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 Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2023 5:20 pm
Quote: The Scavenger Hunt (8 ) : Destiny City is hosting an annual scavenger hunt during the Star Festival to encourage people to get out and explore their city. The prize for turning in a completed scavenger hunt is a coupon booklet and a few free tickets to upcoming city events. Even if you aren’t interested in the prize, the scavenger hunt is specifically designed to take you through the city to showcase a few historic buildings, some art installations, and some of the city’s greatest accomplishments. While many of the places are familiar, during your explorations you come across a building you’ve never seen before--something that feels out of time. You’ve been in the area countless times before, so how did you miss this place? When you lay eyes on the building, you feel a strange timelessness and have the distinct sensation of being a part of something bigger. Briefly, you may see flashes of some distant past--a flickering memory that you can’t quite place or fully form. It’s hard to make out, but at some point in time you have the distinct impression of a faded figure taking your hand and telling you to do something. They sound hopeful and encouraging, like they really believe in you. By the time you blink, the visions are gone, the building is gone. The only thing that remains is a beautiful little garden and a plaque so faded that you can’t make out the inscription. A scavenger hunt around Destiny City for a couple of coupons wasn’t really something that would normally interest Alise, but scavenger hunts fell into a weird grey area with her little niche of interests to where she’d bite and take on the challenge for the sake of adventure. Plus, even if her family was wealthy enough, coupons for any of the local candy or ice cream shops were great when it came to both Etoile’s major sweet tooth and keeping the Shirogane twins entertained when she babysat. She was still grumpy over the events of the past year after graduation, where she had spent the past turning of the seasons (including most of spring) overseas to argue with the side family that still lived over there, to end up ultimately in a stalemate where she hadn’t quite gotten her way, but they also weren’t immediately pushing her into the first suitor that they found like she was some southern belle in one of those old timey movies; the idea of arranged marriage just because her family still held onto some old traditional values was something Alise did not appreciate and still was trying to find a loophole out of it… … By planning on redoubling her efforts to convince Clem to run off and elope with her, most likely. There was also, of course, the unresolved matter of what had happened with Alpha Leporis, on that fateful day almost two years ago now- Alise, as Lepus, had promised Beta that they would find a way to bring the older girl’s sister back, but from what she understood from her limited attempts at keeping in touch with Imagi… Aura hadn’t been returned to them yet. Arguably, it was hard to get a clear read on the situation when she couldn’t directly ask about the metaphorical elephant in the room when she wasn’t in Destiny City, not to speak of the fact that Beta wanted to keep what happened to Alpha a secret. ‘Beating up Chaos until they got Alpha back’ was easy enough to suggest for someone like Lepus, but as much as the teen would proclaim that punching things was the answer, it wasn’t productive if one didn’t know where to start. As she continued to walk around following the clues, Alise did a double take as she passed by a familiar face, and doubled back in her tracks to sprint after it before they disappeared. Although she was a year or two younger than Aura and Imagi, there had been a brief period of time where they had both attended Crystal Academy, before… well, before everything that happened had happened. Also, by virtue of sharing a class or two with the twins (separately, never at the same time), she had also learned that they were the same senshi twins she had met a few years ago… though she had never quite learned what had led to the rift between the two, that had led to them being so distant from each other in the few times she had managed to corner the two in the same room together. While Alise had been back in Destiny City for the past month and a half, she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Imagi yet, powered or not, as circumstances had kept her from calling or texting, not to mention they no longer attended the same school anymore. “Whoah, hey- Imagi!?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 5:40 pm
Scavenger hunts weren't really Imagi's thing. There was never enough data for Imagi to be any good at it. And then there was everyone out running around, clambering for whatever was hidden... and then there was the emphasis on team work which Imagi hadn't been super good at in the best of headspaces. Imagi always felt herself getting too overwhelmed, moving from place to place, solving puzzles, discussing clues with whomever was with her... no. No it was very much not her thing. Aura on the other hand... she loved scavenger hunts. Being able to go out and around, sniff out clues, rally a team behind her and run around the city like the wild thing she always was. Scavenger hunts had never really been Imagi's thing, but watching Aura on scavenger hunts was. Watching her lead a pack of other hunters around the city, discussing clues with animated enthusiasm... Imagi never managed to solve the riddles and puzzles, but she always knew Aura would. Which was probably why her parents insisted she go on this hunt with them. Something to remind them all of the sister that they lost. A way to feel closer to Aura, something that the therapist said that they should try. And it was working, but it was also kind of having the opposite effect. The game did, in fact, remind them all of Aura. Too much. Her parents weren't exceedingly outgoing people, not like Aura was. Their parents had often joked that, had they not been there for the birth in the first place, they suspected Aura of being an accidental transplant. And so they were meandering. They were taking their time as people rushed by them, not doing too well on the clues and mostly just following where other people pointed. And talking about Imagi. How she would have finished already. How she would have rallied all of those groups behind her. How loud she'd be about her excitement. “Whoah, hey- Imagi!?” A split second of electricity before Imagi realized that the voice was familiar but not... that familiar. She still turned none the less and smiled gently, easily recognizing her old schoolmate. Her old patrol partner. Inwardly, she winced as she realized exactly how much she'd neglected her actual job as a senshi. "Hey, Alise," she called softly, her parents squeezing Imagi's shoulder and moving on to leave her with her friend. "Long time... no see."
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Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 12:04 am
"Hey!" Alise greeted, and immediately froze as she realized... she had no idea how to proceed with this conversation. Normally, Alise spoke in a cryptic and flashy manner of speech, using words that she thought made her sound more cool and mysterious, which had gained her a reputation back at Crystal. Very unfortunately, this went unappreciated generally, and Alise quickly found during her year abroad (especially while 'forced' to attend finishing school) that this kind of behavior was kind of... frowned upon in polite society. Normally, she didn't care, because Alise was Alise, but uhhh was it right to act like this in front of Imagi's parents, who probably had a very diluted image of the kind of person Alise was like? There was probably also the part where if it was ok to act like this around Imagi in general, given what the other girl had gone through, but then also, Imagi should have been used to the way Alise presented herself, but then... Man, it'd be really great if Etoile was here to help out, wasn't it? At least Imagi's parents went on their way, so they could talk a little more freely without Alise having to be vague about things, but how did you talk like a normal human being again?? "Indeed, it's been far too long!" Alise finally said, settling for somewhere inbetween, and then, "Charm school was torture- practically a prison! I thought they'd never let me return back home." Maybe complaining about her year abroad wasn't the right way to open a conversation, though, and Alise shifted gears to a new topic. "... Ahem! What I meant to say was... I am progressing on this quest to proceed with this so-called 'scavenger hunt'! Would you care to join me in my adventure?" Ah yes, much better.
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Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 4:19 pm
Hearing Alise return to her normal parlance soothed Imagi. Her shoulders fell form her ears and a gentle smile came to her lips. With everything changing and different in her life, it was good to have something to rely on. Something normal. "It's good to have you back," Imagi grinned, stepping closer to Alise as her parents departed. "And I would love to join you on your adventure. I can't promise to be much help though. Aura was..." her breath caught suddenly, but she recovered as quickly as possible. "My sister was always better at this than I am." She looked up to try and cool the warmth at her waterline and then shook the feeling off all together. "How far along are you?" Away from the topic of her sister. Away from the pain of the memory. Towards something safer, sweeter, easier.
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