.” And Albite moved to encroach on her space. His grin charming while his eyes screamed mischief.
It was in fact, so obvious, that he wondered why none of the fish and game ward had tried it yet in order to sleuth the thing out. Live bait, cast into deep water.
Preferably of the flailing, fresh, human variety. Since that seemed to be all the rumored sightings had raged about.
xdeathxbyxlovex
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 2:35 pm
Shiningamisgirl
Anniliese kept one eye on the water and the other on the guy. Something told her to not take her eyes off of him.
"That would be a good idea."
That was why she was here in the first place to see if there was anything in the water. If there were talking cats then there had to be sea creatures. The only thing that she hadn't planned out was what to do if there actually turned out to be something beneath the water. She couldn't just get a net and capture it. How does one catch a monster like that
But she had another problem on her hands. What to do about the handsome stranger? He was being nice sure but he seemed mischievous too. She didn't trust the dude.
"Oh no I seemed to have forgotten my swim clothes. I won't have anything to swim in. Guess I will have to go home."
Maybe if she came another time or pretend to leave and wait for him to leave. She could comeback and look around some more.
“Yeah sorry hun, I shouldn’t have phrased that like it was a question.” because it hadn’t been. Albite wasn’t about to let her leave now. She’d already seen him, poor sweet thing, and more importantly? His curiosity with the lake hadn’t been satisfied yet. Albite closed the distance that remained between them on long legs, the weight of his approach causing the sand to squeak beneath his boots, a slight grind and slosh from where the edges of the lake occasionally lapped up onto the shoreline.
“Because, the reality is? The lake monster isn’t going to care if you’re properly dressed for swimming or not, and honestly? Neither will I - Binding Retribution*” the tattoos that covered nigh half of Albites body seemed to slither to life, striking out across his skin and towards the girl, like a whip of ink cast out through the air. Lashing her and him together, no less than three feet apart before going taught and binding her there; the pair temporarily tethered to one another.
“Here’s how this is going to work, you’re going to wade into that water until something snags a hold…or I’m going to pluck your soul out through your sternum. See if you’re as pretty on the inside as you are on the outside.” Albite’s grin a blade, tone imposing as he flexed his hold, and tugged on the bind to reinforce the reality of the situation. The bind wouldn’t last long, but he didn’t need it to.
If she was good about it, and if there really was no creature lurking in the deep. He’d just take her energy and leave her somewhere dry. No need to snuff her life out so quickly.
She didn’t need to know that though. All she needed to do was listen, and wade in.
xdeathxbyxlovex
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:19 pm
Shiningamisgirl
Yup. He was one of the bad guys. Dammit always the good looking ones.
"Do we really have to do this?"
She just wanted to come down to the lake and look around and enjoy the water. But no not going to happen.
"I should have just stayed home. Wouldn't you do something else? I dunno maybe go swimming or... jump off a cliff?"
She said the last part under her breath. Either she does what he wants or she refuses but no matter what she picked the outcome doesn't look good for her. She stared out into the water. She did want to know if there was something in there. She was going to go with what he wanted just to appease him. Once he sees what he wanted she was going to make an escape. She had no problem walking into the water
"Hey, Weird question at this time but who did your tattoos? They are kinda cool."
She sighed and started to make her way to the water. This was not how she saw her day going.
Albite mostly ignored the noise coming from her mouth, briefly wondered if this was how his Generals had felt about him, when he went off, and used talking to be distracting rather than to serve any real purpose.
As the fifteen seconds drifted by, and the tethers that had held them faded into black sparkles, causing the tattoos to simply become one with his own flesh again, Albite answered, briefly. "Friend of a friends. And yanno..some black magic sprinkled in for good measure. I'm glad you like 'em though chikita..." and as she waded in Albite stepped after her, kept pace behind to ensure she kept moving forewards.
Frequently his eyes drifted from her frame to the surface of the water - placid little ripples - natural lake movements.
Then just beneath the surface, something larger twisted unnaturally against the current, caused the water to rise around it.
A slick looking shadow that sluiced through the edge of a small wave, a writhe of darkness that stood out just barely beneath the surface, caught the moonlight differently than anything made of water should have.
"If you survive this? Maybe I'll take you to get some done by him, couple a' lake monster hunter tats. Just for you." he could imagine her, 'look I survived' t-shirt and a tattoo to match. "Until then though, you can just keep moving."
Albites gaze trained on the dark edges of the thing, while he made himself an imposing wall at her back, loomed and followed behind her, even as he felt the water lap at his boot covered ankles.
There absolutely was something out there, just beyond....
xdeathxbyxlovex
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 7:45 pm
Shiningamisgirl
This wasn't what Anniliese had expected her day and night to lead up to. She just wanted to enjoy the sun and the lake. She wasn't even sure if she was going to get in. And she didn't expect to be walking into the water fully clothed with a crazy man following her. She snuck a glance at him. She should use the distraction of him paying more attention to the water than her and make a break for it. But of course, a part of her was curious. She was curious not only of the lake and the rumored monster in it but also about the nega in front of her. What is his story?
"Maybe we should just head on back."
She glanced at the water. "Was there something there, or were her eyes playing tricks on her. She glanced back at the boy. Maybe this is him trying to spook her? If something was there in the water and grab her what would he do? Would he run away and leave her or would he save her? She chuckled softly to herself she doubt the latter.
"Uh-huh...you didn't, I didn't. Who comes to a beach without towels or a suit anyhow?" Albite had to c**k his head at her, eyes darting between the suddenly still spot in the water where the movement had been before, and where she stood "What exactly were you gonna do girl, run around the lake in the pitch dark? Skinny dip without a towel?" It suddenly struck him as odd that she had absolutely nothing with her 'beach goer' wise.
Not that Albite had time to sit and think on it...
Another splash that caused a wave, a tentacle of ink and oil that rose through the murk and vanished, deadly silent in it's motions.
Albite hissed at her softly, beckoned for five seconds of silence as he pushed in after the girl, and subsequently pushed her on forewords; even further in.
Let the water soak up to his knees, the cold biting at the fabric, sinking into his hair, and he'd have time to lament getting lake water in his dreads later on.
"Here lake monster...I got fresh eats for ya." Albite mocked, splashed at the water before them as he sidled up to stand alongside the summer snack of a girl. Then froze, as what reared out of the water met him head on - beady yellow eyes - pincher like beak for a maw - a writhe of sucker laden tentacles that were moving out at speed, faster even then he could have reacted.
His mind blessedly supplied a name for what he was seeing - the name contextualizing into a singular thought - one that had unfortunate consequences for the pair of them.
'oh ******** that's a youma'
"Oh <********> - it's a Youma?!"
The words shouted, spiked with fear and fascination. He'd never seen one up close before, they usually liked to eat Senshi - Senshi like him..corrupt or otherwise they were no friends - He was low rank fodder for the lot of the beast.
The shout suddenly drowned out as Albite felt a tentacle latch around his ankle, and drag him deeper in. All of his thoughts condensed around the idea of 'cold' - freezing, biting cold as the creature yanked him under - crystalized beyond that around the concept of 'bad', because while drowning in a lake seemed a terrible way to go - drowning in a lake and becoming a youmas meal, was far worse.
He should have known, by the stories, the odd lack of details. The fact that normal people hadn't seen the creature up close and personal before.
He should have known...
xdeathxbyxlovex
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:43 pm
Shiningamisgirl
Anniliese looked over at him. "I didn't bring one cause I was not thinking about actually going into the water I wanted to observe from the shore. But now because of you that won't be possible. Now cause of you I am wet. Thank you."
Anniliese was about to say something more but the look on his face had her stop. There was the sound of a splash. Anniliese didn't want to turn to see what it was that had the guy captivated, she just wanted to get out of the water. Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to, he had pushed further into the water.
Something was there she knew it. The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand up. It didn't help that he was using her as bait, as an offering to the monster.
"You b*****d."
Youma? What the yell was that? She had never heard of one and didn't want to know about one. She was never told about them before. She made the mistake of turning to look and see what it was.
"Are those tentacles? Nah I'm out of here."
She pushed the other Senshi out of the way and made her way to the shore. She stopped and turned it had grabbed the guy further into the water. She should leave and let it take him. But she couldn't. Bad guy or not she couldn't leave him to fend for himself. She ran over to her backpack and took it to hide behind some rocks. She had to transform and try to do something.
She came back out from behind the rocks and ran out to the water. She swam towards the monster and stopped when she was at a safe distance. She raised her hands to the air.
She didn't wait to see what happened. She grabbed the other Senshi and brought him to the shore. She collected her items and went to check on him. She was debating whether to give CPR or something til she saw his chest move and his eyes flutter. She quickly made her escape before he came to
